Jenna Black - Replica

“Tell me the truth, Nate: if I’d told you everything from the start, would you have kept quiet about it? Or would you have confronted Mosely on the assumption you could protect me from his retaliation?”

Nadia could almost see him restraining his knee-jerk first response, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he thought about it. There was a shadow in his eyes, and his shoulders hunched in a bit. Whatever he was thinking, he didn’t like it. Shaking his head, he moved past her and collapsed onto one of the benches, his head hanging low.

Nadia took a couple of tentative steps in his direction, wanting to give him a hug, or put a hand on his shoulder. Anything to rebuild just a tiny bit of the connection they’d once had. But she wasn’t sure she could bear it if he rebuffed her, so she merely stood there wringing her hands uselessly.

Nate raised his head and patted the bench beside him. “Come sit down. We have a lot to talk about.”

Nadia sat beside him, but not in touching range. To her surprise, Nate slid over and slung his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close until their bodies were pressed against one another from shoulder to knee. He was warm and familiar, and, without thinking about it, Nadia rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, trying to pretend nothing had ever gone wrong between them. She felt the press of his lips on the top of her head and smiled. For this one moment, she would take what he offered without thinking about what the future would bring.

She didn’t know how long they’d been sitting like that, neither one talking, before another figure wandered out from the tower and into the garden. Assuming it was one of the servants, Nadia hastily sat up and put some distance between herself and Nate. She and Nate had posed for photographs where they were holding hands and had even kissed in public to uphold the illusion that they were a couple, but she still didn’t want anyone speculating too much about what they did together when not in public. She trusted the servants’ discretion, and she and Nate were an acknowledged couple anyway, but she didn’t see any reason to take chances, especially now. But when the figure stepped into the light, she saw it was Dante.

“Dante!” she cried in surprise, standing up. “What are you doing here?”

Dante looked quickly back and forth between her and Nate. Trying to figure out if she’d been spilling any secrets, maybe? “Looking for you,” he said. “You didn’t seem to be in any of the usual places, so I thought I’d take a shot at the garden.”

Nate stood up too, moving closer to Nadia and putting his arm around her shoulders again. “Want to introduce me to your friend?” he asked, and there was a barely perceptible edge in his voice.

“Um, sure,” Nadia said, though she wasn’t sure what to say. “This is Dante. He’s my dad’s new personal assistant.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Nate said insincerely, holding out his hand. Most Executives wouldn’t offer to shake hands when meeting a low-level Employee, but Nate had always ignored the snobbiest of the social conventions.

“You too,” Dante said, and Nadia suspected the handshake that ensued was of the bone-crushing variety. She was tempted to ask who won.

“So, you were looking for me?” she prompted, a little surprised that Dante had approached her out here when Nate was with her. She would have thought he’d want to talk to her in private. If he was going to try to separate her from Nate to have a private conversation now, she had a feeling it wouldn’t go very well. Nate might not be attracted to her, but he was still sizing Dante up like a rival.

“Yeah,” Dante said, giving Nate a sidelong glance. “About that matter we were discussing this afternoon. I’ve arranged a meeting. For both of you.”

Nadia’s eyes widened in surprise. After all Bishop’s resistance, she hadn’t expected him to be willing to meet. “Really?”

Dante nodded. “That’s the plan as of now, anyway. He might not show up, especially if he gets a bad vibe.”

“All right, what are you two talking about?” Nate asked.

Dante waved his hand at Nadia, silently giving her permission to explain.

“Dante’s the one who put the note from Bishop in my napkin this morning,” she said. That was meant to be only the beginning of her explanation, but Nate didn’t give her a chance to continue.

“That so?” he asked, then hauled off and punched Dante in the jaw.

Dante went sprawling, and Nate gave a shout of pain, clutching his right hand to his chest and cursing. Nadia was paralyzed by shock, but only for a moment. Ignoring Nate and his cursing, she dropped to her knees beside Dante, who was rubbing his jaw as he shook his head as if to clear the cobwebs.

“Are you all right?” she asked, unable to believe that Nate had just thrown a punch. He just … wasn’t that kind of guy. She couldn’t help thinking about the opinions she’d seen touted on the net, the ones that suggested Replicas might have violent tendencies. They were making something out of nothing, of course, extrapolating wildly based on one brief loss of poise with a reporter. Everything that had happened since the night of the reception was enough to put anyone on a short fuse, Replica or not.

“Yeah,” Dante mumbled, eying Nate warily as if primed for another attack.

Nadia gave Dante a hand up, then turned to glare at Nate, who was still nursing his sore knuckles. Nadia wondered if that was the first punch he’d ever thrown. It would serve him right if he’d broken some fingers.

“What the hell was that all about?” she demanded.

“He’s a sneak, and he terrified you,” Nate responded, looking both sullen and stubborn.

It was Mosely’s call that had terrified her this morning, not the note Dante had tucked into her napkin, but she hadn’t specifically told Nate that. She wondered if he’d have gone all protective and alpha male on her if Dante weren’t so good-looking. He was acting positively territorial, although Dante was hardly of a class to be a rival. Nadia opened her mouth to give Nate a piece of her mind, but Dante forestalled her.

“Time out,” he said, making the requisite hand gesture. Nadia noted that although he was still acting wary, he was taking Nate’s unprovoked attack with a surprising level of calm, as if it didn’t bother him. “I’m willing to let bygones be bygones. We have more important things to talk about.” The look in his eyes hardened as he fixed his gaze on Nate. “Try that again, though, and I’ll fight back. You wouldn’t like that, especially when you’re already sore.”

Nadia got ready to jump in between the two, thinking that Dante’s calmly spoken words were more of an invitation to further fighting than a conciliation. “You may call me Mr. Hayes,” Nate said, low and menacing. “And how would you know I’m already sore?”

“That’s what I was trying to tell you,” Nadia said in exasperation. “Dante is a friend of Bishop’s. Now, why don’t you sit down, shut up, and listen for once in your life.”

Nate gave her a shocked look, but he was just going to have to get used to her standing up to him from now on. She had to fight a smile, proud of herself, when Nate meekly sat on one of the benches and made a zipping-his-lips gesture. Taking a deep breath, Nadia sat beside him and told him everything she’d learned from Dante, who stood off to the side, silent. The only thing she didn’t mention was her suspicion that Bishop had been planted in his household by the resistance. The idea would no doubt occur to him anyway, but perhaps not right away.

For a long time after Nadia finished talking, Nate didn’t say anything. He sat forward with his elbows on his knees, staring at the paving stones beneath his feet as he took it all in. The look on his face told her he was lost in thought, but it didn’t tell her anything about what he was thinking, and she thought he might be guarding his expression because of Dante’s presence.