Immaculate Spirit 105 :

"Well, I was expecting something more in the line of 'Glad to see you Nath, you look very handsome tonight.'. I'm a little disappointed to be honest." He smiled.

"You know I'm happy to see you but stop joking, this is a serious matter. You do not understand, I already know what is going to happen. Each time I bring one of my boyfriends to a family event like this one, he runs off. My father and uncle are very protective of me and I'm sure they know everything there is to know about you. Even your biggest secret." She said anxiously.

"Like you said, they are your father and uncle, it's their job to keep you safe. If they run, it means they had done bad things so it was still worth it in the end."

"You are not worried they will find something on you?" She asked, concerned.

"Of course not, I have never done anything bad in my life. They can dig how much and as long as they want. It will not change anything." He shrugged, visibly not concerned by this at all.

Seeing that he was not worried, Madison finally calmed down. That was one of the many things that she liked about Nathaniel. He was always sure of himself and confident. As if there was nothing in this world that could rattle him.

"You do in fact look very das.h.i.+ng today." She complimented him at last.

He was currently wearing black silk pants which fitted him perfectly with a white s.h.i.+rt and dark blue blazer. The outfit have been chosen by his grandmother who called it 'casual cla.s.sy'.

"Finally! I was worried for a second that I needed to go back home and change. You look amazing too Madie." He smiled at her.

She was wearing a flowery white dress which was very conservative, going lower than her knee and hiding her cleavage. Very unlike what she wore when they were going out to her sorority party. Even with her body hidden, she was still extremely beautiful.

"Thank you Nath but do not look at me like that, you know what it does to me and we can't right now. We are in enemy territory right now, we need to be as chaste as possible so no smile, no kisses, no hugs, nothing." She insisted, pointing a finger at him.

"I did not say or do anything." He said innocently, still smiling at her.

"Just stop it! Or I'm going to take drastic measures." She warned.

"Oh? You want to wrestle Livingston?" Nathaniel said playfully, stepping into her personal s.p.a.ce, his face inches from hers.

The next moment Madison finally succ.u.mb and hungrily kissed him with all that she had. They were going at it with pa.s.sion when Nathaniel abruptly separated himself from her.

"What is going on?" She asked, fl.u.s.tered and her cheeks a little pink.

"I hear footsteps coming." Nathaniel said, looking at the hallway in front of him.

"Oh. Oh!" Madison reacted in alarm, fixing her dress up and wiping some of her lipstick on Nathaniel lips. "I told you we need to be good!"

"You told me the exact same thing when we where to Hayleys house and I remember quite well how it ended." He laughs.

"Don't you dare talk about this here!"

"Ah here you are, everyone is waiting for you. Glad that you made it Nathaniel." Victoria said, coming to them.

"Ma'am." Nathaniel said as a greeting.

"No ma'am, call me Victoria please."

"Victoria it is then." Nathaniel nodded.

"Good, follow me then. I have a lot of people who want to meet with you." Victoria said, starting to walk.

Nathaniel and Madison followed her obediently, not even looking at each other for safety. Before they even got together, they had this inexplicable chemistry and it was growing in intensity the more they were together.

After walking for a minute they arrived in a huge dining room with approximately fifteen people there. Going from a girl who was ten years old to an old man around seventy years old. It was all the Livingston family. Victoria immediately ead Nathaniel among family members to say hi. She was a good hostess as she made conversation easily with anyone and kept everything simple. Nathaniel had already seen that quality in Madison and he knew how she got it. They kept going to each of the people here, Madison having separated from him and talking to her grandmother, until he was in front of a young man a little over 25 years.

"Hi, I'm Jason. Nice to meet you." He said, thrusting his hand in front of him.

"Madies brother right? Happy birthday! I'm Nathaniel." He said, accepting the handshake.

"Thanks. Madie, heh? You know she hates nicknames and has forbidden everyone and even our father to use the, right?" He smiled bitterly.

"Yes, I heard that before but I always call her that since we are friends and she never said anything about it. Why does she hate nicknames that much?" Nathaniel asked curiously.

"It's not my place to say just ask her."

"I will. Sorry , by the way, I didn't get you a present, I did not know what you like."

"Don't worry about it, look around you, I already received enough that I do not know what to do with." Jason said, pointing to a pile of wrap present on a table.

It reminds him a little of the gifts Nathaniel received when his grandmother organized his welcome back party in the Hampton a few months ago, only bigger. He also remembered that beside a top of the line laptop and a few clothes, he have sell everything because he had received jewelry that he was never going to wear in a million years and quite a few of the other things that were outright weird.

"Listen, my father and uncle are coming in your direction. Since my sister likes you and you seem like a nice guy, I'm going to give you a piece of advice. Don't try to suck up to them to get them to like you, it will not work. My father is impervious to that and my uncle hate suck up. Just be yourself and hope it will be enough. If it's not, it means you do not belong with my sister in the first place so no pressure. I'm off now, have fun." Jason said, giving him a smile and leaving him here.

Nathaniel did not stay alone long before two men stop in front of him and start to look at him. Where the look that the senator was giving to him was really stern, it was the men beside him that attract the interest of Nathaniel. He gave a leveled, professional stare to Nathaniel, looking not at his face but his body, focusing on Nathaniel weak point like knees, groin, trachea. It was not something that ordinary people were looking as it was something taught by the military. Even if the man stare was tamer, it was definitely deadlier.

"It's this where i'm supposed to start fidgeting to hide my discomfort for being stared at?" Nathaniel ask with mirth.

"Maybe." The senator said, while he kept looking at Nathaniel.

"I'm still not feeling it, weird right? Who are you gentlemen by the way? Guests?"

"No, I'm John Livingston and this is my brother, Marcus Livingston. This is my home, young man, you should show some respect to your elders."

"Respect is not due, it is earned. Well, it was fun with the staring and all that guys but a cute brown haired girl is calling me, I should get moving. I guess we'll see each other at dinner. Later John, later Mark." Nathaniel said with a handwave before leaving.

Looking at Nathaniel leaving and going in the direction of Madison, the two men were flabbergasted.

"That was not how I pictured this conversation to go down." John said bitterly.

"That kid is too calm, it is not natural." Markus answer with a thoughtful expression on his face, his eyes not leaving Nathaniel back.

"He called you Mark." John remember, smiling for the first time.

"Yes, he knew who we were. I'm guessing that since we were trying to mess with him, he thought he could mess with us too."

"He was wrong. This is my home here, he will pay for this." John said sternly.