49

Tory's POV

Nate's new place was a little bigger than where they previously lived. It was more secure than the other and had so many palm trees.

I entered the house after him and was blown away by how pink it was, the curtains, the sofa, the walls were all different shades of pink. The only thing that wasn't pink was just the floor which was thankfully white and then the flower arrangements.

" Who lived here?"

" Mr. Roswell. I don't know why the fuck it's so pink, mom hates it too." He said as he dropped his keys on the table and started walking upstairs.

" You coming?" He asked and I shook my head.

" We'll do this in your living room"

" Fine," he said, " I'm gonna shower first" he added as he went upstairs and I sat down on the sofa, took off my shoes as I curled up on the soft sofa, and brought out the file Mr. Banner gave me.

They contained about seven questions which I was to ask Nate, after which I'm supposed to tell him to correct answer - they were all questions about how Nate would respond to certain circumstances.

I closed the file and took my phone out of my bag.

" Shit!" I said as I saw that I'd missed about seventeen calls from Rex. I couldn't call him back because if I did he'd find ask me where I am, so I switched off my phone and patiently waited for Nate to come down.

A few minutes later he showed up, dressed in a white tank top and black sweatpants. His snow-white hair was curly and damp and the place immediately smelled of his cologne.

He sat beside me and then as an afterthought, moved further away from me. That is SO UNLIKE HIM, I had to ask, " Nate?"

" Hmm?"

" What's up with you?"

" Nothing," he said simply as he passed his hands through his hair, making his muscles more emphasized as he did so.

" You are too sad today, you were very happy -"

" - I'm just jealous of you and Rex's perfect love that's all," he said, folding his arms as he looked at me and then at the paper.

I was caught off guard for sure, I never expected him to admit that he was jealous - at Least not like that.

" Can we Ummm....start?"

" No we can't," I said moving closer to him, his eyes immediately locked on my lips and mine on his. I quickly snapped out of it and tried to say what I had in mind before that whole weird thing happened.

" I don't like seeing you like this," I said as I touched his strong arms that he still folded across his chest.

" I'm sorry, but I can't help it."

" Nate..." I said now gently rubbing his arm, he looked so hurt.

" You have no idea how much it hurts."

" I do Nate, I watched Rex fall in love with Isabella before and it hurt really bad."

He groaned and then he moved closer to me, staring at me intensely.

" It's not like that Rya, it hurts way more than that because... I can't even explain clearly how I feel about you, so you probably won't ever take me seriously"

" I-" he used his index finger to stop me from speaking, the feeling of his finger on my lips sent goosebumps all over me, especially since he was now staring at my lips with so much desire. He wanted me and I would be lying if I say that I didn't want him to. I just can't live with myself if I hurt Rex the same way Isabella hurt him - by cheating on him with Nate. I just couldn't, I love Rex, what I feel for Nate is just desire and lust and I have to put an end to it even if it'll hurt Nate. Better him than Rex.

As I motioned to speak, Nate removed his finger and looked away from me.

" I want to kiss you so bad but, you love him, not me, and I can't take that. Let's just... Get this over with" he said before he got on and sat on another sofa, probably to avoid the temptation my presence caused him.

" Okay"

The sound of the doorbell being rung made him get up and check the footage from the security camera by the door. It was the delivery guy, as he opened the door, I opened the file and took out my pen, thankful that Nate had been the one to suggest we focus and not get distracted with how attracted we were to each other.

" Thank you" I heard the delivery guy say before Nate shut the door and put down a pack of pizza.

" After the questioning," he said before he sat down.

I felt so awful but I had to do as he asked to avoid pissing him off.

" Okay, first question here is - how would you feel if you saw a toddler separated from his or her mom? "

" I'd feel annoyed because the kid would probably be... crying a lot - that's annoying," he said and I gaped at him but quietly recorded his answer.

" How would you respond to it since it annoys you - assuming there's no one else there to help"

" I'll walk away, someone will eventually come"

I looked at Nate, he looked pissed as heck, it was almost as if he was picturing the whole thing play out. He wasn't lying about leaving the kid behind - that's cruel!

" Nate, that's mean. What if that kid was you? Would you want to be left alone by the one person who could take you to your mom?"

" My mom's left me on several occasions as a kid, I did fine." He said with a shrug.

" The correct way to react to that is to feel -"

" - awful, I know"

" Then if you know why don't you do what you know?"

" My heart doesn't exactly give a fuck about what I know I should feel. For example, I know I shouldn't be crazy about you after what you said about me but here I am, out of my mind about you. It's not that easy Tory." He said crossing his legs as he smirked seeing that his comment had caused my cheeks to go red.

I cleared my throat and ignored his comment. " Well, if you know the right thing to feel but then you don't feel it that would definitely affect your response to situations"

" So?"

" So... You can't alter your feelings but you can alter your response. In the case of the toddler, you don't give a damn but because you know that you're supposed to you can make an effort to find a way to get him or her to the mom"

He thought about and then he nodded. " Though it's not that simple or straight forward though"

" I know, but it's a start"

" Alright next question."

*********

After questioning Nate, he didn't give entirely cold-blooded answers like I expected him to. He gave the right response to three out of the seven questions.

" You aren't all that bad," I said as I tucked the file in my bag and finished my last piece of pizza.

" Lemme see that"

" No, you can't!"

" How did I do?"

" How do you think?"

" Rya, don't make me come there!"

" Why would you -" before I could finish my question he launched towards me and we both started dragging my bag. I don't know why he wouldn't let go, he was too strong, I decided to let go but instead ended up falling on him as he stumbled on the sofa.

" Get up before I kiss you" he threatened seductively and I shivered before I got up and when I saw he was still basking in the euphoria of making shiver, I grabbed my bag and made a run for it.

" Bye Nate!" I yelled as I opened the door and ran out through the gate with him yelling " you trickster!"