Damage Control

Chapter 40

I instantly dropped my arms from around his neck as blush crept up to my cheeks. Nathaniel stood there with his arm still wrapped around my waist, glaring over at his cousin, but for a brief second, relief flickered across his face.

"What are you doing here, Stella?" I asked calmly, trying not to sound irritated as I made eye contact with my annoying friend.

She crossed her arms against her chest and raised an eyebrow. "Well, you never gave me or Carter an update last night or this morning, so me being the amazing friend that I am, decided to check up on you, but I see someone already beat me to it."

"He was just leaving," I lied, trying to wiggle out of his grasp, but he tightened his grip around my body, pulling me closer.

"I was?" Nathaniel breathed, looking down at me through his thick lashes.

I nodded quickly and cleared my throat, refusing to make eye contact with him.

Stella giggled and shook her head. "I'll leave the two of you alone, but don't think you guys are off the hook; I want an explanation, asap."

"Bye Stella," I mumbled softly, shooting her a small smile. She smiled back but gave me a look, silently telling me that I had a lot of explaining to do, and I nodded slowly before the elevator doors shut in front of her, leaving Nathaniel and I alone again.

"You need to eat," he murmured, brushing his lips along my throat trailing up to my jaw, not even bothering to continue the conversation we were having before Stella's arrival.

"You can go now," I whispered, trying to distance myself away from him the best I could. The moment for him to confess his true feelings left the second Stella interrupted us; I knew that if I tried to pry an answer out of him, he'd just lie again, and I wasn't ready to feel disappointment just yet.

"I'm not leaving you," he stated lowly, finally releasing me from his clutches to go back in the kitchen to clean up the mess he created.

I sat down and sighed heavily, rolling my eyes at his stubbornness. "I'm fine now, Nathaniel."

"Eat."

"I'm not hungry."

"I'm not asking."

I crossed my arms against my chest and glared as he grabbed my plate and stuffed it in the microwave before plopping it back down in front of me once it was warm again.

"Eat," he ordered again, taking a seat beside me with a fork in his giant hand.

"I'll just throw up again," I whispered, tucking my hands under my thighs for comfort.

Nathaniel said nothing as he stood up and checked under the sink, pulling out a spare bucket and placing it on the floor next to my feet.

"If you have to vomit—"

"Fuck no."

I'd rather drink acid than have him watch me puke my insides up in a bucket in front of him.

"Anastazi—"

"Can you just go?" I asked softly, staring down at the delicious-looking plate in front of me.

"No." Nathaniel stabbed a piece of scrambled eggs with the fork and held it up to my mouth. "One bite."

I scrunched my face and shook my head as I held my breath, feeling nauseated already just by the smell of it.

He sighed and moved the fork closer to my lips. "If you take a bite, I'll leave."'

I immediately grabbed the fork out of his hand and shoved the poison into my mouth, barely giving myself enough time to taste it before swallowing all of it down completely. I glanced down at the bucket expecting nausea to take over my body, but to my surprise, it didn't.