Wild Tendy (IceCats Book 2) Read online

  “She disrespected him! It was not right. I don’t care who the hell she is.”

  Either she or I will not make it to her eighteenth birthday. “Calliope. Do as I say and go to your room,” I warn, and tears fall from her eyes.

  “If you hadn’t had the shock of learning what you did, then you would have defended him too. You—”

  “Calliope, I swear to God, if you do not get up those stairs, I will take away gym and make you cut up onions for a month.”

  She scrunches up her face in complete horror. I wait for her to come back at me—we’re a stubborn pair, she and I—but thankfully, she turns on her heels and heads up the stairs. I hear the door upstairs slam, more steps, and then her door shut. I set my purse on the table and exhale. When I look up at Nico, he’s standing there awkwardly, probably wishing he were anywhere but here. I push off the table and pat his chest as I walk by. “Let me make you a sub.”

  “You don’t have to,” he says as I pass by. “You could just yell, get it done, and I’ll leave.”

  I pause behind the counter. “Why would I yell?”

  “Because I didn’t tell you.”

  I hold his gaze. “I’m not going to say it doesn’t bother me that you didn’t tell me. It does. It feels like you didn’t want to share that part of yourself with me, but it doesn’t change how I feel about you, Nico. That label, as Callie so sweetly put it to your mom, doesn’t change anything. It explains a lot,” I say with a smile, “but it doesn’t change a thing.”

  He swallows hard.

  “What else are you hiding?”

  His eyes meet mine. “Nothing, and it’s not that I didn’t want to tell you. I couldn’t.”

  I start to make him the sub. I decide if I gawk at him, he won’t feel comfortable and will not be open with me. “Why couldn’t you?”

  “I was terrified that you wouldn’t want to be with me.”

  I want to pause; I want to run to him and wrap my arms around him so tightly. “That’s not true. At all,” I say, looking up as I set down the cheese. “If I had known, I could have helped the night of the gala.”

  He nods slowly, tucking his hands into the pockets of his slacks. His light-blue shirt has come untucked, and he looks a mess. A beautiful, stunning mess. “There is no helping me when I get like that. I just gotta ride it out.”

  I add some roast beef. “Okay, well, I would have liked to have known that. I was worried.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  I add another layer of cheese. “When did you tell Callie? I assume she’s known?”

  “Yeah, since before we started dating.”

  Why am I jealous of my sister? “Why did you tell her and not me?”

  “I don’t know,” he answers, and I know he means it. “I’d never told anyone before her.”

  I look up then. “Not even Chandler?”

  He shakes his head. “No, I just told him a couple weeks ago. I was working up to you, but I’m scared.”

  “Nico, you have nothing to be scared of, and I’m sorry if I—”

  “No, no,” he says quickly, coming to the counter. “It wasn’t you, our relationship, or anything—it is all me. It’s my insecurities from living a life where I was the weird kid who got made fun of. Kids weren’t nice to me because I couldn’t control what I was feeling. For the longest time, I just couldn’t. Now, as an adult, I’ve learned a lot, and I go to a lot of therapy. But sometimes, I can’t get a grasp on all this emotion inside me. I felt awful for snapping at you before the gala. To the point that I had a panic attack when I got home, and all I could think was, She’s gonna leave me. Why would she want me? I knew I had to tell you, I had to explain myself, but then you called that morning to check on me and invited me over for lunch, and I got scared again.”

  I gaze into his eyes, my whole body shaking, and I want to cry for him. But Nico isn’t one to feel pity for.

  “I mean, I have an out-of-this-world gorgeous woman who wants to be with me. Who enjoys me, and I don’t want to lose that. I didn’t want you to think you had no future with me because of my diagnosis. That I probably never will be able to handle big situations like that—”

  “But if I knew, it would be easier for me to understand, and I can find tools to help.”

  He shakes his head, and when a tear rolls down that gorgeous face of his, it breaks me. I cover my mouth as he says, “I know, Aviva. You would be on the damn WebMD or whatever site you can find to be supportive. But then what happens when you realize our kids could come out like me?”

  My heart stops, and I hop onto the counter, surprising him. I cup his face, looking deep into his eyes. I feel him swallow as tears start to gather in my eyes. “If our kids came out half as loving, kind, and funny as you, then I don’t know how I would be able to stand it. I would be so overfilled with love. So complete that nothing could touch us. Do not, Nico—for real, listen to me—do not feel like your autism holds you back. If anything, it makes you who you are, and that’s a damn great man.” I lean my head into his, my body vibrating for him. “And if we, by chance, have these kids we’re apparently thinking of…”

  He wraps his arms around me, pulling me off the counter and close to him. I touch my face to his, our noses side by side as we stare into each other’s eyes.

  “You will be the example for them. So, you gotta be proud, and you gotta be the cocky, amazing man I am falling head over heels in love with, because our kids will be nothing less than a pain in the ass. I mean, look at me. Look at Callie. Are you sure?”

  He laughs as he gathers me in closer, pressing his lips to mine. “I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.”

  I close my eyes as the tears roll down my face. Our hearts pound together while we cling to each other. “What did you tell me that one time? I can’t always think of the bad side of everything? That could apply here.”

  He shakes his head seriously. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “Nico, I’m terrified to lose you. You have nothing to worry about here.”

  His eyes search mine, and knowing that he usually doesn’t look people in the eye pulls at my heartstrings. He kisses my nose as he whispers, “You have nothing to worry about.”

  Oh, heart. Oh, poor heart. “Nico, I want you to know that when I lost my mom, I seriously lost every beacon of happiness. All I had was Callie and Jaylin, but I swear, I faked most of it with them. It took you coming into my life to break open that part of me, and I can’t thank you enough. Really. I can’t.”

  He kisses my nose. “I mean, I am a joy and a delight.”

  We both grin. Of course, he would quote that asshole upstairs. “And while I love your relationship with Callie and I know it was hard for you to watch me yell at her earlier, you need to be on my side about this. She cannot talk to your mom like that.”

  He inhales heavily and then lets his breath out. “Callie was right, though. I’m pissed at my mom.”

  “I know, but Callie called your mom an old lady.”

  He grins. “Sorry. I’m on her side.”

  I let my head drop down against his jaw. “You two are going to be the death of me.”

  He kisses my forehead. “Don’t worry. You took her phone away. I’ll deal with my mom, and everything will be fine.”

  “She hates us,” I say on a groan as I look up at him. “Callie more, but still, your mom knows I raised that opinionated, loud kid, and she’s just like me—”

  “I know—she’s perfect,” he says with a grin. “And like she said, who cares if my mom likes you guys or not? I like you, and I think how the three of us feel is all that matters.”

  I get lost in his eyes. “So, if Callie didn’t like you, we’d have a problem?”

  He scoffs. Back is my playful Nico, and everything inside me wants to celebrate. “Please. I’m awesome. That kid had no chance. Just like you didn’t.”

  I laugh as I lean into him. I can’t even disagree because he is completely right.

  Now I know