Slipping Through My Fingers

Chapter Twenty Three

Chapter 23

Rosalie's POV -

"Rose!" Adam yelled, childishly screaming just to prove he had a loud voice.

I rolled my eyes and folded the last piece of clothing and packed it on the shelf of the spacious closet I was now standing in.

"What?" I yelled back; half as loud as he.

"Kitchen ware! Where do you want me to put it?" He shouted in reply.

I fought the urge to leave the closet, find him, and slap him upside his head. What kind of question is that?

"The kitchen!" I cried in an obvious tone.

I heard him bark laughter and then grouch.

"Nate you don't need to hit me anymore! She's here now. Let go!" Adam screamed.

I was almost one hundred percent sure he was screaming loudly so I could also hear. And I was also pretty sure Adam was faking it; Nate most probably didn't even hit him.

The day Nate had found me was my last night at the motel. After that, (because Nate was too lazy to drive) we caught a flight to JFK and drove back to Brooklyn.

The twins had screamed at me for about an hour, then locked me up in a wardrobe for about half an hour - the only reason they let me out was because I pretended to have fainted. Chris gave me the silent treatment and until now, he still hasn't spoken to me.

Adam was wildly excited to see me. And I mean pulling the whole Tom Cruise on the Opera show when he was 'in love' kind of excited. His jumping up and down on the couch was interrupted when Nate attacked him. They fought - well, Adam yelled like a girl and Nate punched.

After that, I scolded Nate, saying that he would have to keep his hands off of Adam if I moved in. Adam took this to his advantage and began using every available moment to try and rile up Nate. Hence the whole Adam yelling loudly.

The twins had taken matters into their own hands and enrolled the boys and I back into school. However, our scholarship had been stripped and so we would have to start paying for things from here on out. And the boys had a camping trip coming up with the school. Adam paid for it seeing as he threatened to contact child services to take my boys away. So now, I had my weekend cleared which was booked for the girls to hang out with me.

And... I was moving into the pool house on the Sanders' property.

Nate interrupted me from my thoughts as he came grumbling into the walk in wardrobe, glaring at me.

"I've changed my mind," He said through gritted teeth, crossing his arms. "I don't want you to move in. I'll do anything to be able to strangle that brat."

Before I could reply, Adam had come walking into the wardrobe, a teasing expression still on my face.

"I'd like to see you try, Mr Grumpy Pants." He winked.

Nate scowled and took a few strides, getting closer to him. Knowing what Nate was about to do, I got into the middle of them, pushing them both away from each other.

"Are you seriously still angry at him?" I asked Nate in exasperation.

"Are you f*cking kidding me? Of course I am! He knew where you were the entire time and didn't tell me. He even called me at five in the f*cking morning asking if I've heard from you, pretending he didn't know shit." He spat.

Adam rolled his eyes, a playful smirk coming along.

"She was bound to run away. I was waiting for the moment to come ever since she told me everything about her. She needed her catharsis, Mr Grumpy Pants, and now she has it. Be grateful." Adam argued.

I frowned, hearing this for the first time.

"Catharsis?" I asked in confusion.

"It was bound to happen, Rose, don't deny that." He said.

"I didn't know that," I asked, feeling myself blush.

Adam knew I was going to run away?

"Rose, don't look so embarrassed," Adam laughed. "You're a teenager, these things happen."

"But-"

"Shh." Adam murmured, pressing a finger to my lips teasingly, earning a glare from Nate. "Be silent young one."

"Said the immature brat." Nate rolled his eyes.

"Adam, leave." I muttered, glaring at Nate.

"Aw," He placed a hand to his heart. "You wound me."

Nate, once again, attempted on moving around me to hurt Adam however I moved my little body into pushing Adam away, dodging a swing from Nate.

"I'm going." Adam chuckled, putting his hands up in defense.

As soon as he left, I returned my gaze back to Nate, scowling.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"You told me you weren't going to try to hit him!" I told him.

He laughed at my frustration and grabbed me by the hand, pulling me to him in a swift movement.

"Can I say something cheesy?" He asked, staring at me intently.

It felt like our locked gazes were so strong, enough to do anything. I allowed my eyes to briefly wonder south, going to his lips where I immediately blushed and looked back at his once cold eyes that were now so warm.

"Yes." It meant to be said aloud but it came out as a whisper.

"I'm really, really happy you're moving in with me."

And there I went grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"For the record, you don't have to ask me if you want to say something cheesy." I told him, smiling still.

"I feel like a girl when I say something cheesy." He grumbled gruffly.

I laughed at his sexist comment and walked out of the walk in wardrobe after I packed the last t-shirt I owned. I didn't have many clothes anyway.

"I think it's romantic." I told Nate purposely, knowing that he'd hate the comment.

His eyes widened and he frowned at me immediately, his expression turning sour.

"If you say that again, you'll definitely regret it." He said seriously, pointing a finger at me.

I grinned cheekily and ducked out of my huge bedroom.

A pool house, by definition, isn't really a house. But this place was massive! It had three large bedrooms, a study, a huge kitchen that I admired to no extent, lounge room, dining room, ensuites, everything! It was quite admirable.

So, I had my own room which consisted of a king sized bed in the middle, up against the back wall, a computer desk with my very own laptop on the right, and to the left was a small couch with a large TV hung adjacent to the bed. And of course, there was the ensuite and walk in wardrobe.

I walked into the lounge room where Adam was packing away plates and cups in one of the pantry cupboards just as I saw Cam and Chloe walk in.

"Is Chris with you?" I asked as soon as I saw the girls.

They both smiled slightly, avoiding my gaze.

"Nope." They answered simultaneously.

"Seriously, if he's with you, tell me. I need to speak with him." I persisted.

They both continued averting their gaze when Nate walked up behind me.

"You sleeping with him or something?" He asked, frowning.

"Nate," I said, using the tone I would use on my brothers when they said something inappropriate, which was, you know, pretty much all the time.

I turned back to the girls and sighed deeply.

"Come on, if he's here and you're not telling me, it's just going to make things even more awkward. Is he here?" I asked again, hopeful.

They both sighed and nodded slowly.

"He's waiting in the car. But don't tell him we told you, he'll be mad at us!" I barely heard them scream because I was out the door and running towards the driveway where I saw his prestigious car parked.

As I neared the car, I saw him sulking in his seat while he scrolled on his phone. I jogged quietly up to the car and quickly tapped on his window loudly, making him jump in the seat, his phone landing on his eye, making him yelp in pain and curse loudly.

I widened my eyes and quickly ducked, hiding behind the car. I was supposed to make amends, not make him hurt himself. I slowly made my way back to the pool house, using the long way where Chris wouldn't be able to see me.

"I've been in here the whole time!" I yelled as soon as I walked in, earning me questioning glances from the girls and amused glances from Nate and Adam.

"What happened?" Nate asked.

"Nothing!" I replied just as the door slammed open and I heard Chris' loud, booming voice.

"Okay, who's f*cking with me?!" He yelled.

I quickly ran over to Nate and hid behind him. I heard him stifle laughter as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"What happened?" Cam asked him.

"One of you idiots came to my window and banged loudly. My eye is killing me!" He yelled.

I felt my arms subconsciously wrap themselves around Nate's torso, trying to shield myself from any damage that Chris could do to me. I heard Nate bark a loud laugh as he using his strong hands to remove mine from around his waist.

"I think I found the suspect." Nate said and even though I couldn't see him, I was definitely sure he was smirking.

I shut my eyes closed as Nate moved in order to show me off. Suddenly, everything went slow as everyone went silent. I had just wished someone would say something, just to ease the tension.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and found all eyes on me, all faces looking amused except for Chris who looked panic-stricken.

"B-bye!" He yelled and ran out the door.

I huffed loudly and sunk to the floor, glaring at Nate.

"What?" He asked, his tone amused.

"You're a jerk."

***

At two in the morning, I heard my phone go off loudly, signalling that my phone was ringing. I grumbled loudly rubbing my eyes. Last time I had gotten a call like this, Adam had told me that someone had broken in to our apartment and stole everything.

I reached my hand out onto the bedside table and found my phone and brought it to my ear once I answered it, my vision still blurry from waking up.

"Hello?" I answered, my voice croaky.

"You don't sound too good, Rose." I heard Nate say on the other line.

"Nate?! What the hell are you doing calling me at this time?" I groaned.

"Woah, you're not a morning person?" He asked.

"Nate!" My tone suggested I was in no mood for his playfulness at this hour.

He laughed and after someone said something to him, he yelled back. Wasn't he at home?

"Who's that?" I asked.

"Uh, Rose, I need you to get to speak to my parents on the intercom." He said.

"What's going on?"

The same voice yelled again and I slightly heard him say to hurry up with the phone call. Nate wasn't home? Then where the hell was he?

"I'm at the police station. I've been arrested." He chirped loudly.

As soon as I said that, I stood up from my bed and fell to the floor from the rush I was in. Arrested? What the hell happened to him? I felt confused, yeah, but with that, I was completely anxious, as if one of my brothers had told me they had been arrested.

I had a whirlwind of questions I wanted to ask. Was it murder? Or shoplifting? But then again, what illegal thing on Earth would Nate want to do? He had money which provided him with everything, a great family (which I met recently), and awesome friends. What was there that he would want to do that would put him in prison?

Did he speed?

"Rose, you still there babe?" He asked amusedly.

I ignored the fluttery feeling of when he called me babe and focused on what was more important. Why the hell had Nate been arrested?

"Why are you in prison?" I asked breathlessly.

He scoffed loudly and I heard a guard scream in the background to hurry up with the phone call.

"Don't worry." He muttered, "I tried calling my parents and Ashton so many times but they haven't been answering. Even Chris wasn't answering."

"So I was your last resort?" I asked deadpanned.

"I didn't want to worry you. Now turn the intercom on and tell them to get their asses down at 298 Classon Avenue." He rushed.

"B-but-"

"Rose, just hurry the f*ck up and tell them!" He snapped angrily, making me flinch.

I didn't get how he was allowed to be angry with me when he was the one in prison. I was the one who thought he was safe, he was in his house sound asleep, or doing whatever he would do at this time of day. But clearly, I was wrong. Nope, instead he had been arrested. Arrested. And he wouldn't tell me what it was for. What the hell is that?

"Okay." I spoke numbly, walking towards the intercom in the kitchen.

"Look, Rose-" His tone turned soft but I cut him off.

"I'll tell your parents. Bye." And without letting him continue whatever it is he wanted to say, I shut the phone and pressed the button of the intercom.

It was then I realised I had no idea what I was supposed to say. What do you say to the parents of your boyfriend at two in the morning when you're supposed to give the news that their son was in prison?

"Uhm, Mr and Mrs Sanders? I know it's really late. Or early. I guess you could use both phrases but um, I just received a phone call from Nate and he told me he's been arrested and he wanted me to get the information to you. He said he was at 298 Classon Avenue." And then I took my finger off of the button.

I waited what felt like forever until I heard the sweet sound of Nate's mother's voice.

"Thanks Rose! We'll go pick him up now. Go back to sleep honey, you have school tomorrow." Why the hell did she sound chirpy, as if I hadn't told her that her son was in prison?

"Uh-Uhm, yeah, okay, thanks." I mumbled incoherently.

I turned the intercom off and dragged myself back to bed. If only that were the case where sleep would just take me after I found out my boyfriend had been arrested. Nope, I was now wide awake.

I angrily picked up my phone and clicked on the iBook app, knowing that there was nothing else to do other than lie in bed and think of all the kind of things Nate could have done to land himself in prison.

So I read a book. Even though I couldn't concentrate on anything, I continued swiping the pages.

At about four in the morning, I heard a car pull up in the driveway. As soon as I heard it, I jumped out of bed, throwing the blanket onto the floor and tripping in the midst of it. I struggled to stand up and ran out of the pool house, obviously bumping into walls and tripping along the wall.

I saw Nate sitting on the hood of the car speaking with his dad who laughed at something that he said. I couldn't find his mother so I assumed she had already gone into the house. But I was confused?

Didn't they just get Nate from out of prison? So why were they laughing? They weren't mad that their son had gotten arrested? I was certain that if I ever received a phone call from one of my boys telling me that they had gotten arrested I would have had a heart attack. Literally.

But Nate's parents were chipper, as if this was a regular thing.

Wait... could it be a regular thing? I vaguely remember Nate telling me that he was a violent person. What if he attacked someone? And weren't they worried that Nate wasn't in the comfort of his house at two in the morning? Rather, he was out, in the midst of trouble.

I stood in my mini shorts and singlet and quickly turned around to wear a robe before I walked out and onto the driveway.

I guess my footsteps made noise because both guys looked up at me. Nate's dad smirked when he saw me and turned back to his son while Nate looked a little panicked.

"Good luck bitch." His dad chuckled before he nodded a greeting towards me and heading inside of the house.

When I heard the door close, I turned back to face Nate who had his eyes on me the entire time.

"So, um," I brushed a few strands off of my hair as a cold breeze flew bye. "You're out of prison?"

Nate rolled his eyes and adjusted his position on the car. I noticed that he didn't try to come towards me. I didn't want to be clingy or anything, but he usually put as little distance as possible between us when we were in the presence of each other. Maybe at four in the morning I didn't look all that attractive?

"Rose, you're so melodramatic. I wasn't even in prison. Well, yeah, they arrested me and locked me behind gates but they released me on bail so I'm fine." He shrugged.

"Bail?" I asked, my eyes widening. "So they didn't let you off with a warning? You must have really done something."

He shrugged but didn't reply, averting his gaze to the perfectly landscaped concrete.

"You aren't going to tell me what you were arrested for?" I asked.

When he didn't reply again, I grew frustrated. But I could hardly bang his head against the kitchen bench top and demand to know information.

"Fine. I'll see you at school." I muttered, turning around to walk away.

"Aren't you riding in the car with me?" He asked.

"Cam and Chloe can pick me up." I said as I continued walking back to the pool house.

"I beat up your old landlord." I heard him say loudly.

Woah... Hold up for one second. Did I just really hear him say that? He beat up the man that wanted to use me as a sex slave?

I frowned, and slowly turned around and instead of seeing him from a distance; he was stand right behind me, a smirk planted on his face.

"I was hardly going to let him get away with the shit that he pulled. He got what was coming."

I felt like I was choking on my breath. I needed more explanation.

"I beat him up pretty hard too," He mused. "He has a broken rib, a fractured wrist and a concussion. I have to say I was pretty proud."

My eyes bulged from their sockets as I heard what he said. Nate beat this man up and got arrested because the guy wanted me to be his sex slave. I get that he was a sleaze and all that but to be beaten up like that?

Nate laughed at my expression and planted his lips on mine. For a while, it was just him kissing me while I stood frozen in place. But then I realised, Nate left his house in the middle of the night to beat up someone for me. Even though it was a completely stupid move, in Nate's wicked, twisted way, he was just showing that he cared about me. So, eventually, I kissed him back.

When we pulled apart, he rested his forehead on mine, smiling cheekily.

"I'll see you before school?" He asked.

I felt too breathless from the kiss to speak so I just nodded my head, giving in. He grinned and slowly let go of my hands before he walked back inside his house, leaving me outside gasping for air.

***

"Rose?" Mike asked while we were in the car, on our way to dropping them off at school.

"What's up?"

"Can we sleep over at Adam's house today?"

Automatically, I frowned. Not because I didn't like Adam - no, I loved him - but if they so early into moving in wanted to go sleep over at Adam's, wouldn't that mean that they didn't exactly enjoy the place we were living in?

"Umm... Maybe we can leave that for another day. Tomorrow you're going off for a camping trip so I don't really want to be away from you for more than two days. Is that okay?" I asked hesitantly.

Surprisingly, he did not seem at all bothered by what I said.

"Yep." He grinned, and just like a goldfish, his attention span from what he had just asked disappeared and he went on to talk about the TV in his room, trying to tease Jace.

I watched them argue in the rear view mirror, amused by their conversation when I heard Nate's voice calling my name.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Don't the boys like the pool house? Are they not comfortable?" He seemed to genuinely care which I found adorable.

"No, they're comfortable. They actually said it's the best place we've stayed in." I laughed, remembering them making a pro-con list about every place we've lived in.

Nate just nodded, smiling to himself.

"Hey boys, do you guys have camping gear?" He asked them, turning around when we landed on a red light.

I was surprised he even stopped. When I rode with him, traffic laws didn't exist. But, I was rather glad that he abided by the rules when my brothers were in the car.

"No." They all sang simultaneously.

"Well, how about I pick you guys up today early from school and take you to the best places to buy camping gear. And then I can drop you off at Adam's house for a couple of hours and then I'll take you home?" I noticed how his lips fought a smile when he said the word 'home'.

They all excitedly nodded and began to chat animatedly about what they wanted to get for the camping trip.

"That's awfully sweet of you." I murmured, smiling at Nate.

He smirked and glanced in my direction.

"Yeah and it's perfect too because it gives to time to cook for me." He smiled smugly.

My smile turned into a glare. Of course, I was a fool for thinking he'd change once I moved in.

"Yes, Rose, I know, I'm an asshole." He laughed.

All three boys froze in their talking and all smirked in my direction. It was enough to know what they were about to say next.

"He said asshole!"

Oh the joy these boys bring to me.

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Authors Note:

I officially have over one thousand reads!! I know that doesn't seem like much but to me, it's like bringing a thousand people to stand in front of me as saying all these people have read what I have written. THANK YOU!! :D

Anyways, to thank you guys for the thousand reads, I uploaded another chapter XD and they're a bit longer.

Updates will take a bit longer cause I'm preparing for my vacation and then I have school!

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Farewell xx