I followed her silently to her car, trying really hard to push the hurt and disappointment I felt out of my mind. I wasn’t mad at Gabe because I had no right to be. I guess what really upset me was that I had hoped he would try harder to make something between us work and that was so unfair to him. I mean, how many cold shoulders and rejections was he supposed to take before he moved on to someone who obviously wanted to be with him?
Still, as disappointed as I was, I almost felt better because I had been right. Gabe wasn’t for me. I mean, there was nothing similar between Nate Turner and me. I had been convinced that nothing real would happen between us and I was glad that I stuck to my guns, even if a part of me really wanted him to prove me wrong.
The drive home was spent in complete silence, which never happened when Mere and I were together. We often talked over top of each other or completed one another’s sentences. We never just sat in silence, but that was what I needed and she was kind enough to give it to me.
Meredith pulled in the driveway behind my house and put the car in park. “You want me to come inside for a little bit?”
“Nah,” I replied, “I’m okay. Thank you, Mere.”
“Anytime.” She leaned over and kissed my cheek before I got out of her car.
Once inside the warmth of my house, I collapsed on my couch and put my feet up on the coffee table “Well, fuck.” There wasn’t really anything else to say on the matter.
“Blow me, baby,” Savage said from his cage, making me laugh.
“Dirty bird,” I told him.
“Dirty bird,” he repeated.
Diva jumped up on my lap and head-butted my chin before she started to purr. I stood up from the couch and took the cat with me to let Jazzy the ferret out of her cage. No matter what went on in my life, I knew I could count on my friends and my pets to perk me up.
An image of Gabe lying naked in my bed came to mind and I hated the way my traitorous body reacted because that wasn’t the kind of perking up I had been thinking about. What Gabe and I briefly shared was over and the sooner I accepted that, the sooner my life would return to normal. I wanted routine and structure back, even if others thought it boring. The opinions of others didn’t matter because I had been happy before Gabriel Wyatt came into my life.
Liar.
FRUSTRATION AND LONELINESS WEREnot good bedfellows and I was ready to kick them out of my bed so I could get some sleep, but there was one problem. Josh. Okay, the unsolved murder of Georgia Beaumont was driving me crazy too, but he was the primary source of both of those feelings. I desperately wanted to shake him out of my system but found that I couldn’t. I received an offer to momentarily solve my loneliness, but I found that I wasn’t interested in what Nate Turner had to offer me.
I’d hooked up with Nate the first night I went to his club when I was fresh off my breakup with Kyle. I’d heard about the club, but dancing and clubbing wasn’t something that Kyle and I had done together. Needless to say, I was beyond flattered when the sexy club owner walked up to the bar and introduced himself to me. I saw the invitation in his eyes long before he verbalized it. We had a hot, hard fuck and one that I was happy to repeat at the time. I handed him my business card with my phone number on it after we were through and Nate just stared at it for a long time before he looked back into my eyes.
“I don’t do repeats.” He tossed the card in the trash can without regard for my feelings. “Although, with you I’d be tempted.”
“Don’t do me any favors,” I replied on my way out the door.
I had been to Vibe a few more times since then and had never run into him nor had I seen him select a plaything from the bar. I was shocked when he called me out of the blue the past weekend and said he needed my help with a delicate situation.
“How’d you get my number?” I asked him once I got past my surprise.
“You gave it to me and I kept it all this time,” he said, meaning that he had pulled my card out of his trash can after I had left. The tone of voice he used implied that I should’ve been flattered.
“Look, I’m not interested in hooking up with you if this is what you’re calling about.” I heard a sharp intake of breath coming from the other end of the phone. The jackass probably wasn’t used to being turned down.
“That’s a little presumptuous, don’t you think?” Nate asked.
“You’re the one calling me so I think I can act however I want.” I didn’t owe the guy a damn thing.
“Look, I really need your professional advice on a matter. This isn’t a booty call,” he said in a humored tone. “Your virtue is safe with me.”
I had nothing else better to do on a Saturday night since I went cold turkey from Josh. I made the hour drive with zero expectations in mind, but I wasn’t at all surprised when Nate came onto me once I sat down at the bar. He flirted with me like he had the first time and nodded his head toward his office. However, there was a tenseness about him and stress lines around his mouth and eyes that weren’t present the first time. I realized right away that he was putting on a show for the club patrons and went along with it, even though the feel of his hand on my back felt all wrong to me.
Nate’s demeanor changed the minute we stepped inside his private office. He dropped the suave seducer act and sat down behind his massive desk. Instead of being bent over the desk, as I had been during my last visit, I sat across from him on the other side.
“What’s going on?” I asked Nate.
“I think someone wants me dead.” Nate gripped the edge of his desk hard enough to turn his knuckles white.
I don’t know what I expected to hear from him, but it sure as hell wasn’t that. He had my full attention. “What makes you think that, Nate?”
He leaned forward and lowered his voice to almost a whisper and said, “Things have been happening to me that I can’t ignore, no matter how much I want to.” I found his actions odd at first because we were alone in his private office. Hell, the walls were so thick that the hard thumping from the club was reduced until it was barely heard. Then I realized his actions were a sign of fear, not the need for privacy.
