“He liked showing her off.” Rael traced the rim of his mug, his posture defensive. “I know he talked to her for a while online before she came to meet him in person. Cal said he was eager; Ben said she was everything he was looking for. I remember that. They went to a building he designed for their first date and he took her to the highest floor. They had drinks looking out over the whole city at sunset. She took pictures,” Rael added. “She was happy.”
“Are you suggesting she married him for his money? Shehadmoney.”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying. Although maybe that was part of it, I don’t know. They had chemistry. And they were always talking—not that she had much choice, in a town like this,” he added ruefully. “I don’t know what they talked about or how it went so wrong. But until that day in the square, I’d never seen her look at him in fear like that before.”
(when he comes to me, he is like an animal)
“Then why won’t he find her?” she whispered. “If he loved her, why doesn’t helook?”
“Maybe he thinks she doesn’t want to be found.” Rael glanced at her, just as she registered the echo of Ben’s words to her. “She might have realized she’d gotten married too fast, too young. Made a mistake. Wasn’t he quite a bit older?”
“Noelle isn’t like that,” Nadine said loyally, although she realized that she wasn’t sure. Noelle hadn’t bothered to tell them about Ben before marrying him and had been quick enough to fly off to meet him alone, sending them only the most cursory of wedding invitations after the fact.
“You knew her best,” Rael said pragmatically, reading the torment in her face. “But maybe Ben still needs a chance to save face.”
“Yeah, but I—hey.” She looked around, puzzled. “Where did my glass go?”
“To the great bartop in the sky,” Deena quipped. “I think you’re done for the evening, kid. Rael’s right. His father really isn’t shy about putting people in the drunk tank and you’ve certainly got him gunning for you. You want someone to walk you up to the gate?”
Nadine glanced over to where Cal was sitting. The other woman—Nora—had left, and now he was sitting alone, watching her as he nursed his drink with those dark, glittering eyes.
She gave her hair a clumsily defiant toss and imagined she could feel that scalding gaze at her back sharpen like the point of a fiery blade. “No.”
“Are you sure?” Deena pressed. “It’s a small town, sure, but it’s dark.”
“I can walk.”
“She’ll be fine.” Rael put his hand on Deena’s arm as he bent to pick up her jacket from the back of the chair. “I can see you back to your place, though.”
“Well—” Deena looked at Nadine reluctantly. “If you’re sure.”
“It’s not far.”
She watched them leave. Rael ran his fingers through his hair in a way that reminded her of Cal, causing a class ring to briefly flare with ruby sparks under the lights. The back of his neck—she let out her breath through her teeth—was unmarked. He wasn’t the one who attacked her.
Unless he covered it up.
Rael and his father were probably no stranger tocover-ups.
Nadine swung off the stool and walked out the swinging door, hitching her purse higher up her shoulder as she was slapped by a cold gust of wind. It got colder so much faster at this altitude. She’d forgotten how fickle the weather in these places could be.
The sun burns hotter, harder and the night creeps colder, closer.
She looked up at the spray of stars. They had never seemed so close.
“You’re really walking back alone?”
A thrill of fear arced down her spine at that deep, rich voice. Cal had followed her out of the bar, just like she thought he would. She was drunk enough that this didn’t scare her, even when he stepped out of sight again just as she turned to look at him.
“What happened to your friend?”
“You sound jealous, Nadine.”
She twisted around again, and he side-stepped her again. Closer, this time. Close enough that she could almost imagine the cold that puffed against her nape was the touch of his breath on her neck. “What are you doing?” she asked, swaying a little. “You’re making me dizzy.”
“You shouldn’t be out here all alone in the dark.”
“Why? Because you might drag me into those stupidwoods?”
