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“Marley—”
“You’re not coming home with me,” she said. They’d reached the driver’s side of her truck, and she dug her keys out to unlock the door.
“You don’t have a choice.”
She whirled to face him. “Since when?”
He reached past her to open the door and while her attention focused on that move, he swiped her keys from her hand. “Now.” He cut her protest short by turning her toward the truck. “Get in, I’m driving.”
She resisted. “I can drive myself, thank you.”
He stopped propelling her forward, but didn’t let go of her arm. “Anyone can see you’re exhausted and not in the best frame of mind to be behind the wheel right now.”
As if she needed him to remind her how awful she looked. He was close enough for her to smell his cologne again, and she fought against inhaling the pleasant scent too deep. She looked down at his mouth, inundated with memories of his lips on hers. Quickly, she turned away.
“Nothing’s going to happen unless you want it to.”
It scared the hell out of her that it might already be too late for that. She climbed across the driver’s side and deliberately misunderstood. “I want to go home.”
She settled into her seat as he started the truck and headed out of the parking lot. Once on the road, thoughts of Nate took over. As they approached an intersection, she sat up straighter. “Turn left here.”
Justin took his foot off the gas and lightly applied the brake. “That won’t get you home.”
“Just turn.”
She knew he’d figured out where they were going when he put on the signal for the next turn that led to the Forrester construction site before she told him to.
“Who do you think was there with him?” Justin asked after a few moments. “Or do you think the anesthetic made him groggy?”
“I don’t know.”
He’d barely put the truck in park before she opened the door and headed toward the building. Justin met her at the front of the truck and halted her in the glare of the headlights.
Annoyance flared until he cautioned, “Slow down. Take a look around first.”
She relaxed against his hold, recognizing the wisdom in his suggestion. Her gaze skimmed over the shadowed frame of the building, the darker trailer and the…
She huffed out a breath. “What am I looking for?”
He scanned the area himself. “Anything out of place, anything that looks suspicious.”
She looked again. Nothing. With an impatient sound, she started forward again, toward the corner where Chuck had said Nate fell. Just past a pile of scrap lumber, she halted dead in her tracks, her gaze focused on the ground. Her heart thumped. “That’s not a boot print.”
Justin hunkered down for a closer inspection of the smooth-soled print in the dirt. “Looks like a man’s dress shoe.”
“The guys are required to wear steel-toes.”
“And steel-toes have treads.” Justin straightened.
“Maybe one of the paramedics?”
His skeptical expression dashed her hope. “I wouldn’t think so.”
“They could’ve been on call, but out to dinner or something…maybe?”
He only shrugged. Damn it. She wanted him to agree with her, to reassure her that someone wasn’t out to hurt her brother on purpose.
No, she thought. Better to figure out and face what was happening instead of lulling herself into a false sense of security. Denial only put Nate in more danger.
