Rise Like The Sun

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

MADISON

"This is your house?"

Nick's voice is filled with awe, as he stares around the empty mansion, his eyes wide.

His words bring a slight quirk to the edge of her lips and Madison turns to shut the door. Instead of celebrating with her friends, as Madison had been unable to even stomach the thought, she had made Nick come over to her house for the first time. He looked worse than her, but all she could think of was that she didn't want anyone beside her, but him.

"I thought you were worried about your staff," Nick says, arching an eyebrow.

"I got rid of them for the night," Madison tells him, smirking with some smug satisfaction.

She grabs his hand and pulls him towards her, reaching up to the tips of her toes to kiss him senseless.

Nick reciprocates eagerly, but Madison can feel him wince a little, as he reaches to embrace her tightly. His large form almost dwarfs her and for some strange and silly reason that she doesn't want to delve into, she doesn't want him to let her go. They crash together as he grabs her waist, sweeping her up into his arms and lifting her off her feet.

Her legs already around his waist, Madison moans with pleasure, gasping hotly into the feverish skin of his shoulder. Her hair tumbles around him and Nick is a vision before her, tangled up within her in a mess of limbs.

But then he winces again, and Madison pulls away.

She drops to her feet and hurries.

"Hey -," Nick begins, but Madison is already back with the first aid box.

"Sit," she orders him, as she points at the chair.

Nick does as she says, seating himself quickly, as his gaze lifts to her. Madison bites down her concern and sits on his lap, her legs tangled up within his, as she examines his cut lip and bruised face. Her fingers are soft against his skin and Nick closes his eyes, lifting his big paw of a hand to hold her own.

"Who told you to attack him?" Madison mutters chidingly, as she tends to his face.

"His face," Nick mumbles, hissing slightly in pain. "It was just crying out to be punched - ow, that hurts."

"Is that better?" Madison murmurs, hurrying as she fumbles with the plasters and bandages. "I don't know how I'm going to deal with him, now."

"You don't have to," Nick says, his jaw clenched tight and his tone grim. "I think he's got the message. I'm happy to send the message a couple more times, if that's what it takes."

"Alright, macho man," she says distractedly, but Nick's fingers tighten around her own.

"I'm serious, Madison," Nick says, and he stares at her solemnly. "Sometimes just having people expelled won't work. Sometimes you've just got to punch them in the face."

There is no trace of his usual spark of humour and it hurts Madison to not see it.

Madison rests against the seat of the chair, half of her body against Nick's own, as his arms come around her. She stares at him, feeling as though she might cry, her stomach flipping slightly, because she's never had anybody so fiercely ready to protect her like this, before. It's utterly terrifying and completely new, so she quickly gets up, backing away.

"I won't have him expelled," she tells him, packing away the first aid box.

"That's a first."

Now, that sounds more like the Nick she knows.