OLIVIA
"What is this place?", I ask my two bodyguards as the car stops and I'm allowed to get out. Nathan is behind me, one of his hands still resting on my shoulders, the other one free, ready to attack anyone who tries to come close to me. I know that's why the other hand isn't on me now, for it is already clenched in a fist. I swallow hard at that.
"A safe house", Brad answers, leading us through the middle of nowhere in which we're in and to a small cabin. Luckily, the cabin doesn't look creepy, but rather cozy. Hopefully it looks the same from the inside too.
My bodyguard makes us a sign to keep moving, but my body is shaking too hard to be able to process the action I am supposed to do. Nathan helps me, offering me something steady to hang on to as we both make steps to the house. Brad opens the door, letting us enter, while Landon guards us from behind.
"This has belonged to my family for generations", Brad says, giving us a tour of the house. It really is cozy. Also, from the inside. A living room with a large couch, cushions, warm temperature, a nice kitchen, a big TV. "It used to be our weekend getaway, until my parents found a place somewhere else. We couldn't quite let go of this place. Even as I grew up and they passed away, this house still had something special about it. I couldn't just sell it. So I turned it into a safe house. To offer people the protection and the feeling of safety I always felt while coming here."
My eyes stopped from wondering around the furniture, to look at my bodyguard. He's already looking at me. "Thank you", I whisper to him. He nods once, as if it were obvious, he would help me. It's not. Just because it's his job to protect me, that doesn't mean he's obligated to share his personal space with me.
"I'm sorry about your parents", I continue, still looking him in the eyes. He meets my gaze once more before he looks away and gets busy around the kitchen.
"I usually come here once a week to supply the house with everything one might need. You'll find clothes to change upstairs. I'll cook us something in the meantime."
Nathan and I nod, and I mouth another thank you to him. His mouth minimally twitches in a corner. It's then Nathan comes help me walk up the stairs and into one of the rooms. All of the rooms upstairs are the same. A large bed, a closet, a desk with a chair and a nightstand. They each also have a private bathroom. The cabin has three rooms upstairs, and from what I've seen only the kitchen and the living room downstairs, with a bathroom.
Nathan opens the door to the closets as I'm lying on the bed, trying hard not to think of the last few hours. Trying not to think that I saw Thomas again. Trying not to think that somebody tried to kill me. Again. Trying not to think that...
"Livie?", Nathan's voice pulls me out of my thoughts. I look at him and notice him holding two different pieces of clothing in his hands, a hoodie and a sweater.
"Hoodie or sweater?", he asks me. It's then I understand that the clothes are for me and I immediately point to the hoodie. He keeps me busy by making me choose stuff the entire time. Fluffy or normal socks. White or grey. Sweatpants or thighs. Black or dark-grey. It takes a while until we completed my outfit and I go into the bathroom to wash myself. Nathan asked me to call him when I am ready and fully dressed.
I am brushing my wet hair as I shout that he can come in. Nathan carefully opens the door, and I notice he must have also taken a shower now, for he is changed in a pair of grey sweatpants, a plain white T-Shirt and some black socks. The T-Shirt is sticking to his chest, revealing everything underneath. Everything I shouldn't see.
I need help.
Nathan also took a second to check me out, I saw it. I don't know what he had to see though. I am in a pair of black sport tights, some fluffy white socks and a grey hoodie. Nothing much. Nothing hot.
But the look in Nathan's eyes. He was eating me out alive for a second there.
A fire that is now hidden by many worries.
Nathan takes the brush from my hands and makes me follow him into the room, where he takes a sit on my bed. I sit in front of him, thinking he'll want to tell me something, but he gently turns me around, continuing to brush my hair. I sit there, my breath making a jump with every time his fingers touch my skin.
"It was him", he whispers all of a sudden.
I turn around, not knowing what he means by it was him. He only keeps staring, and I can see the anger growing in his eyes. "It was him. It was that fucker."
Thomas...
I nod.
Nathan lets his head fall, then takes a deep breath. I can almost see how he started to count to ten in his head. He taught me the trick.
"What's wrong?", he says. Nathan was running around the field with his friends, chasing the ball, until he stopped next to me. He's wearing his football jersey, his helmet is still on. I sometimes highly believe I got the hottest guy this high school has ever seen as my boyfriend. Maybe even the hottest guy this world has ever seen.
"It's nothing", I lie, flipping with my hand so that he can believe me. He doesn't. He knows me better than that.
"Livie", he begins, in that tone. The tone that says he's here for me and will always be.
"I can't", I let out. "I can't. I simply can't."
Nathan looks at me worried, then turns to look around to discover what got me so afraid. It's then he sees them. The big bars the PE teacher said we should do a little choreograph on. I'm so afraid I'll fall down and just lie there on the ground. Even my bodyguard disagreed, Brad already tried to talk the teacher out of it. Yet she won't change her mind.
My fingers start shaking just at the thought of me touching that metal.
"Livie", Nathan says, taking my hand in his. The gesture got me looking into his eyes, as he was already staring at mine. Our gazes meet, sparks fly. I will never stop to wonder how we got this effect on each other. It's like my body reacts to his body. My heart reacts to his. It doesn't have this effect on anybody else. Only him.
"I won't do it", I go on.
He looks at me and gives me a hug. I sink my head in his chest. His T-Shirt is sweaty, and it smells like a guys'l ocker room, yet I don't care. It's him.
"I need you to calm down", he whispers. I shake my head to show him that's very unlikely to happen. He nods, if only to encourage me. "We'll calm down together. We'll count to ten. Come. Please, princess. Together."
I look up at him and we start counting.
"I just don't get it", he lets out, angrier than ever. "I don't get it. When life gives you the miracle to call Livie Estair Dunn your girlfriend, you don't fucking ruin it. You don't make her your ex, you don't treat her like a piece of shit. You realize how damn lucky you are and you give her the world, knowing she's yours."
I am speechless as I stare at him, surprised about his confession. He doesn't respond my stare, continuing to gently brush my hair, no sign of the anger in his eyes as his fingers brush my skin, as he carefully takes the strands in his hand. "I don't get it...", he mutters.
"Nathan", I say, turning around. He doesn't notice me, still being stuck in his head. I need to bring him back to me.
So I do the first thing I think of. I crash my lips on his. I've been wanting to do it for a while now, and right now it seems like any other moment would have been better than this one. Yet as Nathan's eyes meet mine, whatever he sees inside them makes him place his hand on my waist, pulling me closer. The hand on my waist starts going up and down my back, the other hand he uses it to cup my face, so that he can keep my head in place. He opens his mouth just enough for our tongues to meet, then I open his mouth larger so that I can get a better taste of him. I missed him. I missed this. Nathan seems to have missed it as much, for he doesn't seem to ever want to let me go again. His hands are on me, his tongue is curled with mine...
"Dinner is ready", I can hear Brad's voice from downstairs.
I quickly pull away, reminding myself where I am. Where we are. I step off the bed, heading to the door.
"We should go", I whisper. Nathan looks at me surprised, yet he nods once. He follows me downstairs, where the table is already set.
I thank my bodyguards with a nod as I take a sit on one of the chairs. Nathan nods thankfully at the two as he takes the sit next to mine. The temperature in the room grows over fifty degrees as Nathan places his hand on my thigh under the table.
Even the sip of water I take from the glass doesn't seem to help with the feeling of being on fire.