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She tried not to stare at the gun.
“Hi.”
Real clever, super spy.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come. I’ve missed you.” There was a sincerity to his tone that couldn’t, she was certain, have been faked. Was he really that fucking crazy, that he still loved her, wanted her, after all of this?
“I missed you, too.” The lie rolled easily off her lips, though her breath caught in her throat when his eyes narrowed.
“You didn’t visit.”
“I…” She flicked a nervous glance in Shannon’s direction and lowered her voice. “I don’t really want to talk about this in front ofher.”
“Why not?”
“It’s private.”
“Ah. My shy little wallflower. I suppose we could go upstairs and talk for a bit.” His grin widened as he looked over at his captive. “She’s not going anywhere.”
“Oh. Of course.” Fuck. Would reminding him that he’d promised to let Shannon go tip her hand? Better to not risk it. Sending up a silent prayer that Dean would find them sooner rather than later, she forced a smile. “After you.”
Nate stood, but instead of simply walking ahead of her, he slipped an arm around her waist. It took every ounce of strength she had not to flinch at his touch as he guided her up the stairs.
They’d never bothered with the second floor before, and now she knew why. Obviously, they weren’t the only ones who had been using these old abandoned homes. Trash and blankets were strewn everywhere, along with dozens of needles and other drug paraphernalia.
Jesus, had she really thought it was romantic for him to bring her here? Dean would never allow her to set foot in such an obviously dangerous place, and he sure as hell wouldn’t have taken her there himself. At the time, she’d been so caught up in Nate’s poetic ramblings about how he wanted to restore the houses, she’d obviously been blinded to the reality of them.
A rustling noise made her jump, and her unfortunate instinct was to press herself closer to Nate for protection against whatever might be moving through the trash. As if Nate himself wasn’t the most dangerous thing between these walls.
“It’s all right, baby. I won’t let anything hurt you.”
Anything but you. But since saying that out loud would only piss him off and risk him hurting either her or Shannon before Dean and the cops arrived, she made herself tip her head back and give him a simpering smile. “I know.”
They managed to find a bedroom with an actual bed, and Nate maneuvered her so she had no choice but to sit on it and do her best not to think too hard about what kind of substances had soaked into the bare mattress.
“I suppose we should start with the elephant in the room,” he said, his expression turning sad. Or, at least what he obviously thought ‘sad’ was meant to look like. Now that she knew what he was, it was easy to see the emptiness in his eyes that didn’t at all match the expressions on his face.
“I’m sorry I didn’t visit you in prison. I should have, but I—”Hated your fucking guts and couldn’t stand to look at you.“I was weak. And scared.”
“Scared? Of me?”
“Sort of.” Ducking her head, she let her voice tremble, just a little. “I was scared of what you must think of me, after everything that happened. I couldn’t bear to face you.”
“You should have been scared.” The rage reverberating in his words was far more believable than his feigned sadness. “You fucking shot me! And then you let me get arrested. Perhaps I should take a page out of your friends’ books and punish you for your betrayal. I didn’t think you were the type who needed regular beatings to keep you in line, but obviously I was wrong.”
Fear churned in her stomach, and if she’d bothered to eat breakfast, she had no doubt it would have been all over his shoes by now. “I’m so sorry, Nate. I-I don’t know what got into me. I had the gun in my hand and I just, I panicked. I’m sorry.”
“I suppose that was my fault, then. Thinking I could trust a woman to keep her cool under pressure.” Cold metal pressed against the bottom of her chin, forcing her gaze up to meet his dead eyes. “It’s a mistake I won’t be making again.”
“It won’t happen again, I swear, Nate.”
“You’re right.” Something almost like grief flickered in his gaze as he stepped back, the barrel of the gun raising to point directly between her eyes. “Goodbye, my love.”
CHAPTER24
Relief flooded him when he spotted his SUV. Unless she’d gotten into another vehicle with Nate, MaryAnn was in one of these houses.
He just had to figure out which one.
