Page 93 of Exposé

Spinning the noodles for another bite, I raised a brow. "Arabic? Did you learn that for the military?"

"Something like that. How's work? You don't talk about it much." Nate rested his fork on the edge of his half-empty plate.

"Lately, there isn't much to talk about. One source is dead..." Nate perked up, his brow raising, "and another one fell through."

"Dead?"

I huffed, swallowing the last bite of my noodles. "Yeah. Now I have to figure out how that happened."

"Isn't that the ME's job?"

Placing my fork on my plate, I swigged a mouthful of wine and swallowed. "Yes, but his death set off warning bells. Especially after talking to me." I set my drink down and fiddled with the napkin. "You know? It seems so suspicious to me."

"Maybe that's a story you don't want to get involved in." He paused, his eyes roaming mine. "If someone did kill him, don't you think they'd be after you?"

"I don't have the enemies he did."

"What if you do now?"

I shrugged, and a nonchalant laugh spilled from my lips. "It wouldn't be the first time someone didn't like me enough to try something."

Nate cleared his throat, leaned forward, and rested his knuckles in front of his mouth. "Someone's tried to kill you before?"

"Eh,” I wobbled my head. "Not exactly."

A clatter of dishes and the scent of garlic mingled in the air as Martin Keller's face came to mind.

"Care to elaborate?" Nate shifted his elbows on the table as he drank his wine, his shirt tightening around his biceps.

Shrugging, I sank into my seat, my crossed leg swinging back and forth. "There was a city council member who drove drunk and crashed into a home. The front of his truck hit the living room wall, causing it to partially collapse. Thankfully, no one was home at the time, but for some reason, he was never brought up on charges, and the homeowners had to use their own insurance to pay for the damages." My heart thrummed as Martin's smug smile played in my mind. "Long story short, he heard I was investigating it and sent people to intimidate me while I found out he'd bribed the previous sheriff to destroy the evidence."

Nate's brows rose as he nodded. "That's impressive. How did you get the evidence for all of that?"

I snorted. "Nothing happens in this town without someone seeing it. I had witness statements, the responding police officer's body cam footage, and internal emails. Secrets have a way of coming out." I drew in a breath through my nose and exhaled. "They never stay buried for long."

"Howdidyou get into journalism?"

Needles punched my eyes in a blur of wounded tears. "That's a bit of a downer story. You don't want to hear that."

His features softened as he reached across the table and took my hand, brushing his thumb over my knuckles. "Of course I do. I want to know everything about you."

Heat crawled up my back like spiked nails rolling over the bumps and grooves along my vertebra as I stared at our connection. I gave him a tight-lipped smile. "Well..." I cleared my throat as I pulled my hand away, wiped my mouth with the cloth napkin, and then dropped it into my lap. "I was in the newspaper club in middle school, so I already had a propensity to dig into the meat of a story and write about it."

"Neat. I was knocking heads and getting into fights in middle school."

I snorted, the smile dropping from my face. "I was seventeen when my mom died, and her death spurred the desire to speak for those who felt like their voices weren't heard."

Snagging the wine glass, I downed the rest of the red liquid in two swallows and waved to the waiter for more.

Goddamn, that still hurts.

I rubbed my chest, the muscle inside aching with heartbreak.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up such a sore subject."

The waiter poured another glass, and I took my time with the next swallow when he walked away. "It's fine. It's been so long, you’d think I'd be able to speak about it already."

Nate shook his head. "I get it. Both of my parents died in an accident when I was little. And let's just say I've held onto it my entire life."

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