Page 11 of A Lot Like Forever
Nate tried not to laugh. There was no way Sam was going to ask outright if something had happened between them, not a chance.
“Your asshole boyfriend wouldn’t even open the door when I went around there, and Dad said he hadn’t seen you. How the hell did you think I’d react? And no, it’s not okay that you chose him over me.” Sam took a sip of coffee and sucked back a deep breath. “Look, if that idiot laid a hand on you I’ll kill him, so just tell me.”
“You were right about Cooper,” Faith said, her voice low. “He hurt me and I left, end of story. There’s nothing else you need to know.”
Nate watched as she wrapped her hand tight around her cup, the other in a small fist at her side. His anger started to simmer again, thinking of her beautiful skin being marked by some guy who thought it was okay to rough up women, remembering her bruise.
“He what?” Sam’s voice was barely audible as he rose.
“He hit me, Sam,” Faith said calmly. “It could have been a lot worse, but I left and now I’m here. I just needed some time away from everything.”
“Tell me we’re going to do something about this, Nate.” Sam slowly lowered himself back down into his chair. “I’m not going to let anyone get away with hurting my sister.”
“He hit her, I took her in, and the guy who did it will soon know that he messed with the wrong people,” Nate said, noticing that Faith was staring out the window now. His instinct to protect her kicked into life, but he didn’t want to scare her by getting into details while she was listening. She was probably sick to death of even thinking about what had happened, and reliving it right now probably wasn’t helping.
“And you two?” Sam asked, staring him straight in the eye.
“There’s nothing going on here other than me looking out for your little sister,” Nate said, thankful that Sam couldn’t read his mind. He raised an eyebrow, daring his friend to accuse him outright of screwing her. Sam was upset right now and Nate didn’t know what to expect. “Hell, Sam. She’s been through enough without you acting like there’s something”--Nate cleared his throat--“inappropriategoing on here.”
“Tell me what happened,” Sam seethed, his hands in fists on the table. “I’ll deal with him myself if I have to.”
“I’d say get in line, but we both know better,” Nate cautioned.
“You know what? This is none of your business, Nate.”
He wasn’t going to lose his temper, not with Sam, but the look on Faith’s face was telling Nate that his and Sam’s arguing wasn’t making the situation any easier for her. Nate took a deep breath to calm himself the hell down.
“You’ve been my business my entire life, Sam. Don’t forget that this is where you came every time you had to get away, too, when it was your dad.” Sam had always been welcome in the King home, no matter what time of the day or night he’d turned up, and Nate wasn’t going to take the rap for being the bad guy, not for this. He hadn’t done anything wrong and Sam needed to be reminded. “And Faith became my business the moment she turned up on my doorstep. You know you can trust me when I say that I’m handling it.”
Sam sighed, staring back at Nate as he opened his palms, obviously trying hard to diffuse his anger. “I’m not going to say I told you so, but Faith, seriously? The guy was a dickhead from the start.”
“Falling for him wasn’t my smartest move,” she said, smiling at her brother. “I just wish he hadn’t been my boss, too. It was only waitressing, but it was okay money.”
Faith’s low, soft voice somehow settled them both. Nate wanted to do something to comfort her, but he also knew better than to touch her in front of Sam. Hell, he didn’t even know if she’d want him to touch her.
“You sure I can’t deal with him?”
“I’m sure,” Nate said, staring hard at his friend. “Just think of Faith visiting you in jail, and get those kinds of thoughts out of your head.”
Sam nodded, but he was focused on Faith now. “Why didn’t you come to me?” His voice was softer than it had been before, his gaze intense as he stared at her.
“I just wanted to deal with this on my own for once, instead of running to you for help.”
“So you ran to Nate for help instead?” Sam asked, glowering at him.
Nate shrugged and leaned back in his chair crossing his legs at the ankles and folding his arms across his chest as he watched them. It was a fair question—he’d asked her the same thing himself.
“I didn’t want you to find out,” she finally said after an awkward stretch of silence. “When it comes to me you overreact, you always have, and I didn’t want you losing your temper and doing something crazy. I’d be the one who’d have to live with that, and I needed some time to think without having you to deal with, too.”
Sam looked pissed, but Nate had to agree. He wasn’t exactly easy to simmer down when he was angry, and if it was to do with Faith then he was entirely unpredictable.
Faith reached for her brother’s hand and squeezed it. “You always said coming here made things better for you, when we were younger, and now you’re finally happy. I just wanted to deal with this and move on without putting you in a position like that.” She smiled over at him and Nate returned it. “I trust Nate, and it felt safer coming here than one of my girlfriends’ places, in case he tried to find me.”
Sam suddenly angled his body toward Nate, pointing his finger at him. “Wolf in sheep’s clothing, that’s all I’m going to say. He won’t hurt you with his fists, but youdo notwant to go there, okay?”
“Leave my clothes out of it,” Nate said with a grin, lazily doing one of his shirt buttons up and leaving the rest open. He would have done them all up, but he wasn’t opposed to annoying Sam just a little more. What Faith had said had hit home, made him feel like a jerk for thinking such unbrotherly things about her, but he also got that Sam wouldn’t want to talk too much about his feelings and what Faith had done. He wasn’t good like that.
“Nate has been an absolute gentleman,” Faith said, reaching out and patting Nate’s hand. “You should be thanking him.”
