Where We Left Off - Romeo Alexander Page 0,17
to mean that you ran into him the other night on your little excursion.”
“Yes,” he said simply, not knowing what else he could say.
“And let me guess, you were somewhere you weren’t supposed to be.”
Nathaniel winced. “I...yes.”
“By your father’s standards, not mine.”
That warmed him a little and gave him the courage to answer truthfully. “Yes. Pulse, though I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the place.”
“Not personally,” she chuckled. “But it’s not the sort of place that’s meant for me.”
“I suppose not,” he admitted.
“So, you ran into an old friend. An old friend who could have been more, had you not both been found by an outside party who promptly told your father. Who then swept you off to a different part of the country to make sure no one learned about it. That one?”
“Uh,” he hesitated. “Yes?”
“The same cute, earnest, and true friend you had, who probably could have been a wonderful partner?”
He blanched, barely managing to squeak out, “Yes?”
Though he wouldn’t really call Tyler cute anymore. Sure, when Nathaniel had been a couple of inches taller than him, and Tyler had big doe eyes and an innocent smile. But Tyler had grown, having shot up to the point that he was noticeably taller than Nathaniel, and grown broad enough that Nathaniel couldn’t help but wonder if growth hormones had been involved.
Tyler wasn’t little anymore, and he wasn’t cute, but he sure as hell caught the eye. Nathaniel almost hadn’t recognized him and might not have at first glance. But once he’d realized who he’d been looking at, he’d been hard-pressed not to simply gawk at the man in wonder. Tyler had gotten big, Tyler had gotten strong.
Tyler had gotten hot.
He cleared his throat. “That’s the one, yes.”
Sonia peered up at him, as though reading his thoughts and amused by them. “Then, what’s the problem?”
“I think we know what the problem is,” he told her, looking away.
His father.
Sonia sighed. “It doesn’t have to be.”
Nathaniel snorted. “Meeting with him would be a bad idea. It would invite…”
He stopped, realizing he was going down a path he didn’t want to tread just yet. Yes, his old friend had always had a special place in his heart, and yes, seeing Tyler at over six feet tall and strong had certainly had quite the physical effect on him, but that wasn’t the point. Or rather, it wasn’t the point he wanted to bring up to Sonia because there were some things even she didn’t need to know about.
“You know what he would say if he found out,” he said instead.
“Yes, if he found out.”
“Which he would.”
“And why is that?”
Nathaniel motioned to the hallway, in the general direction of where his new personal security would be standing guard. “We both know that anything I do or say around them would be reported back.”
Sonia sighed heavily. “This is true. If only there were a way that no one would need to know that you’ve gone anywhere. Giving you the time and freedom to do what you want without anyone reporting on your doings.”
It was something she’d done before, but Nathaniel wasn’t too eager to ask for her services again. If she was caught in the act of covering for him, she would be gone in an instant. Nathaniel didn’t want to risk losing her, and hell, he knew that the money she’d earned working for his family, helping to raise him, had gone toward her family. Sonia had given up her own family to help him, but it had enabled her to give money to her ailing parents and to help her nieces and nephews over the years.
“Sonia,” he began.
She cut him off. “Which, let’s be honest, you do have that option. The only thing keeping you from taking it is whether or not you are willing to risk it.”
“The risk is the problem,” he pointed out.
“Not the risk to the one who might help you,” she said winking. “Because we both know I can handle myself. It’s whether you really want to go and see him, or if you don’t.”
“I…”
Of course he did, but arguing against it seemed the most logical and practical approach.
“What?” she asked simply, watching him.
It was trouble, he knew that, and she surely had to know that. If it was anyone else but Sonia telling him to go out and risk his father’s wrath, he would have been suspicious of their intentions. But this was Sonia, and there was no way she would ever willingly put him in harm’s way.
And