Strings (1 of 2)

Chapter 17 - Visitor

[Back to Emily's POV for a bit!]

I wake up cold, head against my pillow. I keep my eyes closed to block out the light and reach out but my hand hits the sheets beside me. I reluctantly open my eyes and realize Nathan isn't in the bed with me anymore.

Where would he go?

I stretch my limbs out and groan, rubbing my eyes. I definitely did not sleep enough.

Rolling on to my back on the other side of the bed Nathan was on, I reach for my phone to check the time but a black screen stares back at me. Damnit, it's dead. I throw it into my covers and stand up.

I walk towards my bedroom door and open it, peeking outside towards the bathroom. The door is open and the light is off. He isn't in there.

I doubt he would leave without his shirt that is still covering my body. Driving a motorcycle shirtless would not be ideal. I chuckle at the image in my head.

The house is silent besides a distant banging sound coming from downstairs. Weird.

"Nathan?" I call out at the top of the stairs.

The noise stops and he appears at the bottom of the steps a few seconds later. He looks up at me, half naked and very attractive with his usual wild hair even messier from sleep. He gives me a small smile, but it doesn't meet his eyes. Maybe he is tired too.

"What are you doing down there?" I ask, squinting my eyes at him.

He looks around him. "Oh, um, just grabbing water." But his hands are empty... maybe he left it in the kitchen.

He climbs up the stairs and reaches me quickly, snaking his arm around my waist to bring me close and I stare up at him.

"What time is it?" I ask.

"Around 9 I think."

I nod and stare into his hazel brown eyes.

"Are you hungry?"

"I could eat. You going to cook for me?" he replies, his eyes half playful, half surprised.

"Hell no, unless you feel like getting food poisoning today." We both chuckle.

It's true, I cannot cook at all. But Anna can, very well, and she left food for me for the weekend. Well for me and about 4 more people, I could never eat it all.

I step back out of his arms and walk down the stairs. "Come on." I say and he follows.

I walk towards the fridge and look at the several containers of food inside, pulling some out. Eggplant parmesan, chicken and rice, nothing that appealing at 9am.

"Ok, so I don't have a lot of breakfast food. Fruit?" I turn around to face Nathan and hold up a few stacked containers of clean fruit Anna washed.

"Sounds good," he replies and nods.

I open the containers and spread them across the island. I hoist myself to sit on the counter and grab two forks out of the drawer beside me. Nathan takes one from my outstretched hand and stabs some raspberries, smirking.

"What?" I ask, tilting my head as I eat a strawberry.

"Who cooked all that food?" he responds with his own question.

"Oh, Anna." I say and he looks up. "Our housekeeper. Well, I guess she is more than that. She has worked for my parents most of my life, she is more of a motherly aunt or something now." I try to explain.