Page 50 of Wicked and Ruthless

Nash hurdled the sofa and crossed the kitchen floor in a handful of steps, grabbing the kid by the throat. “You better not tell me you punked me.”

“Lighten up, dude.” When Nash let go, Ethan rolled his shoulders. “I’m just yanking your chain. To be honest, I didn’t hear that much, just that you being all straight-up business this morning confused her. She doesn’t know where she stands with you.”

As he’d suspected. “Thanks. Give me your laundry.”

“I’m not going to make you do it. I just wanted to see how much this woman meant to you.”

“Son of a bitch.” Nash stomped back to his dinner.

Ethan trailed after him. “Sorry. You okay?”

“Fuck, I don’t know.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “You want to know what Haisley means to me? Everything. When she left, it fucking crushed me. I thought we were on the same page—until she took off. Why is communicating with that woman so hard?”

“It’s not like you’ve been lonely without Haisley, dude. You get laid a lot.” He grinned. “Almost as much as me.”

“And it’s all empty. It’s all…” His insides twisted. “Meaningless. That’s great for a while. But…man, once you have someone who means something, it’s different. And going back to those empty fucks? It’s just… You’re going to fucking laugh, but some mornings, I’d wake up and roll over and think—for just a moment—that I had Haisley back. Then I’d open my eyes and see someone else. No matter how sexy or sweet or snarky or whatever the woman beside me was, she still wasn’t Haisley. And I kept wondering what the hell I did to not only drive a wedge between us, but to make her flee two thousand miles away.”

Ethan dropped onto the sofa beside him. “Shit, man. I’m sorry. I just thought… Hell, everyone thought you were just hooking up. You didn’t take her out or bring her to the company parties or act like you had a thing for her. So I thought?—”

“That I just wanted to nail her. Apparently, that’s what she thought, too.” And Nash felt like an idiot. He’d so zealously guarded his time alone with her that he hadn’t stopped to think about how she might perceive his behavior. But she’d never pushed back, never asked him to take her out or show her a good time that didn’t involve his bed, some cuffs, and his stiff cock. She’d been so fucking perfect for him in every way.

And he’d been an idiot.

Of course Haisley had assumed she was his favorite hookup, not his treasured submissive or his girlfriend. He hadn’t given her any reason to think he loved her or wanted to marry her. It seemed so fucking obvious now, but in the moment…he’d only thought about being as close to her as possible.

Well, that wasn’t the whole truth. The very first night they’d spent together, she’d been adamant that she wasn’t looking for a relationship. For months, he’d been searching for a way to tell her that he wanted more than sex with her. And he’d been afraid of being too honest and losing her.

“What are you going to do now?” Ethan asked.

“Everything I can.”

“I’d ask if you need relationship pointers, but I’m the guy who lost his high school girlfriend to his dad, so?—”

“You’re making that up.” He had to be.

“I’m not. My dad married Havana right after her eighteenth birthday. They have three kids now. I tease him all the time that he needs to stop knocking her up. It’s embarrassing.”

Nash laughed, mostly because it felt nice for a few seconds not to think about how badly he’d fucked up. “Wow.”

“It kind of sucks, but they’re happy, so…” Ethan shrugged. “Listen, about earlier today, at the mall?—”

“It’s not your fault the girl working at the pastry shop wouldn’t talk to us. She wasn’t going to.”

Ethan sighed. “I didn’t think Abby would be so skittish.”

“Same.” And Nash felt bad for not realizing that he and Ethan were probably intimidating, especially in light of the abductions happening less than a hundred feet from her. “And that other kid…”

“I guarantee he’s stoned more than he’s working. Did you see his eyes?”

“Yep. That’s my read, too. And the fact he refuses to wear his glasses… Jesus, he shouldn’t even be driving.”

“No wonder none of the police reports mention that guy. Then again, I don’t think Detective Haskins gives a shit about anything these days except his upcoming pension, his gold watch, and endless days of fishing.”

“It sucks. I’m not sure where to turn from here. We need to sit down with a list of facts and unknowns, then start asking the right questions, rule out people who couldn’t possibly pull this off, then start narrowing down to a list of suspects who could.”

Ethan nodded. “We’ll hit it first thing in the morning.”

“You going out tonight?”

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