Storm Brew

All I saw was the couch he'd ducked behind.

Not a lot of dust floated around, but debris from the previous intact door littered the floor. My ears rattled for the smallest while; the windows vibrations smothered my low groans, but I did hear the voice...

"Hello, dear brother, long time no see."

We were getting up from the floor—Anna being helped to her feet by Aric , Nate grabbing the wall and me staggering quite a bit.

Aric's movements were the ones that ceased, his head jerking aside. Not anyone else's. His. Meaning, he recognized the voice.

My brain had simply stopped processing—brother?

Aric's emerald eyes glinted brightly, but not with their usual mischief. Startled—that was the word for the emotion displayed across his face.

"My, my, quite the party you've got going on in here." It was a new voice, this time male. "So crowded... I almost feel sorry for crashing in like this. Almost." He mocked boomingly.

"Riley," Aric glimpsed at the girl coming through the blown door. "Nolan," His eyes moved a little more to the outside, where a silhouette of a male could be seen.

At first, Aric appeared mind-blocked—he was shocked—but Aric being Aric, returned to normal quickly.

"Ah, so you still recall your own sister and brother." The feminist voice—Riley—said.

Nate came closer to my side, stabilizing me. I didn't think once of pushing him away, my brain had decided a while ago that all that was happening right here was more important than my love life—definitely.

"More...?" I caught him whispering shortly, and understood his deep confusion.

Aric hadn't mentioned more siblings. Were they Nate's half-brother and sister or were they mine?

"Ha," Aric chuckled letting Anna stand on her own, slowly. "It's very unfortunate that I have to remember it. I wish I could forget."

I took a step into Nathaniel's body, into his hold, and felt his arm rounding my waist protectively like yesterday when I'd been crying... because of...

The floorboards yelped under more weight. I glimpsed at the pair. A girl and a boy.

They stood at the same height, shared the same hazel-green eye color. Their hair would've been as equal as the rest, hadn't it been for the girl's red-purple highlights, covering the true brown, soft tone her brother possessed.

God, even their lips were the same level of construction... and I could see some of Nolan's facials matching Aric's.

"Let's see," Riley lent on the nearby damaged wall. "You," She pointed to Anna. "I've got no idea who you are, though..." Riley placed her eyes on Aric; suggesting something that made him growl. Rolling her eyes, she moved on. "You... wavy hair, ash blond, golden skin—Nathaniel Belanger, you're Aric's little brother." She smiled. "It'll be too bad if I have to kill you, you're hot." The cheeky wink simply made me want to tear her hair off.

Aric didn't respond to the threat to Nate's life—which wasn't big news.

"And you," Riley's eyes sought me, along with a short clipped finger nail, making me feel like I was about to receive punishment for breaking some kind of rule. "You're Melissa Sullivan."

By this time, Nolan, was leaning next to a cracked window glimpsing outside. There was an open space between us and the door; no one was actually standing in the way, guarding it. If we just made a run for it... Nolan's vine colored irises sought mine; his expression was one of utter delight as he understood what I was cooking up. I kept a grimace to myself; it was no use that the door was left unguarded, we wouldn't be able to simply dash from these two.

Riley approached in a sort of slow, measured way. She was studying us, or me. I couldn't tell.

"I don't see the family resemblance," She muttered shrugging. "I don't suppose you'll just come with us?"

Now I knew where she was staring at. Nate's arm—that still circled my waist, even tighter. Attachments were bad news. Too bad I had those, and so did the guy cutting off most of my lower body's circulation.

"I'm not that easy," I gave a phony smile, feeling anger break loose. "I'd say ask the members you sent after me, but they're dead."

I felt Nate's arm drop little by little, and I was nearly certain that there was a turn up of lips.

Anna chuckled lowly coming out of her initial stupor. I'd say she'd been as shocked as we were, and had been accessing them.

Only Aric remained in the same place, staring at every single movement his sister—and mine, I guess—made.

"You're wasting your time. You're not taking her anywhere."

"Is that genuine concern for someone else? Or are you using her to get what you want, protecting yourself like you always do?"

"I always look out for myself, I always will. If you were smart you'd do the same, but I don't need her to protect myself from anything, if anything else, she attracts problems for me and the fact that you don't know that..." He smirked gleefully. "Tells me Vincent didn't tell you why he wants her," Riley averted her eyes with a certain disdain, but returned them to his shortly. "Which I find hilarious, since you were the only two idiots that stuck around." Aric glared at Nolan who snorted. "I guess when you're as short sighted as you it doesn't make a difference."

Nolan stroke me as the silent type, but easily provoked and Aric was probably aiming at that.

"At least, I haven't been the one running for eleven years." He averted his eyes from the outside for a split second. What was he observing, anyway?

"Runnin'? I wouldn't say I've been runnin', unless you call having graduated from the same college twice runnin'. You just haven't been looking that hard, not that I mind."

He graduated twice times? No, seriously, what was up with these two? Were they super geniuses or had they undergone some experiment to enhance their brain cell quantity?

Nolan moved, standing by his sister, and I saw a glinting behind his back—a gun, probably. Right here and now wasn't the best place to wonder about Nate's or Aric's acing-college-capabilities.

"Our Father doesn't care about bringing you back. He does want you dead, though." Nolan said uncrossing his arms. "And since I'd be more than happy to do it, I'd watch your step, brother."

Okay, so Nate and Aric's relationship was bad, but these two... they seemed to have a serious history, the size of Canada. Their eyes were sparking and throwing daggers at one another.

Aric's lips were thinned into a line—but from the corner of his eye he took a glimpse at Nate. Weird. When I glanced upward at Nathaniel his eyes blinked once—at Aric.

Getting weirder.

Aric stood alongside Anna.

"You know what they say," Aric shook the hair from his forehead. "When a door closes, a window opens."

The siblings' eyebrows arched, and I wouldn't have been surprised if they'd share a glance. Though, even I—

My legs were left dangling in the air; my arms were pressed at my sides, not for long though. Somehow after much twisting around I wrapped them around Nathaniel's neck. I wanted to ask what he was doing, I couldn't find the words. The last thing I caught from inside the room was a fight breaking out.

Next, a glass shattering noise surrounded us. I felt Nate's hand pressing my head against his chest, his chin on top of it, like he was curling us together. Then, there was this slow going sensation, a brief sensation of free falling that ended too soon, and with minor pain.

Our eyes came open at the same time, I didn't waste time staring into his brandy irises, instead I glanced around us feeling the fresh air reaching my lungs.

Concrete soil was below us, no longer a carpet. A garbage disposal stood behind. We were on the back ally of the motel.

"This is why it's always nice to stay on the lower floors. It makes for better escape routes," Nate winced digging a small shard of window glass from the back of his hand. "They're less painful, too." He tossed the little thing aside, holding out his other hand to get me up.

I did so, shaking my body to rid myself of all the little shattered pieces. They fell, landing with chinks, some were broken when I stepped forward following Nathaniel.

My hand shot to his bicep, spinning him to face me, partially.

"Where are you going?" I hissed. "We can't just leave, if that's what you're planning."

Nate had given me a short glance before leaning over the building, spying what was on the other side.

"It's not my plan," He informed when I tugged on his jacket.

I frowned only to understand what Aric had said—what his glance had meant. Boy, he was smart. It didn't mean it was a good plan. I couldn't just up and leave without Anna and him.

"We can't just leave them!" I whispered hitting his shoulder for attention. I found my back being lightly pressed into the wall, his hand tapping my mouth shut.

"They're fighting two on two in there, they'll be fine. We on the other hand..." He trailed off stealing another look around the corner. "We might have a few problems, three of them if we're being accurate." He delivered a scolding glare then. "And your yelling, low as it may be, isn't going to help." Nate let me go harshly.

I had to stumble to regain my footing. He was in business mode, great. I loved that Nathaniel—not. If I could cut out any part of his personality, it would be this facade.

"What might help are the fighting skills Aric taught you. Up to it?"

I flipped hair from my eyes. At least he wasn't being over protective; that I liked.

"Yeah," I answered shortly, taking the scrunchy from my wrist making my hair into a pony tail. I didn't need my own hair holding me back.

"Great," He nodded. "Follow my lead." As Nate slipped forward I followed quietly, just as he did.

I saw the three men he'd been talking about. That must've been what Nolan was checking out, if they were in place in case we escaped outside. Damn, why couldn't people not think ahead?

They were guarding our cars, obviously. I knew Nathaniel wanted to get to his Mustang, but it still meant we'd have to take out the other two.

Nate crouched behind an old looking van that was probably abandoned. He moved his hand to the back of his jeans—I saw grimace taking his lips. Oh come on...

"Crap," He cursed. "Looks like I'm going to have to do it the old fashioned way." He sighed looking everywhere. "I'll go first and get their attention, you follow up. Attack from behind, simple, right?" Our eyes linked and I nodded.

Nathaniel wasn't kidding when he said he'd gain their attention. Though, ticking people off was his specialty, even when those people had the upper hand or were already pissed at him—like Sam, had been.

There was a gun shot and I saw my Ex-boyfriend's body rolling on the floor, avoiding a hit. Nate danced around with the man, making him turn his back to the van, where I was waiting for the—now.

My foot crashed behind the man's knee, putting him on a kneeling position on the floor. Nate was gone, already dealing with another one. I took the liberty of ramming the blunt side of my hand behind the Order guy's neck. Since the first one only got him dizzy, I aimed again, this time to the correct spot knocking him out.

One down, two to go.

I grasped the limp hand, unclenching the fingers from the gun. I searched for Nathaniel's familiar shape, finding him going at it near Aric's Porsche. I wondered how angry the dark haired boy would be if his car got its paint scratched—because Nate sent one guy flying at the hood.

I ran to him, watching him elbow the other one; grabbed an arm forcing the foe over his back and crashed him on the ground.

The other one was just getting up.

I was by Nate's side sooner though, handing the "borrowed" gun. He took aim at the disoriented man and shot.

My eyes crinkled—I didn't have time to pay attention to the blood dots flying through the air. Instead, I acted on instinct slamming my foot into his ribs. I saw him cough up before his head lolled to the side; I prayed that he was out cold. Not dead.

I heard a click coming from the gun in Nathaniel's hand. He seemed to be checking for the remaining bullets.

"Damn, my prints are all over this. I'll get rid of it later, right now," Nate kicked the guy I'd stomped and shot his back, over the spot where his heart was. "I'll use it for cleanup service." He approached the one by the van shooting him in the head. "That's a wrap." He tucked the gun on the usual spot.

My eyes glued themselves on the motel room. It was so close and yet...

"Don't even think about it, you're not going back in there." Nate grasped my wrist tugging me towards the Mustang. "There are more of them lurking, I'm sure of it. We need to get somewhere safe. Regrouping is later." Nathaniel opened the door forcing me inside—just like hold times.

I felt like a criminal, with my head being tucked under the car's roof and all.

Nate bent slightly, "They'll be fine. We need to make sure we're, too."

Then, came the slam. Yep, old times.

***

Nate drove for a day and a half, take or leave. He hadn't slept or allowed me to take the wheel; I offered a few gazillion times! When he set his mind on something there was no demoting him.

We barely stopped, the times we did were at gas stations. The sleep I got was in the car, there were no motel stops.

It was easy to know what he drank throughout the little trip.

Coffee.

Loads and loads of it; I was starting to think he was addicted the way he drank it so fast, while it was smoking hot. Ouch, I thought, I would never do that. My poor tongue would be blazing and bristling for days.

Nate had kept me in the blank about where he was driving us. I found out when he finally stopped—for good this time.

He'd driven us all the way from Chicago to Maine; Blue Hill, another small town.

I knew what Aric and me shared—a mutual disinterest for small towns, there was nothing to do. Not that I could do much when my life was on the line constantly.

Sighing, I laid down on the comfy couch. Nate rented a vacation house for two people—it had one bedroom, one bathroom. He rented it for seven nights, because it was the minimum time. Pets weren't allowed, smoking was—how was that fair? I hadn't said anything to the owners because we didn't have pets, still... how could something cuddly not be allowed, while a poisoning habit was?

Anyhow, the Bungalow rested behind the owners' main house. The views from the porch included the sparkling bay and across to Blue Hill Mountain. Just down the quaint porch laid brushed stone walkways, laced with gardens and yard art that made for a truly picturesque setting, romantic even...

It was a delightful, charming and comfortable cottage with a small but fully functional kitchen, a stunning living room, French doors leading to the porch.

The gorgeous bedroom was complete with a queen bed—baring exotic swag curtains—it had an en-suite bathroom, and a door to the outside deck.

Only the bedroom's walls were painted in white, the rest, was a salmon color.

I stared at the ceiling with a void expression.

All my life I had no more than two family members—Elena and George—and now, all of a sudden, I had four? Granted that the only one who'd shown anything good, was Aric. I wondered why he'd done it.

Was it really because he cared, or because he needed me in order to get his revenge?

I sighed feeling that I would've been better off with no family, since it only got me in trouble.

Family sucked… it wasn't just mine. Nate's too. Both of them—the one he'd thought to be normal and the one from the Hive.

Who wanted family when you could pick your friends? That was so much better.

A fridge closing caught my ear, I reared my head in time of seeing Nate.

Messy bed-hair, wearing a very naked chest while drinking from a water bottle and some of it trickled down his chin, going to his…

I closed my eyes before glancing upward, once more.

"There's no food," he called while strolling into the living room, sitting on the brim of the couch I was on.

I blinked, was he expecting me to do something about that? It wasn't like I had Cinderella's Godmother's wand, I couldn't make a mushroom pizza out of thin air.

"I can't imagine where it all went." I muttered sarcastically. "Oh wait, yes I can…" I sat up crossing my arms. "Into your stomach."

Nate's eyes rolled before he leaned backward, trapping my legs between his back and the couch.

"You ate too," he bantered glancing around the room.

I refrained from carrying on with it. It never led us anywhere, it wouldn't change now.

"Has Anna called?" Nate shook his head, I slumped back into the couch. "What if they're—"

"They're fine, can you stop worrying?"

I shot him a dark glare.

"She's my best friend. I can't stop worrying because that's what people do when their loved ones are incognito!" I yelled frustrated.

Nate snorted.

"Nothing I never put up with, Melissa." He jabbed the words deeply, making them sting. I had gone missing twice, so he did have the right to be angry about it, if he wanted too. "What about Aric, I thought you two were pals?"

"Oh yeah sure…" I was still more worried about Anna, call it a hunch, but she had a knack for getting into certain situations. "He knows how to take care of himself, that's what he's been doing all these years." I murmured glancing at Nathaniel. "Your brother… is my brother… how weird is that?"

He grimaced.

"Please don't say it like that. It makes it sound like we're related. It's creepy."

Agreed; when I'd first read the police report I got a really big scare because all I could think was: Aric is Nate's brother, I'm Aric's sister which means… I'm Nate's sister!?

When I got to think it over I realized we weren't connected at all, through blood that was. Aric and I shared the same Father; Aric and Nathaniel shared the same Mother.

"We should go out and eat," Nate piped up. "It's getting late for dinner. I'm going to get dressed."

I watched him go holding in a sigh.

Throughout today I'd been getting a weird feeling, like I was forgetting something important, because earlier when Nate was awake he kept asking how the day was going, if I thought it was a nice weather outside, and stupid things like that; things he never talked about.

I just hoped he was acting weird to hide something, like a call from Anna saying they were in a hospital or taken hostage—and here I was, getting way ahead of myself.

It happened when I was worried.

Minutes later, Nate was coming back from the bedroom wearing a black V-neck, on top was a jacket I'd never seen before—it was leather, but not black, it a dirty white—and his jeans were a dark navy. All in all, the only familiar piece were his black combat boots.

I tried not to frown too deeply.

"Are you ready to go? I'm starving." I kept staring at his eyes. "What?" He muttered, frowning on his own. "Do I have something on my face?"

I shook my head shakily. Nate was just… really well dressed, not that he usually wasn't, but I mean… never this well, like I'd expect him to be if we went on a date.

"L-let's go," I stuttered before clearing out my voice.

He shook his head while going down the porch. I tried to shake myself into reality; we weren't going on a date. Besides, it wasn't like I'd never gone out for dinner with him; I had, almost every night since a few months back.

"Mel," I snapped my head towards his voice. Nate was inside the car, while I was standing in the last step of the wooden porch. "What are you doing? Hurry up." He whined.

I was so out of it right now. It wasn't my fault though, why did he have to go and get all dressed up? And… was that cologne?

God kill me now.

If this was his new method of making my resolve waver… he was pretty darn close—no! I had to stay strong; I couldn't just give up because he'd gotten all dressed up.

Head in the game, I reminded myself taking a deep breath; all I took in was the smell of his cologne, though.

***

When he said "let's go out for dinner", I expected to find myself in another diner, but we weren't in one, or any restaurant, actually.

I had been even more stunned when we past a sign saying: Blue Hill Fair – More Fun Than A Slinky On An Escalator.

No idea what that meant, maybe I was just too stunned to understand it. Because never in a million years would I expect Nate to go to a fair. It didn't seem his type of place, I could totally picture him in a highway out in the desert, drag racing and getting into fights about who'd won—but not in a place like this.

"Huh…" I muttered walking along with him. "What are we doing here exactly?"

Nate gave me a side glance.

"It's a fair, sweetheart, you're supposed to have fun." He stopped walking then, making me do the same. Nate stared at me with some seriousness. "You still remember that word, right? F-U-N, fun." He drew out after spelling it. I slapped his arm for making fun of me, when he understood perfectly what I wanted to know.

At my deadly stare, Nathaniel laughed, making my stomach drop. I'd forgotten how nice it was to hear him laugh. Something only I made him do.

"Why couldn't we have gone to some diner? There are plenty of those." I said hooking my fingers in the belt hoops.

"This place is more crowded than any diner, the more confusion the better." He offered. I waited for him to elaborate but nothing more came.

"What are we going to eat around here?"

"Candy?" His palm pushed me to the side, when a kid rushed past us. I made a face. "What, don't tell me you don't like candy? Everyone likes it."

"Even you?" It slipped out with a little snicker, I could see him do his best not to halt and turn to me with a tick on his face.

"Yes," He sighed. "Even me, or I wouldn't be suggesting it. Why do you keep assuming I don't like what everybody else likes?" I was going for a shrug, he cut me off. "You didn't think I liked reading, ice-cream, surfing—"

"But you don't like surfing."

"Well, yeah, you were right about that one." He stopped by a candy booth, we were standing at the end of a not-too-long line. "Haven't you ever heard that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover?"

While we waited, I took my time to look at the colors blinking around us, like beacons for happiness and smiles.

I'd been to Coney Island with Pacey and Anna once. Anna for pulled a disappearing act on us—we searched over an hour—she was supposed to meet us at one of the haunted houses. We found her on a bench flirting with some cute guy... there was no amend for that girl.

"Candy's not real food, it doesn't fill up our stomachs." I pointed out moving along as a couple departed from the vender's stance.

Nate whipped his head to the side, ridding his forehead of wavy hair.

"There are hot dogs, too." I crossed my arms. "Can't you stop being..."

"What?" I gazed up into the glinting light brown orbs. "Bitchy?" I suggested when his lips curled together.

Nathaniel chuckled deeply, taking another step forward, we were almost there.

"I was going to say, a joy killer, but bitchy works just fine." I fluttered my eyelids looking in another direction that didn't include him. "What color do you want? There's blue, pink—"

"Orange," I confessed before he named every rainbow color. Nate was staring weirdly at me. "It's my favorite color." It seemed unbelievable I'd never told him that, then again, we didn't have much time on our hands just for the two of us. "What's yours?" It came out lower than I'd intended, it got my eyes shying a little from him.

"Ocean blue," He said staring right at my eyes, we had to be mere inches apart now, our arms almost touching. "Did you know..." He started leaning a little closer, as if inspecting something very intriguing. "That your eyes have a little green in them? I hadn't noticed that before." Nathaniel muttered softly, there was a cool sensation of his fingers brushing over my own.

"Dude, are you going to move, 'cuz if you aren't stop stalling!" I saw Nate's eyes roll not even landing on the yelling prick behind us.

Nate handed me the orange cotton candy on a stake as we walked from the line, side by side. He got a blue one. I nibbled mine carefully, but more than once found russet strands getting stuck onto the sugary substance. When I looked to see how Nate was doing with his, it was nearly finished and he'd been tearing chunks of it with his hand. Guess that made it easier...

I leaned my head backward as his hand reached for my cheek, there was a slight bummed expression on him, but he recuperated quickly, grinning.

"There's something stuck to your right cheek." I reached for it, absently, tapping the sticky orange sugar immediately. "Right there," He chucked his stick into a garbage can.

I tried to finish mine as quickly as possible feeling uncomfortable with him standing around watching me eat.

"What do you wanna do?" He asked with a simple smile that made me see how normal of a person he could be—that he was.

My eyebrows drew together softly.

"Why are you asking me? It was your idea to come here." I dug my hands into my shorts' pockets.

Nate's sigh was soft, low and patient, something rare for him.

"Let's go to the booth games." Nate grabbed hold of my hand.

If any other any other guy had done it like he had—completely out of the blue—I'd be blushing in all sorts of red shades.

I wasn't very surprised to see that the booth worker was a man in his forties, with a few gray hairs and not very tall either. Not many people were paying attention to the booths, the man looked quite bored.

I couldn't actually believe that this was happening right now. Nathaniel was normal, date-normal, and I was pushing him away with all my might. When he nodded to the stuff toys on display, I couldn't help but take a look.

A giraffe! My eyes selected. I loved giraffes, they were so cool with their long neck, and... Nate was staring right at me with more than a winning smirk.

Damn him.

"Should have known you'd like cuddly things." Nathaniel scratched the back of his neck. "What is it with you girls and stuffed animals?"

My glare felt like a deep flaring tsunami, "They're cute and fluffy, all the things you boys aren't and they don't go breaking our heart." I severed our eye-link giving a cold shoulder.

My nails dug into my palms as an effort to resist glancing over. He drove me nuts.

"Hey friend, why don't you try to win your lady a prize? Maybe that will cheer her up!" I snorted at the man's words. He was just trying to sell his product, in this case, making Nate play the game, but that would so not put us on better terms.

Nate bared a wolfish grin walking past me, going to the booth.

"Doesn't seem like I have a choice," the ash haired boy shrugged placing enough money for one game on the counter.

"Knock all the cans down, and you can choose a prize." The short man explained.

Nate grabbed a tennis ball. He cracked his fingers loudly gaining a side-glance from me.

With a last glance at the target, Nate threw a fast ball.

In one swift impact all the cans collapsed onto the floor, tumbling one after another, as if they were made of carton.

The middle aged man was blinking down at them. As he set his eyes on Nathaniel they were a little wide.

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone throw like that, not around here anyway." He muttered rearranging the hat on his head, Nate shrugged with an easy-going smile.

"I used to play baseball back in high school." I hid my mouth so the grimace wouldn't be seen; Nathaniel sure knew how to lie on the spot.

The booth worker travelled to where the prizes were.

"You must've been a hell of a pitcher..." I heard. "Which one would you like, young lady?"

I tucked my hair away, leaving only my bangs flowing in front of my forehead.

"The giraffe," it came out between teeth, there were no comments from the man while giving it to me, but my face was far from its normal state—I sure looked less friendly than Nathaniel, which was very surprising. "Thanks," I was already walking from the booth when I said it.

With a silent sigh, I felt Nate falling into pace with me.

"You don't need to be rude with everyone else."

I gazed upward facing him.

"Why, did you buy all the rights to it?" His shoulders slumped a little.

"If I ever thought snarkiness was charming, I must have been high." Despite the words, Nathaniel's arm fell comfortably to my shoulders. "Come on, let's go eat something else, I'm still hungry." He spared me a warning with his beautiful eyes. "Don't even try to say: I told you so."

I felt the words die on my lips.

Two hot-dogs later, I was being dragged to a another place—the second I saw what it was, I wanted to go the other way.

"I'm not going with you on this—this is not a date." I exhaled pulling away from the line. As much as I tried, my legs wouldn't completely agree with me. They didn't move as much as I required them to.

My body was working for the enemy! How could it do this to me...?

"Don't be like this. You're just embarrassing yourself..." Nate hung his head in a shame, definitely dramatizing the whole thing.

For a while, our background music was the whirl and hum of the Ferris wheel gears as the car rose in the air.

We were sitting in the same seat, obviously, but I tried to keep as much distance as I possibly could, using the stuffed animal as a barrier.

Nathaniel's brandy irises were stuck on me like they were searching for something, I couldn't tell what it was. Until I had enough, because one more minute of those warm eyes and I would certainly do something I'd regret.

"Can you please stop staring? This ride is being weird enough as it is." I crossed my arms tightly, gazing up at the sky as we climbed higher and higher. "Actually, all this night is freaky. You're acting... different."

He tossed his head backward, stealing a quick glance at the starry sky above.

"It's only freaky because you're not allowing yourself to have a good time." He commented bristling, then an emotion swam into his pupil as our gazes crossed paths. Nate grunted lowly moving his legs, sighing with irritation. "Look," he began forcing out the word. "I want to talk—"

I gasped, swallowing a yelp as our carriage got stuck on the very top. I glanced down to where everyone was safe and sound—Nathaniel chuckled breathlessly.

"You did this?" I asked already knowing the answer.

He shrugged his right shoulder.

"At least this way you won't run away from me. Unless you jump and become a stain on the ground."

"You say such a charming things..." I whipped my hair around.

"Whatever it takes for you to hear me out," he inched closer making the seat bob, I gripped the railing in front of us. "I want to talk to you," that much I'd gathered. "About the meeting with my parents."

My eyes widened. Nate's face expression shifted into a more private one.

"Did... did something go wrong?" I couldn't keep a tremble from racking my tone.

He tilted his head, "Yeah, I mean, more or less..." he focused on me—solemnly. "I told them what Drew did—everything, from murdering your parents, to trying to kill you, and everything in between." He whispered, fingers pushing across the giraffe to touch my hand. "I thought they'd care the tinniest bit. They didn't." There was a bitter smile spreading. "They did want me to take back their last name, so the contracts I got done in the future would give prestige to the family—"

"They wanted you to take her place?" I got off my chest a little loud. "That's what you're saying, isn't it?" I asked quieter, afraid I'd gotten it wrong. These days, I wasn't sure how much I could trust my brain. With a nod from him, I cast my eyes lower, staring at his neck—catching a glimpse of the silver chain. "Oh," I breathed. "Well..."

I wanted to ask what he'd said, or what he was going to do now but... I couldn't find enough courage in my being. If this was goodbye... it still hurt.

A cool touch showed up—it slowly became warmer, spreading across my cheek.

"It's what they want," Nate bowed his head down. "But it's not what I want." He whispered in my ear, lifting my face.

I furrowed my thin eyebrows. Nate straightened, not pulling away.

"I... don't talk a lot about feelings. You know I'm really bad at it..." He ranted before drawing in a sharp breath looking a little lost for words. "And I really don't trust people," I curled my fingers into his. "But," he pronounced sounding decisively. "I trust you." Even if I already knew it, it still made my eyes grow, the intensity he always placed behind that phrase amazed me each time.

"Nate..." I whispered as he brushed my lips with a finger.

"No, this is important." He paused, breathing tenderly. "I... wanna make it work. No matter what, because what I want is you. It will always be you." I fidgeted closer and I was pretty sure the stuffed animal was getting compressed between our bodies. "All my life I've tried to make other people happy and satisfied, I thought it would get people to like me." He shook his head with a sad glint in his dark pupils. "I was wrong, I realized that when I met you. I never meant for you to like me—not even remotely and still..." he caressed my temple with a soft brush of his thumb. "You fell in love with me." My heart was on a drum-roll, chills ran down my back. "You told me to choose. The Hive or you," my shivers amplified as he closed his eyes pressing our noses. "You asked me what I wanted..." my heart skipped a beat, fingers digging his jacket lapels. "I don't think there was ever a choice to be made, but if there was, it's been made since I met with my parents."

He exposed his eyes to me—the gates to his soul and I could swear I felt my own tinkling with what was running through my head.

"You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. Losing you would be dying, Melissa. It would be tossing happiness out the window." His breath spread over my lips. "I choose you and I always will."

With a fierce pull, Nate came to me.

An explosion of memories broke though. My arms wrapped above his shoulders, ever so slowly, my mind focused on bringing us closer, feeding the fire. My hands laced behind his neck. Below the smell of cologne was the cinnamon scent, natural of him—Nate's hand fisted into my hair massaging it to the roots, keeping us there.

Kissing him after so long felt so perfect... something this perfect should be deadly. The scorch of his lush mouth was a welcome old-friend, I took his lower lip, nibbling it. He grunted hauling me closer. His lovely clothes were suddenly a real inconvenient, my skin hummed for his. Nate drove his mouth down my chin, flames licked my stomach. A void was filled with each second we spent pressed into one another.

The carriage bobbed and I managed to pull apart, before speaking I licked my lips.

"Wait," I breathed extravagantly fast. "When... when did you decide this?"

Nate's flushed cheeks came closer, his nose nuzzled mine. The starts of a smile touched my lips, but I wanted to stay alert for the answer so I cocked my head.

He took a long breath.

"Since I met with them—but I knew what I wanted before, I just needed... to talk to them."

Okay, I could respect that part, but the other...

"Why didn't you say so sooner? Do you know how much it's been killing me to stay away from you?" my fingers delved the back of his hair, he moaned softly. "Don't smile, it's not funny, Nathaniel."

The devilish smile softened into a caring one.

"I thought it would be a nice surprise for today." I perked an eyebrow, he chuckled with a shake of his head. "You really forgot?"

"Huh?"

His lush lips touched mine, lightly, before moving to my ear.

"Happy birthday, Mel." His words were warm, joyful and struck a cord inside my heart.

My head fell to his shoulder as I felt momentarily stunned. I'd... actually forgotten my birthday? Not that I had a calendar or phone to check the date, still it was embarrassing. And all Nate had been asking and doing tonight made sense.

I dug the giraffe from our middle hugging it, at the same time I clung to his arm with a genuine smile.

"It's the best birthday present you could've given me." I didn't meant the stuffed animal and he understood.

When I caught him staring again I caressed his stubble.

"What?"

"It's just so nice to see you smile." He pressed a lingering kiss to my temple.