The Submissive Assassin (BxB)

Chapter 20 - Don't Speak Until I'm Done

Nate felt his legs run numb when Dante stepped forward, approaching him with his shoulders broadened. The regard on his face, sharp and narrow, even the way his jaw seemed to clench with every of his footsteps made Nate forget to exhale. The worse was the he saw Dante's darkened greg eyes divert from his sight, and when he followed his gaze, he felt his heart squeeze when he realized what he was examining; his phone in his hand with the notifications of all the missed calls. It was clear Dante was beyond angry, his hood covering his hair with one hand hidden in a pocket but Nate was sure it was clenched into a fist.

Nate's lips moved without any noise which made Dante tilt his head and step closer. "You ignored my calls?"

"No, no," Nate murmured hastily, clearing his throat and lowering his eyes for a second. He hadn't really thought of an excuse yet and obviously he was not going to tell Dante he was with the man Dante explicitly told him not to see anymore. The next image that was thrown across his brain was a picture of Jules and Tyler, and they were the only people that could be used as an excuse. He finally lifted his eye and met Dante's cold glare, gulping when he did. He wasn't sure how Dante would react to his excuse, but he was also afraid of how Dante would react if he ever found out he was lying.

But he had to at least try.

Nate met his gaze, shrugging his shoulders coolly before stating, "I went out to eat with Ty."

Dante first furrowed his brows even further. There was a long pause before his response, making Nate's palms begin to moisten. He refrained from touching his face since he didn't want Dante to know he was making him uncomfortable. "You mean Tess?" His question seemed to be a rhetorical one, as if he already knew the answer. "You were with my sister?"

Nate felt trapped; his tone sounded too challenging, as if he wanted him to lie to him. But at the same time, his face seemed clueless and merely annoyed, which was why Nate decided to complete the lie, his lips tightening into a line before slowly nodding his head. There was a fifty-fifty chance and that was the chance he rolled. "Yes," he assured, "I was with Tyler."

Dante stared at him with the same look, narrowed eyes and furrowed brows and the middle of his forehead seemed to grow with wrinkles by each second. Then suddenly, his lips shifted into a long smile and he lowered his chin, his feet shuffling from side to side for a second before he shoved his other hand in his pocket as well. A few chuckles escaped his lips, bouncing from his tippy-toes to his heels and looking anywhere else but at Nate.

That was when Nate knew he had messed up.

The long pause with laughter was Dante attempting to maintain his composure, as if he tried to conceive his rage, only enough not to explode uncontrollably. It took a few minutes even, a peculiar silence that only made Nate sweat even more.

Then finally, Dante met his gaze again, a grin still on his lips before he said, "Tess was with me after she finished school." Before he could even finish his sentence, his smile fell and he tilted his head to the side. He watched the series of shock and guilt cross Nate's face, a slight cross of fright before it returned to guilt. "I'll ask again, only once more." He leaned downwards to meet Nate's eye level, bringing his face much more closer to the point that Nate felt slight stings of Dante's warm breath on his nose. But his eyes were widened, sharply piercing through his as he asked, "Did you ignore my calls?"

Nate gulped, his mind not even thinking as he whispered in a shaky breath, "Y-Yes."

Dante redressed his spine, tilting his head from side to side and Nate flinched at the cracks. He had closed his eyes for a second, as if attempting to maintain a tiny piece of his composure and sanity. "And why did you ignore my calls?" His murmur had been filled with such threatening undertone that Nate felt the hairs on his back straighten.

Nate exhaled a long breath in hopes to calm his nerves, but it didn't help since every time he glanced towards Dante, the uneasiness grew even worse. It also didn't help that Dante hadn't blinked in over a minute. Nate scratched the side of his face, knowing that Dante most likely already knew the truth and being honest was definitely the best bet.

He exhaled a long sigh. "I was on a date."

Dante leaned to his eye level. "With?"

Nate swallowed hard, glancing towards Dante's baiting gaze before turning away. "Andrew."

"Right," he nodded his head, his lips tightening into a line. "The pilot." He paused for a moment, noticing that the corner of Nate's forehead was starting to moisten wit sweat. "And what we're you two doing," he tilted his head, "that was so amazing," he made quotation symbols with his fingers, "that you couldn't answer my calls?" His gaze seemed challenging, not staring anywhere else but at the diverted eyes of Nate.

The truth had been that Nate didn't want to answer Dante since he knew what Dante would ask and he didn't want to have to leave his date with Andrew. He shrugged his shoulders and stepped backwards from Dante before he said, "We we're having a good conversation."

"Well," Dante snickered, shaking his head and placing his palm on his hips, "was that conversation worth your life?"

That caused Nate's eyes to sharply turned to him, seeing the mockery behind Dante's gaze. "You'd kill me for ignoring your calls?"

Dante paused for a moment, chuckling in disbelief before his face returned to the serious glare. "Didn't I make it clear of what this is?" He stepped forward menacingly with his shoulders broadened. "I fucking own you, Nate. You're mine, you belong to me and only me. You exist to please me."

Nate frowned. "You've made that clear, but—"

"Don't speak until I'm done."

That made Nate's breath shorten in his throat, feeling barely any air escaping as he sensed Dante's large physique step even closer to him. He wasn't afraid of Dante but he could definitely be overpowered by him. There was not a chance in a million years that he would be able to defend himself against Dante, which was why he wanted to avoid any sort of combative result and it made him nervous when it seemed to be heading that way.

Dante's face came closer to his. "I already told you this and I'm going to say this one more time because the next time, it will be a bullet in your forehead instead." When Nate tried to look away, he reached for his chin and straightened his head to force their gazes to lock. "Look at me when I'm fucking talking to you." Nate had not seen him this way yet; he almost seemed to be a teenage boy with too much anger and power that he couldn't control it within himself; that was what made Dante dangerous.

Dante's eyes were quivering, almost as if he was afraid of losing his dominance as he tightened his grip on Nate's chin. "You're on my time and you follow my fucking orders." He pointed to the wall when he spat, "Not Andrew, not my annoying little sister, not your aunt—you answer to me. I don't care if you're in the god damn hospital. If I want you, you better fucking answer!"

There was something off with him; he was way too angry for merely missed calls. His teeth were gritted, his jaw continued to quiver and his didn't loosen his grip for a second. The way he screeched his words through his teeth, his tone resonating with such fury, didn't make much sense. It was true that Nate had ignored his calls, but to threaten to kill him?

There must be something more.

"Are you okay?"

Dante blinked, his rage subsiding for a second and his grasp loosened, pulling away from Nate. He hadn't expected that response and he taken aback, his eyes diverting for a moment before he scoffed. His fingers reached for Nate's collar and slammed him against the wall.

"Don't let this happen again." Then he stormed away, leaving the apartment and slamming the door shut behind him.