No Strings Attached

Chapter Twenty One

“Clarke?” Jay’s eyes were stunned as they turned on Nate, “What the fuck have you been doing that she’s throwing Clarke into the mix? That guy’s a fucking head case!”

Nate visibly cooled – an ice cold blast of disdain was emanating from every pore. He was so coolly restrained, he was practically glacier.

“It was fucking personal.”

“How so?” Jay asked in a cocky, sarcastic voice.

“In a way that it’s none of your fucking business.”

Shannon shuffled closer to Nate on the sofa, taking one of his hands and laying it on her lap softly.

“I don’t know him to ‘throw into the mix’ Jay,” she spoke calmly, “We never went for High Tea together or anything! But, after seeing the guy, I just think ... he’s the one you need.”

That jagged scar across his otherwise blemish-free face, those dark forest coloured eyes that were looking through your skin – the man was undoubtedly dangerous. He also had the darkest soul she’d ever seen. If a woman was looking for pain, he’d be the image that they would conjure in their head, envisioning being stripped down to nothing – physically, and emotionally battled through every stage of play. He was a masochist’s full bodied fantasy – bulging, rippling muscles, scars that showed he was no stranger to pain, and dark, penetrating eyes that promised it.

“I don’t want him in my house,” Jay muttered quietly, “I don’t want him around my child, Nate. I understand what you’re saying, Shannon is definitely right, but if he’ll do this, I can’t have him here.”

Nate could only nod in response, knowing that he felt exactly the same way about the guy. He was twisted in with some dark and morbid demons – nobody wanted to subject that beautiful baby girl to that. He was just too unhinged.

“I’ll speak to him,” Nate said gruffly, drawing Shannon into his broad chest, “Are you going to pack a few things?”

She was wrenched from her thoughts of the disturbing, enigmatic stranger in a flurry of confused responses.

“Pack? What for? I only just got home!”

“Nah,” he murmured, pulling his phone from his back pocket and moving to get up, dropping a kiss on her forehead, “I’m not waking up alone again tomorrow. And this place is overcrowded as it is.”

Quietly, she watched him walk out of the room dialling Clarke’s number, knowing arguing with him right now was futile.

“Do you want to?” Tori asked quietly, a small smile on her face, her head still resting comfortably on Jayden’s bare chest, “Move in with him, I mean?”

“I hadn’t thought about it, really,” she answered, “Until he issued his orders! But I guess, I do have to go somewhere, it just feels a little fast ...”