Some Place They Won’t Find You || Ian & Nick
Another Saturday night, another party. For two years, Nick McLain had lived the same routine. He’d fire up his security system, lock off the main part of his house and open the front doors of McLain Manor to the Virginia Beach royalty.
And as the blue bloods were drawn to the booze like flies to honey, Nick would retreat up the stairs, pouring himself a drink as he leaned over the railing and watched the party rage below.
He never went down there. Not once it started. Not once it raged. Occasionally, he would see one of his friends find themselves in some kind of trouble. In the early days, Nick had personally fished Colin out of the pool or scolded Sally for working. But now he caught the eye of one of his hired bouncers to do his saving. Not that either needed it so much any more.
In the two years since their inception, Nick’s parties had found their rhythm just as Nick himself had.
So while the party raged below, Nick stood above. Watching down like God surveying his own creation. Drink in hand, he scanned the crowd. He would never admit to himself that he was looking for her. He knew, deep down, he would find her later on his security cameras. But sometimes he also searched for her in the crowd.
He wanted to know the exact moment she would pull herself from the crowd and twist the doorknob, which he’d programed to open only at her touch, and let herself into the rest of his mansion. While he always searched, he never discovered just how long she’d last before going off to finish the party on her own.
But it didn’t matter. Nick wouldn’t follow her anyway. He hadn’t yet and he probably never would. Nick had his his routine and he didn’t break it for no one.
Which is why he checked his watch and when he looked up, as suspected, Ian Porter was there. Nick held out the second drink he’d fixed in preparation. Giving Ian a half grin has he leaned over the railing and scanned the crowd once more.
“Lex already down there?” he opened, as usual.
It had been their system in New York and it was their system now. Lex was down there; in the middle of the action. Ian and Nick and stayed within sight but away from the crowds. Just close enough to be reached but far enough to not participate. It’s how they liked things.
Some traditions never changed.
