Love At First Hate (Love At Firsts Book 2)(57)

“I’m going to be honest. My family sent me to join the Army. It was never my choice.” Gabby knows more or less what happened to Nate, but my parents and Brody look at him shocked.

“Why did they make you join, and why did you go out to war?” Dad asks him confused.

“I never got along with my family besides Maddie here. My father thought sending me to a military camp when I was sixteen was a good idea, and then he sent me to join the forces, and I was deployed. I didn’t have a say in the matter. I just had to accept it and go with it,” Nate says with so much hate in his voice. I’ve never seen him like that. I rub his back in support. I don’t want to make him uncomfortable in front of my parents. I can’t even begin to imagine how he must feel right now.

“That’s horrible. Why would your father do that?” Mom asks, outraged.

“Because he’s a dickhead,” Maddie says shocking us all. “What? It’s true. Robert always had it against Nate, and it’s still that way now. He’s very controlling over all of his children. He sets us up for a ‘bright future’ as he says, but it’s only setting us up for failure and something none of us want.”

“What do you mean?” Brody is the one sounding confused.

“It’s a long story that neither of us knows the details of. Basically, Robert managed to get our sister, Caroline, to marry someone and get them the perfect house, and the same is happening for our brother. Sadly, he’s trying to set me up with someone too.” Nate sighs.

“I take it that’s not what you want,” Dad says firmly.

“Not at all, sir. I love your son. I don’t want anybody else in my life. I know me refusing what is supposed to happen is going to start a shit storm of problems that I don’t want to bring your son into, but I can’t stay away from him either,” Nate says truthfully.

“I love you too,” I whisper and kiss his shoulder.

“Proud of you for standing up for what you want and think is right. You’ve got our support, and if there’s anything we can do, don’t hesitate,” Dad tells Nate.

“Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.”

“Please, stop calling me sir, it’s making me feel old. It’s Adam.” He chuckles.

“Thanks, Adam.” Nate smiles, relaxing finally.

“My pleasure.”

“Can I ask you something, Nate?” Brody asks him.

“If you’re going to ask him something about our sex life you can go suck a big fat one,” I tell him smirking.

“Oh god, I didn’t miss hearing these two bicker about sex at all,” Mom exclaims.

“I know you missed it.” I chuckle.

“No, you pervert. It’s not all about sex.” Brody shakes his head.

“Go on.” Nate chuckles.

“Why did you decide to leave the military?” Brody asks, and I’m dreading Nate’s answer and the reaction of my family. I know it won’t matter to them, but they can have weird reactions sometimes.

“I was severely injured.”

“Oh, honey.” Mom squeezes his hand.

“I’m alright now.” Nate smiles, trying to reassure Mom.

“Are you still suffering from PTSD or the aftermath of the injury?” Dad asks, and I just want to tell them all to shut up.

“Yes to both. Although, I haven’t had any nightmares in a few weeks. As for the injury, they had to amputate my leg below the knee,” Nate says matter of factly.

“Shit, sorry for asking. I feel bad now,” Brody says apologizing.

“No worries. It’s not my favorite thing to talk about, but I’m not going to hide it from you.” Nate shrugs.

“I can imagine. What do you think made you stop having nightmares?” Brody asks with a slight smirk.

“Matt is the reason why.” Nate chuckles as he catches on to what Brody was implying.

“I’m glad I was able to do that.” I smile at Nate.

“Me too.” He smiles back at me and kisses me, not caring that my family is there.

“You two really are perfect together.” Mom swoons.

“Cheers, Mom.” I wink at her.

“Anytime, sweetheart.” She grins proudly.

Food arrives and we all dig in, sharing as we pretty much got everything off of the menu. All through breakfast, we make small talk, and my family gets to know Nate and vice versa. He seems really at ease now that the first few minutes have gone.

I’m so glad and relieved that they like him and approve of him. I didn’t doubt they would, but there’s always that small part of you that worries about what could happen if your parents didn’t like the person you love.

Things are pretty natural between all of us. Conversation is flowing as well as jokes. Nate really enjoys digging at my brother, and it makes it even better for me as I have an ally. Gabby always stayed neutral and would tell us both to f*ck off if we asked her to stick to either one of us.

My heart skipped a few beats when my dad told Nate that if he needed help or anything regarding his parents wreaking havoc between us, that he would be there. I know my family wants me happy, but to know that they would go against another family and do what they can to ensure that Nate and I remain happy is quite special to me.



The first few notes of Pony by Genuine resonate in the penthouse the guys rented for the afternoon. We’ve been planning this for quite some time.