Painted Faces (44 page)

I let my phone ring out and then get up to have a wander about. I'm lost in thought. I find myself standing watching some drama group put on an art installation, while a bunch of people stand by and watch. Some guy right behind me sidles up and tries flirting. I can't even rally up the energy to be polite. I just shake my head at him and walk away.

After that I bump into Harry and Sean, who pull me along to some place called the Zen Gardens, which are, in my opinion, an effort to replicate the whole Woodstock hippy thing. At first I'm wary, but after a while I find myself taking part in a yoga session and having a great time relaxing. I end up sitting drinking chai tea and talking about life with a guy who may or may not be a Buddhist monk. I'm not sure whether or not it would be rude to ask.

I spill my guts to him, telling him all about Nicholas and my broken little heart. At the end of my rant he simply gives me a serene smile, says something in Chinese, and then walks off to refill his teacup. A fat lot of good that did me. Then again, it did feel relieving to get it all out.

It's around ten-thirty by the time we get back to the camp site. It's relatively quiet since most people haven't started making their way back for the night yet. Harry and Sean have started to get all lovey-dovey, so I leave them to it and head over to the tent I'm sharing with Anny. It's only when I get close to it that I realise I'm hearing sex noises. Just great. I warned her to go to another tent with Eric, but did she listen me? No she bloody well didn't.

I sit down on the grass in the dark and drop my head into my hands. I let out a little manic laugh and rub at my temples. All the calm I took away from the Zen Gardens is quickly dissipating.

I hear somebody zip open their tent just before Nicholas' voice asks, “Fred, are you okay?”

I turn around to find him sticking his head out of his tent; his hair is messy and it looks like he'd been sleeping.

“
I'm fine, except for the fact that Anny is shagging somebody in our tent when I told her not to. What are you doing here? Didn't you go with Nora and the others to listen to some music?”

He scratches his head. “I wasn't really in the mood. I'll go see some bands tomorrow though. Where have you been?” he asks.

“
Harry and Sean took me to do yoga. It was actually kind of fun.”

Nicholas crawls further out of his tent. “Now that's something I regret missing,” he mutters in a low voice.

What does he mean by that?

Anny's currently making these high pitched yipping sounds and our tent is shaking from side to side. The girl really has no shame. I feel kind of bad that I've never had a deep enough conversation with her where she could have told me what caused her to become so slutty. Perhaps she has daddy issues. As I said, she's only ever really been a casual “going for a night out” sort of a friend.

I let my face drop into my hands again. “Jesus, I can't believe all my things are in there,” I mumble. “Thank God everything's zipped up and I didn't take out my sleeping bag yet. I guess I'll just have to wait until they're finished.”

I glance back at Nicholas and he's glaring in the direction of my tent. “She shouldn't be leaving you with nowhere to go like this. It isn't right.” It looks like he's grinding his teeth in anger.

“
Anny doesn't exactly think with her brain all too often; she's more inclined to go where her knickers tell her. I've only got myself to blame for organising to share with her anyway.”

Nicholas stares at me now, taking me in. “Come and stay with me for the night,” he says softly.

“
Nicholas, I can't...”

“
I don't mean like that,” he interrupts. “I just mean to sleep. I've got the biggest tent out of all of us and there's only me in it. I've got more than enough room.”

I glance at his tent. It's true, it is the biggest. It could fit at least four people. I turn back to him. “Okay then, but I haven't got any of my things.”

“
I'll go and get them,” he offers, walking towards the shaking tent where Anny is still being way too noisy. You'd swear she was in there with Enrique Iglesias or something. I can't imagine Eric (or whoever she's with) is
that
skilled of a lover.

I stand up and pull him back by the arm. “You can't go in there, they're still...” I trail off and gesture animatedly at the tent.

Nicholas smirks. “I don't care what they're doing Freda, I'm getting your bags for you. Now go get in my tent. I'll be back in a minute.”

I nod and crawl inside, and God the whole place smells of him. It's almost too much to take. His sleeping back is spread out on top of a mat and it's slightly crumpled. So he
was
in here sleeping. I find the idea of Nicholas trying to get some shut eye while the young people are out getting wild and drunk so incredibly adorable. This big sexy man going to bed early. There's a discarded t-shirt in the corner. I check to make sure he's not on his way back yet and then pick it up and inhale deeply. Look, I'm not trying to be creepy, I've just missed his smell so much.

I hear him approach and then shove the t-shirt back where I found it. He crawls inside the tent with an amused expression on his face.

“
What? What happened?” I ask, curious to know what he saw Anny doing.

Nicholas shakes his head and makes a show of zipping his lips. I can't
believe he's not going to tell me what he saw. He hands me my stuff, then slips off his boots and jeans before getting back into his sleeping bag.

“
Nicholas!” I exclaim. “You can't just not tell me. It isn't fair, now I'm dying to know.”

He turns over and props his head up on his arm. He sucks on his bottom lip for a moment. I watch the movement with riveted attention. He has really nice lips. And he broke my heart. I have to remember this.

“
She has two guys in there with her, Colm
and
Eric,” he answers finally.

I put my hand to my mouth in shock. “Oh my God. This is a new extreme for her,” I say in surprise, and to be honest, a little edge of disgust. Two guys aside, she's only just met them. Plus, Colm's a sleaze bag.

I glance at Nicholas out of the corner of my eye. “I knew something was up, she was making an awful lot of noise. What were they doing?”

“
I'll leave that to your imagination, I think,” he answers with a grin.

“
Fine, I guess I don't really want to know anyway,” I say, and begin pulling off my boots. I open my bag and pull out my night clothes. Nicholas is watching me.

“
Turn around for a minute would you?”

He sucks on his lip again and I have to clench my thighs together, because just watching him do that makes me tingle between my legs. It reminds me of when he went down on me. After another second he shakes his head and turns over. I pull my dress up and over my head and then shimmy into my shorts and t-shirt. I leave my socks on because it will probably get cold later. I'm busy tying my hair in a bun when I glance up and suddenly realise that Nicholas has turned back around.

“
What are you doing?!” I exclaim indignantly.

He smirks and shrugs his shoulders. “I thought you were finished.”

“
I would have told you if I was finished,” I huff and roll out my sleeping bag, before zipping it open.

“
It's not anything I haven't seen before,” he whispers.

“
That's not the point,” I whisper back.

“
Do you want to know what my favourite part of your body is?” he asks, leaning forward.

“
I'll take a wild guess, shall I?” I roll my eyes and nod to my chest. There are goosebumps on my arms. Goosebumps I'm having a hard time ignoring.

“
Nope, though they are a close second,” he says, looking smug and playful. I love him when he looks playful. I hate that I love him when he looks playful.

“
Go on then, enlighten me,” I say, trying to sound bored. It's not like I'm
dying
to know or anything.

He reaches forward and traces his hand over my stomach. “This part. It's all round and soft. I'd love to fall asleep right here.”

He flattens his palm out low on my belly, the ends of his fingers are a little
too
low, brushing the top of my knickers which are beneath the shorts.

I suck in a breath and try to regain my composure.

“
Good to know. You can move your hand now,” I breathe, my husky voice betraying me. Nicholas telling me that his favourite part of my body is the part I'm most insecure about is too much, too close.

He rubs his thumb over the skin peeking out of my t-shirt and then pulls his hand away. I lie down and try to get comfortable, but when I close my eyes all I can see is his face, all I can feel is the memory of his hand on my stomach. I shift my sleeping bag over a little so that there's more space between us.

“
Those two nights we spent together in Edinburgh were the best of my life,” he whispers into the darkness of the tent. I can hear far off noises and music, but that doesn't negate from how quiet it feels right here, how strongly his words mark me. “I've never been with a woman that intensely before. It feels like forever since I was last inside of you.”

My breathing becomes heavy. “Let's just go to sleep, Nicholas,” I whisper back. “I'm exhausted.”

“
I'm not sure if I can sleep with you right over there.”

“
You're going to have to try.” There's pleading in my voice. I hope he can hear it.

He lets out a long breath. “All right, sweet dreams Freda.” I hear him shift in his sleeping bag and then he doesn't say anything more.

It takes me ages to get to sleep, but I drift off eventually. When I wake up it's morning and there's condensation built up on the roof of the tent. I glance over to the side to find that Nicholas' sleeping bag is all rolled up and he's nowhere to be seen.