Begin Again 2: RESET || Nate Maloley

{ ten }

"I don't wanna do this anymore," my voice trembled. Tears ran down my cheeks, further ruining the mascara I had on thanks to Tia.

"Shhh, it's okay baby." Nate kissed my forehead. "It'll all be over soon."

"They're gonna know," I shook my head. "As soon as they hear sirens or see any lights, they're gonna kill us."

"You know I'd take a bullet for you, right?"

"I don't want you to take any bullets," I cried harder.

Earlier after Foosh had given us the location and time to meet Bach, it was my job to run to a payphone and call Swazz and give the same information. Turns out Foosh was already in the area and Nate had a feeling he would be. He knew Foosh's style. He knew he would most likely be around to make sure everything followed through. He could've easily done this himself but he preferred Nate take the heat just in case things got hot. 

I had only 10 seconds to tell Swazz everything and tell him clearly. I hope I didn't fuck up.

I was a nervous mess. Nate bought me chips & a drink at a Subway down the street from the location, but I couldn't even eat. My stomach was in knots, twisting and turning. He touched my hand, taking me out of my trance of negative thoughts.

"Please eat, baby," he begged.

"I'm not hungry." My voice was raspy. "I feel like I'm gonna throw up. At this point, I'd rather re-live Kalin kidnapping me all over again than go through with this."

"Same shit to me," Nate shook his head. "Look, open your hands. Keep them under the table."

He moved around a bit and I soon felt the cool and heavy metal in my palms. He gave me his gun.

"Put it in the back of your waistband," he continued. "You remember how I taught you to shoot?"

My breathing got heavier once I did as he said. The clock on the wall behind me seemed to get louder and louder with its ticking. 4 PM was creeping up on us like a lurking dark figure that seemed to suck away more and more oxygen the closer it got. At 3:58, Nate stood up and held out his hand to me. He practically had to pull me up.

We walked down the street and everything felt like it was going in slow motion. I could hear my heartbeat and the adrenaline pumping. The metal of the gun was warming up against my skin. I squeezed his hand and he brought it up to his lips. The wind blew more than usual, making his white t-shirt stick to his chest and abs. The tears that rolled down my face were being pushed in the direction of my ears. I had to keep moving my hair out of my face. We got to the dark red front door of the 3-floored apartment building. Nate made it a point to kiss me deeply before we entered. And the way he kissed me made me pray hard that this wouldn't be the last kiss.

. . .

We had to walk up to the second floor to apartment 2A. I kept my eyes closed as I heard heavy footsteps approaching, quickly opening them as I heard the doorknob twist. A tall guy with black hair answers the door and motions for us to walk inside. He shuts the door behind us, still not saying a word. The apartment itself was beautiful compared to the rugged look on the outside. The floors were hardwood, there was a lot of open space, and several people were in here talking amongst themselves. 

Before we could move any further, the guy puts his hand on my stomach, stopping me.

"Gotta frisk you two," he said.