Chapter 85
1 immediately regret the question because of how Nathan’s face tightens. But I need to know.
Besides, it’s a looming issue. Right now, being in his room feels somewhat like last night in my room–a cocoon separating on from the rest of the world.
But tomorrow will come, and I’m supposed to leave.
Instead of answering, Nathan leans forward. I stiffen, thinking he’s going to kiss me again.
But he removes one hand from my thigh, leaning around me. For a brief moment, I’m at eye level with his bare chest, and I stifle the ridiculous urge to kiss one of his nipples.
Nathan grabs whatever he was reaching for and returns to his position between my legs.
I frown down at the phone as he taps quickly. Then he turns the screen to me, and I inhale sharply.
It’s an Instagram picture–of Nathan and me in my apartment.
It must have been taken during Truth or Dare because Nathan is leaning forward, his eyes trained downwards, and I look like a deer caught in headlights.
I glance up and see the handle: Taylor_notswift.
The caption reads: Correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s the wrong brother, right?
And below…oh God, the comments.
Oh my God!!!!!
And the plot thickens…
Why do they look so cuteeee
This April girl gets around, huh?
Are they about to kiss????
Where are they?
Okay, I’m officially jumping ship from #Lupril to #Napril!
How is this broke girl pulling two heirs??
Are they playing hooky?
It’s giving eloping lol
1/4
15:12 Mon, Oct 6
Chapter 85
Does the rest of the competition know?
* I love f
ay, but why do they look so good together?
I thought she was leaning towards Lucas?
Do I smell drama?
園
Okay, if the two brothers fight over her and I don’t get a video, I’m going to be pissed.
“Okay, that’s enough, Nathan says, moving the phone away,
blink, the comments running through my mind.
“As soon as I came home earlier today, my dad barged into my room and attempted to scream the roof down.”
“He yelled at you?”
Nathan nods. “Something along the lines of how it’s my fault you’re in the competition and I promised him public adoration not drama.”
I exhale. “Drama?”
He sighs. “The public is suggesting that you’re playing with both Lucas and my hearts. They’re all speculating who you’ll pick and whose heart you’ll break. My dad was pissed because it seemed like you were the one choosing a husband, not the other way around.
“My mom heard him yelling and came in, telling him to keep his voice down. She was drunk–at ten am–and he got pissed and they started fighting…”
He turns around and points to a spot in front of his door. “Right there.”
“At that point I remembered the argument we had in your room, and then I had an image of you and me in a couple of years, in that spot, biting each other’s heads off.”
A lump forms in my throat. “You think we could ever be like that?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. What I feel for you is so fucking strange and new. How can I trust that it won’t disappear just as quickly as it
came?”
I reach out and run my hands through his hair. He closes his eyes and sighs at the sensation. “We’re not your parents,” I say softly. “And I’m sorry for insinuating you were anything like your father earlier.”
He shakes his head. “Their blood runs in my veins.”
“All couples fight, Nathan,” I say, and referring to us as a ‘couple‘ makes my heart skip a beat.
“What matters is how you fight and how you apologize.” I smile at him. “You did a pretty good job of that, remember?”
2/4
2 M
230
guy we live where they are issu
gaydog you way homo everything
ty and tasantising dake in thunky here
I knew from the moment i came to this house that there was something off about the Ashfords. They were too perfect, stoic. It doesn’t surprise me that their image protects a wrecked family, and if it were any other situation, I would run for the hills.
“I can’t leave,” 1 whisper. “I can’t leave and watch as you marry someone else.”
“I don’t want to marry anyone else,” Nathan says firmly.
I snort. “So what, you’re going to defy your family for me?”
Nathan reaches up and cups my face in his hands so fast that my breath hitches. “You’re the only family I want, April,” he says so sincerely, that I couldn’t possibly doubt him.
And that’s why the three words fall from my lips, before I even realize they’ve formed in my mind.
“I love you,” I whisper.
I will remember the look on Nathan’s face for as long as I live–like someone who’s spent their whole life searching for something, and then, just when they are about to give up, having it handed to them on a silver platter.
“I’m going to kiss you now,” he whispers, his voice thick with emotion.
I smile. “Since when do you give warn=”
Nathan leans forward and presses his lips to mine in a kiss so fierce, my world explodes.
Because that’s how Nathan “Ashford makes me feel, And I finally have a word for it.
Like a supernova,
3/4
15:12 Mon, Oct 6
Winning the Heir Who Bullied Me
