Chapter 35 - Nate
I burst through the door of the penthouse with enough force that it rattles the frame.
I went looking for her for the New Year's countdown, and Reeves told me she left.
She fucking walked out on the event. On me.
“Tessa?”
My voice echoes back at me. Too loud. Too raw. And it is only met with silence.
I pace through the living room, down the hall, my heart pounding against my ribs like it’s trying to break out. The apartment smells like her shampoo, her lotion, the lavender oil she keeps in that tiny roller in her bag...
But she’s not here.
The liquor isn't helping the situation, that much I know. I feel out of control right now, and that is not like me. But she left.
“Fuck,” I bark into the empty space, gripping the edge of the couch until my knuckles go white.
The guy’s filter in behind me, Reeves, Colby, Anders, McKenna and then... I have to blink twice to make sure I am seeing this right.
I bark out. “What the hell is she doing here?”
Colby lifts his hands, confused, drunk. “She… rode with us? She said you wanted her to come...I thought you knew...”
“I DIDN’T,”
Brielle cuts in. “Aaron and I are done. I saw Tessa leave the gala. Thought maybe you’d want...”
I see red. “You thought WRONG,” I snap. “Get out.”
Her lips tighten, eyes narrowing. “I was trying to help. I just want you to know I am here for you, Nate.”
“You don’t get to say a single word about helping me. Not after what you pulled last year." A cold feeling slithers up my spine. "What did you say to her?” I grind out.
Brielle’s expression flickers, guilt, then hostility, then the smug arrogance I remember far too fucking well. “Only the truth,”.
And that sentence is gasoline poured over a match.
“What truth?” I snarl, stepping toward her. “That you torpedoed my life? That you are a money-hungry whore who cheated on me? That you can’t stand the fact that someone else loves me and I love her?”
“You think she’s strong enough for your world?” Brielle hisses, voice like venom. “She’s a farm girl, Nate. She doesn’t belong in the spotlight, and she never will. I did her a favour.”
“I didn’t ASK for your help.” My voice cracks with rage. “What the fuck did you SAY to her?”
Brielle lifts her chin. “Nothing she didn't deserve to know. The truth about the PR, the timing, the deal you made with the team, your contract clauses...”
I don't think. I lunge.
Reeves and Anders grab my arms instantly because they know. They know this version of me. They know how close I am to doing something I can’t undo.
“Get. Out.” My voice is ragged. “Now.”
Brielle smirks at the guys, then at me. “Good luck cleaning this up, Captain.”
She leaves.
The door clicks shut. Something inside me tears wide open. I storm into the bedroom, needing air, needing answers, needing HER.
And that’s when I see it. The closet door is wide open. The dress I bought her is crumpled on the floor, the zipper half broken from when she must’ve ripped it off.
A stack of papers lies scattered everywhere... It takes me a minute to register what was there, what those papers were with.
But then it clicks, and my heart beats wildly. I run back out to the living room and see the guys all standing in front of the island, stiff.
"What the fuck are you doing?"
No one speaks, but when McKenna shifts uncomfortably, I see a stack of binders that makes my blood run cold. I move past them and see it.
Formulas. Appearances. Branding suggestions.
Her name is highlighted.
Her life turned into bullet points.
A page defining alternative solutions if Tessa were to become uncooperative is ripped out, as if she wanted me to know she'd read it.
And on top of the mess...
Her key and a note.
My hands shake as I pick it up.
I unfold it.
I read it.
Once.
Twice.
Ten times.
The room spins.
“She left,” I say quietly.
Reeves steps forward, cautious. “Nate...”
“She left everything. She only took what she came with.” My throat burns. “She thinks I USED her.”
I turn on them. “I have to go to her.”
“You’re drunk,” Anders says. “Sit down. Sleep this off. Give her space and figure out everything tomorrow.”
“If you get behind the wheel, you’ll get arrested,” Reeves adds. “And she doesn’t want to talk right now.”
“SHE DOESN’T GET TO WALK AWAY.” The words explode out of me before I can contain them.
This cannot be happening. She needs to understand. I love her, she needs to know.
I shove past them, stumbling toward the door.
“No, fuck no, I’m going to her.” I fumble for my keys. “She thinks it was all fake. She left me.”
Reeves grabs the keys from my hand. “Absolutely not.”
“GIVE THEM BACK.”
He refuses. Colby tries to step between us. I shove him hard enough that he stumbles into the wall. Everyone freezes. The look on their faces almost breaks me.
Almost.
“Somebody drive me,” I snarl. “Or I will find a way on my own.”
The silence stretches.
Reeves sighs, defeated. “Fine. I’ll drive you. But Nate, calm the fuck down. We warned you that this could happen, and I am warning you now that if you go after her like this, it will not end the way you want it to.”
“I will calm down when she’s back. When she is mine again.”
I don't remember the drive to her place. I feel hot and agitated. My pulse is racing out of control, and my chest feels like someone is squeezing it. I’m out of the truck before it stops, stumbling toward her house.
“Tessa!"
My hand is on the railing when I hear voices, then the door unlatches, and she steps out.
Her beautiful blue eyes are tinged red. She washed off her makeup, but there are still mascara streaks under her eyes and if she hadn't broken my heart by leaving me, seeing her like this would have.
She has an old sweater wrapped around her like she's using it as armour.
“Nate,” she says softly, “go home.”
“No.” I shake my head, fighting the spin of the world. “We’re not done. We are not. Tessa, we’re not over.”
“Nate,” she whispers. “Go home. Sleep it off. And think about what you did tonight. Think about what is in those binders.”
“You’re not walking away,” I lash out. “I’m not letting you.”
“You don’t get to ‘let’ me do anything.”
“Then come with me,” I demand, reaching for her. “Come home with me right now or I stay here. I stay, Tessa. I’m not leaving without you.” I can hear the fear in my voice, but it sounds like it's above me or behind me. The world spins, and I close my eyes to stop myself from falling.
“Go home, Nate.”
“No!” My voice cracks, too sharp, too loud, too desperate.
Behind her, footsteps approach. Adam steps onto the porch, jaw set.
“Everything okay out here?”
Something in me snaps. I point at him, venom rising like bile. “Oh, perfect. Perfect. You call him the second we have a fight? What, picking out your next safe, happy, whole family already?”
Her eyes widen. “Nate. You need to stop before you say something you cannot take back.”
I see the pain in her eyes, and I understand what she is saying, but it is like something takes over, like I am watching everything fall apart and cannot stop what comes out of my mouth next.
“You run to men who make you feel safe, right?” I spit.
“Run to the ones with good families? Good backgrounds? That’s your thing, isn’t it?
You fucked Chase, and what... he didn't want you. So you had to find another family to be a part of. So you fucked me. And now you are going to fuck your way into a life you think you deserve...”
Her hand flies before I finish.
She punches me.
Square in the jaw.
Pain explodes through my face.
I stagger backward.
She stands there shaking, furious, devastated and drowning in heartbreak. “You are an asshole,” she says, voice breaking. “And you don’t deserve a response. I do not owe you a thing, Nate.”
I open my mouth... But she steps between Adam and me.
“But just so you know,” she says, eyes burning, “someone followed me home tonight. A photographer. I didn’t know who it was. I was scared. I called Adam because he lives five minutes away and I knew he would show up for me.”
Blood drains from my face.
“Tess...”
“No.”
Her voice forms into something lethal.
“I was terrified. And you weren’t here. You were drunk at your party.
The party where you used me as a prop, even after I told you I was tired and sick.
I told you. You didn't listen. You lied to me every day of our relationship, Nate. And now you stand here throwing things in my face that you know would destroy me.”
“I... I didn’t mean...”
"Yes, you did, Nate."
"No..." I try to move closer to her, but it's like the ground is slipping away.
“Go home, Nate.”
“Tessa...please...”
Adam steps up beside her. “Nate, you need to leave, buddy.”
“This is between me and her,” I snap.
He takes one more step down the stairs, putting himself between us. “No. Not anymore.”
I lost any control I had left. A garbage can sits to my right. I throw it without paying attention to where it will go. Hard.
It happens in slow motion; Tessa had to step out of the way so the can doesn't hit her.
The look on her face when her tear-filled blue eyes lock on mine...
Adam looks her over and then steps closer. His voice is one I have never heard before. It's low. Controlled. Deadly. “Get him out of here.”
Reeves grabs one arm; McKenna grabs the other.
I resist for two seconds. Three.
Then I break. Not outwardly. Inside. Something caves in.
She stands at the doorway, arms wrapped around herself, the porch light painting her in gold.
I choke on her name. “Tessa,”
She looks at me like she doesn’t know me anymore. Like she’s grieving something that's already gone.
Reeves pulls me back.
Adam keeps himself between us until I’m at the truck.
Tessa turns her back on me and retreats inside.
The door closes behind her. Something about it feels so final.
I look back until the house disappears, vowing to come back tomorrow and get Tessa back.