Between The Tides Of Pain & Rapture | MxM

Chapter 06

The thing that distressed and confused Nathan greatly was that Logan Anderson, a man who owned nothing five years ago, was now an owner of a company, his new boss, a multimillionaire. It simply made no sense. How come Nathan had lost everything while Logan had gained what he had lost - and so much more in such a short timeframe? By all means, he was not jealous of Logan's success, just deeply bewildered at the turn of events. How had this happened? What had Logan been doing?

It had been a week since he started working at Anderson's Estate. A week since he decided against telling his mother or wife that the man he worked for was the same Logan Anderson whom the town's people of Georgetown had tormented on a daily basis because his father lay in prison for life for murdering an innocent man, or because he favored men instead of woman. The same Logan Anderson whom Nathan had befriended in public despite his father's disapproval, and formed a relationship with before bedding in private. It was pointless to tell them about Logan, they probably did not remember him, and it was also pointless to stay at the job with a man - a boss, who despised his mere existence.

And although he had not seen Logan after their first encounter, Logan's presence awakened feelings deep inside Nathan, forcing his heart to open wounds he thought had long been sealed. It made his nights restless, more so than before. It made him remember the moments they shared, the times they spent in each other's arms, whispering false promises of a future together.

So it was clear that he could not be around Logan.

He needed to quit, and that meant...

He needed to see Logan.

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Nathan's heart fluttered at a maddening pace like a hummingbird's wings, and he found himself unable to breathe, taking deep breaths every couple of seconds. His palms grew clammy, too, and his stomach twisted with a familiar feeling he often got when hunger came.

This is it, you can do this, his thoughts voiced.

As he stared at the door of Logan's office in front of him, Nathan unknowingly fidgeted with the file he had in his hand - twisting and turning on the edges. "Okay," he murmured to himself. "You can do this."

Could he, though? At this point, he felt deeply doubtful of the outcome of what he was about to do.

Nathan took another deep breath before he knocked on the door.

The seconds were awfully long while he stayed waiting for an answer that would come from a man whom he had loved before he knew what love meant. And when the door buzzed and a firm, a monotone voice spoke from the other side, "Come in," Nathan's heart plummeted and his stomach dropped.

Maybe he could not do this; maybe he should leave; maybe he should -

He pushed the door open and stepped inside as though he was walking on eggshells. Immediately, before he managed to glance into the room, he could not shake the feeling of eyes on him, boring through his whole body like poisonous daggers. And not a second later, his breathing spiked when he caught the attention of Logan sitting on a leather chair in front of his desk with a bored expression, and his eyes - those hypnotizing blue eyes, lay on Nathan, confirming Nathan's suspicions.

When Logan's jaw ticked, something that happened fairly often when his anger rose, Nathan's shoulders closed in on itself before he took another couple of slow steps toward the desk. "Logan," he muttered with his eyes lowered to the floor when he arrived at the front of the desk.

A long pause happened before Logan answered with venom dripping from his tongue, "Nathan."

Nathan looked up at Logan and released a breath he did not know he had been holding in. "I came here for - to - I mean -" His voice wavered, and his words stumbled over another. Being in Logan's presence felt so odd after so many years, and so wrong - yet so right at the same time. He did not know what to make of this feeling, or what to say. "How have you been?" he settled on when he calmed down.