“Oh.” I swallowed, picturing the scene.
He picked up my shorts and handed them to me. “We should get out of here before the others get back.”
***
Time was flying past and there was only one week left until the fight. Nate had kept to his promise of keeping his hands off me—much to my disappointment—but he was attentive in other ways. I began getting concerned about his mood shifts and pure aggression in the cage when he actually knocked Royce unconscious after another heated exchange. He was only out for a minute or two, but it scared the crap out of me how angry Nate could get. Warning signs were ringing out all around me, but I couldn’t quite work out where the emergency was. And every evening, Nate would park the fury and sit quietly with me. We would talk, watch French TV with English subtitles or go for walks down to our spot. It seemed to be our one place of true comfort and tranquillity. Maybe it was the feeling that the running water could take the stresses of the day away with it. Maybe it was just the only place that we could really be alone.
I was drinking a cool glass of water in my makeshift office when Nate called me from the kitchen.
“One minute,” I yelled back, shifting my phone to the other ear. “Sorry, Ad, Nate’s calling. I better go and see what he wants.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Adam asked, tenderly. He was still concerned about me, even though I’d told him over and over that things were better.
“Adam, I’m fine. If you keep asking I swear I will kick your arse when I get home.”
He chuckled. “Fighting talk huh? You’ve been around Nate too long.”
“Noooo, I’ve always been like this. Feisty Liv, remember?”
“No, I don’t. You’ve been gone too long. I’ve forgotten what you look and act like.”
I rolled my eyes. “Funny. I’ve got to go, Ad. But I’m fine, honestly. Stop worrying.”
“Never,” he muttered.
We said our goodbyes and I made my way into the kitchen. Nate stood near the door, waiting patiently. He pulled my denim jacket off a hook and held it out. “Come.”
I took the garment from him, my brows drawn in. “Where are we going?”
“I need to get out of here for a while.”
I shrugged into the jacket and pulled it around me, wondering where he planned on taking me.
“Are you not training today?” I asked, following him out into the backyard.
He pulled out a remote from his pocket and pressed a button. “Not today. I need a break. They are all driving me mad. They can’t seem to grasp the fact I know exactly what I’m doing, or that I can handle my own schedule.”
A door on the garage slowly opened, revealing a bright red, gleaming Ferrari sitting alongside the Cayenne. Nate hit the remote again and the car beeped to life.
“This is yours?” I gaped.
He smiled unapologetically and shrugged. “Boys and their toys and all that.”
“But it’s not a Porsche!” I laughed and with a shake of my head, eased into the passenger seat when Nate opened the door for me.
A few minutes later, we were speeding through the dramatic French countryside. With the roof of the Ferarri down, the early morning sunshine beamed down on us as cooler air rushed over our heads. I took in the stunning scenery surrounding us—the miles and miles of unspoilt vineyards and fields with a backdrop of snow-covered mountaintops. I smiled at the occasional farmhouses and cottages that came into view and tried to commit them to memory so I could sketch them later.
Nate looked over, his eyes hidden behind mirrored aviators. He gave me a rare, untroubled and relaxed grin and increased the volume of the stereo. I continued watching the trees rush past, feeling the joy and lightness of the moment. When we hit a straight part of the road, Nate pushed his foot on the gas, sending the car speeding forward. I was forced back into my seat, squealing and laughing. Nate’s face lit up into a broad grin when I shouted in joy and lifted my arms into the air, letting the air rush through my fingers. Closing my eyes, I tilted my head back to feel the sun on my face. It was the perfect moment, just the two of us, carefree and happy. I could almost forget there were even any stresses awaiting us when we returned.
Thirty minutes later, Nate pulled into a large, gravelled parking lot. Stepping out from the low car, I stretched and looked around. The area was unremarkable, with no clear indication of where we were or what we would be doing. The area was lined with tall evergreen bushes and smaller hedges. Nate rounded the car and stood behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist.
“Do you like water?” he asked, resting his chin on my shoulder.
I turned in his arms, raising my hands to lift his glasses away from his eyes so I could search them with my own. “Water? What is this place, Nate? Where are we?”
He looked over my shoulder, and then pulled his eyes back to mine. “I used to come here when I was younger. We came here every year for our summer holidays.”
I was startled by his willingness to suddenly impart information about his childhood. I didn’t know what to say. He took my hand in his and started walking us towards a gap in the hedge.
“I haven’t been since I was fifteen,” he continued.
Beyond the hedge, I stopped walking; my eyes began darting in every direction. Laid out before us was a spectacular view of a white cliff face covered with green trees and bushes. However, what took my breath away was the wide expanse of river at the foot of the rocks. My eyes followed the path of the water until it curved around a bend and out of sight.
Sensing my wonder, Nate wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “Isn’t it amazing?”
“I… Nate, it’s beautiful.”
Taking my hand again, he led us down a steep path, taking care that I didn’t trip on the loose gravel.
“Have you ever been kayaking?” he asked when we reached the bottom.
Shaking my head, I looked at the bright yellow kayaks resting on the pebble beach. My palms began to sweat as I stepped closer to the water’s edge.
“Nate!” I swallowed hard. “It looks really deep out there.”
He chuckled. “Why does that bother you? Are you planning on falling in?”
“No! It’s just…” I couldn’t believe how nervous and vulnerable I felt about sitting in a fiberglass boat out on the open water.
He moved in front of me and cupped my cheek, tilting my head so I’d look at him. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll be with you the whole time. We’ll be doing this together. Okay?”
His eyes continued searching mine, waiting for my answer.
I sucked in a deep breath. “Okay.”
Once again, I was dazzled by his full, megawatt smile before he leaned in to place a kiss on the tip of my nose. “You amaze me. You know that, JB?”
Twenty minutes later, Nate had helped me into a life jacket and situated me in the front seat of the kayak. I settled in, trying to get a feel for the paddle. I wondered how I’d ever get the hang of moving it through the water so we’d actually get anywhere.
“Ready?” Nate asked brightly from behind me.
“As I’ll ever be.”
We were pushed out onto the water and I instinctively held my paddle tighter, fearing I’d end up losing it.
“Relax, Liv. We’re in no rush. We’ll take it slowly until you get the hang of it.” He continued to patiently explain to me the correct rhythm of moving the paddle through the water, and before I knew it, I was following his strokes as we glided along the river.
We slowly made our way down the canyon, with Nate pointing out areas of interest or wildlife. It was truly beautiful and serene being out on the water surrounded by nothing but cliffs and vegetation. It felt like we were the only two people on the planet.
When we hit an area of rapidly flowing water, I panicked, fearing we were going to capsize, and slammed my paddle into the water at the wrong angle. The move caused a big splash that ended up hitting Nate.
“You did that on purpose,” he sho
uted, holding his paddle with one hand while wiping his eyes with the other. He chuckled then dropped a hand into the water to send a splash in my direction.
“Nate!” I yelled. “I can’t believe you did that. You knew it was an accident!” I wasn’t going to let him get away that. With a sly grin, I slammed the paddle on the water’s surface again sending another flurry of water droplets over him.
“Oh, you wanna play, huh?”
Before I knew it, I was laughing hysterically as Nate and I splashed each other as the oblivious water continued carrying us along on our journey.
“Stop!” I screamed, fighting to catch my breath. “Stop.” I leaned back so I could look at him. “Please stop.”
Nate looked down on me with fond eyes and a broad smile. “Okay, JB, seeing as you asked so nicely, I’ll stop. Do you want to rest up for a while? We can pull over somewhere if you want.”
A few minutes later, we’d managed to navigate over into shallow water and pulled the kayak onto a secluded beach. With the sun now high in the sky, I removed my jacket, placing it on a rock to dry out before lying down on a small grass verge. Nate pulled off his hoodie, placing it next to my jacket before settling down next to me. I closed my eyes and sighed with contentment as the sun began to warm my chilled skin.
“This place is the last happy memory I have of my parents,” Nate said quietly after a few moments of silence.
I peeled an eye open, shielding it from the sunlight with my hand. Nate was staring out at the water, throwing stones. His happy mood from minutes before had disappeared.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
He peered down at me with sad eyes, trying to decide if he wanted to talk or not.
“Like I said, we used to come here every year. My parents would rent a cottage and we’d spend our summers hiking, rock climbing, kayaking—you name it, we would do it.” He covered his eyes with his sunglasses and looked out over the water again, remaining silent for a moment. “That was the compromise… or the illusion, to make them look good with their friends. Our parents were do-gooder’s, Liv. Or liked to appear they were.... The trouble was that helping others became more important to them than Wes and I. The holiday once a year was their attempt at making up for the fact that the remaining fifty weeks of the year we hardly ever saw them.”
He shifted onto his side and removed his glasses. Using his elbow to support himself, he rested his cheek in his palm and watched me. I could see his scattered thoughts and memories playing on his mind as his brow furrowed and his eyes clouded over and darkened. Mirroring his pose, I gave him an encouraging smile, letting him know he had my undivided attention.
“When we were little, we didn’t really think anything of it. We were looked after by various nannies and babysitters. To us, it was the norm. Then, as we grew older, we became more aware of our lack of parental support. They were never at school events, never once sat down to go through homework with us, and if we dared question it, we would be punished.
“When I was fifteen, they started talking about wanting to travel to other countries to do their helping work.” He said the last with such contempt and hatred, his whole body was shaking with his anger. Reaching over, I placed a reassuring hand on his arm and encouraged him to continue. I didn’t want him to hurt, I hated seeing him so upset, but it was obvious he had been holding on to his feelings for too long. Now was the time to cut open the wound and let everything drain free.
Nate looked at my hand and stared at it as he continued. “By that point, I had started rebelling against them. I guess it was a way of trying to get even a tiny bit of their attention, even if it was for a tongue lashing or worse.” I stiffened, understanding what he was implying. He gave me a small, sad smile and reached over to tuck a lock of wind-blown hair behind my ear. “I began sneaking out of the house whenever they went off to yet another meeting. That was how I met Bernie. He’d caught me trying to steal alcohol from a local store one day and gave me an ultimatum. He said I either had to join him to learn focus and respect or he would go to my parents and the police. I was more scared of what my parents might do than I was of the police or anything Bernie might do, so I agreed to go with him. He took me to this gym and made me work: cleaning things, taking out the rubbish, stuff like that. He also started showing me how to train, how to focus my anger and frustration into a controlled physical workout. I quickly became addicted. It was there I was first introduced to MMA.
“After my sixteenth birthday, my parents informed us they were selling the house moving to South America. They expected Wesley and me to go off and finish our education in some boarding school somewhere. They had it all planned out for us, even down to the courses we would take and what jobs we would eventually go into.” He scoffed at the memory. “When I told them I had no intention of doing what they wanted, that I would be staying to work in the gym and studying to become a personal trainer, we had a massive argument. They told me I was stupid, calling me a worthless dunce who would never make anything of himself, so I packed a bag and left home without looking back. Four months later, they packed Wes off to some boarding school in Oxfordshire and left.”
His eyes were glassy as he continued staring, unseeing into mine.
The loud call of a bird overhead snapped him back to the present. He blinked once, refocusing his gaze.
“I’m sorry!” he murmured, sitting up and pulling his features back into an unreadable mask. “I didn’t mean to burden you with my dull history.”
I scrambled up onto my knees next to him. I could read him so well now that I knew if I didn’t say or do something he would withdraw from me again. We had come so far, and I understood the significance of him opening up to me. I wasn’t about to let him take a step back.
“Nate, you haven’t burdened me with anything. I’m glad you told me.” I touched his face, stroking my fingertips along the sharp contours of his jaw. His hand flew to mine, holding my palm against his skin.
“I’ve never told anybody that before,” he murmured softly.
I blinked in surprise. “Never?”
“Never. You must have figured out by now that I’m a very private person. It isn’t anybody’s business that Wes and I were the least of our parent’s worries, that we were nothing but an inconvenient burden to them.”
I bit my lip and searched his eyes, my heart breaking for the lost boy who felt so unloved.
“Liv, don’t look at me like that,” he whispered. “I don’t want your pity.”
Straddling his lap, I placed both palms on his face, ensuring he looked me directly in the eyes. “I don’t pity you, Nate. I’m just trying to understand how that must have felt, what you must have gone through.” I shook my head in disbelief. “My parents may be eccentric, but I know they love me and will do whatever they need to for me. They will always be there for me. I cannot imagine what it would be like if anything happened to them and they weren’t around anymore.”
Sadness briefly flashed across his face but was soon replaced with softness. “When we’re done here and go back home, I’d like to meet them,” he stated, pulling my hands from his face and clasping them over his chest.
“Oh? Why’s that? So you can see where the weirdness comes from?” I smirked, trying to lighten the mood.
“No, so I can thank them,” he replied, all serious.
“Huh?”
“I want to thank them for bringing such a bright light into this world. You have illuminated my dull life, Liv.” He leaned in and placed a soft kiss on my lips. My eyes fluttered closed and I sighed.
“After…” He paused momentarily. “Before you, everything was mechanical and monotonous,” he whispered against my lips.
“You’ve made my life interesting too, Golden boy.” I giggled, feeling his fingers tighten around my waist.
“Interesting, huh?” In typical Nate style, he flipped us easily so I was on my back. He loomed over me, playfully narrowing his eyes. “How interesting?”
“Nate!”
I warned, seeing the mischievous smirk on his face. “Don’t you dare.”
I tried wriggling away, but he had me pinned with his hips and legs.
“Nate! No! Please!” I screeched when he began to run his fingers along my sides, tickling me mercilessly. “Nate!” I couldn’t breathe through my laughter.
Suddenly his lips were on mine, crashing down with a passionate force that left me breathless for an entirely different reason. I wiggled and squirmed under his weight, this time trying desperately to get as close to him as possible. Trailing my hands around his back, I grabbed the hem of his T-shirt and yanked it up until Nate had to break the kiss to allow the shirt over his head. As soon as it was free, he connected our lips again, groaning when I ran my fingertips along his skin. A hand worked its way underneath the hem of my t-shirt and up to my breast. With a gentleness that was in stark contrast to his demanding lips, he cupped me, softly squeezing, assessing the weight in his palm. All the sensations of his touch combined with the sounds and smells of nature around us, it was all too much. I moaned into his mouth and fumbled around for the zip on his jeans. I needed him. Right there.
He pulled back, breathing heavily. “Liv, we need to stop before we end up getting arrested for public indecency.”
I lifted my head and quickly peered around. “We’re in the middle of nowhere, Nate. No one will see.”
He smiled down at me with fondness and more than a little desire. “As tempting as that sounds, we can’t risk it.” At that moment, loud splashing broke the peacefulness of our surroundings. Looking along the river, a group of five kayaks filled with teenagers rounded the bend, heading in our direction. Nate collapsed on me as we burst into laughter.
“Come on, JB, I think we’d better get out of here.”
~CHAPTER EIGHTEEN~
Sucking in a deep, calming breath, I rubbed my sweaty palms along my thighs. This was it. This would be the make or break morning for Nate’s French facility… and for me to prove to Adam’s dad that I could cut it in his company. I had never felt so nervous in my life.
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