It felt strange for Grace to be laying next to Nate and not touch him. Normally he was as big a cuddle butt as she was, but right now things were strangely deep and awkward and she didn’t know if she was up for touching him right yet. There was some shading of anguish in his face that she didn’t understand and it actually bothered her more than she wanted to admit. This was Nate, and he wasn’t supposed to be going through anything this heavy on his own. Bad enough that her aunt was dying and he was helping Grace and Ophelia through it, but to have to deal with that and something else as well was just cruel.
Nate stayed quiet for a moment longer, as it trying to settle his thoughts in order. Grace was trying to remain patient and wait for him to speak on his own but it was killing her to just lay there and wait. She wasn’t the most lackadaisical person to begin with and this wasn’t helping.
“I’ve slept with exactly twenty three women. I know this because even though I never intend to have a relationship with any of them, I actually do make the point of learning their names.” Nate started and Grace frowned. She really hadn’t wanted to know his tally count. “I also have a personal rule that I have NEVER broken: no drunk sex. I do not want to risk the woman saying it was a mistake in the morning and I don’t want to risk not remembering the event myself.” His words were in a flat tone, and Grace wondered why he felt she needed to know this now of all times.
“Sounds like a good rule to me.” Grace finally said out loud, not seeing why he was hesitating to just spit it out already. She bit the inside of her cheek to stop from adding anything on to the neutral comment. Like asking if he had the list somewhere or was it just in his head. And Grace wasn't sure if she wanted to know; part of her was vindictive enough she might see who has slept with him and hunt them down.
Nate gave a humourless laugh and rolled onto his side, slouching his body so that his head all but rested against Grace's side. It was almost too natural for her to curl around him and pet his hair comfortingly even though she didn't yet know what it was that he needed comforting for. "Sophia Alpine tried to claim that I was the father of her baby. She's about six months pregnant right now and wanted to peg it on someone, anyone because her father threatened to disown her if she didn't give him the name of the father. The thing is, I've never slept with her. But she picked me because my reputation as a ladies man is so well known." Nate's voice was muffled but Grace could still understand it.
She held still and had to fight back the urge to snarl and spit like a wild cat. Sophia Alpine was a goodie-two-shoes turned screaming tramp story and Grace wasn't surprised to hear she was pregnant. It just infuriated her that the skeeze would try to drag Nate down with her. "So what happened?" Grace finally asked, holding Nate's head gently and using the act of running her fingers through his hair to help try and calm herself down.
Nate's hand rested on her hip lightly and she could see some of the tension run out of his body. He didn't think I would believe he hadn't slept with her...Grace realized even as Nate started to continue his explanation. "I asked her to specify when we'd supposedly slept together because her father refused to believe that I hadn't been the one to soil his precious daughter. And she happened to pick a night of a big party where I could prove I'd never wandered off with her. After that her father started to believe I wasn't the man to blame. And when I readily agreed to do a paternity test he realized that his daughter was lying to him yet again."
"So she dropped the accusations and you're off the hook." Grace said, a little voice in the back of her mind gleefully coming up with ways to make Sophia pay for hurting Nate.
"Not yet. Because I am such a well known man whore, her father is still waiting the paternity test results to prove I didn't knock her up. He doesn't believe I never slept with her, but he is seeming to believe I hadn't gotten her pregnant." Nate once again sounded dejected.
YOU ARE READING
Aces Wild (House of Cards Series 4)
Teen Fiction(Sequel to Queen of Spades/King of Hearts stories) Nathaniel Vega grew up in a less than conventional family. His mother and father had once been student and teacher, his best friend was also his adoptive sister and his family seemed to include peop...
