Nate draped his arm over me and pulled me toward his chest.
“Shh,” he whispered and kissed the top of my head, but that only made me cry more. Why had I been so stupid?
After a few minutes, my tears subsided and I pulled away, keeping my head lowered.
“Talk to me,” he said, finally breaking the silence.
“What is there to say?” My voice was low and hoarse, my gaze refusing to pull away from where the lake and shore met.
“Say anything.”
“It's karma.”
“What is?” I felt his body shift toward mine.
“I'm being punished for what I did to Julian and Delaney. This is my payback.”
“Don't say that.” He pulled me into his arms. “It was a misunderstanding.”
I shook my head. “And where do we go from here. We make pretend that you didn't sleep with her?”
Nate waited a few seconds before he responded. “I guess you're right.”
I knew I was right. There was no way I could get over this. Him being with Delaney was a thick pill to swallow.
“We can be friends,” I suggested. It was a lie. We could never just be friends. Never.
“I don't want to be your friend. I love you too damn much.”
“Nate.” I shook my head as new tears threatened to fall.
“Brie.” He said my name gently and cupped my face. “We were never conventional. And nothing can come between us that will make me stop loving you any less. It might take time for us to get over this bump but we will get over it.”
I nodded. My heart was in knots and every fiber in my soul was petrified, but I loved this man more than anything. I knew he was right.
Closing my eyes, I prayed we would overcome this.
Chapter 19
Brielle
The friendship I had with Delaney instantly changed.
It was funny how a man could come between two girls. In a blink of an eye, things seemed completely different. At first, I blamed myself for everything. It wasn't her fault I fell in love with him, but then I realized she lied to me. She told me she spent the night with Nate, and I later discovered that wasn’t true. Why lie? What else had she lied to me about?
It burned like hell when I walked into my dorm room after my conversation with Nate. The images of them together would forever haunt me. It wasn't her fault I fell in love with him, but our friendship had shifted. There were too many lies between us now, and when you can't confide in your best friend . . .
“You've been gone all day.” Delaney hit the mute button on the TV when I walked in.
“Finals are approaching,” I said with a sigh.
“I thought we could study together.” She looked up at me with hopeful eyes. “Go to the diner and drink so much coffee we’re up all night.” She shifted her feet and sat on them. Delaney knew all my deepest, darkest secrets, yet in that moment she felt like a complete stranger. “You know, like we always do.”
“Sorry. I was helping other people study.” I strolled across the room and dropped my heavy body on top of my bed.
My eyes were closed, but I heard her moving toward me. “I have to tell you what happened to me last night.” My eyes flew open.
I held my hands up to stop her from continuing. I didn't want the details of her and Nate’s sexcapades. “Can we talk about it another time?” She stopped dead in her tracks, confusion spread across her face. I’d never said no to her. “I'm really drained and I don't feel very well.”
“Oh, okay.” She sat on the edge of my bed. “Do you want me to grab you something to eat?”
“No.” I covered my eyes with my forearm as tears threatened to fall again. “I don't have much of an appetite. I just really want to sleep.” Shifting on my side, I faced the wall. The painful tears that had threatened began to stream down my face. I couldn't stop the hurt. There was so much pain in it all that I needed a few more days to get back to normal.
A few more weeks.
Nate and I took things slow.
Extremely slow.
It was probably the way we should have done things to begin with instead of jumping into bed together. There were days when it hurt like hell, and sometimes I needed a few minutes to myself, but in the end we had an undeniable gravitational pull toward one another, and no matter what, we would get through this.
Still, other things had changed.
He wouldn’t kiss me on the lips. It seemed to be a trigger for both of us. I’d remember him with her and he would shake his head and mumble Julian’s name. He could hug me for long periods of time but his lips would only touch the top of my head. At first, every time he hugged me, images of him and Delaney flashed in my head, but I soon realized I had two options: I could be depressed and cry at every opportunity or I could get over it.