The Submissive Assassin (BxB)

Chapter 31 - Promise

"Nate, stop."

"Nate, I'll keep chasing you until you stop."

"Come on, Nathaniel."

"Stop calling me that," he hissed, finally spinning around on his heels. This was one of the nicknames Eric had loved to call him when they had been together, which he despised then and had no idea why Eric would even have the audacity to say it now. "What the hell are you doing here?" He tightly squeezing his thumb around the straps of his backpack, his nails digging into the fabric as he narrowed his eyes sharply towards the one person he did not—and never wanted—to see again.

They hadn't ended off on the best and it was mostly due to Eric's lack of real loyalty in their relationship, but both of them had been heartbroken. Eric simply couldn't see it his way and decided to call it quits, but there was tension ever since. Regardless, he had moved to an entire different city that was practically six hours away from his hometown, therefore never had he expected to find his ex-boyfriend to be enrolled in his new school. Besides, he was starting to make new friendships—barely—and finally felt at ease with Dante's presence; adding this guy was nothing but absolutely trouble. "And don't you dare lie to me because I can tell when you lie."

"I ran away from home." Nate's eyes squinted even more and Eric raised his hand defensively, the vulnerability in his eyes not one Nate expected to see. "I'm telling you the truth." Even though he was taller than him, it felt as if he was the one looking up at Nate.

"And of all places, you chose here?"

"My grandparents live here, I've told you that before." He motioned between the two of them before adding, "We spoke about how your aunt and my grandparents live in the same city when we dated, haven't we?" It had been a conversation they had had when they were together, which completely slipped his mind.

Even so, although believable, Nate still felt uneasy. "Why this school?"

Eric sighed, pausing for a moment. He had never thought there would be such tension between the two of them. He hadn't even expected to find Nate at this school, which was not too bad of a coincidence but it was evident Nate didn't see it that way. "There's a wrestling team and it's at walking distance from my grandmother's house."

That simple comment made Nate's thoughts spiral out of control, the memories of the time he went to watch one of Eric's tournament replay in his mind. He remembered being on the sidelines, seeing the excited grin of Eric before his hand was raised, and how he raced to Nate every time to envelop him into an endearing tight embrace. Nate adored every single one of those hugs, wanting the next one to be just as warm and making sure of it. Even when Eric lost his semi-finals match, he still hugged Nate as tightly as the prior ones, which was an attribute of Eric that he had always admired. Whatever Eric was going through outside their relationship, he still made sure to treat Nate as lovely as he could, as if they were permanently in a honey moon phase.

Until he admitted that he was attracted to a woman and wanted to pursue her.

"You followed me here, admit it—"

"You can believe whatever you want to believe, Nathan." He shrugged his shoulders, but the way his eyebrows fell, it was evident he had been offended and hurt. "But regardless, I'm not here to fight with you. I don't even know anyone here and I'm going to be late for my second class on my first day. So," he pointed to his timetable, "can you show me where my math class is or are you convinced I'm stalking you that you can't help me?"

Even though Nate didn't want to, he reluctant turned around and began walking towards the staircases, making it to the second floor and eventually reaching the math wing. When he did, he pointed to the classroom with the lady standing beside the doorway and murmured, "That's your teacher."