Page 83 of Nathan
I avoided looking at my mom, but I still took in her words and the only thing that I could think about was that I didn’t want anyone but Nathan.
“I need some space.”
“Honey…” my mother called after me as I left for the guestroom, but it was my sister who caught up to me in the kitchen.
“She means well. We both do. Nathan is good-looking, but trust me, that’s not enough to make a relationship work.” Lola touched my shoulder, stroking it up and down.
“I’m not in love with Nathan because of his looks.”
“Then what is it?” Lola shifted her balance, half her face bathed in light from the lamp above us and the other half in darkness. My eyes fell to the tiled floor and the scratched panels that probably came from our mom’s obsessive vacuuming.
“He makes me feel safe. We can talk about everything and he makes me laugh. When I got hurt, he took charge and made sure I was treated with the best care. When the doctor said I had a concussion, we cuddled up and he readBridget Jones’s Diaryfor me in his sexy British accent.”
“Yeah, okay, but Sydney…”
I continued without giving Lola a chance to interrupt. “Nathan and I are a perfect fit and if you knew what you were asking me to give up, you’d stop yourself.”
She opened her mouth with the look she had that made her look like Mom, but I wasn’t interested in her objections so I threw down a trump card.
“He gives me multi-orgasms like it’s his favorite sport. He cooks, cleans, and he already asked me to marry him.”
Lola’s hands flew to her mouth.
“I said no, but it shows he’s serious about us.”
She lowered her hands. “He gives you multi-orgasms? Like how many?”
“I’ve stopped counting. He’s so focused on my pleasure, and the sex is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. I’ve easily had thirty orgasms these past five days with him.”
Lola’s mouth still hung open. “That’s more than I’ve had with Marvin these past four years.” Shaking her head a little, she straightened up. “I don’t know, Sydney. It sounds too good to be true. You need to be very careful and think about what you want from a relationship long-term.”
I lifted my eyes to see our mom come into the kitchen.
“I know you don’t want to hear this,” she said with her lips drooping down. “But it would make me so happy if you broke it off with that man.”
“Urgh.” With an eye-roll, I walked into my room. I didn’t slam the door, but I locked it and pressed my back against it. What I had seen on that coffee table was gut-wrenching. Storm was a manipulative liar, but he stood out as the innocent one while I got slandered as the fiancée from hell who lost her mind and let myself get brainwashed by Nathan, a violent and dangerous lunatic.
Nathan and I never stood a real chance with all the negativity around us, and it made it hard to breathe.
Grasping for a raft to hold on to in this stormy water, I found my phone and called up Denise.
“So, youarealive,” my sassy agent said with a complaint in her tone.
“Denise, I don’t have time for a scolding. I need your help.”
“Of course you need my help. That’s what I told you from the beginning. Things wouldn’t have gotten this catastrophic if you had just let me handle the situation. Instead, you ignored my calls and made an even bigger mess yourself. What were you thinking, giving an exclusive interview to that nobody when we could have made top dollar if you’d let me handle it? And why haven’t you returned my calls this past week? Do you realize that a week in Hollywood is like a year? I’ve been so upset with you that I’ve considered dropping you and leaving you to fend for yourself. You make me look like a bad agent.”
“I’m sorry!” My voice was small.
There was a moment of silence before Denise smacked her tongue. “Good. You should be. Now, are you ready for us to come up with a plan, then?”
“Yes. Most of all I want people to see that Nathan isn’t a monster.”
“Oh, honey, I’m way ahead of you. Let me give you an update on what I’ve got cooking.”
