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    Chapter 0527


    I had been naked for a while, but suddenly, with Bridget here now, seeing us, I felt vulnerable and exposed in a way I had never been with just Nichs alone.


    I held up the towel, blocking as much of myself - and Nichs - as I could.


    "What the hell, Bridget?" Nichs snapped. Where my first instinct had been


    embarrassment, Nichs''s had been anger. He twisted me in his arms, hiding me behind the cover of his body as much as he could. "Since when don''t you knock."


    Instead of leaving, Bridget came more fully into the room and then casually closed the door behind her. She turned back around, facing us, and she red at us both.


    "I''d wanted to talk to you, Nichs. Privately, I had no idea you''d have...pany." The word dripped with venom.


    "Leave, Bridget," Nichs said, his voice lowering dangerously. "Now."


    Bridget crossed her arms. "You both must think I''m some kind of idiot. I''ve suspected you have been screwing around for a while now."


    "This isn''t your business," I said, voicing my own displeasure. She seemed perfectly content to stand there and judge our nakedness. "At least tum your back!"


    Bridget totally ignored me. She kept her re leveled entirely at Nichs. "As your friend, it''s my job to tell you how absolutely careless you are being."


    To be fair, we really should have made sure that door was locked. Yet I got the feeling that wasn''t what Bridget had been talking about.


    "Do you have any idea the damage you are doing to Piper by indulging her like this?" Bridget said. Her face was twisted with anger.


    She seemed genuinely upset... on my behalf?


    What the hell was she talking about?


    "Piper isn''t like us, Nichs. She''ll get the wrong idea," Bridget continued. "You shouldn''t toy with someone who might start to dream of a better life than the terrible one that waits for her when she goes back home."


    Wait. What the hell!


    "My life isn''t terrible," I said, just as Nichs said, "I''m not toying around."


    "Oh, really?" she scoffed, and she still wasn''t looking at me. "Then do you intend to marry her? Are you going to make her Luna? The Queen of our kingdom? You think she can actually handle that? Her? Amoner?"


    "That''s enough!" I said. Finched forward, careful to keep the towel covering us, as I more directly confronted Bridget.


    Yes, outrage fueled me, but right there along with it was fear. I didn''t want Nichs to answer some of Bridget''s questions. I had my nice little fantasies. Hearing Nicks shoot holes in them would hurt me too much. I couldn''t even stand the thought of it.


    "Don''t talk about me like I''m not here," I said fiercely. "I''m not some kind of wilting flower who can''t stand up for myself. I don''t need anyone''s ill-guided protection, Bridget. Least of all yours!"


    What a hypocrite. This woman left me in that pit on that jungle ind, and now she was here, wanting to defend my heart from being hurt?


    It was too much.


    "I''m trying to help you, Piper!"


    "I don''t believe you," I snarled. "If you cared about me at all, you wouldn''t have left me in that


    pitt


    "I already apologized for that," she said.


    "You never did."


    "You forgave me!"


    "I said we could move on."


    "Well, you were clearly lying, bringing that up again." Bridget looked down her nose at me, like she was the one up on her high horse, taking the high road, and I was so far beneath her.


    "What I''m saying." I doubled down, "is that you do not have my best interest at heart. Whatever this is, it has nothing to do with me."


    Maybe she was jealous. Maybe she thought Nichs was sleeping with the bottom of the barrel. Whatever she thought, she should just say that, instead of trying to paint herself as my hero.


    "I''m only trying to protect you!" Bridget snapped,


    I didn''t believe her.


    "Get out, Bridget," Nichs said with a growl.


    Bridget made a loud harrumph in frustration. She pointed straight at me. "I''ll leave when she does. For both of your sakes."


    "Bridget," Nichs snapped,


    By now, I had the worst kind of headache. If Bridget really did leave alone, who was to say she wouldn''t being right back with Nathan or a camera crew in tow? It was bad enough that she had seen this much between Nichs and me.


    Even if she had suspected we were together. It was one thing to suspect, and entirely another to see it in action. Whatever else she thought of it, she now knew that Nichs and I were intimate. That was dangerous knowledge for someone as conniving as her to have.


    I ced my hand on Nichs''s chest, redirecting his attention onto me.


    "It''s okay," I said. "I should go."


    Even with the anger on his face, a question raised in his eyes. I knew without doubt that he


    would defend me until the very end of the world. He''d muscle Bridget out of this room if he had to.


    But I didn''t want that. And when his anger eased, he woulde to regret such an


    aggressive action.


    "I''ll talk to you tomorrow," I said.


    Nichs pressed his lips hard together. He waited a moment more, maybe to see if I would change my mind. I wouldn''t. My mind was set. When he realized that, he sighed.


    "At least, wear some of my clothes out there," Nichs said.


    That made sense to me. The guard at the door was sworn to secrecy and discretion, but I''d rather not parade naked around him.


    Nichs turned to Bridget. "Face the wall. You''ve seen enough."


    "I''m not leaving," she said, stubborn, though she didply with the request to turn. She


    faced the door.


    "I only need a minute to dress, then I''ll leave," I said.


    "I''ll wait," Bridget said.


    With her back turned to us, Nichs and I hurried over to his dresser. He gave me a pair of pajamas which I shimmied into in. Nichs also grabbed some pajama pants for himself, which he pulled on without boxers underneath.


    How I wished we could crawl into bed together. What I would have given to go back in time a half-hour or so, to when he was holding me pressed against that door, or rubbing his hands all over me on the shower.


    Sighing, I gave Nichs onest lingering, longing look, which he fully returned. Then, I


    headed toward the door.Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    When Bridget saw I was dressed, she opened the door for me. Out in the hallway, she closed the door behind us. The minute the door was closed, Bridget spoke up.


    "Piper."


    I didn''t really want to talk to her anymore today, but, worried she might threaten to out us, I stopped to hear her out.


    "Nichs will never pick you as his Luna, no matter what you do," Bridget said. "Before you continue to embarrass yourself, maybe you should think about the kind of example you are


    setting for your daughter."


    Shock stunned me for a moment. Then I looked back at her.


    "Do you really want Elva to think your behavior is eptable? Do you want her to think her mother is a whore?"