Can't Be Tamed

Chapter Sixteen: Somebody Get Me A New Past

Pic to the right's that of Ryan. Enjoy!

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“Unfortunately, the clock is ticking, the hours are going by. The past increases, the future recedes. Possibilities decreasing, regrets mounting.”

-- Haruki Murakami

Nicole's POV

"I shouldn't have ever trusted you!" Nate yelled at me. Sasha just stood there with her arms crossed, but her eyes were narrowed at me like a cat's, a very angry and malicious cat's.

"Nate, I’m sorry. But I couldn't," I spoke, I couldn't meet his eyes.

"You are no sister of mine-," He moved closer to me but Ryan stopped him. "My turn now," he said, patting Nate's chest. "Hey Chris."

"Ryan," Chris muttered in a disgusted voice. I didn't know that Chris knew Ryan but what I could sense was that their acquaintance was not all friendly.

Ryan put on the same smile that he wore when he was up to something. "Chris, long time no see." His gaze traveled down to me. My heart was thudding loudly, waiting for what Ryan might say. "Hey, sweetheart. I see you've got yourself new boyfriend."

"You two know each other?" Chris asked, looking at me and Ryan.

"Knowing might be an underestimation." He smirked at me, but in a bad way, not in a Chris-way. "Nicole, why don't you tell Chris about your first boyfriend?"

"We don't have to do this right now Ryan." I gritted my teeth.

He gestured to his men as they grabbed me and Chris. "Thank God, I am not bound by the blood promise. Neat trick by the way. Now tell."

One of his men scratched my wrist with his nail. "Ah," I muttered in pain, "you were."

"What? I didn't hear you. Speak loudly."

"You were." I raised my voice.

"I was what?" He pressed.

"You were my first boyfriend. But I was fourteen and clearly stupid."

Ryan came closer to me and played with a strand of my hair. "Don't you dare touch her, Ryan!" Chris fought in his captors' arms.

"Clearly, you weren't that stupid," Ryan whispered, "Now about your second one."

"Joel," I said.

"Ah, this one's interesting. You wanna tell Chris what happened to him?"

"Yes, it's my favorite part too." I turned to look at Chris, who was looking very confused. "He died in a fire Ryan started and blamed it on me." There were surprised gasps and murmurs from the other people.

"Nicole, don't be mean. It's okay, we all know that you were going through a hard time. And it was an accident, that's why no one put you in juvie prison for that."

"Shut the hell up, Ryan! I might be going through a rough time, but you and I both know who actually and purposefully killed Joel." I had angry tears in my eyes, those memories were painful.

"Oh Nicole, we know you didn't do that on purpose, but you shouldn't blame an innocent person for that."

"You? Innocent?"

"Let's move on to your present boyfriend," Ryan said, ignoring me. His gaze flickered to Chris. He pointed at him and said, "Him? Seriously? If you wanted an older guy, you could've picked better."