An incredible relief floods me. I’ve been so stressed about this for so long, and yet here the moment is. I’m free. And it was completely painless.
“What will you do if not Ocean View?” Uncle Benji asks, rubbing his hand over the back of my neck again.
“He’ll come live with me,” Nate interjects.
“What?” Dad demands.
“What?” I repeat, awed as I stare into his honey eyes.
“He’ll live with me. I’ll take care of him, and he can get a job in town.” Nate is staring so deeply into my soul that I think he’s taken up shop there, and every inch of me is vibrating.
“You want me with you? Permanently?” I ask.
Nate grins, a small and private expression. “I said I loved you, didn’t I? I take care of the people I love. You’re an extension of me now.”
“Aww,” Mom coos, clasping her hands together as she smiles at Nate.
“That’s settled then!” Uncle Benji exclaims. “Desert anyone?”
“Wait, we’re just going to accept this?” Dad questions, his eyes flickering between the family like we’ve all gone mad.
“He killed three people for me, didn’t he?” I remind him. “I think I’ll be safe.”
Safe from enemies, sure. Safe from him? Fuck no. I wouldn’t want to be anyway.
“Well, yes, but—”
“I’m thinking cheesecake. Can Felicita make cheesecake?” Uncle Benji interrupts.
“The best cheesecake,” Scarlet confirms.
And that’s how dinner continues. Dad’s complaints go ignored until he shuts up, accepting my fate without any grace. And all the while, as everyone chatters and jokes, I keep stealing glances at Nate.
He doesn’t look at me once.
By the time we’re settled into my childhood bed, I’m an anxious wreck. How is it possible to tell someone you love them, invite them to move in with you, and then ignore them?
I understand we have a lot to work through and that we’re moving incredibly fast, but it was all his idea! So why do I feel like a crazy boyfriend right now?
Nate is lying behind me, keeping me pulled to his chest like I might just slip away in the middle of the night. The air around us is full of the stars he gives me every time we fall asleep together, and normally, I would peacefully drift away at this point.
But fuck that.
“Alright,” I snap, sitting up so that I can look down at him. “What the fuck is your problem?”
“Lie back down,” Nate demands, sending me a scathing glare.
“No! You’ve been ignoring me since midway through dinner, and I don’t understand what I did to piss you off.”
He sighs, tugging on my arms until I’m lying on my side, facing him. “You didn’t do anything. I just… fuck, I’m pissed.”
I knew it. I can read him like an open book at this point.
“Why? If you didn’t want to come to dinner, you should have declined. I didn’t force you to—”
“Could you stop talking for two fucking seconds?” he interrupts. “God, I’m trying to gather my thoughts over here!”
He’s such an asshole. It doesn’t matter how close we get, how much emotion we might show each other; Nate will always be a prick.
