In His Arms.

Chapter 5.

Noria’s POV.

I stood before the vanity mirror in Ivy’s room, staring at the reflection of myself that the mirror gave back.

Clad in a black short dress that stopped right below my ass, I looked like the most beautiful thing Nathan would see today.

I was going to see Nathan because he had invited me over. And even if the most aware part of me didn’t want me to, I chose to listen to the tiny little voice in my head. This was the only way I could rekindle our relationship. Plus, stepping out of this house could help me move past Mr Lucan and everything I saw yesterday. I haven’t been able to.

I spared my reflection one more glance.

Straight brown hair that framed my oval face, nude gloss stuck to my lips, a turtleneck yet backless and slightly cleavage-revealing ruffled dress that I had acquired from Ivy’s wardrobe.

She said it was the most beautiful thing I had worn in two weeks. And I consent.

The last time I dressed well was to spike my ex… only for me to barge into another man stroking his cock to the beauty of it.

I grabbed my bag from the table and headed out, shutting that last thought out of my head. The last thing I wanted to think of was Mr. Lucan and the shenanigans around him.

I got a cab the moment I hit the road, my heart thumping a whole lot more than I could express.

My palms were sweaty, but I rubbed them together, trying to calm my racing heart. I just hoped… I kept hoping things would go better for Nathan and me, and maybe, just maybe, I would be able to tell Ivy that I had dressed this provocatively to see Nathan.

I got to the spot. It was a club, and the idea of meeting him at a club still made me feel less. Why not his house? Why not somewhere else?

I pushed the thoughts back and walked into the bustling club.

The quietness outside faded as music blasted through the air while people swayed their hips to the melody.

“I am here,” I typed to Nathan, and his reply came right after.

“Wait at the counter and grab anything, sexy. I will be there shortly.”

My heart fluttered, and I gently waved my body through the chaotic body movement, finding my way to the counter.

“Hello, beautiful.” The tender smiled at me, pushing a glass at me.

“What would you like?”

“Nothing for now,” I said above my usual tone while grabbing the glass and holding it closer.

The smile on his face stretched, then he nodded, heading back to his spot.

“Waiting for someone?” a familiar voice came from behind, and I instantly turned.

The air in my lungs froze, and I sat still.

There he was.

Nathan fucking Volkov. The man who had broken my heart millions of times, yet still effortlessly found ways to pull me back to him.

My gaze was fixed on him, and I didn’t know if it was because I was drooling or because I was now too shy to look away, but he looked hot. Hotter than the guy I used to remember. His hair was tousled, and it looked like a hand had been running through it.

“Hey…” he whispered, moving his hand up to the base of my neck.

My lashes fluttered, and I hurriedly blinked back. “Hey…” I whispered, downright flushed.

His eyes scanned my body carefully. “You look… sumptuous,” he completed, and my cheeks instantly warmed up.

“Thank you,” I replied, too shy to speak above a whisper.

Silence settled, but his hand remained at the base of my neck. “Hello,” he signaled to the bartender, and the bartender returned, took our order, and came back some minutes later.

Nathan sat opposite me, one hand at the counter while the other sat on my thigh. His eyes dragged across my body, ravishing me like he was hungry and ready to devour.

My skin crawled, and I just stared at him, too shy to say a word or pull away.

“You look…” he said, breaking the silence while dragging his gaze down my body. “You look flushed… still shy of me?”

I shook my head negatively, wondering why I was still acting this way. I had spent 5 freaking years of my life with him, why… why was I still shy?

Nathan’s hands moved to the side of the stool, and then he pulled me closer. “You are way too far.”

My body jolted from the unexpected act, but this time he spread my legs apart, then positioned his knees between them and said, “Perfect. This is how we should sit.”

My cheeks burned again. And oh… how I hated to be this stupid. I was blushing. Why was I blushing at the sight of a man who ghosted me for months without explanation? Why was I blushing when I should be burning with rage and questioning the decision he didn't consider my feelings before making?

“So… what’s your plan for an internship? Still Dellas?”

I was about to take a sip from my juice, but my glass stopped mid-air and I slowly shook my head.

“No. Not Dellas.”

A smile formed at the corner of his lips. “Why? Trying to avoid me?” Typical Nathan, always acting like he knew nothing.

“You ghosted me,” I finally managed to say the words.

Amidst the shyness and desire to have him back, I needed clarity.

Silence fell for some time, then he took his hand off my thigh.

“Can you not ruin the mood, Noria? We are supposed to be having fun.” His mood had switched now, and a part of me wished I hadn’t said a word, but I needed to express myself.

“Fun…” I said, but the word died down my throat the moment a lady approached us.

5’6, tall, hot blonde that I had never seen before. She was dressed in a red gown that stopped below her ass and revealed a larger part of the base of her boobs.

“Hello… Nathan, who do we have here?”

Nathan’s gaze snapped in her direction, and the moment he saw her, his expression changed into something beautiful.

“Hey…” he called, sneaking his hand into her waist, while she took the bait to lean in and…

And kiss him.

Kiss him?

No.

My lashes fluttered in disbelief, and my eyes widened slightly, because I thought I saw wrong, but I didn’t, because Nathan’s hand on her waist suddenly tightened and he pulled her deeper into himself, kissing her deeply for nothing less than ten seconds before pulling away.

My body froze in place, and I stared at them with a cracking heart.

“I have missed you. How long have you been back for?”

Nathan smiled at the question, stared at her boobs for seconds, got lost in lust before finally raising his gaze to her and replying,

“Arrived last week. You need me?”

A smile formed on the lady’s lips, and she winked. “I always do,” she whispered, rubbing her hand on his chest like I wasn’t here.

Nathan took her hand, placed a peck on it, then said, “Call me when you need me. I am available.”

My heart cracked at the sight of them like that, but I was too sad to pull away, too shocked to stand. I just sat and watched them until she finally walked away, after giving him another round of kisses.

Nathan’s eyes followed her ass until she was out of sight. Only then did he turn to me, the smile from earlier still playing on his lips.

“So where were we?” he asked, sipping from his wine and licking his lips.

My eyes squinted, and I looked at him in disbelief. “What… what was that?” I asked, my voice coming out shakier than I expected.

Nathan stilled for a second, then his brows pulled together. “What was what?”

I stared at him for another second, too stunned to believe he didn’t know his wrong.

“The stunt you pulled just now… the one with the lady… what was it?” I didn’t know why I was explaining myself, but perhaps it could help him understand better.

“Oh…” Nathan chuckled, dragging the word like he was realizing. “That’s nothing.” He said, grabbing his wine again, and the causality in his reaction pierced into my heart.

“Nothing?” I scoffed, but tears were already forming at the back of my eyes. “You can’t tell me that was nothing, Nathan. You kissed her. In front of me.”

Nathan stilled, and the air stilled as well. His gaze held mine for a brief second, then he asked in the most sarcastic and nonchalant way ever, “Why are you getting worked up?”

My chest tightened at the question, and I looked into his eyes at intervals, my heart burning painfully in my chest.

“You do not see that as a problem? Kissing someone before me? You don’t see it as a problem?”

“Why should I?” he asked with a shrug, and it suddenly felt like he wasn’t the same man from minutes back.

The tears in my eyes burned harder, but I blinked them back, then began, “Nathan… you ghosted me for months. Came back and asked me out, only to kiss a woman before me.”

A loud shift happened in his demeanor, then he burst into unexpected laughter that made my brows knit while I felt stupid.

“What’s funny?” I asked, trying to ignore my hurt.

“You. You are funny, Noria. I never said I wanted us back.”

“You called me out,” I countered in a hurry, but it sounded quite like a reminder.

“Yes. Because I wanted to know if you were fucking healed. Who said I wanted us back? Who?”

My breath froze, and so did my body.

I sat still, lashes wet, eyes locked on his. “Why… why are we here?” I asked in a broken tone, and he shrugged. “Let's say I wanted to know if I still had access to you, and look… it worked.”

My heart shrank, then shredded gently into tiny million pieces. The tears I had been trying to hold slipped, and I blinked back in disbelief, trying to hold back my pain, but it didn’t stop. The tears kept coming, dropping and spilling past my eyes, but Nathan didn’t say a word. Instead, he smiled, picked one of the glass cups, raised a toast to me, then walked out. No. He paused mid-way, took some steps backward then said.

“I have always been like this, Noria. You know it. So call me when you are ready to accept me for who I actually am.”

With that, he spared me a wink, raised his glass again in a toast then finally walked away.

Tears blurred my vision, and my stomach twisted in disgust, but it was his audacity that actually irked me most.

I grabbed a bottle of alcohol on the counter, took a deep sip to help revive me out of this sleep, but two bottles down and I was still deep in misery.

I was still trying to process what Nathan said to me, but it felt more like I was trying to run away from it, because I didn’t want to believe… didn’t want to believe in any way that he could fucking say that to me.

But he did, and it shouldn’t hurt… but it did again. Maybe… just maybe, because I was expecting a lot from him. I was expecting him to get his act right, to be the man I used to know… to change and to start treating me right, but….

The tears in my eyes rolled, and I downed the third bottle before walking my staggering self out of the club.

I hailed a taxi, too drunk and too heartbroken, but I got home regardless. Wait… not home. I returned to Mr. Lucan’s house. Christmas was yet to begin. I couldn’t afford to jeopardize it for poor Ivy, who had no one else to lean on.

I walked past the big oak door after inputting the password. The living room was dark, but what do I care? I knew this house like the back of my palm, so getting to my room was the top priority. I was too drunk and too heartbroken to think. All I knew was… I deserved everything Nathan had been doing to me.

No man… absolutely no man would treat a woman he loves that way, but I failed to admit it because he was everything I had… at least until he stopped being so.

When my father died, I had nobody. No friend, no one… just me and the constant abuse from my mother. Then I met Ivy. We became best friends. She filled all the roles, except one tiny part that mattered most. At the least expected time, Nathan came to me. He was like my god… always saving me from trouble and always showing me how much I meant. No one ever saw me like that. I thought it was real, so I basked. But he was just another ticking time bomb waiting to explode. Not only did he cheat, but he also molested and abused me and made me feel less of myself. On top of all this, I chose him. I kept choosing him because he chose me first, and I thought… I really thought that was enough reason to never let go.

My head was foggy, and I was still dragging my legs through the darkness when I suddenly felt myself colliding into something hard.

“Oh my goodness,” I gasped, jolting backward in fear.

I was going to crash to the floor. I really thought I was, but in that swift movement of vulnerability, I felt a hand on my waist, holding me from falling before pulling me right back into its arms. My breath hitched, and I blinked back gently, trying to process if I had collided with a wall… but no wall would hold your waist this tight and pull you back into its arms like this, right?

My hand moved, but it was against my will, trailing and tracing the hardness of whatever this was. I was trying to feel it. To know what I was pressed against and with every trail of my finger, the object clenched, but I didn’t pull back. I don’t know if it was curiosity or something else… all I knew was… my hand kept trailing up and up until a voice said,

“Careful, little one. You could awaken a sleeping beast.”

My body froze and my hand stilled at the last spot close to his throat.

I tried to move, but I couldn’t. The only thing that played in my head was… the sound of the voice and the fact that he was in the arms of my best friend’s dad.

My body twitched, but my pussy was already tingling from the realization of it.