CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE #2
“Not from me,” he said easily, giving my thigh a reassuring squeeze. “I’ve got no interest in the past when the present looks like this.”
The tight feeling in my chest eased.
I turned my hand over, resting it atop his. “So she’s really just in the past?”
Nathan didn’t hesitate. “Buried.”
That, more than anything, was what I needed to hear.
A slow smile curled my lips. “Good.”
Nathan chuckled, pushing his chair back from the table. “Come on, Cupcake. Let’s get out of here.”
The car ride home was quiet at first, the city blurring past in streaks of gold and neon. Nathan drove with one hand on the wheel, the other resting lazily on my thigh.
I watched him for a moment before breaking the silence.“The restaurant was amazing by the way. How did you find it?”
“I used to go there with my mom,” he said, voice quieter now. “Back when it was just a small family-owned place. Back before Edge Records became what it is today and we didn’t have much money.”
My heart clenched at the mention of his mother. I knew she had died when he was a kid, but he never talked about how.
“She’d bring me there after school sometimes,” he continued.
“We didn’t have a lot of money, but she’d save up so we could split a pasta dish and a slice of cheesecake.
” A ghost of a smile touched his lips. “She had the worst sweet tooth.” Nathan exhaled a quiet laugh, but the warmth in his eyes didn’t last long.
His fingers tapped restlessly against my thigh before he finally looked at me again.
“It was a break-in,” he said, voice steady but hollow.
“I was at a friend’s house for a sleepover.
My dad was working late. Some guy broke into our house thinking no one was home. My mom was.”
My stomach twisted.
“I guess she startled him,” Nathan went on. “So he killed her. Just stabbed her without thinking about how many people's lives would change.”
I reached for the hand that was on my thigh and squeezed it gently.
“I remember coming home the next morning, all excited to tell her about the movie my friends and I watched. There was an ambulance and police cars outside, and I just knew I wasn’t going to like what they told me.
” His throat bobbed. “She was already gone by the time my dad got there. By the time I got there.”
“Nathan…” I didn’t know what to say.
“I still have nightmares about it,” he admitted. “Not about how she died, but about what it must’ve been like in those last moments. If she was scared. If she called for me. If she thought—” He stopped abruptly, shaking his head again. “It’s stupid.”
“It’s not stupid.” My chest ached for the little boy he had been, for the pain that still lived in him all these years later.
He turned his hand under mine, lacing our fingers together. “I don’t talk about it much.”
I squeezed his hand tighter. “You don’t have to.”
Another wave of silence settled between us. Not uncomfortable, just heavy. And in that moment, something inside me shifted.
Nathan had built walls around himself so high that most people never even tried to scale them. But I saw him. Really saw him. The guarded man. The hurt boy. The person who, despite everything, still cared so deeply.
I didn’t want to walk away from that.
I didn’t want to walk away from him.
I swallowed, my voice softer when I finally spoke.
“Thank you.”
Nathan’s brows pulled together slightly. “For what?”
I glanced at him, holding his gaze. “For telling me,” I said. “For letting me in like that.”
Something in his expression shifted and his grip on my hand tightened just slightly. “You never have to thank me for that, Cupcake.”
Something warm and inexplicable spread through my chest. I didn’t even realize we reached my house until I noticed the car coming to a stop. Like always, Nathan rounded the car and opened the door for me before the two of us wordlessly began to make our way towards the front door.
“I would invite you in, but my boyfriend is inside.”
“Boyfriend?” Nathan arched a brow, taking a step closer.
“Yeah. Definitely not someone you should mess with. He’s kinda obsessed with me.” I giggled when Nathan glowered at me. “But he’s really hot, so I guess it evens out.”
“Really hot, huh?” Nathan smirked as he closed the remaining space between us, his voice dropping to a low murmur as he leaned in for a kiss.
“Extremely.” I murmured before Nathan’s lips brushed against mine. The kiss was soft at first, almost teasing, like he was giving me a chance to pull away. But I didn’t. I couldn’t.
The second I sighed into his mouth, he took what little space remained between us and obliterated it. His hands slid around my waist, pulling me flush against him, and then he kissed me like he knew exactly what he was doing to me.
Heat erupted in my veins, scorching away every rational thought. My fingers fisted his jacket as I melted into him, drowning in the taste of whiskey and something inherently him.
Nathan kissed me like he wanted to ruin me, like he was staking his claim, and by the time he pulled away, I was wrecked.
A small, embarrassing sound of protest escaped from me before I could stop it, and Nathan had the nerve to smirk.
His thumb grazed my swollen bottom lip, his gaze dark and knowing. “For the record,” he murmured, his voice thick with amusement and something heavier, “this is me seducing you, Cupcake.”
I was still trying to formulate a response, something that didn’t involve dragging him inside and making him finish what he started, when I felt him tense.
His entire demeanor shifted in an instant.
Muscles coiled tight. Jaw clenched. Eyes turning into steel as they locked onto something behind me.
“Nathan?” My heart stuttered as I followed his gaze.
My front door was open.
A slow, creeping chill spread through my limbs, freezing every ounce of warmth from our kiss.
“I locked that before I left,” I whispered, my fingers tightening around his sleeve.
Nathan didn’t reply. Without a word, he stepped in front of me, his body a wall of tense, protective strength. He reached for the door, pushing it open with careful precision.
The second the light flickered on, my breath stalled.
See you soon.
Three words written in thick, red paint. Smeared across my living room wall like a promise.
The world tilted. A sickening chill slithered down my spine, and my pulse roared in my ears.
Nathan cursed under his breath before turning to me, his expression hard, practically lethal. “Pack a bag. You’re moving in with me tonight.”