NURA

Chapter 14

Nate

Dec. 2013, New York

The moment Nate opened the door, he flew back to the ground as fierce pain sliced through his jaw. He looked up in surprise to see Meg standing at the threshold of his apartment and glaring at him with a murderous glint in her eyes. He knew that he should get up or say something, but the way Meg looked at him stopped him in his tracks.

"How dare you, you pathetic piece of shit!" Meg growled as she stepped closer and howled Nate up by the front of his shirt before slamming him into the wall.

"What the fuck Meg!? What's wrong with you?" Nate said after finally finding his voice as the initial shock at how strong she was dissipated.

"What's wrong with me!? What's wrong with you, you fucking asshole!? How dare you treat Nura that way!?" she screamed in his face, and Nate felt a surge of anger wash over him. Of course, he should have guessed all this was about her.

Nate ignored the slight pinch in his chest at the memory of her and her lies and pushed Meg back, making her stumble over her feet.

"I should have known she'd go crying back to you." he sneered as he made his way to the couch, lighting up the cigarette as soon as he sat down.

"No, actually, she didn't. Aria is the one who called me after I got the message from Nura saying that she is no longer an employee of mine. She didn't even want to talk to me until I forced her to tell me what happened. What the fuck is wrong with you? Why would you say something like that to her?" Meg asked as she stopped before him, disappointment oozing from her pores. Nate snorted and looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Well, how would you react if you found out that the girl, or well, boy, you have feelings for had lied to you about being his first when the truth is that he had been whoring himself for God knows how long before he met you. I meant every word I said, Meg, and nothing you say to me will change my opinion. And the worst part is that I wouldn't have even cared if she had been honest with me. But she had lied, and I can never forgive or forget. And it's making me question what else she had lied about."

Nate put the cigarette out and looked at Meg, expecting her to agree to his statement, only to find him looking at him sadly and shaking her head.

"Nate, you may be a genius when it comes to medicine, but in this case, you are the stupidest person I have ever met. Nura wasn't lying when she said that, you fucking dick," he said, and Nate shot up, eager to disagree, until Meg raised her hand to stop him.

"Yes, Nura was a prostitute back in Morocco, but if you had taken the time to listen to her when she tried to explain everything to you, you would also know that it was against her will. You would now know that she was taken from the streets when she was barely eighteen after being thrown out of her house for not wanting to get married to some old dude and then forced to sleep with men.

Her first time that you are so obsessed with was rape. Every other time after that was rape until she was eventually saved in a CIA operation that brought her into this country. So, when she told you you were her first, she meant it.

You were the first that she, and only she, had decided to be with. You were her first, you piece of shit. And after everything that has happened to her, you ended up treating her just the same as those fuckers did."

Nate sat there completely frozen long after Meg had left, his hands shaking as he stared into the fire. His heart was beating so fast that he thought it would explode as he clutched his chest tightly.

"You know what, maybe I am just a disgusting, lying little whore, but at least I am not a conceited asshole who wouldn't know the truth if it hit him in the face."