Page 21 of Nathan
“River is fine unless you count the humiliation and heartbreak she suffered when she learned through the news that the man she loved dumped her for you.”
My head sunk as I stared at the blue carpet with black lines. “It makes zero sense to me. Why would Storm be such a jerk?”
“He just is!”
“But you didn’t answer my question. Why are you here?”
Nathan got up and took two steps away from me. He kept his back to me, but from his rigid stance with his hands folded in a fist, I could tell how tense he was. “I didn’t want to talk to you. Remember when you asked me earlier why I didn’t call you after we got back from the survival trip? I was about to, but then that stupid headline with the pictures of you and Storm kissing popped up, and my sister’s world collapsed. There was no reason for me to call you after that.”
I swallowed a few times and spoke with a small voice. “Is that what you meant when you said that I’d been a bad girl, and you needed to punish me?”
Nathan gave a single nod but still didn’t turn around.
“I see.” I drew in a deep sigh. “So, you thought that you could show up, seduce me, and take your anger out on me in bed, is that it?”
“Something like that.”
I swung my legs over the edge of the mattress and pushed up. “You sure know how to make a woman feel shitty about herself.”
Nathan spun to stand in front of me. “I was angry. I didn’t know it was a scam or that you thought River knew about it. This is all messed up.”
My chest felt heavy as I wrapped my arms around my waist in self-preservation. “I think you should go now.”
Nathan hesitated. “Serena.”
Our eyes clashed as I held up my hand. “Don’t. My real name isn’t even Serena, which you would know if you had taken some time to research. I thought you were a cool guy, but right now, I just want you to leave.”
Nathan’s handsome face scrunched up in frustration, but he turned and stalked to the door. With his hand on the door handle, he turned to look at me one last time. “Just know that I didn’t plan to sleep with you tonight. The only reason I’m in this room is because I find you fucking irresistible.”
I said nothing, and a second later, the door closed as he left my room.
Air that I’d held in whooshed from my lungs and my legs suddenly felt wobbly. Backing to the bed, I let myself fall on my back, and then I covered my face with my hands.
Disappointment overwhelmed me. Nathan’s words that I had sold my private life had felt so harsh.
It’s because he doesn’t understand the movie business.
Still, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth. Nathan had come for revenge, he had admitted that much, but his last words before he exited were confusing. What did he mean when he claimed that he hadn’t planned to have sex with me? What had his plan been precisely?
I went over every word he’d said, analyzing and interpreting them in my head. In Spain, Nathan and I had flirted quite a bit, and I’d been disappointed when he hadn’t called me after. At least now I knew why. He had believed what the papers wrote about Storm and me. The bleak realization of how it must have seemed to Nathan and River made me curl up in a fetal position feeling like the biggest fool in the world. Storm had lied to me and used me. From the core of my sadness, anger brewed.
