The Forbidden and The Reckless - Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Nathan sighed with frustration as yet another call to Haley went straight through to her voicemail. Why the hell wasn’t she picking up? He’d been trying her all night without success and he couldn’t help feeling scared that his ass of a half-brother had somehow convinced her that he wasn’t worth bothering with or that he’d given her some kind of ultimatum.

There weren’t many things that scared him but the thought of not having Haley in his life… not being able to touch her or talk to her… it pretty much terrified him.

Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was getting close to midnight but he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep without knowing what was going on. Getting up from his bed, he shoved his cell phone into his pocket before grabbing his jacket off of the back of his chair and making sure he had his car keys. He opened his bedroom door as quietly as he could, not wanting to alert his parents – especially his father – to the fact he was heading out so late and on a school night.

He was almost to the front door when he suddenly heard Dan’s low, menacing voice coming from the dark living room.

“And where do you think you’re going at this time of night, son?”

“Out.”

“I see that. Where?”

“It’s none of your business,” Nathan said, his fingers gripping the door latch.

“As long as you’re living under this roof it is my business.”

“Dad… Look, I—”

“Turn around and go back upstairs. I expect to see you up at five for our run so you’d better make sure you get a good night’s sleep.”

“No, I have to go and—”

“I’m not kidding, Nathan,” Dan interrupted again, coming up behind his son. He tilted the glass of scotch he was holding up to his lips and took a sip. “Get back upstairs and go to bed. I won’t tell you again.”

Releasing a heavy sigh, Nathan slammed his hand against the front door before turning and storming past his father.

“She’s not worth it, son.”

His father’s words stopped him halfway up the stairs. “What did you say?”

“Your little tutor… She’s not worth jeopardizing everything you’ve worked so hard for.”

“I don’t know what y—”

“I’m not stupid, Nathan. I know all about your fun and games with your little friend and I don’t care what you have to do to end it but it stops now. Understand?”

Walking back down the stairs, Nathan shook his head as he laughed humorlessly. “You’re unbelievable, you know that? My relationship with Haley has nothing to do with you and if you think I’m going to break up with her just because you’ve told me to, then you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Relationship? Don’t make me laugh. The only reason you’re with her is to screw with Lucas and from what I saw earlier, I’d say your plan worked like a charm.”

“What are you talking about?” Nathan asked, frowning as he saw the pleased expression on his father’s face.

“I was taking a customer on a test drive earlier and as we turned a corner, who should I see but your little tutor running along the street. From the glimpse I caught of her, she certainly seemed upset,” he informed him, not even attempting to hide the smirk that stretched across his lips.

Nathan felt sick and he had a strong urge to hit his father and wipe that stupid smirk off of his face. Shaking his head, he walked past Dan and opened the front door, making his way towards his car.

“Get back here, Nathan!” Dan shouted, not caring about waking up his wife or their neighbours. “I’m warning you!”

Ignoring him, Nathan unlocked the vehicle and climbed in. He couldn’t help feeling anxious and had a sinking feeling that despite her earlier promise to him, Haley was going to try and break up with him again in an attempt to salvage her friendship with Lucas. Seeing his father heading his way, he quickly started the engine and after putting the car into gear and releasing the handbrake, he sped out of the driveway and began the short drive to his girlfriend’s house. At least he hoped she was still his girlfriend.

* * * * *

Haley stared up at her ceiling, lying in the same position that she’d been in ever since she’d arrived home from Luke’s. Her parents, thankfully, were away visiting her brother this time so she hadn’t had to deal with them wanting to know why she’d arrived home so upset.

She’d been crying for what felt like hours… actually it probably was hours since it was so dark now. God, everything was such a mess! While she knew her best friend needed to know about her and Nathan, a part of her desperately wished she hadn’t told him. Just the thought of not having Lucas in her life… it made her sick to her stomach and as she lay there, all she could see was the mixture of disappointment and disgust etched upon his face.

A tapping sound at her window brought her out of her thoughts and rolling off of her bed, she went over to see what was causing it. Seeing a dark silhouette standing on the front lawn, she instantly knew who it was and her heart rate quickened. It felt like déjà vu as she looked down at him from behind her curtain and the only thing missing was the rainstorm that had occurred that first night. She knew he wasn’t going to leave until he’d spoken to her and taking a deep breath, she left her room and went downstairs to let him in.

Nathan released the breath he’d been holding when he saw the front door open and he slowly made his way towards her. “Hales…” he whispered.

Fresh tears pooled in her eyes and opening the door wider, she reached for his hand and pulled him inside the house. As soon as he was close enough, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly; her face buried against his chest.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he whispered into her hair as he rubbed his hands up and down her back.

“No… it’s not okay, Nathan. He… he hates me and I can’t blame him. Not after what I’ve done to him and—”

“What have you done to him, Hales?” he interrupted. Gently easing her away from where she rested against him, he cupped her face and wiped her tears away with the pads of his thumbs.

“I-I’ve hurt him… You should’ve seen the look on his face. I’ve never seen him look at anyone that way before and to have it directed at me… I just…” Her voice broke as her best friend’s face popped into the forefront of her mind again and she was reminded of the harsh, angry words they’d exchanged. The sound of her hand slapping his face still echoed in her ears.

“You didn’t mean to hurt him though,” he told her. “As far as he knows you’re just tutoring me and—”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “He knows it’s more than tutoring.”

“Oh.” That definitely made more sense considering how upset Haley was, although he wouldn’t have put it past Lucas to make her feel bad about just helping him with his schoolwork. “I thought you weren’t going to tell him about that just yet.”

Haley gave him a pointed look. “I wasn’t but when he started badmouthing you I instinctively came to your defense,’ she informed him before continuing in a quieter voice, ‘As soon as I’d done that he… he knew and there was no turning back.”

Nathan’s heart swelled at the fact she’d come to his defense and lowering his head, he captured her lips and kissed her hard. He threaded his fingers through her hair to hold her steady as he all but devoured her, moaning when she slipped her tongue inside of his mouth to tangle with his own. The knot that he’d felt in his stomach all night started to loosen now that she was back in his arms.

“God, I love you,” he whispered long minutes later when they’d finally drawn apart to breathe in much needed air. Resting his forehead against hers, he nuzzled their noses together before popping another kiss onto her tempting lips.

“I love you, too,” she said quietly, her hands cupping the back of his neck as they gazed into each other’s eyes. “Can you stay here tonight?”

Nathan nodded. “Yeah… I was hoping you’d want me to stay.” He kept to himself that going back home and facing his father wasn’t something he was looking forward to doing anytime soon.

Smiling shyly at him, Haley pressed a kiss onto his cheek before walking behind him and closing the front door which, in her crying state, she’d forgotten to do when she’d pulled him inside. Making sure to lock it, she took her boyfriend’s hand in hers and started leading him upstairs to her room. Once inside, she watched as he kicked off his shoes and removed his jacket, hanging it over the back of her desk chair before stripping down to his white T-shirt and blue plaid boxers.

“Nathan… um…”

Looking up at her from where he sat on the edge of her bed, he saw her standing by her dresser, her teeth nibbling on her bottom lip. “Yeah?”

“Can we just cuddle tonight?”

He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile as he pushed himself up off the bed and closed the short distance between them. “Of course we can. Wait, did you think I came over here tonight for sex?”

“No… no, I didn’t think that at all, Nathan. I… I don’t know why I said that. Just ignore me, okay?”

“Now, why would I want to ignore my insanely hot, super-smart girlfriend who I can’t get enough of?” He smirked.

Haley couldn’t help but laugh at his words while at the same time blushing.

“I love it when you smile,” Nathan told her, leaning in to steal a kiss, his arms tightly banded around her waist.

“We should get some sleep…” she mumbled, reluctantly pulling back from him.

“Uh huh…” He knew she was right but he couldn’t seem to stop himself kissing her some more.

She gasped into his mouth when she felt his fingers slide beneath her sweater, slowly pushing it up her torso and raising her arms, she helped him pull the garment up and over her head, leaving her clad in just her white lacy bra and her jeans.

Nathan desperately wanted to explore every single curve of Haley’s body but he knew she just needed him to be there for her tonight and so he did his best to quell the hunger he could feel rising… along with a certain part of his anatomy. Picturing himself punching the crap out of Lucas for making her cry in the first place helped do just that. Pressing a kiss onto her forehead, he went over to her dresser and opened up the drawer where he knew she kept the blue T-shirt of his that he’d left behind and which he knew she liked to wear to bed.

“Thanks,” she said, smiling gratefully at him as she quickly removed her bra and then pulled on the soft cotton shirt; a light blush tinting her cheeks.

“You’re welcome.” Taking her by the hand, he led her over to the bed and pulled back the covers so she could climb in first. Getting in after her, he laid back against the pillows and drew her against him. Her head rested on his shoulder while one of her hands lay on his chest and their legs tangled together.

“What are we going to do?” Haley whispered several moments later, breaking the comfortable silence that filled the room.

“About what?”

“Lucas. I… I don’ t know if he’ll have told anyone about us so… people will know, Nathan.”

“So?”

“What do you mean ‘so’?” she asked, propping herself up on her elbow.

“I mean that I don’t care if people know about us… I want them to. I want everyone to know that we’re together. I want to be able to walk you to class, kiss you in the halls… eat lunch with you.”

“Nathan…”

“What? Isn’t that what you want, too?”

“Of course it is but… I-I don’t want it to look as if I’m rubbing this in Lucas’ face. I need to fix things with him and—”

“You want us to act like nothing’s changed, don’t you? Haley…” he trailed off and released a heavy sigh as he ran a hand through his hair.

“It’d just be for a little while…”

“Right.”

“I just… People are going to be staring and judging us when it’s none of their business.”

“I don’t care what anyone else thinks.” Shifting over onto his side, he cupped her cheek in his palm and nuzzled his nose against hers. “I love you, Haley, and that’s all that matters. I couldn’t give a crap what anyone else thinks.”

“But I do, Nathan. I’m not used to having everyone’s eyes on me and I just know that as soon as I step inside that school that that’s exactly what’s going to be happening. It’s one thing for them to have maybe heard rumors about us dating but if they don’t see us together, then maybe we can still keep it private until we’re ready to go public.” She paused for a moment before saying in a quieter voice, “I just don’t want to give them more ammunition.”

Nathan watched her for a few moments and seemed to notice for the first time the toll this was all taking on her. He reluctantly nodded his agreement and rolling onto his back again, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her towards him, tucking her against his side so she could rest her head on his chest. “Okay, we’ll do it your way.”

“Thank you,” Haley whispered, tilting her head back and pressing a kiss onto his jaw.

Smiling, he couldn’t help teasing her. “You do know you’re going to have to make it up to me when everything’s sorted out and our relationship is public knowledge.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Uh huh,” he replied, his fingers lightly tickling over her side.

“I guess that’s fair,” she told him, her own fingers idly playing with the waistband of his boxers.

“And I see you’re not playing fair right now, Hales.”

She giggled as she decided to go easy on him and slid her hand back up to rest over his heart. When her laughter faded away, she whispered, “Thanks for coming over tonight.”

“You don’t have to thank me… I needed to see you and make sure you were okay. I just wish I’d called or come over earlier like I wanted to.”

“It’s okay… I should’ve called you.”

Nathan tightened his hold on her when he heard the sadness return to her voice. “You can always call me.”

“Thank you. You know the same goes for me, right?”

“I know,” he answered, kissing the top of her head. “C’mon, let’s try and get some sleep before I lose control and try and have my wicked way with you, after all.”

Snuggling further into her boyfriend’s warm body, Haley chuckled at his words. Despite still feeling horrible for what had gone down earlier with Lucas, she was feeling much better thanks to Nathan’s presence and his attempts to cheer her up. “Night, baby.”

“G’night, Hales. Sweet dreams.”

Nathan was still wide awake long after he’d felt Haley drift off. He hated seeing her so unhappy and the knowledge that he was a big part of the reason behind it wasn’t sitting right with him. The last thing he wanted to do was talk to his moron of a half-brother but if it helped make her feel better and meant that their relationship could finally be out in the open, then he was prepared to at least give it a try.

He could only hope he didn’t make things even worse than they were already.

TBC

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