Begin Again || Nate Maloley

|| Chapter 13

We had retreated back upstairs to his room. Rap music played low in the background, the curtains were opened, and we shared a joint while I sat on his lap, facing him. We kissed in between puffs and it felt like heaven. While he held the joint, I took my shirt off and ran my fingers through his hair. He looked so sexy when stray lines of smoke poured from his mouth before he french inhaled. His eyes were low and on my breasts. He kissed over my bra, taking his time. I took the joint from him, blowing streams of smoke straight up toward the ceiling while his hands roamed all over my back and his lips made their mark all over my chest.

"Mm, wanna finish this baby?" I spoke slowly, or at least that's how it felt.

"One more hit," he said before sucking on the now-short joint. He placed the roach in the ash tray by his bed, shaking his hand since he slightly burned his finger. I took his hand and kissed his fingertips, soon sucking on his middle finger.

"I feel amazing," I said with such joy dancing around inside me.

"When's the last time you smoked?"

"Four years ago...after my finals," I chuckled.

"Cool," he nodded. Taking me by surprise, he flips me over until I'm on my back. I chuckled as I wrapped my legs around him. My hands held onto the sides of the pillow beneath my head as he unbuckled my jeans. As eager as I was to find out what he was about to do, I couldn't ignore the fact that I was laying on top of something.

"Wait, wait, what the hell," I said in an annoyed tone. I reached under the sheet and pulled out whatever was poking my back, only to see that it was a pistol. I screamed and threw it across the room. "Nate! Why the fuck do you have a gun?!"

He sighed in defeat, getting off the bed to retrieve it out of the pile of dirty clothes he had in the corner that it landed in. "Protection," he responded. "Don't worry, it's empty."

"I-I'm not too comfortable about this though." I sat up and pulled my knees up against my chest, hugging them.

"With all the bullshit goin' on in the world, babe, you should feel safe as shit to know I'm strapped," he stated.

"Nothing good comes from those things."

"Yo, can we drop it?" He got a little aggressive as he locked it away in his closet.

"...Consider it dropped." I rolled my eyes, still hugging my knees, and looked out the window. The wind today was ruthless, making the trees look threatening.

I felt the bed move and Nate laid down next to me. "Hey," he said, touching my thigh. "Sorry."

I shrugged and he turned onto his back, rubbing his abs as he looked up at the ceiling.

"A couple years ago, my best friend got shot. Drug deal gone wrong. Left him for dead but he was still alive when someone found him. Ended up being paralyzed from the waist down. The guys that shot him didn't stop there, though. They straight up terrorized his family, breaking in and trashing the house until they found the drugs. When they didn't find anything, they knew he was friends with Foosh...paid him a visit & broke his arm & threatened to kill him. Found the pound of coke there. I almost hid it for him. I would've been next."

His jaw clenched and there was a stiffness to his hands. I placed my hand on top of his and felt the tension ease. They moved around beneath my palms and his fingers locked with mine.

"What happened to the bad guys?" I asked.

"...That's why I still have the gun. I don't know where they are or if they'll come back. Foosh won't chill. He keeps wanting more and more money, gettin' mixed up in the wrong shit. He calls what he's doing as an easier business. He no longer deals with cocaine, it's pills. Goin' to raves every weekend with his stash, makin' bank," he took a deep breath. "He doesn't hold his stash here, I told him not to. But I still watch my back because of him. And I feel I gotta watch his, too."