Cold Shadow (Cold Country #2)(94)

"We'll find it." Nathan took his keys and dragged him out of the hospital before he became a ghost before Nathan's eyes.





Chapter Twenty-Eight




Nathan took his keys. Quinn didn't have the strength to protest. They walked through the parking lot clicking the alarm fob looking for his car. They found it in an overnight lot. "What time is it?" Quinn squinted into the sunlight.

"Early still. Very early." Nathan opened the passenger door and held it for Quinn. He folded himself into the driver seat a moment later.

"I'm not hungry." His stomach wanted to dispute that, but really, if he ate now, he'd throw up. "I can smell blood. I can't eat with his blood on me."

"I'm not arguing the point, not really ready to try to hold anything in myself," Nathan said in a calm voice.

"I'm not ready to talk about it either," he added, just in case Nathan wanted to question him. "I already told the feds everything I could. I just don't want to go over it again."

"Not on my list of things to do this morning." Nathan drove them away from the hospital. He didn't seem to want to do anything but drive so Quinn let him have his silence. Nathan was good at silence. "Want some music?"

"What?" The question surprised Quinn. When Nate wanted to brood, he didn't offer to turn on the fucking radio.

"Just asking if you want to turn on some music or something?" Nate sounded like Quinn had bit his head off.

"Oh." So it wasn't a brooding silence kind of drive after all. "No. Not really. I don't think I can handle noise just yet."

"That's fine with me." Nathan drove, and Quinn lost focus of the scenery. "I'm going to pull into a drive-thru and get some more coffee. Like I need more. But I need something." 

"Yeah, sure, coffee would be good. Cream and sugar." Quinn needed something too. It didn't come in a cup. Okay, he'd settle for something in a cup but not coffee. "If they can make it Irish, that would be something."

"Don't think McDonald's has that on the menu yet." Nathan laughed softly. There was no lecture. But Nate had never lectured him. Not really. "I could stand a beer. Or three. But not for breakfast."

"Right there with you."

The drive-thru was mercifully empty. Nate drove in and out with coffee and a couple of breakfast sandwiches. Quinn's stomach turned at the scent of sausage. He took the damned bag anyway and peeled open one sausage and egg biscuit and handed it to Nate. The McMuffin was his. He ate it without complaining.

"Where are we going?" He finally noticed the road Nate was speeding down. "This isn't the way home."

"I'm not ready to go home." Nate didn't look at him. He kept driving around a curve and up the mountain that Quinn had decided wasn't much more than a hill the last time he'd driven this way.

Quinn leaned back against the seat. He hadn't noticed that Nate had put the top on the car down. Probably while they were waiting to pay for breakfast. He wasn't sure if he was actually alive anymore. Maybe this was him being dead. Some weird limbo where he and Nate drove up this damned mountain in some twisted loop. Maybe Nate had died on that mountain and Quinn had really killed himself and he was just now noticing that he was dead.

Nate didn't take the turn toward the cabin ruins. He took one of the overgrown side trails into the woods. Quinn could hear branches and brush scratch his car as they drove deeper into the cool mountain interior. He stopped and put the car in park. The early morning sunlight glimmering off the surface of the lake nearly blinding.

They'd been here before. Many times. The last time Quinn was parked in this very spot, he'd lost his virginity. With Nate.

Nate didn't speak. He turned off the ignition and unbuckled. Quinn handed him his breakfast trash. Birds sang in the trees around them. The wind rustled the leaves. There was nothing but nature and Nate to keep him company. Quinn leaned his seat back and stared up at the canopy. Blue sky peeked through in places. His brain stopped vibrating.

Nate grunted. Quinn felt him shift in the seat. He didn't open his eyes. He didn't want to spoil this small bit of found peace.

Teeth sank into his neck and all thoughts of peace flew straight out of his head. Nate growled and bit him harder. Fuck yeah.

"Fucking scrubs." Nate tore at the material that smelled and felt like death on his skin. "Don't ever wear scrubs again." The shirt fell apart in Nate's big hands. He yanked at the tie at Quinn's waist. "Drawstrings are good, though." Quinn sucked in a breath as Nate shoved the thin pants down and grabbed him roughly. He was radiating violence and Quinn wanted to drown in him.

He pulled at the tie that held Nate's hair back and threw it out of the car. "Don't cut your goddamned hair," he ordered. "Fucking bite me again."