by Chloe Walsh
"I'm scared," I admitted then when the sound of the school bell filled my ears.
"Don’t be," Nate assured me by saying. Wrapping his arm around me once more, he walked us towards the entrance of the school. It was a beautiful morning and I wanted more than anything to cut school and spend it outside with him. "If anyone, and I mean anyone, gives you an ounce of shit, you tell em come talk to me."
"Yeah, okay," I muttered sarcastically.
"I mean it, Andi," he replied. Holding the door so I could walk in first, Nate reclaimed my hand and walked me to my locker. "You're my girl now and if someone upsets you, I wanna be the first to know about it."
"Why?" I teased. "So you can kick their butts?"
"Absolutely," he shot back without a hint of humor. "It's one thing to call me names," he added. "I'm a bastard and probably a helluva lot worse besides it." He rolled off the words and I knew he truly didn’t care what people thought about him. "But no one talks about you like that. You got it?"
I could feel dozens of pairs of eyes on us; mine and Nate's relationship obviously causing a huge stir at school, and still I'd never felt safer than right now with him.
****
Chapter Ten
WE WENT STRAIGHT TO Nathan's place after school and camped out in his bedroom for the rest of the weekend. His mom was gone again, no surprises there, so we made the most of having some alone time. Jackson didn’t call, either, demanding I come home. I guess he knew what the response would be. I helped Nate tidy up the trailer after his momma's latest episode and he tried to tell me not to the entire time. I knew he was embarrassed, but I had a mother who'd done so much worse.
I was so deeply enthralled in this boy, I couldn’t seem to remember where I started and he ended. I was invested in this relationship. Wholeheartedly. And I knew he was too.
"Sing with me," Nate asked on Sunday afternoon as we lazed about in his tiny bedroom. Neither of us had been outside the four walls of this trailer since Friday evening, and if I had my way, I'd never leave again. All weekend we had talked and fooled around and then talked and then fooled around some more.
"What?" I raised my head to look at him. Nate was shirtless and barefoot, clad only in a pair of sweatpants as he messed around with his guitar. I was lying on the end of the bed, dressed in one of his tee shirts, and listening to him play contently, or at least I had been up until about ten seconds ago. "Nate, no. Jackson's the singer in our family." Adjusting myself so that I was sitting cross-legged on his small, twin-sized bed, I nervously re-braided my hair. "I'm no good."
"Bullshit," he shot back as he began to strum on his tattered six string. "I've watched you my whole life, Adriana Davis. You got air in those lungs, baby." Smirking, he leaned back against the headboard and cocked a brow. "Sing."
He looked so damn appealing with his bare chest on full display and that guitar cocked against it chest, I could hardly concentrate on anything else. His tattoo sprinkled arms were tanned and muscular as he played. He kept his eyes on me the entire time, watching me like I was something special – making me feel like I was something special.
Oh lordy.
Clasping my hands together, I listened hard to the sound of Nate's guitar as he strummed the intro of Tracy Chapman's Fast Car, listening out for my cue.
"See!" Nate teased when the song was over. "Voice like an angel, girl."
"More like the voice of an old crowing hen," I giggled.
"Well that crowing hen just got this rooster going," he shot back with a wolfish grin before checking the screen on his phone.
Without a word, Nate placed his guitar on the floor and retrieved my school bag. On his knees, he unzipped it before rummaging around inside it for a few seconds. When he pulled his hand out, he held a rectangular shaped, leather purse in his right hand.
My insulin bag.
Equally wordlessly, I flopped onto my back and watched through hooded eyes as he prowled towards me.
My heart hammered against my chest as Nate slowly rolled the hem of my shirt upwards, revealing my bare stomach. With gentle fingers, he knelt over me and stuck me with my pen, releasing into my body another dose of insulin.
He kept his eyes on me the whole time, watching for a reaction, any reaction, and as my body greedily accepted the lifesaving medicine, my clit pulsed with a different kind of need, but one equally as necessary.
"I've seen you with no make-up on," Nate purred as he replaced my pen back in its purse and slinging in on his nightstand. "I've seen you covered in dirt." He crawled over me, hovering above my shaking body. "I've seen you cry, seen you smile, seen you come…" Ducking low, he brushed his lips to mine. "But nothing…" He kissed me again. "And I mean nothing, compares to seeing you naked in my bed."
"I'm not naked right now," I whispered, blue eyes locked on his.
"Exactly."
With his knees on either side of my legs, he caught ahold of the hem of my shirt and dragged it off my body. "See?" he said gruffly as he gently pushed me down on my back. "Fucking perfect."
The things he could do to my body. I was fairly certain this wasn’t normal. Boys weren't supposed to have the ability to make a girl ache and tremble all over with just words.
"Do you want me, Andi?" he purred, hovering above my naked body, teasing me with his smiles, making me delirious with want. He slipped between my legs and rubbed himself against my bare body. He still had on his sweats and the friction was too much for me to handle. "Hmm?"
Pinned to Nate's bed, with his full weight pressing down on me, I let my thighs fall open, giving myself fully to the boy above me. Nodding eagerly, I reached up and pressed my lips to his, moaning loudly when he crushed his against mine. I was drowning in the sensations that came with loving this boy and as his hands roamed over my naked skin, my heart hammered so hard in my chest I thought it might explode.
"Yes," I cried out against his punishing kiss. Gasping, I begged, "I want you to take me like you did that first night." Dropping my head back on the mattress, I exhaled shakily and looked into his dark, hooded eyes. "Please?"
"I fuck to the mood I'm in," Nate growled as he lifted himself above me and kicked off his sweats. "And that night I was crazy." Reaching towards his nightstand, he grabbed a condom and quickly unwrapped it before rolling it on. "You," he groaned as he settled between my legs. "You make me crazy." He thrust himself inside of me and my back arched upwards. "I can't be perfect with you. I try…" Groaning, he hitched my thigh around his hips and sank into me. "But I'm not a good guy, Andi." Hissing out a sharp breath, he upped the ante, fucking me harder…faster. "You sure as hell know that, but I'm here." He slipped a hand between our bodies and pressed his thumb against my clit. "And I love you."
The pulsing in my clit was so intense it was almost painful. I could do nothing but mewl and buck beneath him, begging him to make me come. "I love you…too," I cried out, thrashing beneath his hard, toned body.
My words of love only urged Nate on and took his fucking skills to a whole new level, pounding me so hard my body jerked clean off the bed with each thrust. His jaw was clenched, his muscles straining, as he rode me hard and rough.
"Future wifey… Future baby mama, girl," Nate bit out. Clamping his hands on my hips, Nate pumped into me until I came; hard and convulsing around him. "You're my endgame, Andi Davis," he groaned as he came hard inside of me.
****
Chapter Eleven
EVERYTHING ABOUT MY LIFE changed when Nathan Cole publically claimed me as his girlfriend.
All the comments and teasing I'd suffered at school, and all of the dirty looks and not so inconspicuous pointing? Yeah, that all stopped the moment people realized that making fun of Nathan Cole's girlfriend was a sure way of getting a butt whooping. Nathan Cole wasn’t my fake anything anymore and he was letting the whole world know it.
Jackson and Nathan didn’t sit together at school anymore. They didn’t speak or look at each other in the hallways, either. In fact, my brother made it his mission
to pretend Nathan Cole never existed in the first place, and Jackson didn’t speak much to me, either, but at least he was leaving us alone.
Deep down, I think Jackson knew that he was no match for Nate, and the fact that Nate was willing to go public with me? Well, I think Jackson respected him for that. Though I knew he'd never in a million years admit it.
Because of this, Ivy had pulled further and further away from me. We only spoke in class now, we rarely sat together and never at lunch. One thing I did know was that she and Jackson had become a couple. He'd finally asked her to go exclusive with him, and of course, she'd said yes.
I knew I should have felt sad over the way things had turned out, but I didn’t. I had Nathan Cole and, as selfish as that made me, I didn’t feel an ounce of regret over my choice. I was falling into the black abyss with this boy and I didn’t care. I was barreling head first and I never wanted to stop falling. The intensity of being around him; it was too much. Like when he held my hand in the hallway at school, or waited for me outside my classroom. How he publicly chose me over Jackson and made no qualms about it. It meant so much to me.
And Nate asked my opinion on things. He listened to what I wanted. He took the time out to please me; to make sure I was happy, and if I wasn’t he went to the trouble of finding out why I wasn’t and then more trouble fixing it. I'd never had a person in my life who cared for me like Nate did. He completed me and I knew that wherever we ended up on this road, we'd be okay because we had each other. I knew we were on borrowed time. I knew the moment my parents returned from St. Barts, all hell would break loose, but I wasn’t as afraid as before because I knew Nathan would protect me. I had him and his love and support gave me the strength I needed to stand up to my father. It was inevitable that I would eventually have to.
One downside of being Nathan Cole's girlfriend was the fact that I wanted to spend my every waking hour with him and he had a job. It wasn’t like the usual job most seniors held for extra spending money. Nate depended on his wages to pay the bills and feed himself. It had been that way for him since he was old enough to change a tire and it made me sad.
"Do you want to come over to my house tonight?" I asked on Wednesday as we got in the lunch line at school.
Nate smirked and shoved our tray up the counter. "On a school night?"
"Don’t act so shocked," I teased, poking him in the chest gently. When Nate flinched from my touch, I frowned in concern. "What's the matter with you?" I asked, eyes locked on him. "Are you hurt?"
"No, of course not," he said as he quickly paid for our food before picking up our joint tray.
"Don’t lie to me," I accused, watching his face like a hawk. He was smirking at me like my concern was funny. On the contrary, I wasn’t one bit amused. "Nathan, tell me what's wrong with you!"
"Fine." Chuckling, he handed me our tray before grabbing the hem of his shirt and lifting it up.
"Oh my god," I squeaked when my eyes landed on the slightly inflamed and evidently fresh tattoo on Nate's chest. A bar code with the numbers 08-31-2001 and the words Andi above it and endgame underneath. "What's this?"
"What do you think it is?" he shot back with a grin.
"Is it…" I took a step closer to inspect it more closely. "Is this for…"
"You?" Nate filled in before dropping his shirt back down and relieving me of the tray. "Of course." He pressed a quick kiss to my brow before sauntering over to an empty table. "It's the date we first met." He pulled out a chair for me and then sat down beside me. "I knew it then just the same as I knew it now." Reaching forward, he grabbed a plastic enclosed sandwich and unsnapped the cover. "You're my endgame, Andi."
"Nate." I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The emotions bubbling inside of me raged out of control. "I don’t know what to say." I shook my head and stared at the side of his face. "Should I get one, too?"
"You?" Nate cocked a brow in amusement. "As in the girl who gets squeamish taking her insulin? Nah, baby. You don’t need to do that."
"I just love you," I choked out, feeling overwhelmed with emotion for this boy. "So much."
"Then keep on just loving me so much," he shot back with a wink. "And I'll be happy."
****
Chapter Twelve
"SO, YOU AND NATHAN SEEM to be doing okay?" Ivy's voice penetrated my thoughts as I attempted to concentrate on my school work. I really wasn’t in the mood for talking to Ivy today. I had been feeling ill since I got up and I didn’t think I had the patience to listen to whatever she had to say. I hated that I sounded bitchy in my own mind, but I just felt so off.
"We're fine," I replied, not taking my eyes off my textbook. I wasn’t sure what Ivy expected me to say to that question. It wasn’t as if she was a fan of me and Nate being together. In fact, she had been less than supportive. Taking my brother's side over mine had wounded me deeply, but feeling the need to fill the awkward silence that had enveloped us, I asked, "What about you and Jackson?"
"It's good," she gushed, leaning closer to me. "So freaking good, Andi."
"That's nice," I replied, forcing a small smile for the sake of a lifetime's friendship. I wasn’t feeling well today and this talk wasn’t something I felt like wasting my limited energy levels on.
"Andi," she said then, tone serious and full of emotion. "I don’t want things to be like this between us." She sighed heavily. "I miss you."
"Neither did I," I replied as I furiously scribbled down some notes. "I miss you, too."
"Do you think we can fix this?" she asked with a hint of hope in her voice.
Exhaling wearily, I placed my pencil on my desk and turned to face her. "I never stopped talking to you," I told her. “I didn’t change. This isn’t on me, Ivy." She flinched, but I didn’t take it back. It was the truth and I wasn’t taking the blame for things I hadn't done anymore. "I've always been your friend," I added softly. "You're the one who chose to ignore me."
"But Jackson…"
"No." I shook my head, interrupting her. "But Jackson nothing. You and me. We were friends first and you walked away from me when I needed your support most."
"So what are you saying?" Her eyes filled with tears. "You don’t want to fix our friendship?"
"No. I'm not saying that at all," I replied calmly. "I'm saying I never had a problem in the first place. Whatever happened between us, it happened because you let it happen. I haven't changed, Ivy. I'm still very much me." Shrugging, I returned my focus on my work. "If you want to repair our friendship then that's your choice, but I won't beg to be your friend."
The bell rang then, thankfully, and I rose from my seat before she could say anything else.
"See you later," I offered with a half-smile as I tucked my books in my bag and walked towards the exit.
My disappointment when I reached the door and didn’t find Nate waiting for me outside the classroom was evident. I felt so unwell and just wanted to bury myself in his arms.
"Andi?" Ivy asked in a concerned tone as she came to stand beside me. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," I whispered, placing my hand on my forehead. "I'm…I’m fine." I took a step forward and staggered.
"Whoa, you don’t look okay," Ivy announced. Rushing over to me, she caught hold of my arm, steadying my shaking body. "Oh my god, Andi," she hissed, touching my forehead with the back of her hand. "You're burning up."
"I'm…" Shaking my head to rid myself of the dizziness, I took another few wobbly steps. "I just need…a minute –" The words were barely out of my mouth when my legs gave away beneath me.
The cool concrete beneath my body and Ivy calling out my name was all I remembered before the darkness engulfed me.
****
I AWOKE IN THE NURSE'S STATION with a throbbing in the back of my head, a panging taste in my mouth, and Ivy Dupree's big brown eyes looking down at me.
"You scared the shit out of me," Ivy hissed before throwing her arms around me. "What the hell, Andi. I thought you were dead."
"Sorry?" I o
ffered lamely. Shuffling so that I was resting my weight on my elbows, I looked around the room in confusion. "What happened?"
"What happened?" Ivy balked. "Oh my god, girl. What happened was you collapsed outside Trig." She pressed one hand to her chest and used the other to fan her face. "I was so scared, Andi. So freaking scared. Don’t you ever do that to me again, ya hear?"
"I don’t even know what I did in the first place," I admitted. "I took my insulin before school."
"Yeah, I know, but the nurse thinks you might have heatstroke or something."
I frowned in disbelief. "In October?"
"Hey, I didn’t say it." She held her hands out in front of her. "Goddamn, I think I aged ten years in the past twenty minutes."
"Hey, thanks for staying with me," I mumbled, feeling touched that our friendship was still there somewhere. "It means a lot to me."
"As if I'd leave you here on your own," she replied with a swat of her hand.
"Andi!" The door of the nurse's room flew inwards then and in stalked Jackson. "Jesus Christ, Andi," he hissed, sagging in visible relief when he realized I was okay. "What the fuck happened?"
"Heatstroke," Ivy replied solemnly.
"Heatstroke?" Jackson cocked a brow. "In October?"
Ivy shrugged. "That's what the nurse is saying."
"Have you been taking your insulin?" he demanded, quickly falling back into his overprotective brother role. "At regular intervals?"
"Yes, Jackson, I have..."
The door of the nurse's station flew inwards again and the moment my eyes landed on the intruder, all of my fear and anxiety evaporated.
Nathan stalked towards me like a man on mission, not stopping until he was in front of me with his hands on either side of my face. "What happened?" he demanded, tone gruff, as his gaze roamed all over me. When he didn’t see any visual damage he visibly sagged in relief.
