Page 85 of Indigo Sky

Am I scaring him?

"I-I don't even reallyknowher, Rev, all right?"

I studied him for all of a second, watched the frenzied flicker of his eyes as they swam over my face, searching forsomething. I could never know when Nate was telling the truth; he was a more skilled liar than he ever was a thief. But I did know when he was innocent, and I knew with near certainty that he wasn't the parking-lot stalker I'd grown to be so paranoid of.

I loosened my grip on his collar before letting go altogether and wiped the back of my hand over my mouth, never taking my eye off of him.

His lips spread slowly into a wild, knowing grin. "There it is," he said, his voice low.

"What?" I spat back, begrudged.

"You never had a reason to be the bad guy before," he pointed out, running his hands over the front of his shirt and smoothing out the wrinkles. "But you do now. It'sher. Jesus …” He snorted a snide little chuckle. “How fuckingromantic."

I didn't like the way he was looking at me, full of pride and wonder, like a doting parent watching their baby take their first steps. I blew out a short exhale and turned away, uncomfortable under his glare.

"Sorry," I felt the need to mutter. "She's been going through some shit."

"Crystal told me."

I didn't know why that bothered me, but it did. How much did he know? What else had she told him about me or Kate or any of the others here? Wouldn't that be convenient for him to know every aspect of our lives? Wouldn't that make us perfect targets?

Stop. You don't know that he's lying.

"She told me she had a stalker before too," he said, stepping closer to talk into my ear. "You look into him yet?"

The idea had occurred to me, but she had said he was in Florida, living with his mother.

Maybe he came back for revenge.

Maybe Nate is deflecting.

"It's not him," I muttered weakly despite how unsure I was.

"You don't even know his name, do you?"

I didn't, and it wasn't lost on me how little time it had taken Nate to make me feel smaller,stupiderthan him. God, was this how it would be now? After I'd spent years separating myself from him, were we going to be brought back together because the women we were with worked under the same roof?

I blew out an unsteady breath as a thought suddenly struck. "Why did you wanna get together today?"

"Huh?"

I took a step back to lean against the wall, crossing my arms over my chest and keeping my eye ahead on Kate, glittering beneath the spotlight, like a North Star guiding me away from this place of darkness I only ever seemed to be in when I was with Nate.

"You were so insistent on getting together. Why? And don't tell me it was just because you wanted to confess some shit to me, all right? There was something else, so what was it?"

He mimicked my position, brushing his shoulder against mine. "Crystal has been asking me to come watch her dance, but I didn't want to just show up out of nowhere without … I don't know, making my peace with you or something," he muttered, sounding vulnerable again, like he had earlier in the parking lot of the taco truck. "I didn't want to blindside you.”

I snorted something that might’ve been a laugh as Nate continued, “I mean, I might be a piece of shit, man, but I do care about you, all right?" His voice was soft, hushed, as if he didn’t want anyone else knowing there was a heart buried somewhere in that thick, stony chest of his.

I pursed my lips and tightened my arms against my chest as I gave him a single nod. "Yeah," I grumbled. "That's what I thought."

***

Nate and I spent the rest of the night together at the table, but neither of us said a word until we stood in the parking lot after closing, Crystal by his side and Kate by mine.

“This is so crazy,” Crystal said, her gaze floating between Kate and me. “What are the chances that you guys would be, like, best friends?”

Nate’s eyes met mine. “Since we were kids,” he said, as if to remind me of all the time we’d spent together.

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