Chapter Three
Arriving back from Nathan’s house, Haley ran up the stairs to her room and threw herself onto her bed, burying her face into her pillow and sobbing her heart out. Why did he have to say those three words? Why? She had thought that the first time she’d ever hear those words from a boy would be a joyous occasion but it wasn’t, not when she wasn’t able to return them.
She had told him from the beginning that nothing could come from this; that them being together was just fun… a release from all the pressures in their respective lives. Her from being the good, responsible and reliable Haley James and him from being the king of the school and all the crap that came with that title.
While they were together they didn’t have to think… they could just be. For the first time in her life she felt like she could breathe and it felt so freeing. With him she could be herself and not the girl everyone thought and expected her to be. It was so tiring at times carrying everyone’s expectations on her shoulders and the only time she felt that weight lift was when she was with him. He saw her the way she wanted to be seen and that felt so good, better than she would have ever thought possible.
If someone had told her a few months ago that not only would she be tutoring Nathan Scott but that she’d be sleeping with him too, she would have said they were delusional and laughed in their face. Never in a million years would she have seen it coming. The truth of the matter though was that he hadn’t been at all what she had been expecting. His reputation was legendary and it was damn near impossible to find someone who hadn’t heard about his escapades.
She had guessed early on that he was using her in an attempt to get to Lucas but she hadn’t let on that she knew and it wasn’t very long before she sensed a change in him. Oh, he was still cocky and arrogant and there were times when she wanted to wipe that sexy little smirk off his face but he had genuinely seemed to change as their sessions continued. He opened up with her, confiding in her about the way his dad treated him and letting her catch a glimpse of the lonely little boy she could see within him who felt abandoned by his mother. She didn’t offer up useless platitudes, knowing they weren’t what he wanted to hear. All she did was listen and that seemed to be enough.
As the weeks turned into months, Haley felt them getting closer and she tried distancing herself from him. The main reason being that she was absolutely petrified that they would somehow be discovered by Lucas. He hated Nathan with a passion, resenting everything he stood for and knowing how different things would have been had Dan Scott chosen his mother instead of Deborah Lee. The fact that Dan refused to acknowledge him as his son was something he had told her on numerous occasions that he could never forgive. Not so much for himself but for the fact that by doing so he had cast doubt on his mother, more or less making her out to be a liar and that she had merely been trying to trap him when he was on the road towards a high profile basketball career. It was sweet justice that that hadn’t come to fruition as far as he was concerned.
If Lucas ever found out that she had even been talking to Nathan he would have severed all ties with her regardless of the reason behind it. He had once told her that she was the only person other than his mother who he could trust and truly count on and she knew without a shadow of a doubt that her having anything at all to do with his half-brother would have spelt the end for their friendship. He wouldn’t have cared that it was the director of the Tutoring Center who had assigned Nathan to her, that wouldn’t have mattered in the slightest because he would have expected her to refuse point blank despite the consequences. She knew that in his mind her helping Nathan would be felt as a complete and utter betrayal of everything he had ever confided in her about the way he felt about the Scott family.
That was why the morning after she and Nathan had slept together for the first time she had turned so cold towards him. She had woken up about half an hour before him and she had simply watched him sleep. The scowl he often wore had completely vanished and his face wore a look of total peace. He was so beautiful and she remembered thinking that she could have watched him forever. As she had continued to drink him in, a sense of dread had washed over her at the magnitude of what had taken place. She didn’t regret what had happened in the slightest… it had felt amazing and despite his reputation as the biggest player at Tree Hill High, he had been willing to cuddle with her afterwards which had been so sweet. The warmth of his embrace coupled with the steady beat of his heart had lulled her to sleep and for the first time since her parents had started leaving her home alone overnight, she felt safe and protected.
But reality had once again taken hold and she knew she would have to force herself to be cold-hearted which was the last thing she wanted. It hadn’t been difficult to realise that Nathan craved affection, maybe that was part of the reason he slept around as much as he did but she got a feeling that he didn’t get as much satisfaction as he would have liked from those encounters. She guessed that a large majority of the girls he hooked up with were only wanting to be with him because of his standing in the town and nothing else.
When he had shifted on the bed, she knew he was about to wake up so she had softly kissed his cheek and whispered that she was sorry before getting up out of the bed and pulling on her robe. While she had given him her speech about him needing to leave so she could get on with things, she had been careful not to say that what had happened was a mistake. In truth, she had wondered whether he would say those words to her and she had been relieved when he hadn’t. Gathering up his clothes and throwing them to him on the bed, she had turned her back so he could get dressed. When she had turned back a few moments later after she had heard him zip up his pants, she saw a flicker of hurt in his eyes and she had quickly looked away, knowing her resolve would crumble.
The rest of her weekend had been spent alone. She had debated whether to go and see Lucas but she couldn’t help feeling that what had happened the previous night with Nathan was written all over her face for him to see so she had spent time reading, doing homework as well as just flicking through the various TV stations.
When Monday morning had come around, she had felt nervous but also excited at the prospect of catching a glimpse of him in the halls so she had felt more than a little disappointed when she hadn’t seen him at all. After school she’d had a shift at the café and it was there that Lucas had told her about someone pouring shampoo through his locker. Lucas couldn’t understand why the hazing campaign appeared to have started up again and she had busied herself with wiping down the counter so she didn’t have to meet his eyes. Oh, she knew why it had started again and she was pretty sure she knew exactly who the culprit of the shampoo incident was.
As soon as she had left the café, she had gone straight to Nathan’s house with the intention of telling him the deal to tutor him was off since he had gone back on his word. After exchanging pleasantries with his mother, she had followed the woman’s directions and found his bedroom, not bothering to knock. His back was to her and he seemed to sense who it was that had entered because he didn’t bother turning around. Closing the door behind her, she walked over to where he was and stood in front of him. She could see him trying to act all tough but she saw a glimmer of that scared look in his eyes that she had seen the other night and it seemed to call out to her.
Flashback...
Her stomach hollowed and she felt what seemed to be a thousand butterflies all fluttering around inside it. Without saying a word, she practically jumped into his arms, her hands holding the back of his neck as she raised herself up on her tiptoes to get better access to his mouth. His tongue came out to meet hers and they tangled together as his hands wandered down to her waist before finally resting on her ass.
She felt his erection pressing into her and she found herself undulating against it, wanting desperately to feel him inside her again. Breaking the kiss to breathe in some air, she kissed along his cheek until she reached his ear where she whispered, “You’d better lock the door.”
He nodded and stepped out of her embrace, quickly heading over to the door and turning the key in the lock. They made short work of taking each other’s clothes off and they both sighed at the feel of their skin touching again. Despite it having just been three days since their first and last encounter, it felt like a lifetime ago.
Whereas that encounter had been somewhat fast and frantic, this time was much slower and Nathan made sure to explore every single inch of her body. She had lost count of how many orgasms he had wrung from her just using his lips and tongue before he had finally entered her. Thankfully, she managed to remember that the house was occupied and when her climaxes hit, she covered her face with a pillow and screamed into that but when he was inside her and she came, she bit into his shoulder as her body shuddered and convulsed with the electricity coursing through it.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t cuddle together afterwards like they had the last time what with his mother being there and Haley needing to get home. After she had gotten dressed, she stood in front of him and told him that she was prepared for this to carry on but only if he kept to his word and left Lucas alone. She made it clear that if anyone was to ever find out from him about the tutoring or them sleeping together, then it was over and she would never forgive him. She had forced herself to look into his face even though she couldn’t believe what she was saying and she saw the resigned look in his eyes, knowing at that moment that she held all the control. It should have made her feel good but it didn’t.
End Flashback
Since that day, they had met up as often as their schedules would allow. It was difficult finding places where they could be alone without anyone spotting them so they tended to just use his car. He’d drive them out to somewhere secluded and they’d have sex in the backseat. A couple of times he had managed to persuade her to go with him to his parents’ beach house but she was always so scared that his father would find them there and she couldn’t relax properly as a result.
Dan Scott probably knew from his wife that she was tutoring their son but her real worry was that if Dan saw them together he would suddenly put two and two together and make both their lives miserable as a result. He would see her as a distraction his son didn’t need but worse than that was the knowledge that he’d consider her not good enough.
Her crying slowly subsided and she reached over to her nightstand and grabbed a tissue, wiping her tears away before blowing her nose. Sitting up, she brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She sat there for a little while, rocking herself backwards and forwards before getting up from her bed and going downstairs. Entering the kitchen, she opened the freezer and grabbed a carton of Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food ice cream and then got a spoon from a nearby drawer before returning to sit at the counter. Just as she was about to eat the first spoonful, the doorbell rang and she cursed under her breath. Getting down from the stool, she made the short walk to the front door and opened it, gasping at the unexpected sight of him.
After what he had said to her back at his house, she certainly wasn’t expecting to see him standing on her doorstep.
“Can I come in?”
“I-I don’t think that’s such a good idea. You shouldn’t have come.” Haley tried to keep the tone of her voice cold but it was no use. While her eyes looked up and down the street to see if anyone she knew was watching, she couldn’t help being glad that he was here.
Realising what she was doing, he sighed. “I parked around the corner just in case. Please let me come in… I promise I won’t stay long. I just need to talk to you. To apologise.”
Finally nodding, she took a step back and held the door open a little wider to let him enter, closing it behind him. She felt him follow her as she headed towards the kitchen and grabbing another spoon, she placed the ice cream in the middle so they could share. The quiet sigh of relief she heard escape from him made her feel better and a moment later they were sitting side by side in a semi-comfortable silence as they ate the chocolate and marshmallow confection.