Rather than wait for another response from his inner self, Nate did his best to shake off his concerns and headed to Jake’s office. He knocked and opened the door, but the room was empty.
Assuming Kole or one of the other guys got the two sisters while he was in the restroom, Nate walked back to the conference room. But when he got in there, Gracie and Sarah were nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Gracie?”
Matt gave him a confused look. “I thought you went to get her.”
“I did.” Feeling the need to clarify, he turned to Jake. “I went to the restroom, then your office. They’re not in there.”
Kole stood and headed for the door. “Well, they couldn’t have gone far. I mean, this place is only so big. They’re probably in the ladies’ room. I’ll go get them.”
He’d just stepped into the hallway when his phone buzzed with a new text notification. Pulling it from his pocket, Kole glanced at his screen. “You’ve gotta be shittin’ me.”
“What?” Nate went to his friend’s side.
“They went across the street to get some coffee.” Kole held up the phone to show Nate Sarah’s text.
“Gracie seemed like she was getting pretty tired in there,” Zade spoke up. “Sarah mentioned going for coffee when we were done with the sketch. Said something about wanting to stretch their legs before coming back in here.”
Nate took a menacing step toward him. “So, you let them go alone? Knowing who’s after Gracie, you just let them walk out of here, unprotected?”
“Hell, no,” Zade stood his ground. “I told them to wait in Jake’s office for one of us to come back and get them. Jesus, Carter. I’m not a fucking idiot.”
“It’s right across the street, and mid-morning.” Matt tried to diffuse the rapidly growing tension in the air. “That place is always packed this time of day, so they probably figured there’d be plenty of people around.”
“Yeah, ’cause no one’s ever been taken against their will in public before. Jesus,” Nate growled as he spun on his heels and headed toward the office reception area. “I’m going to go keep an eye on them.”
“Right behind you.” Kole walked swiftly in order to catch up.
Both men left the office and made their way to the elevator at the end of the floor’s main hall. Nate ground his teeth together to keep from howling out in anger. Apparently, Kole still noticed.
“I know you’re worried about Gracie, Nate, but you really need to take it down a notch. Realistically, the chances of something happening to her this time of day, right across from where we work are…” Kole thought for a moment. “Fuck, I don’t know. You’re the genius; you do the math. My point is I’m sure they’re probably fine.”
Nate knew he was over-reacting, but couldn’t seem to control the overwhelming fear he felt for Gracie. The primal need to protect her was a living, breathing thing.
They’d lost her once, already. He sure as hell didn’t want to lose her again.
“Maybe you’re willing to risk her life on a probably, but I’m not.”
Several seconds of intense silence filled the air as the elevator continued its decent.
“You know,” Kole finally spoke up again. “At this point, Gracie’s pretty much already my sister. Yet, you’re the one acting all caveman right now. Makes me wonder if there’s more to her staying at your place last night than either of you are letting on.”
Shit.Game face, game face, game face.
Keeping his eyes on the door in front of him, Nate acted as casual as possible. “Meaning?”
“Oh, come on, man. You know damn well what I mean. Did something happen between you and Gracie last night, or not?”
Turning to face Kole, Nate did his best not to lie to his friend for the second time. “You told me to stay hands-off, so that’s what I’m doing. Now, will you please stop looking for shit that isn’t there?”
Surprisingly, Kole gave him a half-grin before turning away again. “I believe you.”
“Thank you.”
“But, for the record, if it did happen, I wouldn’t becompletelyagainst it.”
Whoa.“What?”
