Burdened (A Burdened Novel) (51 page)

“Well
, open the door!”

I grab his sides and move against him. He makes a throaty sound. “Don’t. Just wait fifteen more minut
es,” I say, kissing his neck.

“Nathan!” Scott yells through the door.

“Scott, okay. Give me forty-five minutes.”

“No!”

“Please!?” he begs, sounding like a child. “If he only knew what I was in…” His voice is lower. “He would leave me alone.”

“Nathan
, you have five minutes.”

“Okay
, I’ll meet you downstairs.”

“No, I’ll wait by the door.”

“He’s fucking with me. He has to be.” He looks back at me.

I move his head
, kissing him deeply. Seeing me again, I feel me, I remember me. “Get out of my head, Tracey.”

What? “How am I in your head?”

His face is frustrated. “Can we
please
talk about this later?
Please, Tracey
.” His eyes are that light, sandy, ocean-blue. “Just save all questions for later.”

I smile at him. Yea
h, we can. The door knocks again. “Nathan!” Freaking, interrupting Scott.

“He cannot be serious.” He kisses me again. “Okay
, Scott. Five minutes!” he yells at the door, pulling from me. I huff in frustration. “Calm down, Tracey.” I’m not trying to hear that.

“Nathan, can you come on
?! Tracey, let’s go!” Glen’s voice pounds through the door. “Come on, you two!” she yells.

“Glen
, you are
really
putting a danker in our friendship right now,” I say as he gets up and walks to the bathroom. It takes everything in me not to follow as I pull the covers over me.

“Nathan!”

“Scott, we are coming. Stop calling me,” he yells from the bathroom. “Tracey, get up,” he says, aggravation in his voice. I hear water splashing in the sink.

“I’m not going
,” I say, irritated.

“No, no. If I have to go
, you
definitely
have to go.” I look over at him, standing in his naked glory, looking at himself. “Wash up and throw on some clothes so we can see what they want. Because this
has
to be important.” He leaves the bathroom, walking around the bed to his closet.

I kick and curse the covers off me. I get up
, go to the bathroom, and slam the door for good measure. I wash up and throw on some clothes. I come out bushing my hair, looking around the room, noticing clothes and pieces of clothes everywhere. I shake my head.

Nathan comes out
of the closet clothed and we walk out the door, not opening it all the way.

“Scott
, there better be a damn good reason that you’re yelling through my door.” You can hear the irritation in his voice. “Tracey, walk up ahead with Glen. We’re going to the basement.”

I do
, and we gain a few feet ahead of them. Glen is talking about a movie. I’m being nosey, listening with my new ears that I just found out can hear whispers.

“
Fuck’s wrong with you, taking all day?” Scott states, like
we
irritated
him
.

“Tell you what, the next you
dickin’ yo girl, I’ll come to yo spot, bang on
your
door, and demand you open it. And on top of that, interrupt by puttin’ a time limit on it.”

“When did y’all start having sex
?”

“That doesn’t matter
. What the hell is so important that I had to come out of her just to see what
you
want?”

I turn around and look at him.
Inappropriate, Nathan
.

How can you even hear me
? he asks, disoriented, with his face scrunched.

Doesn’t matter
.

Yea
h, well, how about I just don’t talk out loud
?

I dare you.
I glare at him through my low eyelids. I want to hear what is so important too.

How about you talk to Glen. Her mouth is moving and I bet you’re not listening to a word she’s saying
.

I look at Glen
. She is just going on and on about something I have no idea of. I miss her; although, she and Scott are getting on my nerves.

“So
, Glen,” I cut her off. “What brings you and Scott by?”

“What took you two so long to answer the door?”

“Not important.”

“It is.”

“It’s not. But seriously, what’s going on?”

“Scott and I have to stay over here for a while, something about it not being safe at his house
, because someone tried to break into it.” She looks back at Scott and Nathan. “What happened over here last night? Scott mentioned something was wrong. Is everything okay?”

“Yea
h, everything is fine. Just don’t bring that up anymore.” Glen still knows nothing. Well, that’s the way she makes it seem anyway.

“
Okay, well, Scott was acting as if last night was serious. But Scott always blows things out of proportion. By the way, I’m moving in with Scott.” That caught me off-guard.

I look at her curiously
. “Why?”

She shrugs
. “I’m not sure. Because I want to, I have to. I mean, we wake up and go to sleep together anyway. Scott says we are either going to move here, or away—to some of their other family. Something about family sticks together.” She shrugs.

“And what did your mom say about that?”

“Nothing. I just told her and she said ‘okay.’ You know my mom. Plus, she couldn’t say anything anyway. I’m old enough to leave once we end school.” She shrugs again. “Enough about Glen; tell me about Tracey.”

We are coming to the stairs of the basement
. I mock her shrug. “There is nothing going on. I don’t know what school I want to go to. My parents want to move to Tennessee. They met Nathan, were okay with Nathan, then, when they found out Nathan has his shit together, they didn’t want me to be with him; although, they think he is a nice guy.” I roll my eyes.

“Okay
. Why do your parents want to move?”

“Dad got a permanent position
, so he doesn’t have to travel back and forth. That is where the job is.”

We wait for the boys to catch up. “So how do you feel about the move?”

“What do you think?” My mood shifts.

The guys approach.
Scott smiles. “What’s up, Tracey? Why you look so down?” Because, Scott, every time I’m trying to get it in with my guy, you always—
always
—interrupt.

“Oh
, Scott, because if I didn’t like Glen and she wasn’t my best friend, I would punch the shit out of you.”

Scott’s face becomes amused. “Tracey’s down because she might have to move to Tennessee
,” Glen cuts in.

Nathan wraps his arm around me
. “That’s not going to happen.” We walk down the stairs.

We take the same spots that we did last time we were down here. I’m glad to see Scott and Glen doing better. They seem happy. I just want to be crowded by Nathan, to really be that obnoxious, clingy girlfriend. I think it’s because I almost lost him last night, and then finding out that I may need to move away from him.

“Hey
, let’s watch a scary movie,” Glen says. She is all about scary movies.

“You want to?” Nathan looks at me. Hell, can’t anything scare me anymore
, after what I’ve been through.

“Yea
h, that’s fine.”

Nathan and Scott move the couches around so that
they are both in front of the huge TV. They decide on watching  ‘The Strangers’ and that damn clown movie. It had to have come out in like 1818 and they are just as excited to watch it as if it was released yesterday. Nathan comes back from getting the movies, and Taylor and Justin are behind him—with blankets and bowls of chips.

“Hey Tracey, you feeling better?” Taylor asks me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Hey Justin, you all okay?”

“Hey Tracey, yea
h we’re good.” He looks over at Scott, then Glen. Taylor follows.

“Oh
, hello. Are you Scott’s girlfriend?” Taylor asks in a nurturing voice.

“Hey
, Taylor. What’s up, Justin? This is Glen.” He looks at Glen, pointing to Taylor. “Glen, this is Taylor, Nathan’s sister, and her boyfriend, Justin.”

“Hi, nice to meet you
all,” Glen says happily.

“You
, as well. I’ll be right back. We only grabbed two blankets.” Taylor runs up the stairs.

Justin lays out their blanket
in front of the couches, and gives Nathan and me one. “So, you two are doing okay today? Taylor’s been on-edge and won’t let me breathe without doing it for me.” He looks up to the ceiling, thinking. “Honestly, I think this is the first time she has left me alone all day.”

“And that didn’t last long
,” Taylor says, coming down the stairs with another blanket, handing it to Scott. I laugh.

“No
, Tracey’s been on-edge too. But she’s getting better.” Nathan situates himself so that I can lay on him. He lays his head on the armrest and I lay on top of him. One arm is on me and the other is behind his head.

“So what happened that has y
ou two on-edge?” Glen asks from her couch.

Everyone looks at Scott. “What?” he replies
loudly. He turns to Glen and kisses her temple. She doesn’t say anything else about it and we all turn back to the TV.

Justin gets up to put the movie in and turns off the lights.
Justin rests his head back against the couch, and Taylor’s on his shoulder or chest—she moves frequently.

The previews
show and the option to press ‘play’ shows up on the screen. The remote is sitting on top of the speaker that’s next to the TV, yet
somehow
the ‘play’ button lights up and the movie starts.

“That was convenient
. I usually have to actually press ‘play,’” Glen states from aside Scott. He ‘shushes’ her.

I’m really not in a movie
-watching mood, and with Nathan rubbing up and down my back, I’m not in a napping mood either, anymore. His hand moves to grab my side, and I look up at him. Looking down at me, he mouths, ‘stop.’ I smile, turning back to the TV. Then I feel his hand snake down and grab my butt.

He moves
his hand back to my back when I look at him. I move up on him so that my mouth is by his ear. I change my mind about whispering, since everyone will be able to hear me.
Yeah?

What are you talking about
, love
?

Okay
, two can play that game.

I
grab his earlobe with my tongue, pulling it into my mouth. He bites his bottom lip and grabs my waist, trying to push me back down.

Stop
. So you can dish it out, but you can’t take it
?

You really do
not
want to play this game with me, Tracey.

I drop his earlobe
, moving down so that my lips are equal to his neck.

Don’t do it
, Tracey
.

I haven’t done anything
.

But you were going to
.

Say
that you quit and you’re going to just lay here and watch the movie
.

I never quit. And you need to just lay here and watch
the movie
.

I’m definitely taking it there
. I let the pallet of my tongue press against his neck, slowly removing it as my lips grasp on to it, kissing it softly. Satisfied, I stop, feeling stiffness push against my leg.

That didn’t take much
.

He smiles.
You are going to regret that
.

Never
.

I move down so my head is under his chin,
feeling pleased that I won the battle. I missed the beginning of the movie. I hate clowns anyway.

Nathan moves his hand from
me. I look up to see how he now has both hands behind his head. He notices my notice and smirks.

What are you up to
?

His smirk grows
into a mischievous smile as I start to feel his hands touch my back. I lift my head, more wanting to confirm that both of his hands are still behind his head. The invisible hands move to grab my butt—hard. I lift my head all the way.

“What’s wrong
, Tracey? You got scared?” He’s loud.

I glare at him. “If you want
, Cey, we can change the movie,” Glen follows.