Chapter 28 – nate
NATE
My Porsche screeches as I veer left in the intersection just before the light turns red. Thank god the roads are mostly empty this late on a Wednesday. Nobody to slow me down.
As soon as I saw that Cat’s Uber was canceled, I knew she’d walk home. I’d barely been able to talk her into taking a car at all. She’d go straight back to her old habits, no matter how much I hated them.
Because what right do I have to tell her what to do? We’re not dating. I’m just her boss.
Her boss who’s driving sixty miles an hour down city streets to find her.
I ran right down to the garage when I saw the cancellation.
I just had a feeling in my gut that something bad was going to happen.
Rationally, I know she’ll probably get home safe.
I can guess the route she’d take from her café back to her apartments.
If I’m right, she’ll be walking on a well-lit, well-trafficked road until she gets closer to Allan Gardens.
The dark park she’s been known to cut through before, even late at night.
The place where my cameras always lose sight of her.
Gritting my teeth, I slow the car down so I can scan the sidewalk for Cat. If I find her, at least I can drive her the rest of the way home. She’ll probably call me a crazy stalker, but that’s fine. I’ll accept that if I can just see her and know she’s safe.
There are enough people out walking. I scan every head, every face, looking for the one I want.
With every block, the crowd gets thinner. By the time I’m close to the park, I don’t see a single person until—
There she is.
My system floods with relief when I catch sight of Cat’s distinctive curly blonde hair. The streetlights bound off it in a silvery halo, making her look like some mystical creature. She’s walking quickly with her hands shoved deep in her coat jacket, her shoulders hunched. That’s unlike her.
She glances over her shoulder at a tall man maybe ten yards behind her. His hoodie covers his face, but I don’t need to see it to recognize immediately what’s happening.
He’s a threat, and Cat knows it. But instead of staying straight on the well-lit street, Cat turns into the shaded path into Allan Gardens.
Speeding up his pace, the man follows her.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
My blood rushes like ice in my veins. I’ve reviewed countless tapes of security footage of guys with the same vibe as the one following her. The footage always ends with something awful.
I refuse to let something awful happen to Cat.
I pull the car into the empty space in front of a hydrant, put it into park and tear the door open. I don’t even know if I bother to close it before I break into a sprint. My entire being is focused on one objective.
Get to Cat.
My arms and legs pump hard as I run. The dark outlines of the Allan Gardens gates, then the forest of trees whip past me. My adrenaline is running so high, I can’t feel my burning lungs or the sweat trickling down my neck.
I have to catch her.
A deep male voice rises in the near distance. Fuck, I’m too late—the guy found her.
“I know you got me fired!” he roars. “I don’t know what the fuck you did, but no one in the city will hire me.”
I’m burning through every reserve in my body, moving so quickly down the cement path that my feet barely touch the ground. Cat’s name runs through my head like a heartbeat.
Ahead, I register a fork in the path. One way leads deeper into the trees, the other into a large observatory and greenhouse. I only need to follow the man’s voice to know which way to go.
The second I spot them, time seems to slow down.
I see him—the chef from the restaurant, Harry, the one who was harassing her.
He’s got her pinned up against the conservatory wall, his hands gripping Cat by the arms. He towers above her, and even as she squirms to escape his grasp, she’s no match for his size or the pure rage driving him.
“I’ve got fucking bills to pay!” he yells down into her face. “I got kids and fucking child support! Who’s gonna cover my debts now, hmm?”
“I’m sorry,” Cat squeaks, her voice small and weak.
Then my hands are fisted in Harry’s sweatshirt as I wrench him away from her.
My arm pulls back before it slams right into his fucking face.
I don’t even remember making the conscious decision to hit him, but hell, I like how that feels.
I deck him again, and something inside me roars in satisfaction when I see blood leaking from his nose.
Harry stumbles backward, falling to the ground.
He curls into a fetal position, clutching his nose and moaning pitifully.
Now that he’s down and the threat is neutralized, my tunnel vision expands.
I can feel my chest burning as I gasp for breath.
My knuckles ache, and I have to force myself to unclench my fist.
I don’t recognize myself. I’ve never hit anyone in my fucking life. That’s always been more Beau and Ryan’s department. I saw Luke throw a punch once when a drunk guy came at him, but that was self-defense. Nothing like this. It’s like someone else took over my body when I saw Harry hurting Cat.
“Nate!” she says, making me turn to her. She grabs my hands, looking at them with wide eyes. “You’re bleeding!”
I almost laugh. She’s the one who just got attacked, and she’s worried about me?
I pull my hands from hers and cradle her face, inspecting it for damage. No blood or bruises, thank god. Her pupils are blown wide from adrenaline, and her cheeks are rosy from the cold. She looks unreasonably beautiful, and some fucked up part of me wants to kiss her right now.
Maybe wait a goddamn minute until she hasn’t just been attacked.
“Are you hurt?” I rasp.
Her lower lip trembles. It takes her a second to formulate an answer. “I’m okay,” she says finally. “I’m not hurt. Just—whoa. You’re here.”
Her amber eyes turn hazy as tears form underneath them. One falls, and she touches it like it surprises her.
It takes every inch of my self control not to kick him in the stomach until he’s not just moaning, but screaming in pain.
God, what the hell has come over me?
My body feels hot and cold at the same time, and my hands tremble. I don’t know if it’s from the cold or just the aftermath of the adrenaline. I’m not in my right mind, and the way Cat’s shivering and looking off vaguely into the distance, I’m worried she’s going into shock.
I pull off my coat and drape it over Cat’s shoulders. It comes down nearly to her knees.
“I’m taking you home, Kitten.”
“W-what about H-Harry?” she stutters.
We both look down at him, still in the fetal position. Blood is still blooming under his nose, which I hope is fucking broken. As much as I’d love to kick the shit out of him, getting Cat somewhere safe is way more important.
“Don’t worry about him,” I say. “He’s in no shape to hurt anyone else, but he should make it home okay.”
Unfortunately.
With one last glance at Harry, I wrap my arm around Cat and guide her back toward my car.
There’s probably going to be a lawsuit. Harry knows how wealthy my family is—the second I threw a punch, I opened us up to litigation. Without cameras in the park, it’ll be our word against Harry’s.
Still, I don’t regret it. I’d deck Harry again if I had to—hell, I’d do it again even if I didn’t have to.
That doesn’t scare me as much as it probably should.
When the elevator doors open, Cat just stands there without making a single move to leave.
“We’re here,” I say softly.
She flinches like I’ve surprised her. I grab her hand and pull her inside, guiding her to the sofa to sit.
Since we left Allan Gardens—thankfully, my car was still parked where I left it—I’ve recovered from the fear and surprise of the evening. Cat has just gotten more and more distant. Any color she had in her face is gone.
“How are you feeling?” I ask.
She blinks, looking confused. “Huh?”
Fuck, she’s still out of it. She might even be in shock.
“That’s it. We’re taking you to the hospital.”
“No,” she says quickly. “No, Nate. I want to stay here.”
Looking at her wide eyes, I don’t have it in me to argue with her. I grab a throw pillow and hand it to her. “Hold this.”
She takes it without arguing, hugging it to her chest. If she loses her balance, at least she’ll have something to fall on.
I head to the fridge and pour her a glass of orange juice. I’m not ruling out the hospital yet, but it’s worth trying to give her some liquids and something to raise her blood sugar.
“Drink this,” I tell her, pushing the juice into her hands.
My eyes are glued to her face as she takes a few sips. I have no idea how long it’s supposed to be until I see a difference in her. I rake my fingers through my hair, suddenly full of too much energy with nowhere to put it.
“I’m sorry. That was all my fault,” I blurt out. “I got Harry fired, and made sure he was blacklisted from working in the city. I thought it would make you safer, but it completely backfired. I didn’t mean for it to…I should’ve—”
“You never talk this much,” she interrupts, and I notice she looks brighter. Her eyes more clear. “It’s weird,” she continues, smirking.
I shrug, my lips twitching into a smile. If she’s joking with me, that has to be a good sign.
“Have I mentioned how great your smile is?” she asks me.
I wipe a palm over my mouth to cover a breathy laugh I shouldn't be having given the situation, but I’m just so relieved she seems to be okay.
“Don’t cover it up.” She reaches for my hand and tugs it gently away from my face. “I love it.”
“Good,” I reply. “Because it’s yours.”
I squeeze her hand and sigh heavily.
Fuck. This never should’ve happened.
I should never have let this happen.
“It’s not your fault, Nate,” she whispers, picking up on the subtle shift in my demeanor. “If you didn’t get him fired, he would have tried to force himself on me eventually. I’m just lucky you were there.”
Just thinking about Harry cornering Cat makes my hand curl into a fist. I wince at the pain—I forgot that I split my knuckles punching Harry. Cat catches the movement and she gasps.
“You’re still bleeding! Oh god, Nate, that doesn’t look good. Do you have a first aid kit?”
I shake my head. “Don’t worry about it.”
“That needs to be cleaned and bandaged,” she says, putting down her half-drunk orange juice and marching down the hallway to the guest room. “Wash that in the kitchen, soap and water!”
I wish she would stay sitting down a little longer, but I’m so relieved to see her usual determination back that I do what she says without arguing.
Cat sits back down on the couch, opening up a white box. I guess there was a first aid kit in the apartment. I can’t believe Cat already knows this place better than I do. She only stayed here for a few days, after all.
Sitting down next to Cat, I let her put antibiotic ointment on the wounds.
She’s very particular about it, checking each one for dirt.
I would tell her that she doesn’t have to be so careful, but I don’t want to.
I can’t remember the last time someone cared for me like this.
Tending to me like I’m something precious.
Even when I was a kid, it was never my parents who patched up my scrapes. It was whatever au pair they hired for the year.
Cat hums and puts down the ointment. She pulls off a length of gauze and wraps it carefully around my hand.
“How does that feel?” she asks.
I flex my hand. There’s still some pain, but there must be some numbing agent in the cream Cat used, because it feels better. “Good.”
She smiles, and my chest feels warm. Ducking her head, she brushes a light kiss on my fingers. I cup her face in my hand, making her look up at me.
“My turn to take care of you, Kitten.”
Tearing off a little piece of leftover gauze, I gently wipe the smudged mascara underneath her eyes until all evidence of her tears is gone. Unable to resist, I kiss her on one cheek, then the other.
Her eyes flutter shut, a small sigh escaping her mouth. She lets her head hang back, exposing the long line of her neck. Her defenses are completely down for me, even after the attack.
It’s a trust I don’t take for granted.
I slide her open cardigan down her arms, examining her skin where Harry grabbed her. There are deep red imprints from his fingers, the beginnings of bruises. Even though I feel anger rising in me, I force myself to swallow it. That’s not what Cat needs right now.
Lowering my head, I brush my lips against a bruise on her left arm. Goosebumps rise under my lips as I kiss every spot where he touched her. I wish it could erase the memory of him, or better yet, undo tonight altogether.
“You’re safe with me,” I whisper against her skin.
“I know.” She opens her eyes, her tears gone. “I’ll call the police in the morning.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll handle everything.”
“Thank you. And I hate to ask, but can I stay with you? Just for tonight, I promise. I…I just don’t want to go home. In case…”
She doesn’t have to finish. I can fill in the blanks myself.
In case Harry tries to find her again.
“You never have to ask,” I say.
Taking her hand, I lead her to the guest bedroom. I’d obviously prefer having her in my bed, where I can be sure she’s safe. But I’ve worked with enough victims to know what Cat needs most now is rest. Her system will be completely exhausted. And she might not want a man in her space right now.
I pull back the covers on the bed. “Do you want me to get you some pajamas?”
Cat shakes her head. “I just want to sleep.”
She kicks off her shoes and crawls onto the mattress and I pull the covers up to her shoulders.
“Sleep well, Kitten,” I murmur, kissing her lightly on the forehead.
But as I turn to leave, her hand snakes out and she catches me by the wrist. Her expression is strained as she stares at a spot on the floor, her lips tight like she’s holding back something she wants to say.
Does she want me to stay?
“Kitten?”
She lets me go and shivers, ducking her head as she pulls the blanket up to her chin.
“Goodnight, Nate,” she murmurs and my hands clench as she turns away from me in the bed, curling herself in a ball so small and fragile looking that I want to break Harry’s nose a second time. And then a third for good measure.
I leave the door open a crack as I go, and sink down against the wall outside her door, wanting to be here just in case she needs me.