“I’m sorry.”
“Are you okay? Should I call someone?” she asked.
There was no one to call. Well, maybe Kroup, but I’d recover before he got here.
I rested my forehead against hers. “I’m okay. Can we get out of here?” My need for fresh air was sudden and all-consuming.
“Yeah. Sure.”
On our way out, I counted five things I could see, including a dark blue sedan with tinted windows. It wasn’t the one I’d seen yesterday, but it still made my gut scream loud enough for me to shove down the anxiety and switch to protector mode.
I was already between Ashley and the potential threat, but that didn’t feel like enough. I asked Ashley to stop and pretended to tie my shoe so I could look for the license plate. My nerves tingled as alarm bells went off in my head.No front plate.
Not that it’d matter. Doug had found out that the car from the previous night was a rental. The renter had reserved it with a stolen ID and paid in cash. Doug was exploring other avenuesof getting information, but hadn’t found anything yet. I expected the same result if I had a plate to run from this car.
I stood and placed my hand on the small of her back. To my surprise, she didn’t pull away.Good.I didn’t care if it was Finn or his hired hand watching.
I wanted whoever they were to know Ashley was protected.
Chapter 19
Ashley
I’m an asshole. I shouldn’t have pushed him. At first I thought he was being evasive, but then he had an anxiety attack. The hand he’d wrapped around my arm had trembled just enough to scare me.
I wasn’t scared of him. I was scared for him. Nathan wouldn’t hurt me. I don’t know how I knew, but I believed it with every fiber of my being. Watching as a Navy SEAL’s eyes disconnected from reality as he struggled to breathe was unnerving, and I hoped never to experience it again.
“Where do you want to go?” I asked as he knelt to tie his shoe. Tension poured off him as his eyes focused on a parked car.
His concern was contagious, and I couldn’t help but look too. Nothing about the car stood out, but I figured it was safer to trust Nathan’s intuition than my own.
“Is it okay if we just walk around?”
“Sure.”
When he stood, Nathan put his large, warm hand on my lower back.
I didn’t want to like it, but I did.
I told myself to move away, but I didn’t.
But I should.I was pregnant with another man’s baby.There was no way Nathan would forgive me for keeping my secret, a lie of omission, after I yelled at him for the same reason.
Even if he forgave me, I couldn’t imagine him wanting to raise another man’s child. Especially when the father was a self-centered psycho who’d make our lives miserable. Once again, I prayed the result was wrong.
“You okay?” Nathan asked.
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”
“I’m fine. Just needed some air.” He brushed it off like he hadn’t just freaked out in Grannie’s.
“Right. Of course you won’t tell me the truth.” I shouldn’t be mad, but I hated that he wouldn’t talk to me. He was switching between open and closed off faster than I scrolled through ads on my social media accounts.
“It’s complicated.” He ran his hand down his face before turning and scanning behind us.
“And I couldn’t possibly be smart enough to understand.”
“That’s not what I said.”
