“I love that you want to protect me, even though I’ve had way more combat training than-” Nathan interrupted me.
“No need to rub it in my Nexi,” he frowned. “I may not be on your level yet, but my determination to keep you safe rivals any training you may have had.”
I stared at him for a moment. As crazy as he was, that was probably true. I suddenly pictured him being Hannibal Lecter and biting off someone’s face.
“OK, point taken. Can we get out of here?” I asked. “My temperature runs hot, but I’m starting to get a little cold in my shorts and T-shirt.”
“Absolutely!” He pulled me in close and transported us to his bedroom.
“Here we are. Where all your perverted dreams are soon to come true.”
“What the actual hell? When did you get that kind of control?!” I was in complete disbelief.
“Just recently. Like as in this exact moment.” Nathan smirked as he walked over and fell back onto his bed.
“Are you kidding me?” I tried to keep my train of thought when I saw his shirt ride up as he stretched—that delicious six-pack and the thin trail of hair that led to such a lovely dick. Now, it was my turn to smile dreamily. Looking slowly back up to his face, I saw a devious smirk aimed my way.
“See something you like, my Nexi?” Trying to get back on track, I took a deep breath.
“The last time you successfully teleported two people was that very first night. After that, you could only teleport yourself. Everything you tried to take with you disintegrated. You blew up so much fruit, you even made a ‘Save the Watermelons’ shirt, trying to be funny.”
“I wasn’t trying to be funny. It was funny. Grumpy just has no sense of humor.” Nathan pouted “I feel more powerful. I can’texplain it, but I knew it wouldn’t be a problem.” He looked at me seriously, “I would never chance that beautiful melon of yours exploding.” I just stared at him.
“We’ll circle back around to that later. How much should we share with the Moons?” Nathan walked over to me, picked me up, and laid me on his bed. He then plopped down beside me and rolled me up in his arms.
“About teleporting or us? I also want to point out that I deserve brownie points for holding in the many jokes going through my mind about that last name.”
I rolled my eyes and looked around his room. The room had no personality at all. There was just a grey comforter folded down, black sheets, and two pillows. Nathan had such a massive presence that I was a little shocked.
“Where is all your stuff?” I asked curiously.
“I didn’t bring it,” Nathan kissed my head. “I know this space is only temporary, and as soon as you bring in another Faction member for me to rule over, we’ll be moving to the housing.” I didn’t even know where to start with that last sentence.
“Sure, that makes perfect sense and exactly what I get for asking. Back to my original question, what do we share? Chloe and her brothers were raised in the Aurathion community, so they’re going to realize I’m either Nexus or Faction.”
“Why are her brothers already here? I thought it was just the first years until after initiation.” Nathan started running his fingers through my hair, removing the hair tie and undoing my braids.
“We didn’t have time to get into that before I teleported out.” All the tension I’d been holding left my shoulders. The combination of Nathan’s presence and the fingers running through my hair was like taking valium. “Mom told me that older students who are teacher’s aids come early. Also, some of them come to check out the incoming Passives hoping to finda Nexus or add to their Faction. I’m sure one or both of those apply to them.”
“So, we can ditch this place after a couple of years?” I could hear the joy in his voice at the thought.
“Maybe. Depending on the completion of our Faction and how much training we need. My parents can help with some of that, but the Academy offers a lot of advanced courses that are important for us to take. We’ll have to decide when we get to that point.”
“I’ll have to decide if any of these Passive wanna-be Faction are good enough for my Nexi,” Nathan smiled gleefully. I knew he was looking forward to putting any Passives that wanted to join our Faction through some shit. He truly was a disturbed individual.
“So, back to the Moon issue,” I reluctantly sat up and looked at Nathan. “Well, I trust your instincts, so if you think they’re trustworthy, be honest,” Nathan lifted his hand and cupped my face tenderly.
“Really? You just said you would need to check them out.” I looked at him in surprise.
“Do you think you’re going alone to tell them?” He looked at me like I was unhinged. “I’m going to be there, and if they do something I don’t like, I’ll just kill them where they stand.” He looked thoughtful, “Do they have pig farms here? Never mind, I’ll stick with my original disposal plan.” This was the guy that looked at me like I was unhinged?
“Sometimes I think I’m the crazy one,” I stared at him in amazement.
“You’re not crazy.” He kissed the top of my head. “Your super Nexus powers did pick me after all.” He pulled me back down into his arms, “It stopped me having to go through with my kidnapping plan.”
I’d like to say I was shocked by that statement but, nope, it sounded about right. I heard the door open in the living room.
“Oh shit. You have a roommate?” I didn’t know why I was surprised. As far as I knew, everyone had at least one.