Broken

Allure

Joe and Gary were gone and Nate and I were all alone in his suite. It was nerve-wracking to be in these close confines with him. Especially the way my body responded to him. I had to get a grip, the last thing I needed to do was start pining over someone I barely knew and who, for all intensive purposes was now my boss. This working relationship will prove to be quite the challenge.
Nate went to the fridge. "Can I grab you anything?" He asked me.
"A water please." He retrieved the bottled water and grabbed a bottle of beer for himself before settling in the seat beside me at the table. I opened my water and took a long swig. It felt wonderful. Nate reached across the table and grabbed my hands that I was fumbling crazily with on the table. "How are you feeling Allure?" He asked skimming the skin on my wrist with his thumb and forefinger. It felt so amazing I almost hated to pull away, but I knew I had to. I didn't know anything about this man and he definitely couldn't possibly know the havoc he was wreaking on me with his touch. He was gorgeous and polished and way wayyyy out of my league.
"I feel so much better although my ribs still hurt. Thank you again for what you did for me Nate. I really appreciate it." He took a sip of his beer. "Allure, we are going to be working together. I don't expect you to warm up to me overnight, but at some point you'll need to loosen up around me. I'm one of the good guys. I won't hurt you." Little did he know how wrong he was. He already had such a profound affect on me and I barely knew him. What's going to happen when I start getting to know him. I'm afraid I'll be in deeper than I can even imagine and that scares me the most.
"Tell me something, how long have you been being abused by this bastard?" He said when the silence ensued.
"Three years," I answered sheepishly. I relayed the story of how we met and the events up until this point. "Sometimes, I wish I would've never went out that day. I lost everything because of one day." I felt the tears trying to come, but I forced them back. I had given the situation enough tears. "I had a really good job, friends and a fairly decent existence, and then poof, I lost it all."
"I'm not happy that this Greg guy was beating on you Allure, but I'm glad that our paths have crossed. I think you are beautiful and I think once you start working with my staff, you'll see we are like a family, which makes you very much a part of it." He grabbed my hand again, placing a gentle kiss on it. "I'd like to think fate brought you to us. I promise you, I will do whatever it takes to protect you." I stared him in his eyes and saw the sincerity in his words. Surprisingly, I didn't snatched my hand away. I liked the way it felt in his hand and the way he was stroking my wrist was hypnotizing me. It was like I was under his spell. We continued to stare at each other, neither daring to be the one to break the gaze. A knock at the door made me jump and I quickly pulled my hand from his grasp. He rose from his seat and peeked through the peep hole before opening the door and greeting Mindy with a warm embrace and a peck to her cheek.
"Hey boss man, I got Allure this gorgeous Chanel duffel and I brought over some more stuff now that I know her size." She looked over at me. "Allure girl you are wearing the hell out of that romper. I wish I had your body." I blushed at her words as I noticed Nate's peruse of my body. I felt like I was under a microscope. "I see you've taken notice too boss man." She said slapping him on the shoulder and coming towards me with the items. Nate took a seat in the sofa facing us, as once again, Mindy started showing me a series of outfits and I began the yes,no game, except this time, when I said no, Nate interjected with a yes on occasion. After we were through all of the clothing, Mindy folded them neatly into the duffel. She whispered that she had left the underwear and bras at the bottom.
"Oh yeah, before I forget, I got the prescriptions Dr. Howard prescribed for your pain too." She said retrieving a CVS bag from one of her bags and setting the bottles before me. We sat and conversed for awhile, as I allowed myself to relate with Mindy. We had so much in common and it was nice to have a female friend again. Every once in awhile I would gaze over and find Nate staring intently at me. I would give him an uneasy smile and then focus my attention back on Mindy and what she was saying. Nate's assistant dropped by with the stuff I needed to write his story. I stared in awe at the expensive laptop he placed in front of me as he started explaining how to use it and setup of the programs I needed to write the manuscript. I looked over at Nate who simply shrugged. He left as quickly as he had came and soon Mindy left again after I declined meeting her for dinner. She quickly recovered remembering why I was there to began with.
"I'm so sorry Allure, I completely forgot." I shrugged it off. Last thing I needed was to lose the one person I had been able to bond with in the past three years over something so trivial. When she left I took the pain medicine as the pain in my ribs returned full force. Nate took one look at the discomfort in my face and insisted I take the medicine and rest. He pulled out the pullout bed in the couch I fell asleep on earlier and told me to rest awhile until dinner. I agreed and laid down before I found myself in a deep slumber.