Torrid Affair(13)

Nate sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. “Can we be friends?”

“Yeah.” I nodded my head. Friends was something I could do. Overall I enjoyed his company and the spark I felt for him would die. It had to. “But I’m not calling you Moose,” I joked.

“About that.” His voice was vibrant.

“Yeah, about that. Moose? Seriously?” I shook my head. “Moose are massive. Nothing about you looks like a moose.”

Nate chuckled, making my heart flutter, and I resisted the urge to bite my lip. That was the spark that needed to burn out.

“My brother nicknamed me when I was a freshman in high school. He was a year younger and a few kids were picking on him. I’m not proud of it, but one day I left school early, walked over to his school, and beat the crap outta some kids who were teasing him. When all was said and done and the parents were called, Julian explained to our mother that I was like a big, giant moose charging at those kids.”

His gaze searched mine. “Like I said, I’m not proud of what I did to those kids. They were smaller than I was, but I made a promise to my little brother that no one would ever pick on him again.”

“Moose?” I muttered and cocked my head to the side. “Though it’s brave that you stood up for your little brother, it’s still a stupid name.”

“You don’t have to call me Moose. Only people I went to high school with call me that.”

“Good!” I rested my hand on my hips. “Because I wasn’t going to.”

A half-grin grew on his face. “I’m glad we’re friends, Brielle.”

“Me too, Nathaniel.” I turned back toward the building to stop myself from gazing into his eyes. “Do you know the history of the tower?”

“Yeah. I still can’t believe they are taking down the best make-out spot on campus.” He pointed up the pillars. At the very top was an observation deck with a view of the entire campus. “Up there, no one will ever catch you.”

“You’re such an ass.” I shook my head and Nate chuckled.

We spent the rest of the class period walking aimlessly around the tower. I had a notepad and scribbled down everything I noticed about its architectural design and its surroundings. Nate kept his hand shoved in his pocket and on occasion I caught him staring at me. I focused on my school work.

This was how fate worked for me.





Chapter 7





Brielle


Nate and I were actually able to keep a normal friendship.

We met before class and spent the entire three hours looking at buildings. He explained to me how they were built and about the architect who designed them, and I stared up at the buildings and appreciated the art, the history and the period in which they were built. Surprisingly, neither Nate nor I ever mentioned to Delaney that we shared a class together or that we were friends. It wasn't that I purposely wanted to hide it from her, we were only friends after all, but if he had his reasons for not telling her, then I had to respect that.

Delaney spent most of her weekends with him for the first few weeks of their new relationship. She came back from class Friday night, showered, and packed an overnight bag. I didn’t see her again until Sunday afternoon when she strolled in, hungover, to sleep for five additional hours. It meant I had the dorm room to myself, which was nice. I was cruising through my classes ahead of schedule. If I were honest, I’d admit that I dove into my school work so I didn’t think about the two of them together, but I reminded myself that he and I were strictly friends and that was for the best.

They had been dating a little over a month when I met Julian, Nate’s younger brother. Delaney and I were eating on a Thursday morning when they appeared and joined us for lunch. I knew Nate had a full school schedule but he lived off-campus and it was rare that I saw him in our cafeteria or on campus.

“Hi, babe.” She threw her head back when Nate stood behind her. He leaned forward and kissed the top of her head. When she looked back at me, her smile was wide and it almost looked as if she was high from his touch.

“Brielle,” Nate greeted me.

“Nathaniel.” I still refused to call him Moose.

Delaney sat across from me and Nate took the seat to her right. The brother sat at the head of the table. He was tall like Nate. They both had the same body type, lean with broad shoulders, except Nate had dark hair and he had ash blond hair and cattish hazel eyes.

“Hi, I’m Julian.” A wide smile grew on his face. Then it clicked: his brother.

“Hi, I'm Brie.”

My gaze scanned Julian’s face as I looked for similarities to Nate. Aside from their height and build they looked like complete strangers. Nate’s jawline was more profound, whereas Julian had a rounder face. Julian was fair with a few freckles scattered around his cheeks. He was cute.