The Submissive Assassin (BxB)

Chapter 137 - "Say one more word."

That was why Nate broke into a forced smile, exhaling a few uneasy chuckles as he breathed, "She's lying, isn't she? And you'll get mad at me for believing her, that's what it is, right?"

There was no response and Nate thought his heart had stopped. For the first time ever since he had been tortured, the scar tissue that was left behind where his limb had been sliced, began to ache. The memories of all the torment he had experienced, from the moment Dante walked inside his apartment and demanded to be pleased, to when Dante admitted that he loved him after he had been rescued, all of them seemed to flash across his mind in such rapidity that it had barely been a second.

But he shook his head, remembering when Dante had laid beside him, asleep for five hours and Nate had been so infatuated by Dante that he observed every single movement from his body and his face. That Dante would never do that to him, because that Dante loved him and preached about loyalty. "Tell me you didn't kiss her, babe?"

Dante inhaled a sharp breath; that was the first time Nate had called him that. It felt as if his heart was rising up towards his throat, and his stomach turned terribly hard that he felt nauseous. His tongue ran dry, and even though the truth was at the tip of his lips, he felt as if he had forgotten how to speak.

Nate cleared his throat; he needed an answer. And this time, he asked directly, "Did you kiss her, yes or no?"

Dante was able to retain the tears from leaking along his cheeks, but he couldn't stop them from peeking from his eye socket as he watched the series of emotions cross through Nate's face. Especially when he finally admitted through a whisper, "...Y-Y...Yes..."

Smack.

Dante felt the stinging across his cheek.

It took a moment for him to realize what had happened, but when he did, he redressed his head forward and returned his gaze onto Nate. However, he wished he hadn't, because the expression on Nate's face was one that stayed planted in his mind for months, replaying in his nightmares. His teeth were gritted, his bloodshot eye had widened in disbelief and unimaginable pain, and his eyebrows were coiled sadly, as if he had lost everything worth to live for in this lifetime.

Dante tried to extend his hand forward to reach him. "Nate, let me—"

Smack.

That hit was sharper and harder, and when Dante wiped his lip, he realized there was blood. Even so, he faced Nate again and tried. "I don't want to lose you—" Before Nate's palm could strike Dante again, he caught his wrist. He should have known that would have only made Nate even angrier, since he tried to pull himself from Dante's grasp. When that didn't succeed, he tried to slam the instep of his foot into various parts of Dante's body, but it was a strange angle that he wasn't able to hurt him.

That was why he had to admit defeat and hiss, "Let go of me, now."

Dante tightened his grip. "Just let me explain myself," he whispered through a shaky breath, getting closer to Nate. He stopped caring that his family was around, or that they had practice right now and that their father was waiting for him, and he stopped caring that they were all witnessing this vulnerable side of him. He needed to make sure he didn't lose Nate, and if that meant revealing all these sensitivities then he would.

Nate shook his head, his eyebrows curling with such sadness that Dante could physically feel every single jab of sorrow radiating from Nate's body. It wasn't simply the kiss that was causing such agony to ravage through his body, but it was the lost arm, the lost eye, the training that he had gone through for almost a year, losing his family, killing his own mother, being betrayed by his ex-boyfriend, continuously berated by this family that he never even asked to be apart of, witnessing Blue's brain matters across the floor, the crushing noises of Lucius' beating on Blue, Lucius blood-curdling cry as he leaned his entire body weight onto Nate—he had enough.

The kiss was the straw that broke the camels back; it was the last thing to make his entire mental sanity collapse. Even after all he had gone through, the fact that Dante was still around was keeping him afloat, but he had never expected this sort of betrayal. Maybe Lucius had been right, maybe the only way to prevent getting hurt was to protect oneself from the start.

"You lied to me," Nate exhaled through heavy breaths, gulping from the lump that suddenly formed in his throat. The disgust he felt from Dante made him feel as though the hand around his wrist was burning through his flesh. "I thought I meant something to you, but the whole time, you were waiting for your girlfriend to come back."

Eleanor yawned, "Of course he was."

"Say one more word."

All of their eyes widened when they saw a nonchalant Lucius brandish his gun from his waistband and aim the muzzle directly towards Eleanor's forehead. He wasn't sure what he was feeling, but the sentiment roaming his body made him want to kill her, which he easily could with his bare hand. He wanted to reach for her chin and twist it around her neck, and that was why he hissed, "I dare you."