Birthright

“I’ll take you home,” Nate says. “I stopped drinking long before you ladies did.”

“Are you sure?” I ask. “What about my car?”

“Good excuse for me to see you again in the morning,” he says. “I’ll bring your car in time for you to get to work, and Antony can follow me. No big deal.”

Nate leads me to the garage, and I let out a gasp when I realize just how big it is. It’s clearly an addition and goes back much farther than I could see from the front of the house. There are eight cars inside, all of them outlandish looking. I know very little about cars, but some cars just look insanely expensive, and all of these have that vibe.

Nate leads me to the ridiculous electric sports car and helps me inside. He drives slowly and silently, and I get the idea he wants to say something.

“Thank you for insisting I join you tonight,” I say. “I had a wonderful time. I love your family!”

“I’m really glad to hear you say that,” Nate replies softly. “They liked you, too, Nora especially, and she’s not an easy one.”

“She seems very protective of you.”

“We’re protective of each other.” Nate glances at me briefly before looking back at the road. “You were talking for a long time. I could infer what she was telling you about from her expression. That’s not a typical topic of conversation for her right after meeting someone.”

“I’m sure it’s not.” I twiddle my fingers in my lap. “What a horrible thing to go through!”

“For us as well,” Nate says softly. “I had never been so angry in my life. When I walked into that joke of a police station and saw her…well, I might have put my fist through a wall. She was a mess. Her nose had been broken, her clothes all torn up, and she had bruises everywhere. She ended up taking one of those pills to prevent pregnancy. That was hard on her, too.” He stops a moment, swallowing hard and licking his lips. “I’ll always regret not finding those guys myself.”

“Nora says they just disappeared.”

“They did. According to some of their associates, they were hiding out on a nearby island chain, went out on their boat, and then their boat turned up floating in the water, out of gas and devoid of people. No one knows what happened to them, and that pisses me off.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted them all to die horribly for what they did to Nora.” Nate swallows again, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. “Does that make me a terrible person?”

“No, it doesn’t. I can understand why you would feel that way.”

Nate reaches over, takes my hand in his, and sighs heavily. He pulls into the parking lot for my building and stops near my door. He grips my hand a little tighter.

“I want to tell you something,” he whispers.

“Okay.” I angle myself toward him.

“I’m going to sound like I’m crazy.” Nate looks down, shaking his head.

“Nate, just say it.”

He takes a couple of long breaths but won’t meet my eyes.

“I like you, Cherry,” he says quietly. “I really like you. I know we only just met, but you’re…” He shakes his head, unable to go on.

“I’m what?”

Nate lets out another long breath.

“Do you know what the women in this town see when they look at me?”

I start to open my mouth to say something about his good looks, but I get the idea that’s not the sort of thing he means.

“I guess not.”

“The guy with the family name and the money to go with it. Every woman I’ve dated, including in high school, were all about the money and what I could do for them. They didn’t give a shit about me. They never asked me about my family, what I want in life—any of that stuff we’ve been talking about—not ever. They just wanted to be that girl who’s dating Nataniele Orso. It’s all about the name.”

“I have to admit, I don’t even understand all of that.”