"His gay lover is hardly-"
"I'd say Quinn Anders is more than qualified to say where Nathan was or wasn't."
"Quinn Anders is a junkie with a record ten feet long."
"Was a junkie, and most of his crimes were misdemeanor offenses or gross mishandlings of justice. I've read the reports. So if you have any further need of my client, I suggest you go through my office. And Agent Morgan, do yourself a favor and get your head out of your ass before another unfortunate soul turns up missing."
Nathan left without saying a word, just grinning at the agents as he walked out. Drew caught up with him just as he straddled his motorcycle. "Nathan?" He had no idea what he was going to say. What could he say?
Nathan looked at him with weary eyes, "Yeah? Agent Walker, what can I do for you?"
"I'm done here, heading out this evening."
"Well, that explains the face jewelry. And here I thought you were bucking to piss Morgan off." He tugged his helmet on over his hair and kicked the bike into life.
"Listen, can we- wait, will you just listen to me?"
"What is there to say, Walker? You got what you came here for. Or was it to divide and conquer? Quinn last night, me today? Where do you want it? There's a storage room no one uses. I can spare you a quickie." He wouldn't look Drew in the eye. His mouth was set in a thin line. He looked tired. Angry. "He left this morning, he went to Nashville. I guess we're about done here."
He rolled the bike out of the parking space and revving the engine he drove away leaving Drew alone, his brain momentarily frozen. Quinn left. He just left. He wouldn't leave Nathan unless … Shit.
He clambered into his SUV and without another thought, he pulled out of the lot and followed Nathan. He lost him on the outskirts of town but Drew knew where to find him.
The back door was unlocked when Drew got to the cabin. Nathan's bike sat in the garage beside a black crew-cab truck that looked like it had never left the garage. Quinn's car was gone. Drew let himself in without knocking. He bypassed a pile of coffee grounds and broken pottery in the kitchen and worked his way through the house and up the stairs. He passed a little girl's room and the guest room he'd slept in and a bathroom. He heard a sound from the end of the hallway and pushed open the half-closed door. Nathan jumped when Drew stepped inside.
"Did you come to gloat?" Nathan slammed a closet door closed but not before Drew saw the mess on the floor, clothes discarded, most missing. "He packed his damned bags and left. He sent me a text telling me he needed to get back to work."
"I'm sorry." Drew didn't know what else to say.
"Save it, I'm not interested." Nathan turned murderous eyes on him then. "Did you do this on purpose? Which one of us were you after? Me? Him? Why did you do this? We were happy."
"Wait just a damned minute." Drew gasped at the intensity behind his eyes. His words. The blame. Nathan blamed him. "I wasn't the one who started this. I'm not to blame. This thing with you and Quinn, this isn't about me, it's about your insecurities and your secrets and the crap the two of you keep hidden from each other."
"Exactly my point: He talks to you, not me."
"And who did you confide your dyslexia problem to, him or me? Nathan, the two of you are hanging on to each other so tightly you don't see each other."
"And you took advantage of that, came here and seduced first me and then him."
"You touched me first. I left. I knew staying wasn't a good idea after that day at the mill. But you turned up, both of you. I never expected to see you in Chattanooga. I got as far as I could that night after I was relieved of duty. And there you were. Tempting me. You asked me to come home with you. You fucked me, remember, not the other way around. At the lake, that was you too. And last night, Quinn came to me. I didn't go to him. I am not to blame, Nathan. I've tried to keep my distance."
"Then why are you here now in my bedroom? Why did you follow me?"
"Because you are about the fall apart."
"I'm not tumbling into your arms, if that's your plan."
"Nathan, be fair." Drew sat on the bed, gripping his knees to keep his hands from shaking. "I don't know what to tell you, man. Last night, things got strange. Quinn- Quinn is so damned afraid of hurting you, he's losing himself. He thinks you are fragile. He's afraid to push you past this vanilla life the two of you have. He wants more from you."
"So he gets it from you? How many others like you have there been?"