18 A dark night

I call Nathan when I reach the address but he doesn't answer. I don't know what to do so I go to the reception and ask if there is any booking in the name of Nathan Walsh.

"Yes ma'am," the receptionist says politely, "Come I'll lead you." We enter in the dinning area packed with people.

"There." She points at a table. I look to see Nathan sitting with a bunch of boys and only one girl and a kid. Nathan has his arm around her shoulder, laughing away with her. I feel a sharp pain in my chest seeing the scene. Why? I don't know. I know I don't have any feelings for him but I still feel hurt seeing him laughing and enjoying with some other girl.

He always stop me from doing stuff so that I don't catch media's attention. But when he does it it's fine. Everything I do is terrible and I am then called naive but that's doesn't go the other way around. As I stand there frozen, his green eyes meet my shocked ones. The smile on his face immediately fades.

"Excuse me." I hear him say as he removes his hands from the girl's shoulder. As I see him get up, I look down and start moving back outside. I don't look back until he rashly pulls me by my arm. I'm not even surprised he's angry.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" he asks cornering me in a quite alley. I hear surprise and anger in his voice. Anger is fine because he's angry all the time but why surprise?

"What?" I ask equally surprised.

"What? Answer me!" his grip tight but not enough to hurt me.

"You texted me to come here." I say, getting irritated.

"No I didn't. Now you have started making things up?!"

"I'm not making things up!" I yell at him, "You texted me! I have your messages!" I jerk out of his grip and pull out my phone. I show him the messages and immediately his angry expressions change to shocked ones.

"That's impossible. Why would I do that? I didn't do it." he mutters. He checks his pockets for his phone.

"My phone is not with me." he looks at me.

"Well, it's definitely not with me." I reply.

"Oh! I gave it to Kiara's younger brother. You wait here I'll be back. Don't move." he instructs me. Before I can come up with a come back he leaves. I am left with no choice but to wait for him.

Minutes pass but he doesn't return. I finally decide to go back to the hotel. It was such a waste of time. I'm so so hungry. I look at the street outside. Maybe I should grab some street food and take a taxi back to the hotel. Coming here was clearly a misunderstanding. I feel so humiliated right now. I clutch my coat closer to my body as the wind hit me at the enterance of the restuarant.

"Where are you going?" I hear a voice behind me, it's Nathan's. "Come on, let's go." he grabs my arm and I hesistantly walk inside with him. I try to remove his hand from my arm but he doesn't let go.

"What's your problem?!" I whisper yell, "Lemme go!"

He pushes me back to the alley.

"What?!" I yell louder.

"I didn't text you." he says.

"I don't care!"

"Walsh!" someone calls from the lobby. Nathan immediately moves away from me and looks around.

"Well, well, well, look who is here." I spot Max approaching us. Immediately I move close to Nathan, tightly holding his arm.

"April! Long time no see." he says to me, "Nathan why didn't you tell us your beautiful wife is here."

"She just came. That stupid brother of Kiara's must have texted her from my phone maybe, I don't know who did." he says.

"Ahh, I see. Kids can be trouble sometimes. Anyways what matters is that she is here." he scans me. I scoot closer to Nathan. This man is trouble. I feel so unconfortable around him.

"Come on then join us." he offers me his hand.

"We are coming. You go ahead." Nathan replies on my behalf. Thank you Nathan, you really are my saviour.

"Alright." he leaves and I let of a sigh of relief. I lean my head on Nathan shoulder.

"Let's go." he says sternly.

"Yeah," we move towards the dinning area.

Nathan introduces me to everyone. No one looks surprise to know I'm his wife. If that girl knew that he is married then why was she sitting so close to him? I scold myself to let it go and order my food. My mouth waters as my food arrives. I was so hungry. I look lustfully at my food. God, what am I going to do with it! Do I sound crazy?

"Dig in." Kiara says to me. I nod and begin to eat. First bite and I wanna kiss the chef already. God this is so amazing. We finish our foods quickly and quietly.

"Desserts?" Mike, one of Nathan's friends, asks everyone.

"I think we call it a night." Nathan says and everyone nods in agreement. We say our goodbye and as we are walking past the reception, Max joins us. I grab Nathan by his arm again so that I'm able to make my distance from Max. Thankfully he doesn't mind. I think he can sense how intimidated I am by him. Thank God for that.

"Do you want to walk to the parking or should I call David here?" he asks me.

"I'll walk."

"Okay. Come on Max!" Oh no no. Why is he coming with us?

"Let go of my hand." Nathan says to me in a barely audible voice. I hesitantly do as he says, he gives me a confused look as if asking since when am I interested in touching him. I wish he would understand that I am not interested in touching him but I wanna be close to him to avoid his cousin. His phone rings and he stops in midway.

"You go with Max. I have to take this." I look at him frightened eyes.

"You'll be fine with him." he says as a matter-of-factly to me.

"Let's go, April." Max says to me. I quietly walk towards the parking with Max by my side. He doesn't say anything yet. Maybe I was just over thinking he is not a bad guy. I was busy in my own thoughts when I feel a gentle touch on my wrist. I look back to see Max behind me. When I'm about to get my wrist out of his grip he tightens the hold.

"M-Max. Leave my hand." I gulp.

"Shh," he shushes me, "Don't worry Nathan will take a while. No one will know anything." he pulls me along with him into a dark alley. I'm barely able to see anything.

"Max let go!" I yell and try to push him away. He covers my mouth with his hand.

"Oh come on. We both know your parents traded you for money. And as far as I know Nathan, he won't mind sharing you with me because everyone knows he hates you more than anything." he looks at me with lust. I am shocked by what he thinks of me. I try to scream but it's muffled because of his hand. His other hand trace body. I want to peal my skin from where he touches me.

"Still!" he orders, "Oh come on, April. Be good. Otherwise me calling you here will be a fail."

He called me here! He grabs both my hands with his one hand and let's go of my mouth.

"Nathan!!" I scream with all my might. Tears blurry my vision as I scream, rather pray for Nathan to come and rescue me. I kick him mutiple times but he either dodges them or just doesn't seems to care.

"I'll change that to Max in a few minutes, baby." his hands begin to open the zipper of my dress. I resist it but it's a fail.

"Help! Nathan!!" I scream again, tears start to flow off my eyes. My heart stops when his cold fingers touch my bare back.

"Nathan!!! Help!!" I panic, try to jerk out of his grip.

"Nathan!!!" his hand remove my dress from the shoulders and he kisses my bare shoulder.

"Please Max! Stop!! Nathan!!! NATHAN!!" I beg him, tears flow down my cheeks. I continue to kick him off me but that doesn't work.

"Max! What the fuck are you doing?!!" I hear Nathan's voice from distant. My vision is blurry from the tears. Max immediately let's go me and I crash on the floor.

"Nathan, why are you so angry?" I hear Max's voice. It's calm. How can it be so calm? Nathan runs towards us and is soon standing between us. I then feel his coat around my partially exposed body. He grabs Max by the collar and punch him, once, twice, thrice.

"What the hell were you thinking?! This is my wife you bastard!" he yells at him, "How could you even think of her like that?!! Have you totally lost it?!" he continues to punch him.

"Wife? What wife? You hate her. Oh come on Nathan, we both know her parents traded her. We can share her, it'll be our secret. I am not saying I want her everyday, just when I am in town." I keep about my hands on my ears to cut of my hearing. I cry so hard. What the hell have I become?

"You asshole! You are sick in your head! Her parents didn't trade her!" he grabs Max by his collar and continue to punch him.

"Mr Walsh stop!" I see David appears out of nowhere, "Stop it, you'll kill him!" David try to pull him away. "Sir, please stop!" Nathan finally stops.

"Stay away from her!" He shouts. Nathan helps me to my feet and holds me protectively. His arm does leave my shoulder as he takes me towards the car. If it weren't for him helping me I couldn't have made it to the car. All through the ride I cry in his chest. He doesn't push me away just hold me like a friend.

As soon as we reach our room I rush into the bathroom and get out of my dress. I throw it away. I hate it now.

"April," Nathan knocks on the door. I don't reply. "Alright, I will give you some time." I take a shower then change into pajamas.

"I need a drink." I say to him. He opens his mouth to say something but then closes it and gives me a simple nod. He hands me a drink and I gulp it down.

"Another one," I say.

For the first time he obeys. After 4-5 drinks my head gets dizzy. I fall back on the sofa and stare at the ceiling.

"I'm sorry, April." Nathan sits next to me.

"Why are you sorry?" I scoff, "In fact I should say thank you."

"I... I uh never thought he could do..."

"You're forgiven." I stop him mid sentence so that he doesn't brings up the topic.

"I think you should sleep."

"It's okay, I'm fine."

I see Nathan get up and take my hand in his. He pulls me up with him.

"Nathan, please..." I whine.

He keeps his finger on my lips to shut me up. We move towards the bed, I climb on it and lay down maintaining a considerable distance from him. I turn over so that my back is facing him and close my eyes. I see Max's face looking at me with lust. I jerk my eyes open again.

Soon I feel something lingering on my back. I flinch as I feel a touch on my waist.

"Shh, it's me." Nathan says as he scoots closer to me, "Don't worry I will only harm you with my words." he whispers in my ear.

"You do." I gulp.

"I know. Can't sleep?"

"Yes." I reply, expecting a rude sarcastic hurting come back from him. But I don't care, about anything anymore.

"Want me to sing a lullaby?" he asks. I turn to face him. His eyes looking straight into my eyes and they are so beautiful.

"What?" I say in a barely audible voice. And turn in his arms.

"I'm just messing around with you Grey," he ruffled my hair like I did today. It was only morning but feels like a million years ago. He smiles at me showing his deep dimples. A smile escapes my lips as well as I cup his face with my hand.

He closes his eyes as I run my fingers along his cheek and poke his dimple. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be touching Nathan, poking his dimple. It's so weird yet amazing.

"Sleep, April."

"I can't." we don't lose the eye contact. He pulls my closer to his chest, completely closing the gap between us. I hesitantly lay my head on his chest and he tightens his grip.

"It's okay, Grey. Just this one night." he whispers and I hug him tightly.

"Thank you Nathan, for everything." I say as I close my eyes. He welcomes me by kissing my forehead.

"Grey,"

"Hmm"

"Never ever, ever think your parents traded you. No matter what people say. Max is just sick in his head. Your parents are amazing people. You are lucky to have them. And most importantly, I may hate you for what you did to me but still I will never share you. I promise."

"Hey, I know." I lift my head to look at him, "You know, I'm lucky to have you." I gather all courage to say it. Most importantly, except it. Nathan smiles and I lay back on his chest. With him brushing my hair, I fall into a dreamless sleep.