His Keeper

Chapter 12

 “Hey Adrian, I’ll take the first shift, you go ahead and get some sleep,” Nate replies nonchalantly.

“Are you sure brother? I don’t mind taking the first watch,” Adrian responds as he scans the living area of the penthouse and discovers that it’s just the two of them in the room.

“Yeah brother, I got this. See you in four hours,” Nate casually responds as he takes a step towards the sliding glass doors and surveys the modernly decorated balcony. 

“Alright brother, Goodnight,” Adrian says.  

Sam suddenly chimes in, “Well, I guess I am not needed and it sounds like you got it from here, Nate. So, I’ll go ahead and call it a night as well, but I’ll be up at 4 am.”

Adrian jumps in surprise with his hand over his heart in response to Sam’s comment and stated, “Dude, I didn’t even realize that you were still in the room.”

Sam smirks and says, “Good night!”, and walks down the hall to the second bedroom of the suite.

Adrian calls back, “Good night,” nods at Nate, and trudges down the hall following him to the third bedroom of the suite.

Nate turns back to surveying the patio furniture as Amara steps out of the double doors of her bedroom wearing one of the hotel robes and her wet hair wrapped in a towel looking like she was an Egyptian princess in white.  She looks at Nate and responds, “Well, I can’t sleep anyway. So, Nate, I hope you don’t mind me keeping you company for a little bit tonight.”

“No, not at all, I’d like the company.” Nate says calmly fighting back the nervousness forming at the pit of his stomach. He removes his jacket and puts it on the back of one of the table chairs. As he smooths the edges of his coat on the chair, he quickly scans the security monitors that are set up on the dining table as they had set security cameras around the penthouse prior to Amara’s arrival.

“So, Nate, now that we are alone…” Amara replies seductively, “Tell me more about you, about your life, and what made you want to do this line of work.” She walks slowly to the table, looks deeply into his eyes, and asks, “I would really like to get to know the person that is taking care of me, as well as the men that call you brother.” She gracefully falls down into one of the four vacant dining room chairs with her hand catching her chin, and says playfully, “And I am really fascinated about learning about this whole “pack” thing.”

Nate smiles and replies equally playful and says, “Well I guess I had better start a pot of coffee cause it’s a long story.” Nate turns around and begins making a pot of coffee and telling her about his hardworking parents and his two crazy older sisters whom he loves and adores. As the coffee machine beeps, he sets two cups and asks Amara, “Cream and Sugar.” She responds, “Yes, please.” After adding the contents and stirring, Amara takes her cup and makes her way to sit on the love seat in the living area.  Nate on the other hand just pours the black coffee in his cup, follows Amara, and sits in the overstuffed arm chair.

            “So, the wolf pack… well when we arrived at basic training, we were all assigned to the same barracks, and all of us, honestly, just hit it off. You could say that we in our own way bonded over being homesick, but with each of us pushing the others we got over it and became brothers.” Nate pauses to take a sip of his coffee and says, “Stephen, Abram, Vincent and myself were born in different parts of California.”

            Amara just nods and leans forward listening intently. Nate continues by saying, “Stephen was born and raised in San Francisco. He is the oldest of five brothers and two sisters. He always talks about growing up helping his parents run a restaurant where their specialty was soul food. He himself was big in sports throughout his school life, but his grades kept him from getting a scholarship. So that was the reason he joined the military because he wanted to help his family financially as the restaurant was starting to struggle. His girlfriend, Simone, who is his high school sweetheart, told him before he left, she would work his shift at the restaurant so they didn’t have to hire someone new. He would always tell us that when basic training was over, he was going to marry her. So, he had this elaborate plan to propose to her by hiring a plane to drag a banner across the sky while they were having the most romantic picnic on the beach. Sadly, Stephen was so nervous that he dropped the ring and lost it midway through the meal. Then when the plane flew by, instead of it saying, “Will you marry me, Simone?” it said, ‘Will someone marry me?” So, we tend to make fun of him because it was by some miracle that some random stranger was kind enough to have found it, picked it up, put two and two together, and said, “You might need this brother.”

            Amara lightly chuckles and says, “No way, but she said yes though, right?”

            Nate smiles and says, “Yep, and now they have been happily married for 10 years and have 5 kids total, two sets of twins all boys and one girl. His parents are retired, sold their business, and now live in Florida.”

Amara sips her coffee, then holding her cup with both hands replies, “Man, well that’s a shame, I would have loved to have me some soul food!”

Nate smiles and tells her, “Well, since you are here for an extra day, maybe we can ask Stephen to hook us up with some.”

Amara states, “Alright then, I am going to have to make sure I am extra nice to Stephen, then.” Amara takes another sip of her coffee then says, “So, who is next on the pack list, but please save yourself for last because I always say save the best for last.” Amara says winking at Nate.

Nate smiles and launches onward, “Brandon is from Iowa, a farm boy, who every chance he gets likes to go home for his vacations. To be quite honest, we were all surprised when he said he wanted to go into business with us. We all know that his heart and mind belong in Iowa, but I personally believe that our friendship and bond has meant so much more that he is willing to put aside his desire to go back home.  He is definitely our outdoors kind of guy, camping, hiking, biking, you name it he does it. I will tag along with him on occasion, but he just loves being out in nature. He grew up as a loner and was always picked on because of his height, but High School came around and he hit his growth spurt. He is definitely labeled the lone wolf of the pack. Thankfully, he met his fiancée, Wendy, through online dating, and we are expecting them to be getting married next month.” Nate takes a sip of his coffee and says, “Well I guess we might have to change that title of Lone wolf since Wendy has changed that in him.”

Amara sighs and says, “Really, I would have never guessed that, but his accent was definitely a dead giveaway through as I was wondering if he was from the mid-west.”

Nate goes to take a sip from his cup and notices that it is empty. He then says, “Looks, like its time for me to get a refill.”

Amara looks down at her cup and states, “Me, too.”

As they make their way back into the kitchen, Nate fills his and Amara’s cup, then continues, “So, Johnny, is our family man. He and his wife, Sandra, are from Texas and before he came to basic training, they already had twin 1-year-olds named, Kimberly and Jason. So, on the weekends when the guys would go out, Johnny and I would stay behind to play video games as we weren’t much into drinking and partying. I have had the privilege of babysitting those two many times over the years and now I am known as Uncle Nate.”

Amara slyly remarks, “Uncle Nate, huh?” She nods her head, “Yep, I can see that. So, did you do tea party dress up with Kimberly?”

Nate looks over at Amara and responds seriously, “Firstly, it is called tea time with friends. Secondly, I will have you know that I have become well trained in the proper etiquette of hosting a proper tea party.”

Amara nods and says, “Oh, I am quite sure you are well capable and mean no offense at all.” Nate and Amara stare intently at each other, then burst out in laughter.

Amara says in between laughing and inhaling deeply, “I’m so sorry, Nate but I can only envision you wearing a pink tutu with glitter everywhere.”

Nate covers his hand over his eyes and begins laughing saying, “That’s exactly how every tea party went, but you forgot to include the pink bead necklaces and bracelets as I had to accessorize. Hell, I felt so bad for Jason because we were both suckered into it.”

Amara lets out a loud cackle and is now doubled over with tears streaming down her face. Nate is also bent over holding his stomach and laughing. As their laughter subsides, he says, “Ok, now where were we…. Oh, Vincent is from here, Los Angeles. So, from the moment I met Vincent he has always been the ladies’ man. He grew up being the popular one in school and people just naturally gravitate to him. He played football in High School, but got kicked off the football team because he got caught making out with one of the coach’s daughter. But the reason he joined the military was to see the world and expand his horizons as he says it.” Nate remarks with a smirk.

Amara responds, “Expand his horizons?” She adds quizzically and looks pensively at Nate, “What exactly does that entail?”

Nate responds quickly, “His words not mine, I promise, so I am just as clueless. But, truthfully, Vincent is the epitome of chivalry when it comes to women. He is very good with his words and the way he talks to ladies well everyone in general. But he is also the most giving person and would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. I think that is what I admire about him the most, how big of a heart he truly has when no one is looking.”

Amara smiles and giggles then says, “I’ll have to watch out for Vincent then, but don’t worry what you are telling me stays between you and I.”

Nate nods his head and replies, “Oh, no worries. You are good…. Now onto Abram. He is very reserved, quiet, and the only musically inclined member of the pack. He is a talented musician. However, he may present as quiet, but once you get to know him, he will not stop talking. Let’s just say we normally have to remind him to take breathes in between sentences.”

Amara responds, “Duly noted and thanks for preparing me.”

Nate continues, “Anyways, he is from Fresno, California and sadly his mom passed away from a heart attack when he was younger and was raised by his dad who was always working.”

Amara responds sadly, “Oh no. That’s so sad.”

Nate nods and says, “So, Abram grew up as a fighter as he was easily targeted by bullies, but he never backed down from a fight. His father remarried when he entered into his High School years, which changed Abram as his stepmother was the sweetest lady and basically treated him like her own as she couldn’t have any of her own kids. She freaked out when he told her he was joining the military. But his excuse was that he just wanted to see the world.”

Amara smiles and says, “Well I am glad that he has a happier ending to his story.”

Nate smiles as well and says, “Finally, we come to my brother-in-law’s, Adrian and Jeff.”

Amara leans up against the counter and says, “Oh boy.”

Nate faces Amara and leans his hip on the counter and says, “Adrian and Jeff, both grew up in the foster care and sadly moved from home to home. I believe they were 15 when they both ended up in a group home together and became instant brothers. Sadly, they aged out of the group home and decided to enlist in the military. They grew up in Chicago.”

Amara replies in surprise, “Oh, wow, I would have never known that about them. They seem so precocious.”

Nate smiles, scratches his head, and says, “I don’t think I would ever use that word to describe them as they both have a way of getting on my nerves with their immaturity.”  

Amara smirks, “Oh you know what I mean, they basically had to grow up fast and all. But anyways I can see why the decided to join the military, but how did they end up as your brother-in-law’s.”

Nate proceeds by saying, “Well, I just knew deep down they were meant to be a part of my family, I just didn’t realize that it would be through my sisters. Which of course I don’t mind as they are good for my sisters.”

Amara’s sighs and says, “Well, thank you for sharing their stories, but now I’d like to hear more about your story.”

Nate sighs and says, “Well, my life is simple these days, I simply watch over my brothers, my family, and of course there is also Marcel.”

Amara’s raises her eyebrows and says, “Oh so whose Marcel?”

Nate proceeds to talk about me to Amara and telling her about how I met him and how we always have breakfast every morning. He goes in detail about how he likes to listen to me play my music.

Amara states in a concerned manner, “So, whose eating breakfast with him now since you will be with me for the next few days?”

Nate responds sadly, “He left town so I am not sure when I will see him again.”

Suddenly, the door to one of the guest bedrooms opens and out pops a groggy Adrian. “Morning… Wait, have you guys seriously been talking all night?”

            Nate looks at his watch and the monitors and says, “Oh crap, we sure have, its already 4 in the morning and the pack will be here in an hour.”

Nate’s phone buzzes and beeps with an incoming text message from Jeff letting him know everything was fine with Isabel and that she was released from the hospital around 2 am. He said he will be at the hotel at 0700. Nate informs Adrian and Amara about the message and the two sighs in relief.

            Adrian looks over at Nate and says, “Bro, go ahead and get some rest. I’ll wake you at 0800.” He glances at Amara and says, “You probably want to get some rest as well.”

Amara nods, empties her cup in the sink and replies, “I think you are right. A girl does need her beauty sleep. I will see you all in the afternoon for rehearsals.” She exits the room making her way back into her private bedroom.  

Nate takes his cup and begins rinsing and washing both of their cups and setting it in the dish drainer.

Adrian responds, “So, you want to tell me what that was all about?”

Nate responds briskly, “What are you talking about?”

Adrian states, “You and Amara talking all night. And the way she was looking at you. Come on, you didn’t realize that she was so in to you.”

Nate looks at Adrian annoyed and retorts, “What are you talking about? She wanted to know our stories so I told her our stories. And what do you mean she was in to me.”

            Adrian stares at him wide eyed and excitedly says, “She was in to you bro.”

Nate responds in disbelief, “Nah, you are imagining it. Are you sure you are up for taking the next shift, because you are delusional right now?”

Adrian smirks and says, “Fine. If you don’t want to believe me then fine, but go get some rest Bro, I can handle the next shift.”

Nate shakes his head and makes his way towards the bedroom Adrian just came out of thinking, “Hmm, she can’t be that into me.”