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| Isabella |

I woke up slowly the next morning, still wrapped in Nathan's arms. He held me close- his skin warming mine. After last night I was tired and I could feel it in my eyes before I even opened them. But I was glad because it meant I got to know a little more about him.

I was lying face down on my stomach, my cheek pressed into my pillows, Nathan's body covering mine. My eyes flutter open to bright fall sunlight pouring into my room through the windows. It occurred to me just then that I couldn't believe it was almost November- Nathan and I had been dating for almost three months now. My mind wandered, thinking of all the things I could do for our anniversary to surprise him . . . if he was in to anniversaries.

He shifts behind me, sighing deeply as he wakes up too. I close my eyes as I feel his lips press against my shoulder gently.

"Good morning." He says, voice groggy. I smile to myself.

"Morning." I mumble, still half asleep. His lips reach my neck and suddenly I'm waking up at the feeling of him behind me. He was definitely awake.

"I want you." He murmurs into my ear, lips brushing the shell of it. I giggle softly.

"A little eager are we?" I ask, turning my head slightly so I can see him. He's grinning lazily, his hair tousled adorably.

"How could I not be?" He asks and I blush. He leans in, kissing me and I return it.

"But shouldn't we have breakfast?" I mumble against his mouth and he chuckles. "I'm hungry."

"I'm hungry too." He answers, pulling back to look at me, a mischievous glint in his eyes. I roll mine.

"Don't finish that sentence." I warn and he leans closer, lips brushing against mine as his hands run down my chest, one cupping me gently and the other finding my hips, tilting them up against him. I gasp, feeling him there, ready.

"Hungry for you." He finishes and I giggle loudly.

"You're so silly." I say as he tries to kiss me again. "Nathan . . ." I giggle loudly and he laughs too. His eyes crinkle at the edges, his teeth flashing as he smiles.

"You're cute but you need to be quiet now." He says, pushing himself father against me and kissing my cheek.

"I thought you liked it when I was loud." I say and he chuckles. Then I finally lean up and return his kisses.

"S-shut up and let me fuck you." He mutters, still laughing slightly as he deepens the kiss. I moan softly, pushing my hips back up against him and he hisses sharply. I roll over, wrapping my legs around his waist as he kisses me deeply. "So beautiful." He mutters against my lips.

We continue like this, gentle touches and kissing before we're both breathing heavily. And when we're finally together we are interrupted by a rude and rather obnoxious knocking at my bedroom door.

"Shit." Mutters Nathan, his voice strained. He stops moving, and I whine, my insides still aching with no release.

"Izzy?" Calls Rachael loudly, banging on the door again. I remain silent, wondering if she would go away if I didn't respond. She knocks again and I huff angrily. "Izzy, are you awake?"

"Yes." I call back. "Now I am."

"Well I made breakfast." she says "So, you and Nathan should come eat with Hunter and I."

"Okay." I say.

"Fuck." mumbles Nathan and I reach up, kissing him.

"It's okay, we still have 5 minutes." I insist and he grins. He leans down, pressing his lips to my neck.

"The food will get cold." shouts Rachael, banging again on the door. Nathan groans, rolling off me and sighing.

"God damn." he says and I giggle.

"Okay, we're coming." I call back, sitting up in bed. I look over at Nathan who is running a hand over his face in annoyance. He looks over to me pleadingly and I shrug.

"Well, I guess there's always next time." I reassure him, he rolls his eyes.

"Come on, she can wait." he reaches for me but I move away.

"Nope, not this morning." I say, raising an eyebrow as he pouts.

"What am I supposed to do about this then?" he asks, gesturing downward and I laugh at him, smiling.

"Cold shower buddy." I say, climbing out of bed and heading for the bathroom myself.

We emerged from my room ten minutes later, freshened up and ready to eat this supposed breakfast Rachael had cooked. Sure enough, the kitchen table was decked out. Everything from eggs and bacon to fruit bowls and orange juice.

"Why did you do all this?" I ask Rachael, who is sitting attentively at the table with Hunter, who looks like he's about to fall asleep. Nathan collapses in the chair next to him, grumbling something that I don't catch.

"I needed a proper setting to ask you an important question. Well, technically Hunter has a question too but it's not as important as mine." she says, standing up and pulling my chair out for me. I raise an eyebrow skeptically, concerned as to what this was she was about to ask. Knowing her this was likely going to be big.

I sit down slowly, eyeing her.

"So . . ." she pauses for dramatic effect. "Would you like to be my maid of honor?"

I blinked, of course that was it, I should have known. I grin immediately.

"Yes!" I shout and she squeals loudly as we jump into each other's arms and hug. We continued this, shrieking about how excited we were for the next five minutes until Hunter yelled at us to shut up and eat breakfast. Nathan was just watching, a small smile on his face. She and I sat down, digging into the food.

Hunter's big 'question' turned out to be asking Nathan to be one of his groomsmen, which Nathan, of course, agreed to. Hunter went on and on then about how he would have chosen one of his best friends to be his best man, but he had a brother and his parents would have shamed him if he hadn't made him the best man. I watched Nathan during this, who had a slightly confused look on his face and I could just tell he was trying to figure out how he missed becoming one of Hunter's best friends. I'd also missed this- but I think must have just decided they were best friends as soon as he saw Nathan's sports car.

"We have a lot to do today." says Rachael, turning to me and I raise my eyebrows.

"We do?" I ask, slightly amused and also curious as to how much she was going to have me do as the maid of honor. I was obviously thrilled and very willing to help but knowing Rachael, who didn't even have the word 'subtle' in her vocabulary, and who also laughed at the phrase 'everything in moderation, I'd probably just taken on the task of a lifetime.

"Yes, here, I've made a small list." she jumps up quickly and runs over to the kitchen counter, then returns, notepad in hand. She drops it in front of me and I giggle.

"This isn't small." I say, eyeing the nearly full page of things to do.

"I was trying to put a positive spin on it." she says cheerfully and Hunter laughs at that.

"That's just one of the many reason's why I love you babe." he says and she squeals with happiness, jumping into his lap and practically sucking his face off. I look away to Nathan who also looked disgusted. We stand, finished with breakfast and take our dishes to the sink.

"I guess you can't hangout with me today." he says sweetly, his arms snaking around my waist and hugging me gently from behind. "And it's Saturday- my day off."

"You can always come with us." I say, turning in his arms and wrapping mine around his neck. He grins.

"I think Rachael just wants you there." he says. "Plus I wouldn't be much help."

I sigh, pouting. I lean up to kiss him. "I'll come over later and we can hangout."

"And finish what we started this morning." he murmurs, kissing me again. I giggle. "I guess I could see what Jackson is up to, he's been texting me to get coffee with him and I've been blowing him off."

"Awe, he's a nice guy. I don't know why you keep avoiding hanging out with him." I say, stepping away from him to rinse some dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. "Especially because he's your brother."

"He's just very high energy and always having 'issues'." he says, putting air quotes around the word. "Sometimes I can't deal with his shit." I giggle. "Besides if I'm not with you or working, I usually go out with Eric or Shawn."

"What the hell?"

I whip my head around to see Rachael standing there, jaw dropped, looking murderous. Suddenly I knew what she was thinking and I tried to shake my head, ever so slightly, to tell her to stop because Nathan didn't know what had happened with Shawn yet. But it was too late.

"Why do you still hang out with that asshole?" she asks and Nathan laughs lightly.

"I know he's an asshole but he's still one of my better friends." he explains, not understanding what she meant. He was probably just thinking of when we'd met Shawn at a party forever ago.

"Rachael . . ." I start but she waves her hand at me, ignoring all the subtle 'shut up' signals I was trying to send her. The only reason I hadn't told Nathan about what happened with Shawn was because I was afraid of how he'd react. And now that hesitation was about to bite me firmly in the ass.

"Really? One of your better friends? Would a friend treat your girlfriend the way he did?" She starts and suddenly Nathan isn't laughing anymore. "He's a perverted douche who can't keep it in his pants."

"What are you talking about?" asks Nathan, standing up straight and looking at me.

"What do you mean?" shrieks Rachael, getting more upset by the second. I shake my head, my stomach sinking with dread. "Didn't she tell you about. . ." she trails off, looking at me and she knows then by the look of my face I never told him. And that now, everything had just blown up in my face. "Oh shit." she sighs. "Izzy, I am so sorry."

"I-" I begin but Nathan cuts me off.

"What didn't you tell me?" he asks, and he doesn't look mad- just confused. Maybe, just maybe, there's a chance he won't be too angry when I tell him.

"Um, Rachael, let's go, uh, make your bed." says Hunter awkwardly, dragging her away by the hand. She gives me a pitiful look over her shoulder before her bedroom door slams and Nathan and I are alone. I turn to him, already feeling horrible.

"It really isn't a big deal." I say slowly. "And I would have told you sooner but I didn't think it was that important."

"Something happened between you and Shawn?" he asks slowly and I nod, wringing my hands in my palms nervously. When I don't say anything right away Nathan speaks again. "Well, what happened?"

"I just- that day you showed up and my office and saw us together, we'd just accidentally ran into each other. He gave me his number and said he wanted to take me out, but I was-" I pause, realizing I almost admitted right then that I had been falling in love with Nathan. "I liked you and couldn't get you out of my mind, so he was never an option to me. But I guess he really thought it was going to happen. By that point though, you and I were together and so when he called, I didn't answer. I didn't know how to tell him I'd led him on . . . so I never answered, even when he continued to call."

"So he was just calling you?" he asks and I nod. "Why wouldn't you tell me?"

"Because there's more." I mutter and he swallows hard, I can tell he's trying to stay calm. "Rachael and I were out to lunch, the day you were coming back from your business trip and we ran into him."

"Wait, my business trip that was almost over two months ago?" he asks and I nod. He sighs.

When he doesn't say anything else, I continue. "We ran into him, I think he was out to lunch with some business people I think. But anyways, I remember something being off about him- he didn't seem like himself. And he confronted me about not answering the phone, so I just told him I was dating you and I thought that was the end of it. But I got up to go use the bathroom before we left and he . . . "

"What?" asks Nathan, his voice angry now. "What did he do?"

"He stopped me and tried to kiss me." I whisper and wait for his reaction. At first, he's silent, not speaking or even looking at me.

"What do you mean 'tried'?" he asks, stepping closer to me and I grimace.

"I mean . . . he kissed me and I pushed him off." I say, my voice so small I'm surprised he can even hear me. He stares for a moment, shocked, I think, that this had happened and he had no idea.

"What the fuck Isabella?" he asks. I look up and I'm suddenly afraid I'll cry because even if his expression is neutral, I can see in his eyes he feels betrayed. "After all the stuff about my past that I've told you-trusted you with, and you can't even tell me this? I mean- why? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you'd be angry." I say and he rolls his eyes.

"Well you were right- I am angry. Really fucking angry." he seethes and I sigh deeply. I knew this would happen.

"I didn't want anything stupid to happen or for you to do something stupid because you were angry." I sigh. "I was fine- I still am fine, I didn't think it was worth the drama."

"I've seen Shawn since that has happened, hung out with him like a clueless asshole. Little did I know he'd put his hands on you . . . if I'd known, I would've . . ." he closes his eyes briefly, taking a deep breath. "I just feel like an idiot."

"It's my fault though." I start, trying to reassure him. I step closer, reaching out for his hands but he flinches away, shaking his head.

"It is your fault." he nods. "You should have told me, right when I got back from my trip. I can't believe . . . I just don't understand why you couldn't trust me with something like that."

"When you got back from your trip, you were just so happy and excited to see me . . ." I start but I flinch when he shouts, cutting me off.

"No!" he says forcefully. "No, you don't get to pull that shit with me again. Don't tell me that I'm not usually excited to see you and that you just didn't want to ruin it. Because it's a lie . . . it's not fucking true. I'm always happy to see you, fuck, Isabella, I'm falling in love with you!" He throws his hands up in the air in frustration, and then runs one over his face.

I open my mouth to speak and no words come out. I didn't expect him to say it first, I didn't expect him to say it at all. And suddenly I realize that even though I didn't ruin anything then, I've ruined it now.

"Really?" I ask and he huffs angrily.

"Yes, but that doesn't matter if you don't trust me. If you don't let me protect you from assholes, even he was my friend, he sure as hell isn't now. If you can't tell me things . . . the way I have with you . . . then, I don't know what our relationship means to you."

"I didn't know how you'd react." I say loudly. "I was scared."

He scoffs. "Don't you think I was scared to tell you my own father beat me when I was a child? Beat me so badly, that I still have scars to this day? I was terrified you'd pity me but I did it."

"And I don't pity you." I interrupt and he sighs.

"Exactly." he says and I roll my eyes.

"Fine, but I was scared you'd be angry and you are angry." I say lamely. He shakes his head sadly.

"No . . . no." he says. "That's not a good enough reason not tell me- or anyone, something. No matter how upset you think it might make me, I still have a right to know."

"I'm sorry." I whisper.

"I can't." he shakes his head. "I can't deal with this right now."

And then I have nothing to say, or more likely, I don't know what to say. Instead I stand there, in a stunned silence, and watch him walk out my apartment door, slamming it behind him.

Hello Everyone!

I'm sorry this chapter is going up later than expected, but I got really busy suddenly (with school ew) and so I had to focus on that. But here it is! It's so weird that the book is coming to an end. There are only 5-7 more chapters! (AHHH!) Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this update. There will be another one coming soon!

XX,

-Keara Rose