“I didn’t run, Nate,” I answer softly. My chest feels heavy and my throat feels clogged.
“You should have, Tillie.”
“I, wait— what? Now you’re saying I should have run?”
His mouth comes to mine, but not enough to kiss me, only enough for his lips to lightly tease mine. He growls out so softly that I almost miss it “Yeah. To me.”
Pain flashes through me and threatens to take hold when his hand gently comes to my neck and his fingers wrap around my throat. “But you didn’t.” Abort, abort. His soft tone is now replaced with anger, venom dripping off every syllable. “Now you’ve caused a whole lot of shit that could have been avoided. So I’m going to ask you again, as me. As fucking Tillie and Nate.” he kisses me this time. His soft lips brushing over mine. I don’t open at first, afraid that letting his tongue slip inside of me will also grant him access to my soul. He pulls back slightly, and I have to hammer down my breathing. His eyes search mine. “Are you hiding something?”
I shake my head, the lie falling effortlessly from my mouth. “No.”
He growls, and I barely hear it over the pounding of the rain crashing against the leaves, then one of his knees presses between mine, spreading my leg wide.
I swallow. “Nate…”
His other leg joins, pressing my other wide until I’m open season for him.
“Nate…” I repeat myself, hoping it’ll snap him out of it.
“Shut up, Tillie. Me having my dick exactly where it wants to be right now is balancing out the fact that I want to kill you. I’m seeing fucking red right now, baby, and you have the flag hanging off of your sweet little ass.”
We’re doing this. Right here and right now.
His hand grazes up my outer thigh, hiking it up his hip. His head tilts back, his eyes searching mine. Water dropping off his long eyelashes. “Want me to fuck you right here in front of Brantley, maybe show him exactly how loud you can scream?”
I clench my teeth, narrowing my eyes. “Why stop there.” I grin, my eyes flicking to where Brantley is leaning up against a tree trunk, a toothpick flicking around in his mouth. “Why not let him join? I mean, I’ve heard that you’re not against sharing, in fact, you all share your girls around pretty—”
His hand flies to my throat and he clenches down until I struggle to take in any air. “I’m not Bishop.” This is the side of Nate that is hidden in the shadows of the cheesy smile he parades. His demons dance behind his mischievous eyes, not at the front like Bishop and Brantley. Boys like Nate are lethal, because you fall for their charm, their jokes, and their beautiful faces. By the time you find yourself lost in their darkness with their demons lurking around you, it’s too late. They suck you in with charisma and spit you out with sin.
“Bishop didn’t allow it to happen, Nate, you just did it anyway.” I grate my teeth together. For the first time since I’ve been back, I’m annoyed at the hypocrisy of Nate. He’s been with Tatum for months, seeing each other—in fact—and he has feelings for Madison too. Regardless whether Madison is now with Bishop, Nate still has feelings for her and before I can stop myself, I’m raging with undiluted jealousy.
He’s watching me, but I suddenly don’t care. My eyes go back to Brantley. “Wanna fuck me, Brantley?”
Brantley doesn’t flinch, not the slightest bit of surprise flashes over his face. The toothpick slows down, his eyes falling down my body, stopping, and then coming back to meet mine. Brantley is everything your parents told you to run from—if you had parents, which I didn’t. He’s not just bad, he’s evil. You can see it in his eyes, how they look through people. He’s cold and irrecoverable, but I bet he’d be a good lay. Bonus points too because it’ll piss Nate off.
“Don’t call my bluff, Tillie. I’ll let him fuck you so hard you won’t be able to walk straight for a week just to show you how much I don’t give a fuck about you anymore.”
“Then do it,” I bite down in an attempt to simmer the rage that is threatening to spill out of me. “Maybe you can show him how you fucked Tate.”
Brantley must have pushed off the tree because suddenly he’s looking down at me, his boots near my face.
“You weren’t kidding. She’s fucked in the head. It’s hot.”
Nate leans down and bites my lip between his teeth. “You have no idea.”
My arm goes around Nate, and I grind into him. He stills, searches my eyes and then groans. “You really want to do this?”
My eyes flick up to Brantley and then come back to Nate. “In the time that you’ve had me pinned to this dirty ground, getting drenched in rain after running from you for fifteen seconds, and again, after you kidnapped me, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m mad at you, so yes, I do want him.”