Page 55 of Operation Annulment
Nate hands me a cup of hot tea and wraps a blanket around my shoulders. I can’t stop shaking.
“I-I-is this what being an adrenaline j-junkie is like? I hate it.” Gone is the feeling of invincibility. I now feel like I’m caught in a hurricane. So, it’s basically like being hungover.
He chuckles softly. “Yeah, you just put your body into fight or flight and dumped a fuck ton of adrenaline into your bloodstream in the process.”
My teeth clatter together. “H-how m-much longer w-will it last. I don’t feel good.”
He brushes the hair back off of my forehead. “I don’t imagine you feel great at the moment. You’re not in control of your body; it must be hard. Just inhale and exhale, slow and steady.”
I lean into his hand and follow his instructions. “Thank you for not leaving me there.”
He fidgets with his wedding ring. “Why’d you defend me against Dakota? You and I just met a couple of months ago.”
“I didn’t like the way she was treating you. We committed to this marriage for sixty days, so I’m going to do everything in my power to put you first.”
His jaw tightens, and he stands up quickly. “Okay.” His Adam’s apple bobs slightly as he says it, and I wonder if his ex-wife ever put him first in anything.
I’m going to assume no since he questioned why I would.
I tap the table. “Sit. Did you have Dakota thrown out of the hospital?”
He sinks back down onto the coffee table and sighs. “Yeah. She posed as a doctor to get information on me. Things were going okay until she told me that you belonged with Jeremy. I lost my cool and had the nurses call security to escort her out.”
I can’t help myself, and I begin laughing. I wonder if this is fight-or-flight or if I’m just cracking up mentally. “Is that where Dr. Quinn, Woman of Medicine, came from?”
He tries and fails to hide a smile. “Yeah. I couldn’t believe she’d never seen the show. That was a nice call with the DC reference at the end. I think you got under her skin.”
I groan and put my head in my hands. “I’m an awful sister. I just wanted to hurt her as badly as she hurt me. Ever since she got arrested, our lives have been turned upside down. It would just be nice to have one thing go our way, you know?”
Nate looks down at the floor. “Is Jeremy? Were you two? God, what I’m trying to say is…”
Here goes nothing.
“Are you asking if we slept together?”
He nods, still looking down at the floor. “Yeah.”
“We did, yes. A year ago, I went to a chamber social event?—”
He moves to stand up again. “You don’t owe me an explanation?—”
I put my hand on his thigh, pushing him back down. “Please let me finish. I kind of need to start at the beginning, though. I dated a man for a year, Benjamin. On our anniversary last year, I went over to his house to surprise him. I guess I was successful—I walked in on him and his boyfriend.”
Nate’s head pops up in surprise, and I continue. “I went to the chamber social a few months later, where I met Jeremy. I was feeling reckless then and ended up going home with him. I had a one-night stand and lost my virginity. I didn’t see him again until right before I met you.”
He holds his hand up. “Wait, what did you just say?”
“I didn’t see him again until right before I met you?”
He shakes his head. “Before that.”
“I had a one-night stand?”
He shakes his head again, his voice almost a whisper. “After that.”
I swallow past the lump in my throat. “I lost my virginity to him?”
He nods. “That was just last year. How many guys have you been with?”
