Nate's Evil Exploits Pt. 15

It was some kind of red sedan, and it wove erratically across the road as if the driver was struggling to control it. It careened towards him like an Orinco truck, and he sprang out of the way, narrowly avoiding being mown down as the car swept onto the verge then swung back across the centreline and screeched to a halt on the shoulder.

Nate approached it cautiously. As he got closer, he saw the driver was a woman. She sat with her hands clenched to the steering wheel, her eyes wide and manic.

He tapped on the driver's window and she glanced up at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She stared at him for a moment, then pushed the car door open, shoving it hard with her foot, forcing him to step back.

She got out of the car and stared wildly at him.

"I nearly killed you," she said, her hands curled into fists.

From her accent, he was guessing she was a local.

Her skin was the colour of terracotta, her eyes a grey-green. Her dark hair was caught up at the back of her head, a sweep of it falling across her face, while loose strands trickled against her neck.

She looked a little older than him, but not by much. She was wearing a dark velvet and lace shirt over ink-blue skinny jeans. Her spike-heeled boots brought her just above eye-level with his chest.

"Yes, sorry about that." He eyed her warily. "Is there a particular reason you found it unavoidable to aim your car at the only pedestrian in sight?"

She gave a sob of hysterical laughter. "Why are you even here?"

"Long story, love. But if you wouldn't mind, I could do with a lift into town."

"Town?" she said. "I'm not going near any towns."

He took off his sunglasses. "Please. You have no idea how much I need your help."

She ran her gaze over him and shook her head. "You look like a porn star. Your shirt isn't even done up."

"I can do it up. I have that ability."

She shook her head. "No strangers in my car."

She got back into her car, and he put a hand on the top of the door to stop her pulling it closed.

"I'm Nate. Nice to meet you."

She stared up at him. "I don't care."

She tugged at the door, but he held it open. "At least tell me your name."

She drew in an annoyed breath and let it out. "Luciana."

Keeping the door propped open, he held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Luciana."

"Lucia's fine."

"Lucia. How about I get in the car and you drive... wherever you want."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm half your size. What am I supposed to do if you try and kill me?"

"In that instance, I'd recommend you try to kill me right back."

That got a snort of laughter. It didn't matter that he'd pillaged the line.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Lucia, I just really need your help."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. But if you try and hurt me, I swear to God, I'll run us both off the road."

"Noted," said Nate.

He circled the car and pulled open the passenger door before she could change her mind.

As Lucia pulled back onto the highway, he saw she was using the GPS on her phone as a guide.

"Where are we heading?" he asked as he buttoned his shirt.

"The coast."

"How far is that?"

She shrugged, a delicate lift of her narrow shoulders.

"Please, less detail," he said dryly.

He unwound the window and propped his elbow on the sill.

She glanced sideways at him. "What about you? Why were you walking in the middle of nowhere?"

"I'm trying to get home."

"To?"

"To England. So if you can drop me anywhere near a town, I'd be very grateful."

"I'm not going near towns. I told you that."

"Why?" he asked. "You got a case of stolen cash in the boot? If you have, I recommend you don't stop at any off-the-beaten-track motels."

She cast him a sharp glance. "I just need to get to the coast."

Nate sighed. "Look, just take me as close to the nearest town as you can and I'll walk the rest of the way."

He picked up her phone from its cradle and zoomed out on the map. "Which looks like Mollina."

She took the phone from his hand and set it back in its cradle.

"Fine."

They drove in silence for a while, Nate staring out the window until he felt Lucia's gaze on him.

"So. Why are you trying to get back to England? What happened?"

Nate gave her a wry smile.

"I'm a nasty, unlikeable person who fails to entertain, apparently. And it seems to have gotten me in a spot of bother."

"Unlikeable?"

"Apparently."

She put her eyes back on the road. "So... is someone after you?"

"Probably."

Lucia steered the car to the side of the road and skidded onto the dirt.

"Get out."

"What?"

"Get out! If you've got people after you, I don't want to get involved. I'm in enough trouble already."

"Wait." He put up his hands. "We're both in trouble. Why don't we help each other out?"

"You can't help me."

"You'd be surprised."

"You said you were unlikeable. And nasty."

"I like to think I have my good points."

She bit her lip. "I've been told I have to do something that I don't want to do."

"Story of my life," said Nate. "So what are you going to do?"

"Run."

Nate nodded. "Why do you need to get to the coast?"

She stayed silent.

"Okay, look, take me with you. If whoever's after you catches up with us, I can help."

"That doesn't sound like something someone unlikeable would say."

Nate shrugged.

Lucia glanced around. After a moment she seemed to make up her mind.

"Okay. Okay. But you'd better not make things worse for me."

She put the car back into gear, and once again they were speeding down the highway.

They reached La Isleta del Moro several hours later, and Lucia pulled up outside a white stucco building surrounded by a handful of bent-over palm trees and stacks of reclaimed building materials. A fridge freezer sat incongruously on the gravel out the front.

"My friends are going to meet me here."

Nate got out and looked around. Dusty hills covered in scrubby plants rolled down to become gravel that became a graduated green-to-turquoise ocean.

He pushed his hands into his pockets. "I'll stay with you until they arrive. Make sure you're safe."

"And then?" she said, as she pulled a duffel bag out of the boot.

"Then I'll find my way home."

Once inside, Nate could see that no one had lived in the cottage for some time.

A single cot bed took up a corner of the room and three chairs, one with a broken leg, sat around an old Formica-topped table.

He pushed open the door to the bathroom and found a toilet wedged next to the world's smallest shower. He tried the taps. Cold water only. He tried the light switch. Nothing.

He walked back out into the main room and pushed down on the dusty mattress. The spring frame vibrated under his hand like a snare drum.

"We could get a motel?" he said hopefully.

Lucia shook her head. "It's safer here."

Nate sat down at the table while Lucia dropped her bag by the bed and pulled out a phone charger.

"No power," said Nate.

She sighed. "Damn. It's completely flat."

Nate ran his gaze over her as she joined him at the table. She self-consciously tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear, a blush spreading across her cheeks.

God she was beautiful. The buttons of her blouse fell open to just above her bra, giving Nate a tantalising taste of what lay below.

He pulled his gaze back to her face. "So. What do you want to do until your friends get here?"

She bit her lip. "Will you really protect me if they find us?"

He nodded. "I'll do my best."

She closed her eyes. "That's sweet. But they'd kill you."

Nate didn't know what to say to that. He had his bare hands, his wits and his charm—which apparently didn't reach everyone.

He reached a hand across the table to her. "Whatever's going on, it'll be over soon. Your friends will come, you'll... I don't know. Catch a boat? And I'll get back to London. It's all going to be okay."

She glanced towards the cottage's one small window. "Shall we go down to the ocean?"

He nodded. "Sounds good."

They sat on the warm gravel, surrounded by the roar and hush of the waves, the warm afternoon breeze tugging at their clothes.

Nate picked up a stone and skipped it into the surf. It sank without trace.

He made a face. "Hmm."

Lucia picked out a stone and tried her hand. Her pebble skipped across the water twice before being swallowed by a rolling breaker.

She turned to him with a teasing glitter to her eyes and he leaned into her.

"Hey!" she said as he reached across her, stretching his body across hers to pick up another flattened pebble. He held it up.

"Sometimes, you just need the right equipment to be successful."

He skipped it into the surf. It bounced three times before the incoming waves curled over it.

"Show off."

He grinned. "It's all your fault." He picked up another pebble and flipped it in the air and caught it again.

"How so?"

He rested his arms on his bent knees, the pebble in his hand. "We do it all for you. Men. We do it all for you. Crazy, crazy things." He cast her a glance. "Put our lives at risk. Show off."

He skipped the stone into the surf. Twice it danced off the surging water.

"All for love. To be worthy of love. To be desired."

He picked up a handful of pebbles and let then filter through his fingers.

"All you have to do is tell us we're great, and we'll do anything for you." He looked up at her. "Anything."

Lucia sent her gaze out to the ocean. "No one asks you to do any of that," she said softly.

Nate shrugged. "No one tells us to stop, either." He glanced up at a gull, wheeling overhead. "It's what drives us on."

"Is there... someone?" she asked. "Driving you on?"

He gave her half a smile. "Yeah. His name's Alec."

"Oh." She picked a thread from the hem of her blouse. "You're gay."

"Bi," said Nate. "But the principle's the same. When someone believes in you, it makes you want to be better. The more faith they have in you, the harder you work to be the person they think you are."

He lay back on the gravel and shielded his eyes from the last of the sun.

After a moment, Lucia lay back beside him. She placed a hand on his chest.

"This 'Alec'—do you love him?"

Nate glanced at her. "Yeah. I think so. I mean, it's early days. And right now he hates me. But, I think we can work through that." He put his hand over hers. "If I can get home and get him out of his... situation."

Lucia cocked her head. "He hates you? So... you're on a break?"

Nate gave her a curious look. "Really? You're going there?"

She shrugged. "What else are we going to do for the next twelve hours?"

A grin spread across Nate's face. He lifted her hand and dropped it back against his chest. "I like you, Lucia. I like you a lot."

In no rush, they strolled along the beach and found a hamburger place. They took their burgers down to the waterfront and sat on the sea wall, their feet dangling over the side.

As the sun set in the west, they sat under a palm tree and watched the stars come out over the rocky island of La Isleta.

Lucia rested her head on Nate's shoulder and he put his arm around her.

"Why have I never met you before?" he asked.

She smiled. "You weren't in Spain?"

"That could be it." He dropped his chin onto the top of her head and closed his eyes. "Something bad's coming. I can feel it."

She shifted out of the circle of his arm and climbed into his lap, her back to the hiss of foam against the rocks.

"I want you now," she whispered against his ear, her hot breath against his neck sending an involuntary shiver through him. "But not here. And not on that disgusting bed."

He cocked his head. "What do you have in mind?"

She climbed off him and held out her hand. He got to his feet, and she led him along the top of the sea wall.

They walked until the land rose enough that they could drop to the beach below.

There in the dark, Lucia pushed Nate against the wall, her hands fumbling at his jeans while they kissed in a frenzied hunger. She found her way in, and Nate moaned into her mouth as her hand slid over him.

"No underwear?" she said.

"Forgot to steal some."

He grabbed her hips and crushed her against him, her hand wrapped around his length.

She pulled his shirt open and brushed her palms across his nipples and he growled with pleasure under her touch and did the same to her, her magnificent breasts on display in an Italian lace bra that offered her flesh to him decorated with filigree and glittering mesh.

Lucia undid her jeans and he tugged them together with her underwear over her hips then put his hands under her arse and lifted her, spinning her around to kiss her against the wall.

She found his cock with her hands and guided it inside her, and he thrust up into her, oblivious to the footsteps coming down the beach towards them.

Lucia put one hand on his shoulder, pushing her hips against his, her other hand tangled in his hair, keeping his mouth locked to hers.

They moved together like desperate creatures taking a last moment of pleasure under a dying sun, the ocean breeze warm in their hair, the scent of salt and Lucia's dark perfume filling Nate's world.

He knew he was close, knew he should pull out. He didn't have protection, hadn't been careful, was supposed to be more careful than this, but Christ she felt good under his hands, her heat wrapped around his cock, her mouth sweet with Coca Cola, the last of her perfume clinging to her like the scent of night blooming flowers.

She let out a breathy moan and threw her head back, and a moment later he felt her clench around him.

He knew he should pull out, did his best to hold back, but she shuddered in his arms, her hand gripping his hair, and he gave in, thrusting up into her until he came in a flood of ecstasy.

He held her against him, pulsing inside her, then put both arms around her and lowered her to the ground.

"Nate!" Lucia warned, and he dragged his jeans up over his arse as a couple came down the nearby steps to the beach.

Lucia gazed up at him, her velvet shirt still open, but blocked from the couple's view. Nate took her breasts in his hands and brushed his thumbs over her nipples.

He leaned down to kiss her, and she whispered against his lips, "I'm really sorry. You seem like a nice guy."

He grinned and shook his head. "I'm not."

"Hey, you, what are you doing!"

Nate's head snapped around as a torch played across him.

Lucia screamed.

"You, get on the ground, now!"

Blinded by the torch, his ears filled with Lucia's sobs, Nate prepared to fight whoever was behind the light. He heard a police radio glitch and then something hit his chest.

He fell back in the sand, his body stiff with pain that radiated out from his chest.

Tasered. He'd been Tasered.

A familiar shape crouched beside him. Enrique, dressed in a police uniform.

"I told you esé. Don't mess with this guy."

Enrique hauled him to his feet while someone—Colin? comforted Lucia as a crowd formed.

"Trying to rape the girl!" he heard someone say, their voice loaded with outrage.

"Let's go."

As Enrique propelled him towards the stairs with a gun pressed against his ribs, Nate glanced back to check on Lucia, but she was lost among angry strangers.

* * * * *

Everything ached. Every muscle in his body felt as if it'd been punched. But the worst pain was to his ego.

How fucking stupid had he been to think they'd let him get that far? It was Lucia. Her serious grey-green eyes, and her lies about being in danger. She'd engaged every ounce of testosterone in his body, and not one part of his brain.

When they reached the house, Enrique pulled him out of the back of the car and pushed him into the cottage, while Colin drove up to the house.

He threw Nate down on the couch and shut the door.

"Okay, esé. I tried to warn you, but you didn't listen."

"You set me up!"

Enrique nodded. "Yeah. Now what you gotta know is that it's all on record."

"What?"

"Police cam. Your arrest. Your rape of that girl."

Nate threw back his head and laughed. "Oh, fuck me."

"So when you go up to that house, I want you to remember three things. One—Colin isn't giving up his wife, and he's not giving up you. Live with it. Two—don't leave these grounds again. And three—do what he tells you. Maybe you escape. Maybe. But if you do, this footage, of what you did, that's going everywhere. Ain't no one gonna employ you ever again. People will hunt you down to hurt you." He considered Nate. "More people than do that now."

Nate knew he was right. It didn't matter if it was true or not—he had no way of proving that it wasn't. Put it on YouTube, or hide it on the dark net, if Colin put that footage anywhere online his life was ruined.

"Is Lucia okay?" he asked.

Enrique nodded. "She did her bit. We let her go."

"What did she do to the Kings?"

Enrique ignored the question. "So, when you see Colin's lady tomorrow,esé, you make sure she thinks you spent the day sightseeing."

"Whatever, mate."

He got to his feet and Enrique watched him silently as he stepped in close, forcing the shorter man to look up to meet his gaze.

"You can be a real dick, Enrique."

He stepped past the Latino man and pulled open the door, slamming it behind him.

* * * * *

When he reached the house, Colin was waiting for him.

"Come into the lounge, lad."

Nate followed him in and settled on the couch with his arm draped over the back of it.

Colin dropped down into the chair opposite him.

"What did you think you were doing today?"

"You don't exercise me, so I went for a walk."

Colin gave him a dark smile. "I don't know what you're trying to pull, but if you think you can fuck me over, you can think again."

A knot formed in Nate's jaw. "You're testing me. I get it. I haven't been kind to you. Or, anyone, really." He leaned forward. "But you have me trapped. I don't do well caged, Colin. You want me to be... submissive. It's not who I am. If you want me, you want me to own your arse." He shrugged. "Or you don't want me."

Colin considered him. "So it's all an act."

Nate shook his head. "I'm trying, Colin. I'm trying to show you how I feel about you in a way you can understand. But I don't speak your language. I don't—" he broke off. "I don't worship. That's not how I work."

After a long silence, Colin got to his feet and left the lounge.

Nate climbed the stairs and went into his room. He stood on the balcony and looked out over the moonlit fields of olive trees. Even now, as late as it was, the air was still warm. He caught a scent on the breeze and realised it was on him. Lucia's perfume, clinging to his skin.

What the fuck was he going to do?

Colin isn't giving up his wife, and he's not giving up you. Live with it.

And all Nate cared about was

Alec.

He closed his eyes. He needed to figure this out and quickly.

* * * * *

Ellie was sitting at the table alone when he came down to breakfast.

"Hey, you stayed," said Nate as he dropped into a chair and reached for the cereal.

She cupped her tea with both hands. "I didn't want to leave without making sure you were all right."

"I'm fine." He poured cereal into his bowl. "Did you have a good day with Colin?"

Her gaze was troubled. "What's really going on?"

Nate poured milk over his cereal. "Breakfast." He gave her a smile and spooned cereal into his mouth.

Ellie sipped her tea. "Colin's trying to convince me that he loves me."

Nate finished his mouthful and swallowed. "He does."

She gave him a sad smile. "So why does he fuck men?"

"Like he said, that's over."

She shook her head. "I see how he looks at you."

He cocked his head. "Have you seen how he looks at you? Ellie, he means it. He's going to be there for you. And I'll be gone soon, I promise."