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She started to turn away again.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I—well, about earlier—about everything.”
She regarded him for a moment. She wasn’t going to tell him it was okay, because it wasn’t. None of it was. The way he’d been acting. The blackmail. The gun. “We’ll work it out—now go get some sleep.”
He went and for a second she wished he’d come back. She didn’t want to think right now. She didn’t even want to feel right now. It hurt too much. After the past half hour, she was afraid her life would never be the same again.
She wanted to yell and kick and scream at the unfairness of it all but in the end she simply opened the door and went to sit on the patio in the cool evening air. A light breeze blew under her over-sized shirt. Justin’s shirt.
Justin. Nate’s half-brother. She’d almost slept with her brother’s half-brother. She covered her face with her hands.
Events replayed in her mind, and she groaned. God, Nate had almost shot his own half- brother! She thought about her mother, with Dale Blake. If it were true, it would explain a lot. Her father’s bitterness…the split between him and Dale…
She sat up straighter. Were they ever friends? Her father had said Dale stabbed him in the back, so it seemed it could be true, but everything else Dale Blake had told her had been a lie. All the while he’d been using her to find things out about Nate because of the blackmail. Upon reflection, Justin’s description of his father was dead on—not that Nate was a saint by any means.
She sat for awhile longer, trying to figure out what to do.
****
Marley dressed in jeans and a fitted, light green knit top. Then she brushed her hair and left it loose, added a light touch of brown mascara, and a swipe of clear gloss on her lips. Nate would give her a ride and work his mechanic magic on the scrap metal she called her truck.
Her brother didn’t say a word as they walked out the door, but she knew he noticed her ‘new look’ by the expression on his face. She ignored it and stuffed her bag with Justin’s things at her feet on the passenger side. How she dressed and wore her hair was her business.
When she told Nate to go to the Hunter offices, he paused. She remembered he didn’t know what had happened in the past week and proceeded to catch him up on the drive. He didn’t say much so she couldn’t tell if the news upset him.
Then she pulled herself up short. Who cared if it did? He’d blown over fifteen thousand dollars in Vegas when what he should’ve done was paid on school loans, something that would’ve made him taking the money somewhat easier to swallow.
Nate drove past Justin’s Jeep in the parking lot and her stomach turned over in a nauseous mix of anticipation and dread. She tried to ignore it as they parked, and Nate turned the key in the ignition of her truck before popping the hood for a look. After a moment of inspection, he rolled his eyes.
“Your battery cable is loose.”
“That’s it?”
“Yep.” He reached in to tighten it. “All I need are some jumper cables to start it. I’ll drive yours home so the battery charges on the way, and you can bring mine home after work.”
She hovered as Nate connected the jumper cables between the two vehicles, started his truck and after a minute, started hers as well. He put everything away before handing her his keys. Time to go inside. Still, she stood on the sidewalk, clutching the shoulder strap of her bag. “Thanks.”
He paused while getting into her truck. “I’ll see you later, then?”
She nodded.
“I’m going to class today, then I’ll start looking for another job.”
She nodded again before finally turning away.
“Thanks, Mar.”
She swallowed, felt like a stupid nodder doll, and waved over her s
houlder without looking back. She needed to prepare. The elevator ride was too damn short. She offered Bonnie a weak smile and made her way into her office, wishing her nerves would settle down.
This really wasn’t that big a deal. It wasn’t like she’d lie to him, she just wouldn’t tell him what she knew. Other people did stuff like this all the time.
Too bad her conscience wasn’t buying what she was trying to sell.
She heard Justin’s voice through the open connecting door and couldn’t help but glance through on her way past. Her step faltered. He was on the phone, half turned toward her with one booted foot propped on his desk as he leaned back in his chair. He’d dressed more casually than usual—even for him. A pair of extremely faded jeans encased his legs and a plain black tee shirt clung to his shoulders, molding his broad chest and enhancing his tan. His short blond hair looked like it might have been combed that morning, but had since seen his hand a time or two.
In the middle of a sentence, he turned his head and their eyes met. A jolt like she’d never experienced before shot through her. Marley stiffened as her heart leapt into overdrive.
