Page 112 of Indigo Sky

“Why?”

“Because!” I guffawed incredulously. I snatched the half-empty cigarette pack from off the cushion between us and took another out. “She knows I was there. She knows shit was stolen. And she thinks it wasme.”

I slipped the cigarette between my lips and held a hand out for the lighter.

Nate clapped it against my palm as he said, “Should’ve thrown me under the bus … for once.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” I mumbled around the end of the smoke as I lit up. “Probably thinks I’m whoever’s been following her. She said she’d call the cops if she saw me again.”

“So, now, you’re back here, bullshitting with me.”

I huffed a humorless chuckle. “Guess so.”

He reached out and slapped a hand against my shoulder. “Well, yo-ho-ho, motherfucker. A pirate’s life for us, huh?”

I sneered at him for a moment before sucking at the end of the cigarette. Then, with my lungs wrapped tight around a breath of smoke, I choked out, “Kindly shut the fuck up.”

But as he walked away to find some ice in the kitchen, I looked around the living room. It was clean, everything where it was meant to be, and there wasn’t an offensive, lingering smell to be found. He really had cleaned up his act, I realized, and if anything good could come from this, it was that.

All things considered, I was glad to be back.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

I didn’t remember falling asleep on Nate’s couch, but I woke up to the living room shrouded in darkness and the shower running in the bathroom.

What time is it?I reached for my phone. It was nine o’clock at night. I didn’t know how long I’d been out, but it was too long. I imagined the entire club was pissed at me. I imagined they were all spreading the tale of what’d transpired between Kate and me. Saul would be calling at any minute, and he’d be out for blood.

“We don't want them hurt, and we don't hurt them. We hurt the people who hurt them. Do I make myself clear?”

I had hurt her.

I had broken her heart … and there was still someone out there, following. Watching. And who the fuck knew how far they’d go? And now, I wasn’t around to save her.

“Fucking jackass,” I said aloud, laying a hand over my brow.

The shower turned off. My stomach growled, and I went to the kitchen to find something to shove down my throat.

Nate stepped into the living room, a towel around his waist. “Oh, hey, you’re up.”

“Yeah,” I muttered, opening the fridge and peering inside.

Some leftover Chinese. A pack of cold cuts. A carton of eggs. A container of milk.

“I need to get to the grocery store,” he said over my shoulder. “You wanna order a pizza?”

I closed the fridge and looked at him. “You haven’t eaten yet?”

“Nah, I was waiting for you to wake up. Figured you’d be hungry.”

I stared at him like I was trying to figure him out, put his pieces together. He looked vaguely like the guy I had known. Sounded like him too. But this man standing in front of me wasn’t the same boy I had grown up with. The one filled with rage and hatred. The one who had gotten himself in trouble as an act of revenge, to have fun.

No, this guy was thoughtful. He was a lot calmer, a lot more compassionate. It wasn’t an unwelcome change, but it was like whiplash to stand here with him and adjust to this new Nate.

“What?” he asked with a chuckle.

“I just don’t understand what happened to you,” I admitted, bewildered and … happy.

“I already told you. A good doctor and a better woman,” he said easily before walking past me and toward his bedroom door. “I’m gonna throw some clothes on. Then, we’ll order some food.”

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