Another Man's Treasure

8. Lost Keys

Nathan was there and...saved me?

He did and he drove me all the way to the hospital which was kind of him.

I know where he live. Maybe I should-
No! That would be too weird. But I don't have anywhere to go and I'm really exhausted right now. My heavy eyes just wants to sleep.

Okay, fine. I'm hailing a cab.

...

"Hi, what can I help you with?" The lady behind the desk greets me with a smile.

I nervously bite my lip leaning in closer to her. "Hi, I need to speak with Nathan Lane. Is he here?"

This is just sad.

The lady frowns. "Are you related to him in some way?" She asks looking me up and down, and it makes me a little self-conscious since I don't look the best right now.

"Yeah, I'm his second cousin." I internally slap myself for lying to her. "Can you just call him, it's very very very urgent. We were supposed to uh discuss a family matter. And time cannot be wasted." I say confidently obviously cringing at my own words.

She reaches for the phone. "Right, Madam. You can take a seat over there while I try to reach him." A nervous smile on her red lips.

I take my guilty seat while I wait.
Will he even come down? Honestly, I don't think so. If he doesn't then I'll probably go to Christian.

I gaze around the hotel lobby and it is just beautiful, very elegant with the gold furniture and shiny marble floors, and an indoor water fountain. There's a restaurant and bar area right next to the stairs with a more dark toned theme.

We're clearly from two different worlds.

I feel a pair of eyes on me and look up to see who it is. There he stands, looking at me.

I stand up finally reaching him. "I-i."
No words can form if I don't know what to say to this man. It was a mistake to come here.

"It's okay." Nathan takes my hand in his guiding me into the elevator.

The receptionist looks at me funny.

I can't say anything, I don't know what to say. As we going up the air between us is so quiet, and I realized that our hands is still clasped together. I look up at him waiting for him to let go. But he doesn't.

"Uhm, Nathan." I motion to our hands and he clears his throat instantly letting go.

I close my hand suddenly missing the warmth he gave me.

...

Nathan~~

Thoughts begins to race through my mind.

What was going to happen now?

This afternoon was a different story because I had to do something, I had to help her. But now? I haven't thought that far.

Footsteps from the hallway snaps me out of my thinking process as I watch Madison emerge in the kitchen. The pair of sweats and black t-shirt I gave her fits abit loosely on her but somehow she made it work.

I hadn't really noticed until now, but Madison was so small compared to me. I study how her hair is now tied up in a messy bun. She was actually pretty attractive.

"What? Is something wrong?" She asks not meeting my eyes, feeling the heat of my gaze.

I clear my throat whilst shaking my head. "No." I tell her. "Come here." I try speaking nicely, but it came out more like an order. She didn't mind though and walks over anyways.

"Drink this." I place down a warm cup of hot chocolate in front of her. Her brown eyes darts up towards mine.

"Thanks." She takes a seat on the island chair. Gently blows before taking a sip.

Madison told me a while ago that she lost her keys to her apartment, she thinks she lost it at the park when that guy bumped into her and that she has nowhere else to go.

"You can stay here tonight, if you want of course." I say to her realizing that she really needs this right now. She looks like she's been through hell and I still don't know what happened at the hospital. "Is everything okay? Do you want to talk about it?"

She tightly grips the white cup in her hands. "Uhm, my mother's in the hospital. She had a seizure." She looks away from my eyes. "It was just so sudden."

I find myself feeling sorry for her. A month ago at the bar she told me she also went through a rough divorce but I don't know if she was telling the truth or just spilling over words because she was drunk, but I wasn't at the time so I remember.

There's a minute of silence between us before I speak.
"I'm sorry you went through that." She looks up at me and I finally see her watery eyes. I take a deep breath in.
"Are you hungry?" I carefully ask.

Madison shakes her head. "No, I'm fine thanks." She gives me a small smile. "You helped me today, thank you Nathan."

I nod at her. "Sure."
"You should take the bed, I'll take the couch." I say motioning to the living room. Eventhough I have a bad back, I think she wants some privacy. I only have one guest bedroom and it's already Lidith's.

"No no it's okay, I'll sleep here." She begins to protest but I shake my head.

The situation that we're in right now is somehow nostalgic. A month ago she was in between my sheets and I remember waking up next to her thinking what the hell, but now we've maybe built some type of relationship? I don't know, but I know for sure I don't want her sleeping on the couch.

"Just take the bed Madison-"

"I'll feel bad if you have to sleep on the couch. It's your bed."

She's right. It is my bed and after today's events I'd really like to lay in my comfortable paradise. "Maybe we can share?" I ask and she looks up shocked. "Don't worry I won't touch you."

She can trust me.

She looks down thinking. "Okay." She whispers.

As we getting ready to get in bed Madison suddenly takes the extra blanket, rolls it up and places it in between us.

I frown. "What are you doing?"

"It's a barrier. Don't cross it." She demands.

"Why in the world would I cross it? When I watch her glare at me... It all makes sense. I allow a grin to grow on my lips. "You really think I want to have sex with you?"

Her jaw drops and she looks at me with surprise and disbelief. "I didn't realize you were that much of an asshole." She frowns after collecting herself from her shock.

Yeah, I'm not good with women. I shouldn't have said that.

I wait for her to turn and storm off as my ex fiancée always did after she called me an asshole. But I admit I'm surprised when she only turns her head in defiance, but still pulls back the covers and climbs in. Sighing, I just lay back down feeling terrible for what I just said to her.

I left the 'barrier' she put in place and just tried to drift off to sleep.

"Nathan?" I hear her soft whisper.

I groan lightly. "Hm?"

It was silent for a moment, then I finally hear her voice once again.
"Thank you."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." I casually say.

She whispers once again. "You're not as bad as I thought." She yawns. "Goodnight."

I couldn't help a small smile form on my lips.

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28 June 2020.
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