Page 129 of Nate

On the side of the road, two miles from Nate’s. It’s what he told me to do.

Stay there. Do not go into town. I’ll take care of this.

Please hurry.

I’m across the road. I’ll be there in minutes.

Jarrett said not to call the police.

I won’t. Not yet. Markie, take a deep breath. It will be fine. I promise I’m going to do all I can to get Nate out of this and have Knowles arrested. Promise me you will stay put.

I promise. Please be careful.

I will. Nate or I will be in touch. Stay there!

Markie set the phone down and sobbed. If something happened to Nate, she’d want to die, but she didn’t feel good about sending Rafe into that situation either. She would stay here like he told her and hoped they would both be safe. She didn’t know that Rafe worked so close to where Nate did. Thank God!

So, Nate had been right when he thought it was Jarrett with blond hair. She smiled thinking about Nate ribbing him about it, but sobered when she wondered what exactly was going on between the two men right now.

****

“Are we just going to stand here and stare at each other while we wait?” Nate asked as he folded his arms across his chest.

Knowles smirked. “Did you want to have a beer together?”

“What I want is to knock you on your ass, but for now, I’ll settle with sitting down on a haybale.” Nate crossed the barn, sat down, and leaned back against the wall. He watched Knowles lean against the barn wall. Nate cocked his head.

“You really didn’t give a lot of thought to this, did you?”

“Just shut up, Jefferson. In fact, get the fuck up and go back to where you were. I need to keep an eye on you. Get up!”

Nate sighed, pushed to his feet and walked back to the center of the barn’s aisle.

“You didn’t have to slash my tire, you know.”

“I saw an opportunity.” Knowles grinned and Nate wanted to knock it off his face. He clenched his fists as he stared at him. Knowles laughed and nodded toward them. “You really want to hit me, don’t you?”

“You have no idea.” Nate shook his head. “You won’t get away with this. Even if you leave the country, you’ll be caught.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

“You’re just an addict. You could get help—”

“I don’t want any fucking help!”

“So, you lied to Stella about that. I knew you were when you said it.”

“You think you know me, but you have no idea what I’m capable of.”

“Oh, I think I do. Most junkies will do anything for a fix.” Nate shrugged. “You’re no different.”

As Nate stared at Knowles, he saw Rafe step into the barn behind him, carrying a rifle. He was silent in his approach. Nate looked back at Knowles, then at Rafe, who gave him a slight nod.

“Now what are you going to do?”

“We’re waiting.”

“I didn’t mean that.” Nate watched the color drain from Knowles face when Rafe cocked the rifle and put the barrel to the back of his head.

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