Page 106 of Heartstruck at Dawn
Nathan shook Juan Pablo’s hand with a poker face. They already knew each other, but he had never gotten holistic on us before. Nathan thought I was exaggerating when I told him about Juan Pablo and the things he did and mostly … said. I’m sure he didn’t believe I was exaggerating now.
We sat for dinner, and I barely touched my food. My stomach was still doing the upsetting thing for me since I had to put a smile on my face when deep down, all I wanted was to curl up into a ball in my bed and have Nathan hug me all night long. The wine didn’t agree with me either.
We had all just finished clearing the table when Juan Pablo’s phone rang. He sat in the living room and took the call there. Nathan and I sat with him while Nina helped CJ out with dessert.
Juan Pablo spoke in Spanish while I laid my head on Nathan’s lap. He stroked my hair while we both waited in comfortable silence.
I didn’t want to pry into Juan Pablo’s conversation, but he was sitting right next to us. I inevitably heard everything he was saying. And it was not good. I was sure he didn’t know I speak Spanish, or he wouldn’t have said the things he did.
Damn it.
I looked up into Nathan’s eyes, widening mine just a bit, and squeezed his hand. He jerked his chin up with a frown, wondering what was wrong.
I couldn’t stop listening to Juan Pablo, and all I could think of was how he didn’t deserve Nina. She was such a pretty, fun, and smart girl. And from what I heard, Juan Pablo was most likely cheating on her.
I pressed my thumb and index finger together, asking Nathan to wait, and pulled my hand up to his cheek. I was so thankful to have him.
Nina and CJ came back with ice cream bowls on steroids. They had all these crazy toppings on them. I didn’t even know where all of that came from.
Juan Pablo immediately ended the call, and I excused myself for a bit. I grabbed Nathan’s hand and asked him to come with me.
“What’s going on?” Nathan asked as I shut my bedroom door.
“I think Juan Pablo’s cheating on Nina. I just heard him talking on the phone. He kept sayingmi amor,which means my love. And he was telling whoever was on the other side of the call that he was sorry, that he was having dinner with his girlfriend, that he would try to sneak out later tonight, that he missed her too. He even saidI love youbefore ending the call. Do you think that could be anything other than cheating? Maybe a family member, or … ?”
“That sounds a bit dodgy. But still, we can’t be sure of who he was talking to. You can’t tell Nina if you’re not sure,” he said. “What are you planning to do?”
“I don’t know, but I feel like I can’t donothingabout it.Maybe I can talk to him? I don’t want to meddle, but I would hate it if a friend of mine knew you were cheating and didn’t tell me anything, you know what I mean?”
“I would never cheat on you,” he said, kissing me slowly. I loved his slow kisses.
“I know. I wouldn’t either.” That made my stomach churn. I wasn’t cheating on Nathan, nor would I dare or want to do it, but I couldn’t control my feelings, and I felt so bad for caring about seeing William flirting around with Nina.Is that cheating?
I really hoped it wasn’t because I didn’t want to care.
“Let’s go back outside. I’ll see if I can find a window to talk to him.”
“How about we stay here, instead?” he said, kissing me again.
“I can stay here all weekend if you want me to,” I replied with a laugh. “But let me see if I can talk to him. If not, we’ll elope.”
“I have a few friends in the courthouse who could help with that.” He smiled. Every time he could, he snuck in a marriage joke. And I didn’t mind them, but my neck did. It felt stiff.
“Not that kind of eloping,” I replied, biting into his lower lip. “More like running away from everyone and locking ourselves up in my bedroom kind of eloping.”
“I’m not against that either.”
“Come on, let’s go before you convince me to stay.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him out of my bedroom. They had finished their ice cream when we joined them in the living room.
“We didn’t know if you two lovebirds were coming back,” CJ said to us. “Your ice cream is in the fridge.”
I went for Nathan’s bowl and gave it to him. I left mine in the fridge. I wasn’t in an ice cream kind of mood at the moment.
“Juan Pablo, could I talk to you for a second?” I asked him. Everyone turned to look at me—even Nathan. I don’t think he was expecting me to take the bull by the horns. But the sooner I talked to Juan Pablo, the sooner I’d get toelopewith Nathan. I craved some alone time with him.
“Sure.” He stood up, and I guided him out to the hall. “What’s up, Billie?” He asked, brushing his hand around the space above my head and my shoulders again. “Do you mind?”
“Umm, no?” My eyes followed his hands.
