Hard to Hold On (22 page)

She shrugs. “That’d be a fun option.”

“Sharon, let me make this clear,” I snap. “I don’t like you. I don’t like
anything about you
. You showed up at a time when I wasn’t thinking straight—at a time when I was too drunk to handle myself. That
one
kiss doesn’t change shit. I didn’t feel anything when you kissed me. I can’t even fucking remember it!”

“You k
issed me back, which means you were feeling something for me!” she shouts

“I didn’t fe
el shit for you. I was too numb to feel anything,” I growl.

“Oh, whatever, Nolan.” She swallows the rest of her drink down and then tosses her cup to t
he side. “You know, I knew you were going to react this way. Even if I can’t have you, I know you can’t have
her
back. She’s young, confused, and I can tell she likes Tyler as well. The more time he spends with her, the more she’ll realize that he’s way better than someone like you.

“
You think you’ve changed but you haven’t. Nothing’s changed about you. You meet one girl and think you rule the whole fucking world. This side of you won’t last long and like I said before, I know who you really are. I’ve heard lots of things about you and settling down is something you don’t know how to do. I don’t think you will ever be completely faithful to just one girl. You’ll always fuck up, Nolan, and it sucks that I’m part of the blame for it.” She looks me over with saddened features, taking a step back.

“I
really don’t care anymore. I thought it would be fun to date you again but I guess I was wrong. Continue to fight over a girl that isn’t sure about you. You’ll end up hurt in the end anyway. I told you I was sorry but since you’re being a fucking dick, I’m not anymore. I could give a shit less about you.”

She step
s ahead, bumping into my arm purposely to get into the house but my gaze remains forward. I’m confused as hell. Why would she set Natalie and Tyler up to be together if she knew I wasn’t going to fall for her again? That’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard. She should have known I wouldn’t take her back. Did she really think she had another chance? This has to be the dumbest thing she’s done yet.

I turn around, making
my way towards the shore of the lake to find them but they’re nowhere in sight. I know I’m not too late. What Natalie and I just shared in that bedroom was real and I’m not losing her to a douche that agreed to date her for his sister. I look to my right but there’s nothing but darkness. Same goes for my left. Nothing.

I hurry for the house,
swinging the door open and slamming it behind me. I scan the living room, looking past the bouncing bodies and waving arms until I spot Harper standing with a drink in her hand.

“Where’s Natalie?” I ask her
as I step in front of her.

She frowns as she looks into my eyes. “I
dunno. I thought she was with you.”

“No. She went outside with Tyler but now I can’t find either one of them.
Did you see her come back in?”

“
No. Did you check upstairs?”

I swallow heavily, shaking
my head. “No. I know she isn’t up there with him.” I tell it to myself but I don’t know that for sure. It will kill me if she is.

“Let
me go check.” Harper shoves her drink into my hand before pushing through the crowd. I watch until she gets upstairs and then sigh as I take a look around. The music seems louder and with each beat, my pulse climbs. Dawson comes into view and as he gets closer to me, he smiles.

“Where’s Harper?” he asks.

“She ran upstairs to use the bathroom,” I lie.

“Oh.” He strokes his chin as he looks around. “This party is pretty cool, huh? Why the hell aren’t you dancing with Natalie?”

“I don’t know where she is.”

His
dark eyes flicker from the rave lights as he stares at me. “What do you mean? I swear I just saw you with her.”

I shrug, looking
towards the staircase. “I don’t know.” I continue my stare at the staircase and with each passing minute, I’m getting more and more nervous. Harper finally comes stepping down the stairs and I slam her drink on the nearest table as I head for her. “Is she up there?”

“No.” Her head shakes as she looks at me with wide eyes. “Are you sure she isn’t outside? I called her phone but she isn’t answering.”

She checks her cell phone but I step past her to go for the front door again. I look around the front for Natalie’s car, spotting it parked near the trees. I dash between the gaps of the cars to get to hers and look through the window. She isn’t here but an empty beer bottle has been placed on top of her car.

A rustling
comes from the trees behind me and I spin around. Narrowing my eyes, I take a step forward. “Natalie?” I call.

The rustling stops and I take a step back.
It must be someone from the party, I assume. I spin around with a shake of my head. She probably went for a walk with him somewhere and I’m just overreacting. I’m worried because in the back of my mind I know she could be doing anything with him. Holding his hand. Hugging. Kissing. Anything. At the thought of it, I cringe.

“Nolan,” I hear Natalie call from behind me.
I spin around just as she steps from the shadows of the trees, hanging onto her middle with a face as pale as a sheet of paper.

“Natalie?” I rush for her and just as I meet up to her, she falls against me. “Natalie, what’s wrong?
” I place my finger beneath her chin to lift her head up but it falls. “Look at me,” I tell her, lifting her head up again.

She struggles to keep it held
up. She brings a hand up but that’s when I notice the blood on her hand and her shirt. “Tyler,” she mumbles.

“What?” I pick her up in my arms and pull her keys out of her pocket. “What the hell happened, Natalie? What did he do?”

“Tyler,” she mumbles again.

She mumbles something
else as I swing her car door open but I can’t make out what she’s saying. I lay her in the backseat carefully and then shut the door. I lock the car behind me then rush for the house. Harper and Dawson are standing in the corner and I push through the crowd, throwing elbows just to get to them. “Something happened to Natalie.”

“What?” Harper
frowns. “What do you mean? Where is she?”

“She’s in her car. We have to get her to the hospital. She’s bleeding and she’s barely responding to me.”

“Oh, no,” Harper mumbles. She rushes past me and Dawson and I follow after them but as I near the door, a hand grips my arm, stopping me from taking my next step. I look down at Sharon with a scowl but her eyes are worried. “What’s going on?” she asks.

“Don’t worry about it,” I snap.

“It’s Tyler, isn’t it?”

I begin to yank away from her but hesitat
e as she says his name. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She bites her bottom lip with a shake of her head. “
Nothing. Never mind.”

“What the hell do you mean
never mind? My girlfriend is almost unconscious and your brother is nowhere to be found. If you know something, tell me, otherwise get the hell off of me.”

She
gulps, pulling her hand away. She doesn’t say anything so I step away from her and rush out of the door. I don’t have time for her games. I meet up at the car and Dawson and Harper are waiting for me. I unlock the doors right before tossing Harper the keys. “You drive. I’ll sit back here with her.”

“What happened to her?” she asks as we climb in.

“I don’t know. I think Tyler has something to do with it.” I pull Natalie up and lay her in my arms. She groans and her head falls. Her skin is clammy and I reach up to wipe the droplets of sweat away. “I swear I’m gonna beat his ass when I see him again.”

“You shouldn’t have let her go with him
in the first place!” Harper snaps. “You came to the party to be with her so you should have kept her with you.”

“I could
n’t keep her on a leash, Harper! We’re not dating. She can do whatever the hell she wants right now.”

“That doesn’t mean shit,” she growls. Dawson places a hand on her
lap as she whips the wheel to pull out of the driveway.

“Chill, babe,” he
murmurs.

“I’m not going to chill, Dawson,” she snaps at him. “I swear if she’s hurt, I’m ne
ver helping you again, Nolan. Ever. You were supposed to stay with her, not leave her. You were supposed to be fighting for her, not handing her over to another guy. Tyler is cool but he’s not
you
and she knows that. She’ll choose you over any guy at any time. You just need to fucking fight. Stop letting her go.”

She floors the gas
pedal and the car picks up in speed but I shake my head, looking down at Natalie. I push a few strands of hair out of her face but I can’t help but feel guilty because Harper’s right. I should have been fighting harder but I didn’t want to push her away from me any more than I already had. I didn’t want to stop her from being herself or end up ruining her night. If I would have argued with Tyler, it would have made me look immature but now I wish that I had. Now I wish I would have stopped her because looking at her like this is killing me.

I lift her shirt and there is a
scrape on her side that’s bleeding but it’s nothing too major. Nothing a few Band-Aids and peroxide can’t solve. A breath of relief slips out of me as I pull it back down. “It’s just a scrape,” I tell them.

Harper nods,
releasing a breath of relief as well. “Good. I’ll just go to the condo and we can get her in bed.”

The car silences again and I stare out of the window.
I should have stuck around with her. I shouldn’t have allowed her to walk away from me to go to him. I didn’t want her to . . . but I had no right to stop her from doing what she wanted.

I had no right
at all to tell her what to do but that’s going to change. I’m making her mine again. My only hope is she accepts it.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Natalie

A buzzing noise is the first thing I hear before my eyes open. Groaning, I flip on my side knowing it’s my phone but I’m not fully prepared to see Nolan’s face or body in the way. His eyes are shut but his mouth is gaping open and he’s snoring. I pause, taking a quick look around. My phone is on the night stand beside him, meaning I’ll risk waking him up. The sun is barely peeking through my curtains so I know it’s extremely early.

Reaching my arm across, I lean over Nolan without touching him but then
I wince, feeling something burn beneath my shirt. “Ouch. Shit,” I hiss, my hand recoiling as I flop on top of him.

He grunts heavily and his eyelids fly open.
He looks down at me with stitched eyebrows but once he realizes it’s just me, his face softens. “What’s wrong?” he asks, his voice gravelly.

“Nothing
, I was just trying to get my phone . . .” I hesitate, staring down at my hand that’s pressed against his chest before pulling back a little. “Why are you here?” I ask.

“I can’t be with you anymore?”

“I’m just wondering.” Thoughts of the party come to mind and then our sex. Thinking about it causes my stomach to spiral in the best way possible. I can feel his hard-on through the sheets and I’m sure it would be nice to feel inside of me right now but the pain on my stomach interrupts my thoughts. Pulling away from Nolan and pulling my shirt up, I stare down at the Band-Aid right above my rib and frown. “What the hell is this?”

“It’s what happens when you hang with people that you
barely know,” he sighs, sitting up to hike himself against the head board.

I frown,
eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

He ignores me as he climbs
out of bed. He grabs for his shorts and then makes his way to the door. “I’ll tell you all about it later. Right now, I have a surprise for you.”

My spirit lifts a bit. “What is it?”

He holds up a finger before stepping out of the room. I hear rustling and then whispering. Harper groans, snapping irritably but then it’s quiet again. I frown as I try to listen in but it’s faint. I can’t make out a damn thing.

Nolan’s
finally pops his head in and smiles, his bright eyes meeting mine. “Ready?”

“Yeah.
I’m pretty curious to know what it is now.”

He smirks
, pulling his head back and whispering something to someone behind him.

“Alright,
damn it. I got it,” Harper snaps.

The door swings open and in comes Nolan, Harper, and Dawson
. Dawson has balloons, Harper has a cake in her hands, and Nolan has his guitar strapped around him. “Um . . . I’m sorry,” I say, laughing. “What is this?”

“A way to celebrate
Natalie Carmichael’s birthday,” Nolan says.

“What?” I gasp, gri
nning. “You actually remembered?”

“Of course I did,” he chuckles.
“You wouldn’t shut the hell up about it for the past four months. It’s your twentieth birthday and I want to make it as special as possible.”