Sweet Temptation (32 page)

Nodding slowly, he turned around and moved out the front door. She really believed him when he said he was sorry, but he had to understand what he did was wrong and that she wasn’t going to put up with it. She didn’t know how she was going to deal with not being around him, not feeling his arms around her, seeing his smile, or hearing his voice. She sank to the floor, crying.

She really wanted to believe that he would never, ever do anything like that again, but it was too hard. She had been told that last time it happened and then it only got worse. But Nate was completely different from Lucas. She would use these couple of days before she dropped off Nate’s stuff to figure everything out…whether she would accept his apology or never see him again. Picking herself up, she reached for a drink and sat down on the couch to take her mind off things. Curling up on the couch with a blanket, she flicked through the channels and found something to watch.

* * *

Nate walked slowly back to his place. How was he going to deal with not seeing her? That was really going to kill him. After learning what she really was doing, and realizing it wasn’t what he thought, he wanted to apologize for everything he did wrong. He wasn’t expecting her to return all the things he had left over there; fucking hell, he didn’t want her to do that. He knew he did the wrong thing. Why the hell did he do it? He would never have done anything like that… but he did.

Nate had a feeling there was no way she was going to forgive him, and in truth he couldn’t blame her. Who would after what he did and said? As he sat down on his step, rubbing his hand over his face, Dom appeared.

“Well, I’m guessing Craig didn’t get to you.”

“Nope,” Nate answered. “I apologized for what I did, and now she’s returning all my things. I don’t want that, Dom,” he said, huffing out a breath.

“What did you expect, Nate? I’m surprised she even spoke to you. You need to leave her alone. If you keep pushing, you will never see her again. Just let her do what she has to. Keep yourself occupied so you don’t do something stupid, like go and see her,”

There was no way that was going to work. All he thought about was her at every moment. Nate heard a door closing; as he looked up he saw Skylar walking towards her car with several bags. He watched her place them in the boot and went back inside.
What was she doing?
She came back out moments later with boxes, slid them in the back, walked around and jumped in. Starting the car, she reversed out and drove down the street.
Where was she going, especially with all the stuff she had
?

“Do you know where she’s going?” Dom asked.

“I have no idea,” he said. Jesus. He hoped she wasn’t going to move out because of him. He wanted her close, to keep an eye on her. Standing up, he told Dom, “I’m going to start on the Land Cruiser in the workshop,” If he didn’t do something to keep himself busy, he’d end up jumping in his car and going after her and he really didn’t want to push it. Sliding the roller door open, he hoisted up the Land Cruiser, pulled his toolbox closer to him and slid under the car to get to work.

* * *

Skylar packed all her lingerie and toys she had for the parties. Placing them in bags and boxes, she moved them near the front door. Looking around her room, she made sure she had all that she wanted in those boxes. Skylar rearranged the stuff she kept in her purple case and pushed it back into her closet. Grabbing her bag and keys, she lifted the bags and took them to her car. She placed them inside and then and went back inside and got the boxes.         

When everything was in, she climbed in, started the car, and drove down the street. She had seen Nate sitting on his front steps, but didn’t take any notice of him. She couldn’t stay at home, when Nate was so close by. Skylar had decided to go and see Chantal. She needed to hear what she thought of this whole situation and take what she had left from the parties to her place.

Pulling into her drive, Skylar turned off the engine. She sat there, breathing in slowly, before opening the door to exit. Chantal met her beside the car. “Darling, I’m so sorry for what happened,” she said, wrapping arms around her in a big hug.

“Who told you?” she sobbed.

“Craig,” Chantal whispered.

As she nodded, they walked into her house and sat together on the couch. “Why did he do all of this?” she asked.

“He followed me to the Montana’s house and saw Jeff and watched as we went into their house, plus he opened some of the boxes in my room, and for some reason, he thought I was a whore. Nate handcuffed me to the bed, I told him I didn’t want it,” Skylar told her, crying. “I started to panic and asked him to find the key, as he was doing that I ripped my hands free from the handcuffs, then made a run for the door. Craig arrived, after that.” Skylar curled up on the couch beside her.

“I also told him what happened between Lucas and I that night,” she whispered.

“You can tell me, Sky.”

“That night, Lucas came home drunk. I didn’t think much of it, and we started to get pretty heated, and that’s when I noticed two people standing in our doorway. I had no clue as to who they were. Lucas got up and closed the door, inviting them in.” Skylar didn’t want to relive that night, but she had to tell her. “He told me he wanted to watch them take me, then he would do the same. I didn’t want any part of it and tried to get away. That’s when they all started beating me, and when I couldn’t move Lucas threw me on the bed, and I just watched as one of his friends crawled up on the bed towards me. After that I blacked out,” she sobbed into her hands.

“That fuckin’ asshole.” Chantal growled. “Did they…” Chantal couldn’t finish.

“No, they didn’t rape me, James came in before they had the chance to,” Skylar told her.

Chantal wrapped her arms around her. “What the hell is Nate’s problem? He promised me he would never hurt you, and then he goes and does the exact opposite,” she growled. “There’s something I need to tell you too.”

“What is it, Chan?”

“That morning after we were at the pub, I told Nate what you told me had happened. He asked why you were acting the way you did, so I told him, I’m sorry, Sky. He needed to know.”

“It’s fine, Chan. I told him the version I told you from our date, but I should have told him everything,” Skylar said.

Chantal knew he had never hurt a woman, but that was all out the window now; he had really hurt Skylar. She had heard the whole story from Craig. He phoned her the night it happened after Skylar went to bed. Everyone knew that she had started organizing the parties; there was no harm in it for crying out loud. Why would he call her a whore when she wasn’t one at all? Seriously, it wasn’t hard to figure out that she worked for an adult shop; you would have to be stupid not to see that.

“Can I stay here for a while?” Skylar asked.

“You know you don’t have to ask, Sky. You’re welcome any time, this is your second home,” Chantal told her.

“I just need to think things through, without Nate around,” she whispered.

“You can stay as long as you want to,” Chantal smiled.

As she rubbed Skylar’s arm, Chantal said, “Let’s order some pizza for dinner. We’ll have a girls’ night, watch some movies, pull out the wine, and have fun. And we won’t think about anyone but ourselves. Deal?”

“Deal,” Skylar answered her.

Chantal stood, picked up the phone and dialled the pizza place. “Let the fun begin!”

Both Skylar and Chantal laughed. As Skylar swallowed half the glass in front of her, she was determined to have a good time and not think about anything to do with Nate.

Chapter
16

A week went by and Nate never got even one glimpse of Skylar; he only saw Craig and Alex coming and going from her house.
Was she hiding out in her own home?
He really wanted to see her, but if both Craig and Alex were there, he had no chance. He had tried ringing her, but it only went straight to voice mail. He couldn’t think about anything but being with her. He missed everything about her; the way she laughed, that sexy smile she would give him when she wanted something, the way she walked. Jesus, just watching her do that gave him an instant hard-on, and the little noises she’d make and how she screamed out his name when they… God, he wanted her. He missed her so much. He couldn’t picture not being with her again. She was everything he ever wanted and now he had royally fucked it all up with her. Why couldn’t he just listen to her and trust her when she said she would never, ever cheat on anyone? If he never met Natalie, he wouldn’t have had a problem doing that, but since Natalie did the dirty on him he now had some real trust issues. But he believed her now, after Dom confirmed that she never cheated on him.

Dom walked in. “Hey, man. How are you doing?”

“All right,” he answered.

“You look better than you did a week ago.”

His bruising was starting to heal. He only had very light bruising around his eye now. “Yeah, but I’m not feeling any better about it all. I haven’t seen her at all. Only the boys. And I’ve tried calling, but it goes straight to voicemail,” he said.

“The reason you haven’t seen her, Nate, is because she’s been staying at Chantal’s place. But I know she is coming back home sometime this week,” Dom said.

Well, at least she wasn’t cooped up in her house because of me
, he thought. “Has she been staying there because of me?” Nate asked.

“I don’t know. Chantal only told me she was staying with her for a while,” Dom answered him. “But a word of advice, don’t try to talk to her or see her, Nate. Let her come to you if she wants to.”

It was hard enough as it was not talking to her, but he did get what Dom was saying. Nate just nodded at him.

“So do you want to get out and do something tonight?”

“What do you have in mind?” he asked. He really wasn’t up for it, but he knew he couldn’t wait forever for her to decide whether or not she wanted to take him back.

“We could head to Joey’s for a round of drinks. Jack and Greg will be there. Haven’t seen them for a while.”

“Sure, sounds like fun. Let me finish up here, and then we’ll head out.”

“Okay,” Dom answered. Maybe he needed one night out to forget what happened and have some fun with the boys.

* * *

“Hey, Skylar,” Chantal called out.

“Yeah?”

“Tanya and Bella called, they’re going to Joey’s tonight. Do you want to get out of the house for a couple of hours?” she asked.

“Why not,” Skylar answered. It would be good to get out of the house. She was starting to get bored, just sitting around and doing nothing.

“I’ll jump in the shower now,” she yelled.

“Okay,” Chantal called back.

Running into the bathroom, she quickly undressed and stepped in. 

“What do you want to wear?” Chantal asked from the door.

Getting out, she dried herself and headed back into the bedroom. “Can I wear that new red dress you bought?”

Chantal reached in and pulled out the one she wanted. “This one?”

“Yeah.”

“The only dress you have ever worn was that black one of yours.”

She really wasn’t into wearing dresses, but tonight she wanted to. “I want to feel sexy tonight.” Grabbing the dress, she reached into her bag and pulled out a strapless bra and a thong. Once she put on her underwear, she pulled on the dress, and walked over towards the mirror. It was a blood red halter neck top that ended at her knees.