Nate
"Admit it" Ares demanded.
"Admit what?" I asked pretending to be clueless.
"Don't play dumb now" Ares said crossing his arms.
"He has always been dumb" Leo commented playing a mobile game.
"Hey!" I exclaimed and threw him a pillow.
We were in Ares' office at his house and we were discussing the 'rose' situation.
"Dude! I lost because of you!"
"Yeah because you're a noob"
"Guys, shut up" Ares said shutting us both up. "Come on Nate, we both know it's true"
"Ugh fine. It's true" I said giving in.
"Say the whole thing, I didn't come here for this" Leo said.
"I care about the girl alright?" I finally said.
"Aw Nate has a crush!" Leo cooed.
"Shut up! Go talk to Tessa"
"Stop being an ass dude!" Leo exclaimed.
"Yes, don't steal Leo's part" Ares said holding back his laughter.
"Hey!" Leo exclaimed this time and threw the pillow at Ares.
"Anyway it doesn't really matter. She's like a baby sister to me" I said stubbornly crossing my arms.
I don't even believe that
"You don't even believe that" Ares scoffed.
"She's so much younger, she couldn't be anything more"
"Serenity and I have an age gap too, so what?" Ares questioned.
"Well, it's not the same with us. She sees me as her friend. The moment this is over and she's back to her family she will forget about me"
"She won't" Ares said.
"She will. She will be busy with her family. She will forget about me and find someome else. Someone younger, someone who doesn't put his life and his loved ones at risk every day" I mumbled spacing out.
These thoughts were filling me with sorrow and I couldn't even explain why.
"Man you're done" Leo commented. "You sound like Ares when he started realizing he saw Serenity as more than a sister"
"No! No, absolutely not. I don't see her as more than a sister" I said.
"Nate, these feelings are new for you that's why it's hard for you to accept them" Ares explained.
"I don't want to accept them" I stated. "She's been through so much, she doesn't deserve this. I'm not dragging her into this again when she's finally out"
"Okay, if you can do it then go ahead. Live a life of misery" Ares said sighing.
"It's better I live a life of misery if that means she will be happy"
"Woah" Leo exclaimed. "I didn't know it was that bad" He mumbled.
"No, I just-she-" I groaned frustrated from not knowing how to explain and ran my fingers through my hair.
"Hey, it's okay" Ares reassured me, putting his hand on my shoulder. "How about we talk about something else? Like this whole Cole thing and how it's going to go" He suggested.
"Sure" I murmured.
"We know where this man is, why don't we just attack?" Leo asked.
"That would be too impulsive" Ares explained, "We need to be sure he trusts you"
"He does" I said.
"Let's just let him believe that for a little while"
"Yes, plus I-I don't think we should attack while Cole and I are in there" I suggested.
"What do you mean?" Ares asked and Leo turned his attention on me intrigued.
"I was thinking, that whole auction thing. We should catch whoever is doing that. To do that, I can either convince Cole to take me to an auction, or to arrange one ourselves" I said.
Ares seemed to be thinking hard and Leo's eyes were stuck to the floor and open wide.
Yes, that's how he thinks.
"That's actually a great idea" Ares said.
"I say you arrange one, that way we will know every guest's name and we can look into them before the auction" Leo suggested.
"Exactly" Ares agreed. "Nate, can you somehow make him arrange one?"
"I think so" I said. "I can actually try right now" I said taking out my phone. "I'll just visit him and talk about this" I suggested.
"Okay, just be careful" Ares said.
"Always"
__________
"That's actually-" Cole paused thinking about it and eventually nodded, "-a great idea" He finally said making me want to let out a sigh of relief.
"It will be kind of hard but I just want to see what it's like and I think arranging one will give me the whole picture. Of course I'm not forcing you or anything I mean you're the boss but it would be nice"
Someone should pay me for calling him boss.
"Don't be stupid Nate" He said standing up, "Of course I can do this. I've done this before"
"Great. Thank you, it means a lot to me" I said smiling.
"You're welcome partner. I am not your boss, I am your partner" He smiled.
Yeah more like you're a clown-
"Thank you, I appreciate that" I said chuckling.
"We'll start preparation tomorrow. I hope we can make it happen till Saturday"
"I'm sure we can. Maybe even sooner"
"I'm glad to see you're so excited about this" He smiled.
"Yes, I really am" I agreed.
I was excited for getting his ass whooped.
"Do you ever miss Ares and Leo?" He asked out of the blue.
I looked at him and faked sadness and sorrow.
"Of course" I said with a bitter chuckle, "They were my best friends for so many years that I got so used to it, you know?" I said looking down, "But I guess we just had to go our separate ways. There's no point in trying to be on their side anymore"
"Yeah I guess you're right" He said, "I miss Rose, you know" He said getting my full attention.
I faked confusion for a bit and then acted to remember, "Oh the girl, right?"
"Yeah, I didn't really care for that bitch but she was a good pet" He chuckled.
This time I didn't know if I could hold myself back. My hand was aching to smash his face and I gritted my teeth when I got the urge to yell at him.
I was doing this for her, this was all for her. If I blew my cover now, this was a lost case.
So instead, I chuckled.
"In this world there is no room for feelings. I don't blame you" I said.
Yeah, no room for feelings Nate. Get that in your head.
I was saying it to him but I felt like I needed to hear it the most.
"Yeah I know. I don't know what I will do when I find her. A big part of me wants to kill her with my own hands but I think she would be ever more obedient since she will be scared of me"
I won't let you lay a finger on her, fucker.
"You shouldn't waste a perfectly good pet" I said, disgusted with my own words.
"I guess you're right" He agreed, looking spaced out.
After I left the place I had an unexplainable need to see and talk to Rosy. I just wanted to make sure she was okay. I was tense and I knew seeing her okay would calm me down.
I drove to my apartment trying to be within speed limits. I found myself going a little faster when anxiety got to me. I didn't even know why I felt like this I just knew I needed to see her.
I quickly opened the door to the apartment locking it after I walked in and didn't think twice before going into her room.
Which was rude of me.
I saw her sleeping under the covers, but her face seemed to be pained.
I frowned and got closer kneeling in front of the bed. I pulled back her hair to reveal more of her face, but to my surprise, that woke her up.
"Oh My God!" She yelled and crawled away.
"Hey, easy. It's just me" I said putting my hands up. "It's Nate"
She relaxed a little and fell back on the bed.
"You scared me so much" She said panting.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! I just wanted to check on you and you were making this weird pained looking face and I got worried and I-"
"Hey Nate" She said interrupting me, "I get it. You can stop your rambling" She said with a cute laugh at the end.
"You think it's funny?" I asked smirking.
"I think it's cute" She giggled.
Oh.
"Cute?" I questioned and then smirked as an idea popped into my mind, "You know what I find cute?"
"Wha-oh" She exclaimed when I leaned close to her.
I was so close, maybe closer than I intended. Even our noses were touching. It made me want to-
"I think it's cute when you act embarrassed each time I get close to you"
She was speechless, she looked like she was holding her breath and I could even see her wide open eyes in the dark. I cupped her cheek and kissed her forehead.
"Goodnight" I whispered slowly pulling away.
"Goodnight" she said.I could barely hear it, it was lower than a whisper.
And with that, I walked out.