Page 70 of Never Again

“Let’s get something clear,” Nathan said as she suddenly found herself turned around and pressed back against the door. “You’re not going anywhere,” Nathan said coldly as he placed his arm against the door above her head and leaned down until he was looking into her eyes and she could smell his cologne. “Not when my sister’s life is in danger and not until you answer my questions.”

“I’m not behind this,” Casey said, meeting his glare with one of her own.

For a moment, Nathan didn’t say anything as he watched her.

“Prove it.”

Nodding slowly, Casey said, “Bailey has several small scars on her wrist that cross each other.”

“All that proves is that you can see,” Nathan said, looking even more pissed than he had a minute ago.

“Did she ever tell you how she got them?” Casey asked as she reached down and worked on removing the watch from her right arm.

“Is this where you make up a bullshit tale to try to convince me that you’re really Bailey’s sister?” Nathan asked coldly as he placed his other forearm against the door above her and leaned in closer.

“No, this is where I show you the matching scar and once again remind you that I really don’t care if you believe me or not,” Casey said as she held her arm up and-

“Hey!”

-found herself once again wondering why he was manhandling her when he grabbed her hand and dragged her back over to the bed so that he could pull her arm closer to the small lamp on the nightstand. That was followed by tilting her arm to the side so that he could get a better look at her scars and had her swallowing hard when he reached over and gently traced the scars that still managed to give her nightmares with his fingertips.

“How?” Nathan asked, tracing the long, winding scar that matched Bailey’s much lighter scar, the one that she hadn’t been able to take her eyes off the first time that she laid her eyes on her sister last year.

“It doesn’t matter,” Casey said, shaking her head as she moved to take her arm back.

“How?” Nathan demanded, tightening his hold around her arm to stop her.

“I refused to let her go,” Casey said, refusing to look at him as she pulled her arm away and quickly placed her watch back on her wrist, not really in the mood to relive one of the worst nights of her life right now. She-

“You were there,” Nathan said, not asked, she noted as she once again shifted the bag over her shoulder and headed for the door, deciding that she’d answered enough of his questions.

Casey moved to open the door, only to pause and swallow hard before she said, “Please don’t tell Bailey about me.”

“I won’t,” came the softly murmured words that had her nodding as she opened the door and-

“Oh, come on!”

-once again found herself wondering why the big jerk was manhandling her.

* * *

“What are you doing?”Nathan found himself asking when the small woman that he prayed like hell wasn’t lying to him typed something into her iPad.

“Looking up the definition of kidnapping,” Casey mumbled absently, making his lips twitch.

Definitely related to the little pain in the ass that he adored, Nathan thought as he placed her phone on the nightstand as he glanced at the small alarm clock and nearly fucking groaned when he saw what time it was. He had to be up in a few hours and try to figure out how he was going to clean this mess up and-

God, he was fucking exhausted, Nathan thought as he toed off his shoes and began unbuttoning his shirt while he watched Casey and couldn’t help but wonder why he’d never noticed just how much alike she was to Bailey. Because she did everything that she could to make sure that he didn’t notice her, Nathan thought as he ran his eyes over her, taking in the way that she worried her bottom lip between her teeth, the way that she frowned down at whatever she was reading and sighed.

“I’m not kidnapping you,” Nathan explained as he pulled his shirt off and tossed it on the chair.

“Then, what would you call it?” Casey asked, glancing up to send him a questioning look.

“Keeping you safe,” Nathan said, reaching for his belt while she stood there, blinking as she watched the move.

“By stripping?”

“God, you really are a pain in the ass like Bailey,” Nathan said, sighing heavily as he pulled his belt free and quickly unsnapped his pants.

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