Page 111 of Indigo Sky

“When I’m done with you, that’ll be the least of your problems,” I growled, readying my arm to throw another punch.

Nate held up his bloodied hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, wait, wait, wait … yes, all right? We broke into her house.”

My fist was suspended in the air as I shouted into his face, “Shewas the reason we went to that club, wasn’t she?!”

“Yes!” He winced, expecting me to hit him, but instead, I let go. He released a breath and wilted against the wall. “I knew who she was. I was … dude, you know I was fucking messed up, man. I wasn’t … I wasn’t thinking, all right? I’m sorry.”

“How long?” I asked, blood rushing past my eardrums as I backed away to grip the kitchen counter. “How long have you been following her?”

Blood from Nate’s nose dripped onto the floor but he made no move to take care of himself as a confused look overtook his face and he shook his head. “I … I haven’t beenfollowing her, man. It was the one time. I-I saw something about the club in her room. That was all. I knew she worked there, so I thought we’d go, see if I could get a second chance or something. I was fucked up, man! I dunno what else to tell you. But I let it go after that, I swear to God.”

I held the lip of the counter in a white-knuckled grip, just staring at him. Waiting for him to falter in his bullshit. But he didn’t. He held my gaze with a heavy, deep, unspoken apology fueling every one of his inhales and exhales, and I cursed under my breath, shaking my head and looking away.

“What happened?” he asked quietly.

I reached behind me and grabbed the dishrag from the hook beside the sink, then threw it at him. He caught it, held it to his nose, and waited for me to respond.

“I put the pieces together,” I muttered, rolling my gaze to the ceiling. “I saw her room. And I thought … with all this shit happening …”

“You thought I’d been carrying this insane grudge all this time,” he guessed—accurately.

I lifted a limp hand and gestured toward him, as if to say,Bingo, before letting it fall back to my side.

“Did you break it off with her?”

I hesitated, then nodded.

“Fuck, dude. Butwhy? You’re nuts about her. Why the fuck would you do that?”

“Because I told her the truth,” I said.

He rolled his eyes from behind the towel. “And you thought she was better off without you as long as I was around. You’re a fucking idiot—you know that? You could’ve talked to me first before you blew up your entire goddamn life.”

The truth was, I had hoped it’d be that simple. I’d hoped I’d approach Nate, solve this entire mystery, have the cops haul him away, and be done. I’d go back to her, grovel, do whatever I had to do to beg for her forgiveness, and then … I didn’t know … live happily ever after with her or some shit.

Nate walked past me to slump down on the couch, holding the towel to his nose. He stared ahead at the blank TV, just as I stared at the wall I’d held him against. Both of us thinking, both of us too consumed by those thoughts to include the other.

Then, he asked, “Want a smoke?”

And with a shrug, I released a forlorn sigh and turned toward the couch. “Why the fuck not?”

We smoked together for the first time in years, and I’d like to say it was a horrible experience as I inhaled the smoke and coated my lungs in tar, but it wasn’t. Instead, the shared silence was cathartic in a way nothing else had been in years, and although my heart was broken and the mess I’d created was more than I knew what to do with, I felt relaxed for the first time in weeks.

“What are you gonna do?” Nate asked, glancing at me.

“You’re a fuckin’ mess,” I muttered, referring to the dried-up blood covering the lower half of his face, crusted into his beard. “Why the hell did you let me do that?”

He shrugged. “You needed it.”

“You’re out of your mind.” I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees and brushing a hand over my hair. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I guess I’ll quit the club. I mean, I can’t show my face around there now, right?”

“Not until you patch things up with Kathleen or Indie—whatever her name is.”

Kate, I thought sadly.She prefers Kate.

But I didn’t tell him that.

“Yeah, I don’t see that happening.”

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