Page 59 of Nathan

I press a hand to his chest. “Please, Nate. I?—”

“I said drop it, and I meant it.”

“I only want to help.”

“You can help by shutting the fuck up.” He pushes my hand away and swings his legs over the side of the bed.

I rest my palm on his back, feeling the tension radiating off him, his muscles bunching beneath my hand. “Don’t shut me out.”

He turns to me, and what I see in his eyes scares me. He scares me. “I’m warning you, Dex. Either stop pushing this subject, or it’s over between us. I want a girlfriend, not a pushy bitch who pokes her nose into things that don’t concern her.”

I widen my eyes, then scramble to my feet, pulling the sheet around my nakedness. How have we gone from such mind-blowing sex to talk of us splitting up? “You don’t mean that.”

He stands, too, his spent dick hanging between his legs. “What’s it to you, anyway? Why do you care so fucking much?”

“Because I care about you,” I say quietly. “And an idiot can see you’re carrying the world on your shoulders, but I don’t understand why. If your family were horrible or they talked down to you, were mean and nasty, I’d get it. But they’re not. They’re a family to be proud of, and you should be proud to be part of it.”

Nate’s eyes flash with such venom, I recoil. He drags on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and shoves his feet into his sneakers. “You haven’t got a fucking clue what you’re talking about. You know what? Go fuck yourself, Dex.”

He storms out, slamming the door so hard behind him I jump. Tears spring to my eyes, but I refuse to cry. After what we shared, I can’t understand how he could be so cruel. So cold. My early impressions of Nate O’Reilly are dead-on. That’s the real man: nasty, narcissistic, thoughtless, selfish.

Arrogant prick.

Mentally exhausted, I put on some clothes, fetch my suitcase, and begin packing my things. If Nate thinks I’m going to hang around here waiting for him to calm down and apologize, well, he can fuck right off. I won’t be that girl. I open the dresser drawer as a soft tapping sounds on the door. I know it’s definitely not Nate returning to beg for forgiveness. He’d have barged in and expected me to fall to my knees in gratitude.

“Come in,” I call out.

Millie pops her head inside. “Are you decent?”

I shrug. “Not sure I can claim that, but I’m dressed if that’s what you mean.”

She closes the door behind her and comes farther into the room. “I just had the skin burned off my face by Nate as he stomped out of here at full pelt.” She gives me a warm smile. “I couldn’t sleep and was warming some milk. Want to talk about it?”

I plunk myself on the bed and rub my eyes. “I’m not sure I have an explanation for what happened.”

Millie sits beside me. “Take your time.”

I flop onto my back and hook my arms behind my head. “Nate didn’t want to come here. To New York, I mean. Not just the wedding.”

Millie lays down, too, and mirrors my pose. “Nate never wants to come here.”

I twist my head, hope spiking within me. “Do you know why?”

She shakes her head. “He visits so rarely, and when he does, he’s usually monosyllabic and miserable. These past couple days is the only time I’ve seen him say more than a handful of words, not to mention smile. I wasn’t sure he had teeth.”

I chuckle. The more time I spend with Millie, the more I like her. “Indie said the same thing the other day. About him being happy, I mean.” My cheeks puff up as I blow out a breath. “We argued because I questioned his reasons for staying away. I mean, you’re all so fabulous, I don’t understand why he’s so reluctant to spend time with you. Clearly, I hit a nerve. Or several.”

Millie sits up and crosses her legs. “Nate’s hiding something so poisonous, it’s eating him up from the inside.”

I frown. That’s exactly what I thought, but the fact Millie has picked up on it, too, when, by her own admission, she rarely sees Nate, piques my interest. “What makes you say that?”

She bites down on her lip. “Has Nate ever mentioned my past?”

I snort. “Nate doesn’t talk about any of you. He didn’t even mention Callum and Ciaran were identical twins, hence my stupefied look when I arrived on Thursday.”

“Oh dear.”

We laugh before Millie grows serious. “I went to school with Callum and Ciaran. I actually dated Callum for a few weeks before he grew tired of me and moved on.”

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