The Submissive Assassin

Chapter 13 - I am Nate

"You're not going to tell me anything?"

No response.

"How about if you know him personally or word-to-mouth?"

A glare.

"What about his family, do you know anything of—"

"Shut up," Tyler hissed, lifting her eyes towards him before shaking her head and returning her attention to her Caesar salad, stabbing several pieces of lettuce and a crouton before shoving it in her mouth. "I told you already to just forget it."

"Did he do anything to you?" Nate continued, ignoring her glares. "Did he kill your family?" His eyes continued to shuffle as the ideas grew, until he inhaled sharply and whispered coldly, "Oh no...don't tell me...he did the r word to you—"

"Raped me?" She emphasized, raising an eyebrow when she saw his face contort in disgust, cringing from it.

"Ah!" He even lifted his palms instinctively to his ears, shaking his head, "Don't say that word!"

"Raped."

"Stop it Tyler!" he spat, goosebumps forming on his flesh as he felt jitters across the back of his neck. "I don't like that word."

"No," Tyler finally replied, shrugging her shoulders and her chewing began to slow down. "He didn't do that to me." After a few seconds, he noticed her expression change, one of her eyebrows lifting uneasily.

"What?"

"Did he..." she bit her bottom lip, struggling to let the words escape as she stabbed her food for comfort, the crunching or the lettuces oddly enough sounding satisfying and allowing her lungs to breathe. "Did he do that to you?"

Nate snorted, wrinkling his nose and was seconds from answering when the fact that she asked that specific question made him realize something. Suddenly, his face fell and she noticed the way his eyes blanked.

"That means you know he's gay."

Tyler's face drained for colours when she realized the mistake she had made. She slammed her palm against her forehead, shaking her head vigorously. She had been trying to keep the truth to herself but it was starting to be difficult with Nate catching on to every little thing.

"How do you know he's gay?"

"For one, he's not gay. And for two," she slammed her fist against the table, exhaling sharply through her nose, "can we stop talking about Dante?"

Nate rolled his eyes, leaning on the table and slowly nodded his head. "Fine, but you're going to have to tell me eventually."

"You're going to have to tell me too," she retorted, hearing a groan from Nate.

His eyes diverted across the cafeteria, seeing all the others with their lunch boxes digging in to their meal while he sat with a grumbling stomach. He didn't bring any food; usually it had been his mother making him something for lunch but since this move had been terribly sudden, he hadn't ever learned how to cook. Yes he knew how to make small meals but he never remembered to grab anything before heading to school.

Again, it was only him and Tyler sitting together and he raised an eyebrow towards her. "You don't have any other friends?"

"I do, but he's not here."

"He missed the first two days of school," Nate snickered, lifting his chin and squinting his eyes in her direction. "I'm starting to think that there actually isn't anyone and you're just embarrassed to be a loner."

She couldn't help but chuckle. "You could always go make your own friends."

"I could but I don't really want to." He was going to end up leaving them anyway; he didn't want to become close with someone knowing that he would be gone from this city in a year, following his parents overseas. "There's so much drama involving them anyway."

He glanced towards Tyler and couldn't tear apart from her gaze, noticing how her eyes had suddenly illuminated, as if she was fully indulged in this random conversation. "I usually go to a bar downtown on Wednesday nights since they have a special." Her smile radiated across her face. "You could come with me tonight? You'll be able to meet the middle aged hotties."

"Why do you go there?" Nate raised an eyebrow.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Jules went there once and told me about it, so we both go usually. He hasn't been here so I don't know if he will tonight." After a long sigh, she continued, "I don't want to go alone."

He tilted his head. "Who's Jules?"

"My friend who hasn't been here."

"Right," Nate leaned his forehead against the table, "your imaginary friend."

"If he comes out tonight, you'll—"

"Hey, you."

Both of their faces fell when they heard a sharp tone, their heads turning towards the noise and Tyler let out a long groan, annoyed to see the face of the football blond, the jock who had hassled him yesterday after school and ended up on the floor himself.

With most of his team behind him, Jake shoved his palms in his front pockets, tilting his head to the side as he examined Nate. He felt a bit of anger start stinging his chest when Nate glanced towards him, yawned and began waving his hand dismissively without saying anything. It was as if his presence didn't scare him nor really bother him, as if he was a fly attempting to buzz around him but was not even worth the effort to kill.

Jake maintained his composure, letting his friends continue past him and waiting until he was alone to finally lean forward towards him. "Who are you?"

Nate purposely didn't give him attention; that was what all bullies wanted and he knew that. Besides, Jake was not as intimidating as he wanted to seem. Of course his build was overawing but the way he spoke, it was clear he was merely a big guy with nearly zero as an intelligent quotient.

Nate did not even look his direction, folding his arms on the table and leaning his forehead onto it. He did reply though and his answer pissed Jake off even more.

"I am Nate."

"You little—" he squeezed his eyes shut, inhaling a long slow breath before exhaling even slower, needing to keep his composure. This person was different; Jake couldn't just drag him to his feet and beat him to a pulp. He had to be civilized and get his answers through conversations which he hated having with losers that were of no interest to him.

The worse was that Tyler had lowered her head with a snicker, chuckling a few times even. It was difficult to keep his head but he had to force it, sitting down beside Nate and leaning in.

"You know what I mean," he hissed quietly, glancing around to assure that no other table could hear. "Who are you to Dante?"

Although speaking about Dante didn't bother him, Nate was annoyed since he didn't even know what to answer. He had no idea what he was to Dante and he couldn't even say he was Dante's partner because he wasn't. All he did was beat him until his s****l desires were fulfilled and that was it.

Nate shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."

"Stop being cold with me!" he spat, leaning even closer which caused Nate to finally face him as they were a bit too close for his liking, but Jake didn't back away. He hushed, "I'm sorry for beating you up, alright? But Dante doesn't just step in to any fight—why did he come to the school anyway?"

Tyler's ears perked as she repeated, "Dante came to school grounds?"

"He protected Nate when I was trying to beat him up!" Jake whispered in a shout, pointing at Dante. "He even hit me to defend this guy!"

"Dante protected Nate?!" Both their eyes turned to Tyler's widened ones, her mouth gaped as she stated back at them, incredulous. "He hit you, Jake?!"

"That's what I said!" Jake shook his head, lowering his turtle neck and revealing a few fading bruises from when Dante had practically strangled him. "I'm one of his favourites; he's never laid a hand on me before."

Nate met Tyler's gaze, shaking her head when he realized that she was now fully in tune with the conversation and was now waiting for a response. Nate narrowed his eyes towards Jake. "We couldn't have this conversation in private?"

Jake furrowed his eyebrows. "We are in private." When Nate nodded his head towards Tyler, Jake snorted and was seconds from answering when he saw Tyler vigorously shake her head. "You haven't told him?"

Tyler slapped her palm against her forehead, knowing that Nate would now ask questions that she did not want to face.

"I know she's hiding something but she's not telling me—"

"She's Dante's sister."