Aces Wild (House of Cards Series 4)

Guidelines

His hands were bloodied and torn open but Nate didn't stop to worry about them, instead checking on Grace's broken nose first. While Jonah groaned on the floor, Nate swiftly straightened her nose out and Grace gave a soft cry of pain. Nate's eyes were filled with a barely withheld rage and he turned from Grace to look down on the groaning Jonah.

"Get out of this house right now." Nate commanded in a low voice, making sure he was between his best friend and the drug dealer. 

It had been a quick, brutal and marvelous fight and had made some deeply repressed part of Grace go all girly. She’d known that Nathaniel was protective of her before but that night had been something special. For a long time Grace had secretly wanted to hear Nate say he wanted something more than friendship or an easy lay from her, but it hadn’t ever happened. And having him run to her rescue had stirred the coals of that pathetic crush back to life, a situation not at all helped by the alcohol she’d had in her system or the fact that he’d then whisked her out of the ruined house party and spent the rest of the night doing his best to ensure she had a good time. She hadn’t been of legal age to go out to a traditional club, but Nate had plied her with liquor at his small apartment and then somehow convinced her to get a tattoo of him on her hip. Grace once again wished she hadn’t had so much to drink that night because she honestly didn’t remember much of anything and it seemed like that was the root of where things went bad for Nate. Was he down on himself because he’d gone ape shit on Jonah? Or was it the fact that he felt guilty for leaving her alone to get into the situation in the first place? If Nate hated himself now for nearly killing Jonah, Grace could logic him out of the funk, but if he felt guilty over not protecting her better she’d hit him herself. She didn’t need a keeper, despite some poor judgments at the time and he should know that by now. Neither one felt right to her though, because even if she had been a bit oblivious to his mood change until now, she also knew Nate well enough to know there was something bigger going on. He was a bit of a flake on occasion, but that was for show. His life motto was not to sweat the small stuff. So something big had happened and she couldn’t remember it.

“Or it’s not your fault at all and something else entirely is causing his PMS.” Grace muttered to herself, trying to pull her brain back into focus. It was too late for this and she scanned the bus arrival times to realize that no, it was just plain old too late. No buses would be coming for a few hours by now so she would have to walk home. In the dark. Alone. Or… she could just call the jackass. It would save time.

A part of Grace really hated the fact that she was once again calling Nate to help her out. Though this wasn’t the same situation at all. Besides, he’d once told her she could do exactly this at any time. So with a shrug Grace texted Nate. At the bus stop outside Opi’s, can I hitch a ride?

It seemed that her best friend never actually slept because not even five minutes later her phone buzzed. T-10. Dumbass. Stay where there are lights and you have something at your back.

Grace felt a mocking smile stretch on her lips. She never grew up with siblings so she wasn’t entirely certain if Nate’s protectiveness was because he figured she was an idiot or a strange form of possessiveness. Either way it was just a part of the relationship they’d always had so she accepted it for what it was. Sweet and friggin’ annoying, and entirely Nate.

She tried to figure out just how to ask him what was eating at him before he arrived but when the car pulled up in front of the curb, she still hadn’t the faintest idea how to ask without it being really obvious. Grace was aware of her own skills and knew that sometimes she wasn’t the most subtle person around. But even she knew that if she just blurted her concerns out Nate would brush them off. Or run away from the conversation again. So she slid into the passenger seat silently and just settled in while he started to drive. Neither one of them talked so it was a comfortably awkward silence as was the norm for them now. It was like they were both on the verge of saying something and yet neither one did. Grace because she couldn’t figure out how not to screw it up and she figured Nate was just trying not to make sarcastic comments about Colby. He did seem to be trying to be nice about the situation. This was just making things worse because Grace had hoped he’d be all jealous and fight for her affections. Well, it certainly wasn’t like the movie set up made it seem like, instead Nate was letting the other man have her. Except for the whole fact that she and Colby weren’t at all actually attracted to each other. Grace felt like thumping her head against the window but knew that she’d be as likely to break the glass as she was to knock the nonsense out of her head.