ROMANCE: DBL Coverage (Bad Boy Sports Romance)(Alpha Male Football Romance) (Contemporary New Adult Womens Fiction Romance) (8 page)

NATE

A Bad Boy Romantic Suspense

By: Carly White

NATE

Chapter 1

Farrah looked up at the loud ticking clock on the white washed wall of her environmental science class. The teacher, Mrs. Ruby was droning on about the differences in air pollutions and she felt herself nodding off. It was only twenty minutes into the class and Farrah was close to shooting herself. It was one of those classes that served no real purpose for her major, more a filler to get her the credits she needed. Her choices of electives were slim that semester because she had been late getting to the Student Services to set up the classes.

Her eyes moved across the room and she could tell that she was not the only one affected with the older woman’s monotone. She wished she hadn’t forgotten her phone, so at least then she wouldn’t be so bored. All she wanted to do was go back to her dorm and go to sleep. If nothing else Mrs. Ruby would have a great career in making tapes for the sleep deprived.

A half hour later when the class was over, Farrah was fast asleep on her arm. She was nudged and looked up to see Matt smiling down at her. “So I guess you are not the best one to study for the test with.”

She sat up and looked at the clock, relieved that at least it was time to leave. “Probably not, but I will read the chapters tonight. I don’t know how you stay awake, Matt. Every time that lady starts talking, all I want to do is go to sleep. Serta sheep don’t have nothing on Mrs. Ruby.”

He laughed at me and there was a hint of something else, but after being friends for so long, she had learned to ignore it and to never encourage it. There was always something more that he wanted, but Farrah didn’t feel that way about him, the way he felt about her.

Matt was handsome and the best friend she could have asked for. They had known each other since middle school and as they had aged, not much had changed between them. The pair still went out most Saturdays together, played video games and watched hours of cheesy horror movies that were so pathetic they were funny.

He helped her up and she pulled away after she felt the warmth of his touch. It had sent a jolt through her and she still had lingering feelings from a dream she had just awakened to. “Thanks Matt. So what are we doing tonight?”

Matt liked to hear that. He was not stupid, knowing he would never have a chance with Farrah again. It was mainly the fact that she had tried years ago when she was still gangly and awkward. But now that he couldn’t look at her without his heart beating faster, Farrah had decided they were better as friends. He would always hold out hope though, that one day she would realize that she wanted him as bad as she once had.

“Matt, hello?”

He shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking. What were you saying?”

“Me and you. What are we doing tonight? There is a new game out that I think you would like.”

Matt considered, but he wanted to get out. If he couldn’t date her, at least they could go out on the town together and he could show her off. He suggested they go to a party and though she was reluctant, she would do most things that he suggested if he asked nicely.

“Fine, but I am not staying all night. Last time you started talking to that Cindy chick and ditched me. That one gross guy was there and drunk all over me, just promise you won’t leave me again.”

He promised that he wouldn’t, though they both knew that if the right opportunity arose, he was going to leave her again. He was always on the hunt and his answer to not leaving was for their relationship to go to the next level. It was not something that Farrah was willing to do, so she ignored the slight.

Getting into his car, she pushed the seat back for her long legs and waited for him to put his bag in the trunk. He carried more stuff than her, but he was the one out of the two of them that was always prepared. Farrah was still feeling a bit groggy after her nap and wasn’t really in the mood to go out. But she had promised to do something with him, so she tried her best to look enthused.

“Just drop me off and I will meet you there. I have a feeling that I am going to be driving myself home that night.”

“You know that I would be more than happy to stay in with you Farrah, but you don’t want to be more than just friends.”

“Why is it every time I don’t want to go out, you bring that up? What if I just stripped off and stood here and let you ravish me, then what?”

His eyes darkened with the idea and though he knew she was just being dramatic, the idea of it made him smile to himself. Matt wouldn’t care about what happened next. The friendship or not he would give it away in a heartbeat if he was given a chance to be with her. He knew that it wasn’t a very good way to think about it, but after fantasizing about her for years, it was all he had.

“I would never let you go. You know how I feel about you Farrah.”

She looked out the window, unable to hold his gaze as he stopped at the stop sign. I didn’t want to talk about any of it. Every time we do, we end up getting in a fight and someone’s feelings were hurt. Farrah just wished for once that we could move past it and he could somehow realize that she was just not that into him.

“Come on Matt, you know that is not going to happen. Besides, as much as we get on each other’s last nerve, it is probably for the best.”

Matt nodded, but he didn’t feel like it was for the best. He loved her and Matt was finding it harder to hide his true feelings. He started to forget why he was supposed to. “You’re right. I just wish that it wasn’t that way sometimes. You know that I have always found you attractive.”

“After a few drinks, half the girls in the bar will be attractive to you. You are never short on admirers.”

It went back and forth like that for a minute. Matt trying to tell her his feelings and Farrah stroked his ego a bit to make the blow of not wanting him less. They arrived at her dorm and she was quick to get out. They decided on a place and she planned to meet him there. It was almost a relief to be away from him. She didn’t want to feel that way, but he was becoming pushier the longer they knew each other.

Farrah got ready and with some time to kill, read the last few chapters for her class. She left a little later than she should have, but found him pretty quickly on the dance floor with his admirer for the night. Farrah secretly wished that one of those women he would fall for like he had her, letting her off the hook. When he spotted her from across the room though, she knew that it wasn’t going to be the candidate for the evening.

Chapter 2

The two stayed out until late. Instead of going home with his dance partner, Matt had gotten rid of her and the more he drank, the more his attention was put on Farrah. She tried to push it off, but around one in the morning, he was getting more and more insistent.

“Come on Farrah. Just once. I want to be your first. I dream about it you know.”

She was tipsy, maybe too much to drive, but her friend was beyond any recovery that night. Farrah wanted to leave, but he was starting to worry her. Calling a cab, she helped him out front and got groped in the process. She was going to let it slide, but there was more than a little relief when he was on his way home. He could worry about getting his car the next day she figured.

Going out to her own car, Farrah decided that it would be best if she just walked the few blocks to her own place. It had been a long day and the last thing she needed was a DUI. She started out towards the college dorms, passing a few people on the sidewalks. There weren’t many people out, but the ones that were out weren’t very nice looking. Farrah kept her eyes down until she heard a noise down one alley and looked over.

She shouldn’t have, she wished she hadn’t. There were several men by the back of a truck that had the metal door slid up. They were unloading something and it didn’t take her long to realize that she had stumbled onto a scene that she shouldn’t have. She looked down, but saw one of them look her way. Trying to act like she was minding her own business, which she should have been doing in the first place, she kept walking. It didn’t work as she heard yelling and then the men running down the alleyway.

Her heart racing, she started to run, only a couple of block to the dorms and lots of people. Farrah cursed her heels, slowing her down and she stopped as she heard the footsteps getting closer. There was no sense in being tackled. They got her and now her mind tried to figure out what to say.

“Wait, I didn’t see anything.”

“Then why were you running?”

A hand spun her around and she looked up at the large man. He smiled at her in such a way that made her insides tremble, the gold on his teeth shining in the street light they stood under. “When a couple of guys chase you in a dark alley, you run.”

Farrah lifted her foot up and pulled her heel off. “These shoes didn’t help. I am just going home and have already forgotten what I seen.”

“I thought you didn’t see anything?”

The other man with him was tall, but thin with a deadly look in his eyes. He kept looking around and then leaned into the one holding her. “We’ve got to go and I don’t know what to do with you. Boris thinks you should come with us.”

Her other heel was taken off. She was trying not to show her fear, but the very last thing she wanted to do in the world was go anywhere with the two men. Nodding her head, she looked behind her and thought for a moment if she should make a run for it.

“Don’t even think about. Come with us willingly or not, doesn’t matter. You are coming with us.”

He was so sure of himself and that bothered her more than anything else. It was the confidence and then the gleam of metal near his waistband that made it clearer to her. A man that carried a gun and looked like that wasn’t in the business of letting things go. She didn’t know why she had to come with them, but it couldn’t be for a good reason. “Why can’t you just let me go?”

“It’s not our decision to make.”

“If not yours, then who?”

“It will be up to Nate. Sorry. You are just in the wrong place, at the wrong time.”

***

They put something over her head and led her to the truck. She was set in between the two men and then another one pushed in, pushing her against the large one that had first grabbed her. From their talking she gathered the skinny one was Boris and the large one went by Randall. The third person didn’t say much and no one said anymore names except Nate. She had no idea who they were talking about, but she had gathered it was their boss and most likely someone that she wouldn’t want to meet.

Farrah didn’t try to talk to them. It became clear quickly that they were not going to let her go. It was not what Nate would want and pissing him off was not something any of them seemed willing to risk. That she was going to be thrown to him, a man that his own people were afraid of, the ones that knew him best did not sit well with her.

The truck eventually stopped and she could see light from underneath the black hood that they had put on her head. It appeared they had driven into a building and the idea that she was taken to where he was made it worse. If they took her to their hideout, Farrah didn’t figure that she would ever get to leave. Her mind became her worst enemy, conjuring up a million possibilities of how it would all turn out.

She heard a large door shut and the sound of something like a powered garage door. The door beside her opened and there was a relief when Randall got out of the truck. He grabbed her arm and pulled out from his side. He had to catch her from falling when her leg got caught on the seatbelt.

“What the hell do you have? This was not supposed to be part of the pick-up.”

“Yes Sir, but she was there and we weren’t sure what you wanted to do with her.”

“Go put her in the office.”

Nate looked at the body with no face. There was an inclination of the rest of her, but he was too pissed off to look at her in such a way more than a glance. His idiots had brought someone back and now he had to make a decision he shouldn’t have to make. He waited until she was out of ear shot and behind the thick door of his office.

“What the hell Randall?”

“She saw us unloading on Jefferson. What was I supposed to do? We started towards her and she took off. Real calm though, didn’t freak out like you would have thought.”

It was a strange way to say it and it made Nate wonder for a minute what that meant. He would have to talk to her, find out what she saw and if she could be released. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if they couldn’t let her go.

“How much do you think she saw?”

“Enough that I brought her with us.”

Nate nodded. He trusted Randall and it appeared that he had just made the best of a bad situation. Now Nate needed to know why they were getting seen in the first place, but first he had to deal with the blonde now in his office.

Sighing, he started up the stairs. “Get it put up and get rid of the truck.”

Randall nodded, sighing his own breath of relief that Nate didn’t seem too pissed off at him. He knew that he could be just holding it in. Nate had a volatile temper and he knew that he wouldn’t sleep well until more time passed or the situation resolved itself. If it turned bad, it would be his fault and there would be consequences.