They may not hurt him physically, but mentally, it’s another story.
I fight back tears, trying to hold myself together.
Shifting closer, I press myself flush against this back and turn his face to mine. “Who did this to you?”
Pure hatred descends his handsome features. Lips curving in a grim smile, he replies, “Take a guess.”
Frowning, I rack my brain. A single name popping up in my head. My eyes going wide, I struggle to comprehend. “Your dad?”
The blank look in his steely eyes confirms it.
“But why would he do this?” He couldn’t possibly hate his son so much. What crime did Nathan commit that he punished him so severely and cold-bloodedly?
My hand falls when Nathan turns his head to stare at the glass wall opposite the bed. A tightness lines his jaw as he frostily grits out, “I broke his rules. My grades weren’t high enough.I wasn’t concentrating. I partied too much. I caused trouble. I wasn’t learning the tricks of the business quickly, so I can lead one day. I whined too much about my older brother after he left. I dared to see Kian to bring him back home.”
A crack ruptures his deep voice at the last sentence.
“The reasons are endless. The gist is whatever I did was never good enough.” In a low and broken voice, he mumbles, “Iwasn’t good enough.”
I’m left gutted because the way he utters it tells me he believes it too.
A part of me knew he harboured a lot of sorrow, pain, and secrets, but I was wrong about the depth of them. He hid them behind arrogance and detachment, letting everyone paint him as the villain so nobody saw the cruelty he suffered from the one who was supposed to be his protector.
Scooting around to his front, I sit on his lap and cup his face with both hands. “Hey.”
I caress his angular cheekbones, waiting until he meets my gaze.
“You are more than enough,” I tell him fiercely, meaning it with every fibre in my being. “You’re everything to me, Nathan.”
His forehead falls to mine as his fingers tighten around my hips, like he’s trying to believe it. “I’m afraid one day I won’t be, angel. I’ll disappoint or hurt you like I have everyone else in my life. I already did when I walked out on you. Nobody ever stays. They say they will, but they never do. What if I show you every ugly part of me and it’s too much for you? What if you realize I really am a bad guy and walk away? I won’t survive another person leaving me. The thought of not having you in my life, it terrifies me to the point I can’t breathe.”
There’s no stopping the tears spilling from my eyes as I listen to him fall apart. I want to annihilate every single person who hurt him, beginning with his father.
“I will never leave you because you’re not a bad guy. Everyone makes mistakes. Nobody is perfect.” Brushing my fingers in his soft hair at the back of his head, I kiss him sweetly on his jaw. “Show me all sides of you and watch me stay.”
“I have a lot of issues.”
“Tell me,” I urge. “They won’t stop me from wanting you to be mine any less. Let me be your safe space, Nathan.”
He goes quiet. A war raging on his handsome face.
I don’t push, understanding he’ll share when he’s ready. The fact he’s revealed this much is more than enough and means the world to me.
A sign he’s letting me in.
And what we have is real.
Wrapping my arms around him, I hug him as tight as I can. Burying his face against my neck, he hugs me back.
“You don’t have to tell me tonight,” I murmur. “I’ll be here whenever you’re ready.”
“Promise?” His voice comes out tight.
“I promise.”
“You’re mine forever?”
I pull back, smiling against his lips. “I am.”
