“Get out of my room.”
“Damn, she chose you and not me? Is there something wrong with her?”
“Ty, shut up and get out of my room.”
I could hear the voices becoming less faint as I was pulled further out of sleep, and the prospect of waking up didn’t quite hit me yet.
“I’m still gonna hit that.”
“Get out of my fucking room before I get up and beat you until you can’t have sex anymore.”
“A little possessive, are we?”
I could make out Nathan’s voice, which was much quieter, and assumed the other was Ty’s. I could hear the clear irritation lacing Nathan’s voice directed solely toward his brother. If I were more awake then maybe I would’ve yelled at Nate for not locking his door, but my mind was hazy as to why I was waking up hearing their voices anyway.
I hear shuffling and then a door shuts. The sound was the last component of my waking up, and I finally stirred in my half asleep state as I fully came to. I let out an involuntary low moan when I first feel myself being pulled out of sleep and then snuggle closer to my current source of warmth in the hopes that it would lull me back to sleep.
And then it moved.
My pillow tensed underneath me and became ten times more rigid than the comfort I got from it before. And when I took a deep breath, I recognized the pillow as more of a chest, with the familiar musky scent that I loved. Nathan’s chest, to be exact. My eyes opened slowly at the realization as the memory of falling asleep in his bed last night slaps me in the face.
I look up through hooded eyes and see Nathan’s eccentric gaze already watching me. He’s biting his bottom lip, an unbelievably sexy combination with his messy morning hair, and I suddenly realized that I enjoyed waking up to the sight a little too much. It also suddenly registered how much of my body was pressed against Nathan and I pulled myself away quickly.
“Morning,” I mumble tiredly as my head falls onto an actual pillow and I rub my eyes with my hands. “I’m going to kill Ty for making so much noise.”
He rubs the back of his neck as he chuckles nervously. “You heard all that?”
“Just enough to know that he deserves to be beat until he can’t have sex anymore,” I joke with a sleepy smile before the prospect that I slept over even after he tried to get rid of me last night finally sinks in. Warmth coats my cheeks as I frown at Nathan sheepishly. “I’m sorry for sleeping over. I really didn’t mean to, I just got really tired…”
I was painfully aware that my excuse was as lame as I was.
“It’s okay,” Nathan seems more relaxed as he smiles at me. “Letting you sleep over was the least I could do for saving my ass last night.”
I shake my head at his dramatic statement. “It wasn’t a big deal.”
His smile returns and looks so genuine that I find myself distracted and stunned silent for a second. His voice was so deep and husky in the morning, his eyes were brighter and more alive than I’ve ever seen them, his smile was sleepy yet happy, and his bed head looked like it was perfectly styled by the Gods.
And the fact that our legs were still tangled together, that I’m not sure where my body stopped and his began, only increased my heart rate even more.
“I still owe you,” Nathan insists as his eyes search mine.
The same foreign though that crossed my mind last night strikes me again: where are his parents? Why couldn’t they just watch Bennett? Are they not around, either? The question was on the tip of my tongue but I selfishly wanted him to stay in his good mood so I pushed it into the depths of my mind instead of asking him.
“You really don’t. I was watching Cole and Luke play video games when you called, and Bennett was way more entertaining than them,” I tell him honestly and he chuckles. “So, did you win?”
Nathan’s voice seemed faraway, like he was too occupied looking at me to comprehend my question. “Win what?”
“The race?” I supplement as my brow furrows a little.
“Oh yeah, I did,” He looks somber for a moment before he nods, satisfied by whatever internal thought process was going on in that head of his. “I’ll give you half of the winnings.”
I sit up in bed and shake my head as I cross my legs underneath myself. Nathan was offering to pay me half of whatever he won for doing him a friendly favor, and one that I wanted to do, at that. If I had been babysitting for a different family, they would’ve given be fifteen bucks for the one hour. And then I would’ve gone home. But that’s not the point.
“No,” I tell him vehemently. “That’s your money, not mine. You don’t need to pay me, Nathan. Seriously. I was just doing it as a friend.”
I could’ve sworn I saw a look of distaste on Nathan’s face at the word ‘friend’, but I wrote it off as wishful thinking. Just because I had raging hormones and couldn’t be in the same room with him for five minutes without picturing him shirtless doesn’t mean he feels the same about me.
When he catches sight of my unwavering challenging gaze, Nathan mumbles, “You’re so stubborn.”
“You’ve said that before,” I grin at him as a thought passes through my mind. “How much do you normally win from one race, anyway?”
He shrugs and I can practically see him recoil as he becomes reluctant to tell me things all over again. But he answers anyway, albeit discouraged. “Depends on the race. Last night I made a grand.”
My eyes practically bulge out of their sockets as I stare at him in disbelief. “A grand? On one easy race?” The information stuns me and, as I think about his job at Vintage Records, I ask, “Why do you work at the music shop?”
Nathan pulls himself up into a sitting position and leans back against the wall behind his bed. He stretches his arms out to rest them behind his head and I can’t help but follow the movements his muscles make when he does this. Quickly, though, I revert my attention to Nathan’s face, which wore a light smirk, like he caught me staring.
“I get all of my vinyls for free by working there,” Nathan answers lazily. “Besides, I only work once or twice a week. Usually just to cover other people’s shifts.”
My gaze darts to the heavily filled bookshelves of vinyls before shifting back to Nathan. I look at him in wonder, but before I can fire off more questions (or just stare at his face), the door to his bedroom swings open. Ty leans against the doorway with a huge smirk on his face as he looks at me, sitting crosslegged on Nathan’s bed.
“Lauren, if you told me that you were sleeping over, then I would’ve cleared space for you in my bed,” Ty announces, as if he hadn’t woken me up earlier because he was arguing with Nathan.
“Do I need to put a padlock on my door?” Nathan growls.
I look at him with amusement alight in my eyes. “That’d be a smart idea.”
He looks at me and his expression softens as he gives me the tiniest smile. “Let’s go to Home Depot and get one right now.”
“Lauren can stay here,” Ty chimes in arrogantly and my eyebrows raise at his tenacity.
Any traces of Nathan’s previous playfulness vanish from his face as he scowls at his brother again and snaps, “No.”
Ty looks at me with a fake pout. “Lauren, wouldn’t you rather hang here with me? C’mon, me or Nathan?”
“No,” I agree with Nathan, who begins laughing at Ty’s frown. “And Nathan.”
His frown deepens upon my second answer, and Ty is so deflated that he actually turns around and leaves the room. In between his chuckles, Nathan teases, “I’m glad to know you choose me.”
I rolled my eyes. “If it’s between you and Ty, then yes I choose you.”
Really, I’d choose you over anyone.
But I’m not telling you that.
“Aw come on,” Nathan pouts adorably and I bite my lip at the sight to keep myself from smiling widely. “What if it was between me and Ryan Gosling?”
“Is that even a question? Ryan Gosling!” I tell him in a ‘duh’ tone.
Nathan frowns as he holds his heart in mock hurt. “That hurts, Lauren.”
The smile escapes me and I laugh gently, enjoying this carefree side of Nathan so early in the morning. “If it makes you feel any better, no one can beat Ryan Gosling.”
He gets up and starts heading towards the bathroom door. “You’ll choose me over Ryan Gosling one day, Lauren. I’ll make sure of it.”
With that, Nathan tosses a wink at me over his shoulder, and then disappears into his bathroom. I sit on his bed, stunned by his words, and feel a shiver crawl up my spine as they replay in my head. I shake my head and tell myself that he meant nothing by them and take a deep breath to calm down.
I glance around the room again and my gaze lands on the bookshelves filled to the brim with vinyls. My curiosity to see which records he had gnaws at me until I climb out of his bed and walk to the bookshelves myself. My fingers graze the spines of a few vinyls, noticing how some were tattered from age, but most were in good condition.
I scanned the albums, surprised when I found the occasional Peter Frampton vinyl. That was the music that my mom used to listen to. Who knew Nathan was into older music? My lips quirk into a smile when I see countless Van Morison, Johnny Cash, and Bruce Springsteen vinyls stuffed onto the shelves.
“Snooping, are we?” Nathan surprises me from a few feet away and I jump at the sudden proximity of his voice.
“Appreciating, not snooping,” I correct as I turn around to see him leaning against the bathroom door. A smile graces my lips as I ask, “You listen to Peter Frampton?”
For a split second, Nathan actually looked embarrassed as he rubs the back of his neck. “Sometimes.”
“Huh,” I say more to myself than him because, yet again, I’m impressed by Nathan Rhodes.
And how much of a heartless bad boy he wasn’t.
“Do you want breakfast?” Nathan offers, but I have a feeling he only offered to change the subject, which makes me smirk a little.
But my smirk falters when I become acutely aware that I’ve overstayed my welcome and I sigh. “I should probably go home.”
Nathan’s smile subsides and his hardened expression returns as he nods. I follow him out his bedroom door and then to the front door as my eyes curiously size up his tense stance. I suddenly felt uneasy around Nathan. Unsure, maybe. I self consciously run a hand through my hair and swipe under my eyes for any loose makeup in the hopes I didn’t look like a total mess.
When we get into the living room, I grab my shoes and keys by the couch. Once my shoes are laced, I push myself off the couch and walk over to the front door, where Nathan had it opened, and offer him a small smile. “Thanks for letting me crash here.”
“Sorry about Ty,” Nathan sighs. “He’s an idiot.”
I can’t help but grin as his playful attitude comes back and my uneasiness vanishes. “It’s okay, all guys are idiots.”
“Even me?” The pout on his face almost makes me scream at him to kiss me, but I barely contain my emotions and smirk at him instead.
“Especially you,” I smirk wickedly at him.
His sexy pout turns into an easy smile as he chuckles, his blue eyes still shining. “Drive safe. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” I say reluctantly with a small smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
And then I turn around and walk down the pathway to my car on the street with the image of Nathan’s genuine smile burned into my mind. I could tell that he was showing me a new side of him, a side that I was sure not many people saw. He was thoughtful, caring, generous, and kind- attributes that you never would’ve guessed Nathan Rhodes possessed if you heard any of the countless rumors about him.
I drive back to my house with the heat blasting and lose myself in my thoughts. This weekend, Nathan kissed me, took care of me when I was drunk, carried me to my bed, called me for help, carried me to his bed, and actually talked about his personal life for once. All of these things overwhelmed me because they were all things he had never done before and I didn’t think he was capable of doing.
When I somehow made it to my house, I hopped out of the car with a smile on my lips that was purely Nathan’s doing. However, the smile was replaced with a confused frown the second I opened the front door. I could hear arguing coming from the kitchen and recognized Luke and Cole’s voices coming from the kitchen and tiptoed to the source.
“It’s your fucking fault,” Cole shouted. “You were acting like a cocky douchebag just because Holden was around.”
Cole never got that angry at Luke. Never.
“Fuck off, Cole,” Luke growls. “You think I don’t know that I fucked up?”
“If Nathan wasn’t there, you’d look a lot fucking worse,” Cole remarks lowly in return. “You’re lucky that he was around.”
That was it for me. I stopped lingering in the shadows and stomped into the kitchen to see Luke sitting on the counter with his back toward me. Cole was facing him and as his eyes slid over Luke’s shoulder to connect with mine, they widened and he visibly paled. I kept walking further into the kitchen, staring at Luke’s newly tensed back, until I faced him and saw why Cole paled so much.
A purple bruise rested around Luke’s right eye, which was swollen shut. There was a long cut above his left eyebrow with other scrapes peppered around the surrounding red skin. My eyes snapped to his one open one and I was annoyed to see him avoiding my gaze. Something clicked in my head: Cole mentioned Nathan was there. And Nathan didn’t tell me.
“Luke,” My voice is dangerously low as I stare at him. “What the hell happened to you?”
Luke glances up at me fleetingly before his gaze shifts back down to the floor. “It’s not that bad, Lauren. Seriously. I just got in a little fight, and it won’t happen again, but the guy had it coming.”
I frown as I snap, “What do you mean it’s not that bad? Your eye looks terrible!” I let out a deep breath and demand, “Who did this?”
Luke doesn’t say anything or raise his gaze from the ground. He just sits silently, either ignoring the fact that I asked him a question or pausing before he answers. But when a painfully silent moment passes and he still hasn’t coughed up a name, I narrow my eyes again.
“Luke, who did this?” I emphasize again.
He still doesn’t answer.
I turn to Cole and see that he’s already avoiding my gaze. “Cole, tell me who punched Luke.”
“Sorry Lauren,” Cole mumbles lamely.
Powerless, I groan and run a frustrated hand over my face, unsure what to do. When I look back at Luke, he’s still glaring at the ground, but the cut above his eyebrow starts bleeding. I sigh and walk toward the kitchen sink and reach underneath to grab the first aid kit stowed away there. I grab a gauze and a bandaid before walking back over to the two silent boys.
I stand in front of Luke and instruct tiredly, “Look straight ahead.”
Silently, he follows my strange request, and I take a step closer to begin cleaning the cut. Luke flinches underneath my hand as I dab at the bleeding section, but for the most part stays as still as a statue. Nobody dares to speak, including myself, and I clean him up in silence.
When I finished fixing up Luke’s cut, I threw the blood stained gauze and bandaid wrapper away in the trash. Luke finally lifted his gaze to look me in the eyes, seemingly grateful for my momentary nursing, and he opens his mouth to speak.
“Lauren,” Luke says quietly. “I’m not telling you who it was because I know you’re going to interfere and I don’t need you to fight my battles.”
I narrow my eyes at him again and excuse, “I’m not going to fight your battles.”
It was a lie, I admit. I wanted a name so I knew whose house to go to and deliver a swift kick in the nuts to. But I wasn’t going to let Luke get away with not telling me the truth about what happened, so I remained stubbornly persistent.
“Yes you are,” Luke shoots back immediately with a knowing look. “And you know it. But I can take care of myself, okay?”
This only angered me more and my tone rises as I glare at my little brother. “You’re not taking care of yourself at all! You’ve been hanging out with Holden Brook, coming home late at night, and you won’t answer my questions. What the hell is going on, Luke?”
And that’s when it hit me.
If Nathan was with Luke and Cole last night, and he was also at the tracks, that means…
“Don’t fucking tell me you’ve been hanging out at the tracks.”
Luke’s expression said it all. He went from angry to shocked, completely shocked. I glance at Cole, who had been silent behind us the entire time, and his eyes are just as wide as Luke’s. That’s when I know I’ve caught them.
Luke’s expression shifted to worry, letting me know with one look that I had hit the nail on the head. They have been going to the racetrack.
“God damn it, Luke.” I groan and bury my face in my hands.
All was silent for a long minute.
“How do you know about the tracks?” Luke finally asks, his voice no longer laced with anger, but sheer curiosity and awe.
My hands slide off my face and I look him straight in the eye. “It’s a long story.”
“Thomas didn’t bring you around ever.” Luke says thoughtfully.
I freeze. “You’ve been going since Thomas and I were dating?” Luke seems to realize what he’s done, and he freezes again, his big eyes staring back at me. I frown as I study him. “Lucas Maxwell, how long have you been going to the racetracks? And don’t even think about keeping it a secret from me, because I will find out.”
He looks at me shyly and admits in a mumble, “About two months.”
My head felt like it was going to explode. My little brother has been going to the sketchy, dangerous racetrack for two months and I had no idea. Was I really unobservant, or was he really good at keeping secrets?
“Why do you go?” I find myself asking.
And he gives me a look that tells me I asked the right question. He’s silent for a moment, but decides to answer me. In a tiny, tiny voice, Luke mumbles, “I’ve been racing.”
Yup, my head was definitely going to explode.