I open my eyes, feeling confused for a second until I realise I must have fallen asleep on Nate's couch.
How embarrassing.
I groan, lifting my hands up to cover my face when I struggle to move them, looking down and realising a thick blue blanket has been placed on top of me in my sleep. I feel my face getting warm at the knowledge that he has seen me passed out on his couch, probably with a highly unattractive look on my face.
"Oh hi" I hear above me and I tilt my head up to see Nate leaning over the back of the couch to look at me, grin on his face as he sees me awake.
"I was wondering if I should move you to the bed, clearly something has tired you out" and he raises his brow at me, tilting his head slightly and catching his bottom lip between his teeth.
Filthy fucker
"You know what, I just think it's because we went to bed late last night. I can't think of anything else that would make me tired" I furrow my brows, looking away and pretending to think about it.
I hear a dark chuckle above me and barely register as Nate throws himself over the top of the couch and lands directly on top of me, grabbing my hands and pinning them above my head using one hand, the other trailing to squeeze my side.
"I don't think that was very nice of you angel" he says, tickling me faster now as I shriek and try to move away from him.
"I think somebody owes me an apology" he leans down to bite on the side of my neck, his hand never ceasing, and our laughter is bouncing off the walls in his living room.
"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry" I gasp out through my laughter and his hand immediately stops, moving up to join the other in holding my wrists captive.
"That wasn't so hard now was it" he leans down to peck my nose, pulling back to wink at me before jumping off me and sitting at the end of the couch, grabbing my legs and lifting them onto his lap. His right hand rubs my shin, almost absent mindedly as his eyes seem to lose focus.
"Hey" I nudge him with my foot.
"You okay?" I ask him and he turns his head to look at me, an almost nervous look on his face.
"I uh, I need to ask if you can do me a favour" he tells me and I feel my head nodding before I can process it,
"Of course. Anything" I tell him,
Anything? Get a grip woman.
"Marc called me earlier, I think you heard the end of our conversation" he begins and I nod in response,
"Well since you work at the bar, he was hoping you might be able to check the cameras for that night. When JD was with that girl" and I nod again, realising why he wants this footage.
"You want me to try and find her. See if we can find her face" I say to him, and confirmation of my guess comes in a firm nod from him.
"Marc seems to think that if we can show JD her face it might jog something. Or if not, we know who we're looking for if JD wants to take this any further. What do you think?" he asks, gripping my shin in his hand and sending me a curious look.
"I think it's a good idea" I tell him, and I mean it. Anything to help JD.
Nate sends me a small smile, in gratitude I think, then sighs.
"Marc is really beating himself up for that night. He's angry at himself for leaving JD in a taxi with her when they left" he shakes his head,
"He had no way of knowing Nate, have you told him that?"
"Of course I have. He's got this guilty conscious that he didn't see the signs that JD might have been spiked, but he said he wasn't really acting any differently, he just seemed drunk"
I have a faint memory of Marc's reaction to JD telling us, his head hanging down and the shame was clearly weighing heavy on his shoulders. Something he will have to talk to JD about, I think he is the only one who he'll believe when he tells him it isn't his fault.
"I'll see what I can do. Sam should still have the tapes of that night and I can vaguely remember what she looked like. We'll do our best for him"
I lean over, resting my hand on Nate's arm, giving him a kiss on the cheek in hopes of brushing away some of this darkness that has sat itself so heavy on his chest.
"Why did JD thank you when he left?" he murmurs the question to me and I don't know if it's my place to tell him of our conversation outside. It seems such a personal thing to share.
"JD and I had a conversation outside last night and he seems to think I helped him out with something" I shrug, and I see understanding on Nate's face.
He grips my hand, pulling it up to his chest where his heartbeat rests under my palm.
"I'll wait for JD to tell me. Thank you for caring so much" he says, looking at me with a softness on his face that makes a swarm of butterflies come alive in my stomach.
Why are you looking at me like that?
I wonder in my head, his touch on my hand gentle and warm, and my body curls itself into his side, head resting on his shoulder and hand still firmly clasped in his. Comforting and warm and I realise that in my subconscious fear of falling, I didn't even realise that I was already off the cliff.
We sit in comfortable silence. No words spoken between us, only the TV in the background and I have never felt more at ease.
"What time are you working tomorrow?" Nate asks above me.
My head moved down onto his lap around an hour ago, with no disagreement from him and I fight the way my eyes want to slide closed at his gentle movements through my hair.
"I start at 8" I mumble to him, watching whatever is on the TV, not really interested but looking nonetheless.
"You won't be able to stay tomorrow then?" he asks quietly, and I can hear the hesitation in his tone.
I turn my head to look up at him and his eyes are already on me, that burning soft look that I can't place set steady on his face.
"Did you want me to stay tomorrow?" I can't help but tease him, enjoying that this man, who was so mysterious when we first met, has seemingly become so needy of my time.
He rolls his eyes, pushing me away from him gently before grabbing me and putting me back where I was. I can feel the smile on my face,
"Of fucking course I do. What kind of question is that" he grumbles, still unable to resist smiling at me.
"It'll be late by the time I'm off work" I tell him and almost feel guilty at the resigned smile on his face.
"I know, I know" he nods along to his own words,
"I just don't know how I'm supposed to get used to sleeping on my own now" and I feel my heart stutter in my chest, breath catching in my throat at his words.
"I think you'll manage" I say back to him, a teasing tone in my voice that doesn't let on how fast my heart is beating now.
A smirk rises up on his face at my cavalier response, he seems to enjoy my teasing as he leans over me, laying on his lap. Clutching my hip in his hand,
"Hm, I don't know if I will to be honest sweetheart" and he rubs his nose against mine, landing a quick kiss on my lips and leaning back up over me,
"How am I supposed to get a good nights sleep without having you wrapped around me", his finger rubs along the skin of my cheek as he looks down at me, and I shrug my shoulders not wanting to admit how good my sleep has been when we've spent the night together.
He chuckles,
"I think we might have to make those little sleepovers a regular occurrence" and I can't deny the giddy feeling in my chest at the thought.