Cold Shadow (Cold Country #2)(69)

Drew laughed. "Have you never met each other? Let me introduce you to Stubborn," he said pointing to Natalie then to Quinn, "and Pigheaded. I know better than to try to keep either one of you on the sideline. At least this way we can canvas more territory and I'll know where you both are. At all times. Got that? You call me before you enter any establishment and after. Is that clear?"

Quinn stood up tall and threw him a mock salute, only one finger extended. Nathan couldn't help but smile. That was Quinn all over. "Just be on guard … and protect my damned sister," Nathan said to his … to Quinn. Turning to Drew he asked, "Are you calling this in to your boss?"

Drew winced but recovered quickly. "He's only been missing a few hours. Would you take it seriously at this point? Pregnant girlfriend calls hysterical that her boyfriend went out for milk and hasn't come back yet?"

"If there wasn't a freakin' psycho on the loose and the missing boyfriend in question didn't fit the profile to a fucking tee, the answer would be a big no," Nathan said, taking a moment to go to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. "Okay, let's go. It's getting late. Daylight is wasting."

He left the other three behind without a second glance. He had nothing to say to Quinn, and if Natalie hugged him again, they'd never get out. And Drew would have to be happy riding shotgun and keeping his pie hole shut, because this was Nathan's town and he knew every hiding place from here to the Smoky Mountains.





Chapter Seventeen




"Don't ask," Quinn said the moment Natalie settled into the passenger seat of his car.

"Ask what?" She blinked at him as she clicked her seatbelt. She seemed genuinely confused.

He sighed and started his car. The engine purred. The top was still down. Just a couple of hours ago, he'd been on the road to Nashville. Leaving. He'd left. Because he was fucking jealous over a man he'd fucked.

And that made no fucking sense.

No goddamned fucking sense at all.

"It's not like we're not adults, and it was all consensual and … " He leaned his head back on the headrest and stared up at the blue sky overhead. A big, fluffy white cloud drifted over. "And I don't know …  I thought for years that you'd end up with him."

"Do you need me to drive?" Natalie said stiffly. She stared straight ahead out the windshield. Her jaw set in the same way that Nate … Nathan did when he was pissed and trying not to lose his shit. "And … I warned him to stay away. I warned him not to mess with Nathan. He didn't listen. None of you know what you've done. Not a damn one of you."

He slammed the car in reverse and kicked up a plume of dust as he backed up and headed down the dirt drive to the back entrance of the family compound. How the fuck dare she!

"Stop being a pissy bitch, Quinn. You asked for my opinion by telling me not to ask. I didn't ask. And yes, I'm judging you. Both of you. All of you. I don't want to judge you. It's not my business who you fuck. Fuck him, it's not like I ever slept with him. He was only dating me to be close to Nathan. But … stop fucking with each other's feelings. Or fucking start showing each other that you have actual feelings for each other. Whatever it is that the two of you aren't doing that you need to be doing. Because whatever limbo you're both trapped in is getting damned old. Shit or get off the pot, as Daddy likes to say."



       
         
       
        

He felt the wind in his hair. And Nathan's mouth on his when he came. Taking both him and Drew and wanting more. That wasn't the Nathan he wanted. It's the Nathan he'd made.

"Which way?" he asked once they hit the main road into town. The plant was off to the east. There wasn't much to the west. More down south on the way to Chattanooga. "Where does he go to drink or hang out? I know a few places. I don't know if he'd go to any of them."

"Lonnie isn't much of a drinker. Maybe a beer or two. I called his friends. They haven't seen him. And before you ask, I don't think they were lying. They sounded as worried as I am. Male, late twenties-early thirties, big, Latino. They know. He's not just out carousing somewhere. You know this."

"Jesus, Nat, I don't have a fucking clue who the guy is. I've never seen him or even heard his name. Nathan doesn't talk about the plant. That's your domain. I wouldn't know him if I fell over him."

"That's because you think you're better than all of us around here. Mr. Big Fucking Superstar. You came home three years ago, but you still hide out here. You never go into town. You don't act like you want to even be here. Just long enough to come home and get laid and then you're off again. While Nathan and Mother raise your daughter. Hell, you wouldn't know your own grandmother if you tripped over her."