My Crush or My Mate

4

The next day, Kayla had invited me to come help her out at the pet grooming shop she owned and after we were going shopping, before my date with Nick. I had told her and she was excited for me, but she also knew I was still mourning Mitch, but she wanted to help me move on from him.

So, after holding dogs, helping bathe them, giving them hair cuts, or clipping their nails, we got them done and headed out to shop after cleaning and wiping things down. She told me to wear a dress, but I didn't feel comfortable, so we went with a pretty top and tightish jeans.

"Something to show off your curves, woman!"

"Kayla, I won't be able to wear underwear with these, or at least I'd have to wear a thong, and I don't do thongs!"

"Then go without, girl."

I was frustrated, but I took them and picked out my top. She came with a halter top, but it showed too much skin. I saw another one which covered but still looked very cute. We got done and after getting some shoes and some new earrings and makeup. After that, she headed home and I headed to the house, back in town.

Jumping into the shower and doubled the body wash, to get the wet dog smell off, jumped out, blow dried my hair and while the straightener warmed up I did my make-up as lightly as possible so I didn't look like a clown. I curled my hair in big ringlets and puffed them, got my deodorant and perfume on, and turned everything off and was just getting my shoes on when the knock at the door came.

I opened the door and there was Nick. His eyes took me in as he stood in the doorway.

"Hey?"

"Hey?"

"Come in, I just need to grab my jacket."

"Okay."

I turned and smiled, secretly thanking Kayla for her idea. As I slipped into my jacket, he saw my cut.

"That looks like it hurt."

"Things got a little kinky." My face turned red as I said that.

Again that beautiful smile that I loved, spread across his face. He was wearing something you would find in a western store, wranglers nicely fitted, a black button-up shirt, and dark brown boots. All that was missing was the big belt buckle and the cowboy hat.

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

He headed outside and outside was a nice black 68 Mustang. There was definitely more then meets the eye with Nick. He opened the door for me and I got inside. The inside smelled new, like he didn't really use it that often. When he climbed in and we took off.

"This is a beautiful car. Did you restore it?"

"That obvious?"

"No, it's just... back where I lived they had a car show every year and they were restored cars. You don't use this often. The car still has the new smell."

"A woman that knows about cars, I'm impressed. My godfather and I restored this car, and after he passed, he left it to me."

"Well, you guys did an awesome job."

"So a little heads up, I have two left feet and the Mexican music is usually very quick."

" Just have fun, I sucked at dancing before..."

I stopped myself, Mitch taught me to dance and we had made it into a thing of learning new dances together.

"Andrea?"

"It's nothing. I'll help you out if you're having too much trouble."

He gave me a look, like he wanted to ask more but didn't. We drove and when he asked me for the address my heart dropped, it was where I got married to Mitch. In the old opera house. As we got there, the music was loud and lights were blaring. I took a deep breath and we walked in. There were people everywhere and some even recognized Nick as the teacher. When he got into the main room, the music was super loud and I found my old friend and I let them know I was there. They greeted us and hugged me, and told us to enjoy ourselves. We drank as Nick talked to some of the people he knew and drank as we went. Soda, no alcohol this time. When I felt someone tap me on the shoulder,

"Emmett!"

"Hey, sis, what's going on?!"

Emmett was the oldest of the four Andrews sons and also the only one who was disowned for siding with me on where Mitch was to be buried. We went out to where we could talk a little better.

"Hey, how have you been? I heard you ran into the old fam, are you okay?"

"Yeah, you know your mother how over the top she can be."

"Sure can, but anyway, who's the new guy?"

I felt my face warm up, my brother -in- law asking about new guys.

"He's a friend."

"He doesn't act like he's a friend, he's been hovering close."

I hadn't noticed, but now that he mentioned it, it was true. Almost every time I moved to greet a new person, he was always an arms-length away.I just shrugged and smiled.

"Anyway, good for you. It's been a year. Mitch wouldn't expect you to mourn him forever."

That's what I liked about Emmett. He was very open-minded when it came to moving on, either from a break-up, or even now from the death of his own brother. His advice was to live life and to not be stuck at death.

"Thanks."

"Well, talk to you later."

"Yeah."

Right as I walked back into the room, a slow song came on, and Nick was sitting alone, so what better time than now for a dance?

"Ready."

"Sure."

He took me by the hand and led me to the dance floor. When we got to a good area, he waited for a minute, letting me decide where his hands would go. I placed his hand on my hip and the other was in my hand. We swayed to the music and slowly our bodies got closer, until I could feel his warm breath on my neck.

"Did I say how beautiful you look tonight?"

"No, but your eyes definitely relayed as much." I said with a smile. We seemed to get lost in the music, it felt so comfortable and familiar, that I even wished it never ended.

Then the song changed to something a little more upbeat and somehow, his two left feet turned to happy feet. It was a cumbia pop kind of song, and he definitely wasn't missing a beat, swinging me in and out, holding me close to his body as we danced. I was having so much fun that, in the end, when he dipped me skillfully, then brought me up, and it sounds cheesy, but our faces were inches from each other and all I wanted was for him to kiss me.

"Wow, wasn't that fun?" Jesse came over and broke the spell of the moment, "can I talk to you for a moment.. alone!"

"Um.. can it wait?"

"No!"

"Okay, I'll be back." I told Nick as I followed Jesse. This was kind of what I had been dreading,but I definitely needed to make it clear to him.

He swung me in front of him and glared at me.

"What are you doing with that guy? What did I tell you just yesterday?"

"First of all, you need to chill. Who I date is none of your business, and I got to know him before passing judgement on what you told me, and he's someone I could see myself with."

He gave me a dark look and it actually scared me, but then it was gone.

"What about what we talked about, Andy, I'm not the same person as before. I'm seeing you in a different light and I like what I see..."

"That's the problem, Jess, you just saw who I was, but I've been me this whole time."

"What about the kiss, wasn't that what you wanted?"

"I thought it was, but now I'm not so sure it was."

Out of no where, he grabs my face and kisses me with so much force, he actually cut my lip a little. I pushed him back. He was breathless and stunned. I could feel the blood on my lips, and I walked away from him. I ran outside,my insides boiling with anger, kind of hoping Nick was outside too. I just wanted to leave this place. He wasn't, but who was.

"You can't leave well enough alone can you?"

"Yuliana." She was with three other women.

"I guess we'll have to do this the hard way."

I took a stance as the little fighting I did know, came rushing back, but that was for one on one. This was four against one, but I wasn't going to go down without a fight. Two of them came around to the side and then one ran at me. I kneed her in the stomach and the other punched her clean in the face, but then Yuliana kicked me in the stomach too and they rained down with kicks and punches.

"Hey!" Someone called and they stopped and left me there, "Andrea, jeez, stay with me now. Come on."

Nick picked me up and put me in the car, and we drove back home. Once the car came to a stop, I opened my eyes and found we weren't back at my house. He jumped out and went around and got me out of the car and took me inside. He said something to someone and then placed me on a soft surface. I guessed a bed.

"Andrea, stay awake, you need to stay awake!"

I just nodded and tried to stay awake, but it was too much and I was fast asleep.

I was dreaming and I was chasing something. One minute it was a dog or a coyote, and the next it was a man. Then I turned and found another one. This one looked wrong, like it's skin was melting off of it, but it talked in Nick's voice. It suddenly jumped at me.

I bolted into a sitting position, and was met with a headache and my eye was swollen shut, my body ached and felt stiff.

"Good you're awake." I turned to find an older woman. As she came into the room, she brought a cup of something to my lips, obviously asking me to drink it. I downed it. It tasted awful, but she seemed happy about it.

She just looked at me , like she was sizing me up, and seemed to like what she saw. As did I, she looked native, but could also be Hispanic.She didn't seem put off that Nick had brought me here all beaten up, and bleeding. It was just something you saw every day.

"Who are you and where is Nick?"

"You mean Nicolai?"

"Yes, of course."

She went quiet and just said

.

"He'll be back in a while, but I need to leave. Stay here. Don't go looking for him, we're a ways away from town, and if you get lost then it would be bad."

"Okay."

"There's food in the kitchen, if you get hungry, and I will be seeing ya."

The woman got her things and left me alone. I got to my feet a while later and headed to the kitchen. I looked around, taking in who Nick was things like a punching bag , weights, but also books and a T.V. anything you find in a regular bachelor pad, but then he had a map of the town, it was all marked with pencil, like he was planning an ambush of some kind. there were pictures of a younger him and an older man, next to the mustang I guessed his god father, and the woman that just had been here. I looked at the books and some were interesting. Sk** Walk** . it literally had those letters colored out, but I understood in North Dakota I once asked a woman a little about this subject and all she ever told me was if you call its attention, it just might pay attention so to never speak the name, but shapeshifters were closely related to this too. He had books on that too, and it was curious. In one there were notes, and it was curious it was talking about women who claimed they had crossed with these creatures, but never giving a good conclusion.

Then at the bottom of it was my name.

I suddenly felt watched, suffocatingly so. I went outside to take a deep breath of air.What was going on? Who was this man? As I took deep breaths, something caught my attention. Something was moving in this direction. The birds were flying into the air as they came, then stopped. Everything in me told me not to go toward it, but curiosity got the best of me. I followed kind of where the birds were and I felt my heart pounding and for a moment I saw the creature , then, just like in my dream, it went from the animal to Nick. He stood up with his back to me, completely naked. Something inside of me snapped and I turned to run back toward the car, when I felt something grab me around my legs, bringing me down to the ground.

"Don't run." He said calmly, holding tight to my legs, his eyes still a little lighter than normal. My guess was the beating from the night before. Then this was too much for my mind to handle and it went dark again.

The next time I was awake again, I was back on the bed. I sat up slowly and tried to process what I had just seen. So many questions were running through my head, and the pain wasn't helping keep things straight.

"How do you feel?"

I turned to look at him, and it felt weird like even when I knew all I did, it didn't change who he was to me, but it should. I dropped back on the bed again and pinched myself, looked at the doorway. He was still there.

"There's no place like home, there's no place like home."

Nothing, I was still here and he was still standing in the doorway.

"Fine, I guess."

He came to sit on the bed but still far enough to not crowd me. We sat there for a while, both lost for words.He was about to get up when I grabbed his arm.

"Don't leave. If you leave, I'll really be questioning my sanity and I can't, please stay."

He sat down again, but a little closer. He held on to my hand, they were warm and I was shaking.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to find out."

"I don't blame you, if you told me I wouldn't have believed you."

"I'm not going to hurt you if that's what you're worried about."

"Honestly, I think you would've done that already."

"True." We chuckled and he looked at our hands, then got to his feet helping me up and we headed to the kitchen.