Chapter 42

CHAPTER42

“Well, as much fun as this has been,” Casey murmured absently as she slowly took in the small hotel room that the man who’d clearly lost his mind dragged her to, “and this has been fun, I’m afraid that I have to be going now.”

With that, Casey moved to grab her backpack, only to have the man who’d been pacing back and forth in front of the small bed, ramming his fingers through his normally meticulously combed hair as he continued yelling at whichever unfortunate individual was on the other end of that call, step in front of her and block her from going anywhere. When she moved to step around him, Nathan shifted to block her again and held up his hand for her to wait.

Really not in the mood for any more bullshit tonight, Casey regally gestured to her phone and said, “You can keep the phone,” and once again moved to step around him.

When he shot her that glare that he’d used on her at his apartment right before he decided to take her to a secondary location, or would this be considered a third location? Casey absently wondered, only to shrug it off, deciding that she’d had enough for one night. Decision made, Casey adjusted the bag over her shoulder, turned and climbed onto the bed and quickly made her way across the bed, climbed off it with a satisfied sigh and-

Found the large man who was really starting to annoy her once again standing in her way. When he narrowed those dark eyes on her that she always found incredibly sexy, Casey released a heartfelt sigh as she gestured for him to get on with it. Muttering, “I’ll call you back later,” to whoever he was talking to, Nathan hung up the phone and tossed it on the bed.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Nathan said, getting straight to the point, which she appreciated, she really did, but since that wouldn’t work for her…

“I really am,” Casey said, reaching over to grab her phone, only to have the big jerk that was really starting to annoy the hell out of her grab it before she could.

“You’re staying,” Nathan bit out evenly with a look that told her that he was done talking about it.

Unfortunately for him, that look didn’t work on her.

“See you around,” Casey said, sighing heavily as she pulled her backup phone out of her bag and headed for the door as she debated her next move.

She-

“Let’s get something clear,” Nathan said as she suddenly found herself turned around and pressed back against the door. “You’re not going anywhere,” Nathan said coldly as he placed his arm against the door above her head and leaned down until he was looking into her eyes and she could smell his cologne. “Not when my sister’s life is in danger and not until you answer my questions.”

“I’m not behind this,” Casey said, meeting his glare with one of her own.

For a moment, Nathan didn’t say anything as he watched her.

“Prove it.”

Nodding slowly, Casey said, “Bailey has several small scars on her wrist that cross each other.”

“All that proves is that you can see,” Nathan said, looking even more pissed than he had a minute ago.

“Did she ever tell you how she got them?” Casey asked as she reached down and worked on removing the watch from her right arm.

“Is this where you make up a bullshit tale to try to convince me that you’re really Bailey’s sister?” Nathan asked coldly as he placed his other forearm against the door above her and leaned in closer.

“No, this is where I show you the matching scar and once again remind you that I really don’t care if you believe me or not,” Casey said as she held her arm up and-

“Hey!”

-found herself once again wondering why he was manhandling her when he grabbed her hand and dragged her back over to the bed so that he could pull her arm closer to the small lamp on the nightstand. That was followed by tilting her arm to the side so that he could get a better look at her scars and had her swallowing hard when he reached over and gently traced the scars that still managed to give her nightmares with his fingertips.

“How?” Nathan asked, tracing the long, winding scar that matched Bailey’s much lighter scar, the one that she hadn’t been able to take her eyes off the first time that she laid her eyes on her sister last year.

“It doesn’t matter,” Casey said, shaking her head as she moved to take her arm back.

“How?” Nathan demanded, tightening his hold around her arm to stop her.

“I refused to let her go,” Casey said, refusing to look at him as she pulled her arm away and quickly placed her watch back on her wrist, not really in the mood to relive one of the worst nights of her life right now. She-

“You were there,” Nathan said, not asked, she noted as she once again shifted the bag over her shoulder and headed for the door, deciding that she’d answered enough of his questions.

Casey moved to open the door, only to pause and swallow hard before she said, “Please don’t tell Bailey about me.”

“I won’t,” came the softly murmured words that had her nodding as she opened the door and-

“Oh, come on!”

-once again found herself wondering why the big jerk was manhandling her.

* * *

“What are you doing?”Nathan found himself asking when the small woman that he prayed like hell wasn’t lying to him typed something into her iPad.

“Looking up the definition of kidnapping,” Casey mumbled absently, making his lips twitch.

Definitely related to the little pain in the ass that he adored, Nathan thought as he placed her phone on the nightstand as he glanced at the small alarm clock and nearly fucking groaned when he saw what time it was. He had to be up in a few hours and try to figure out how he was going to clean this mess up and-

God, he was fucking exhausted, Nathan thought as he toed off his shoes and began unbuttoning his shirt while he watched Casey and couldn’t help but wonder why he’d never noticed just how much alike she was to Bailey. Because she did everything that she could to make sure that he didn’t notice her, Nathan thought as he ran his eyes over her, taking in the way that she worried her bottom lip between her teeth, the way that she frowned down at whatever she was reading and sighed.

“I’m not kidnapping you,” Nathan explained as he pulled his shirt off and tossed it on the chair.

“Then, what would you call it?” Casey asked, glancing up to send him a questioning look.

“Keeping you safe,” Nathan said, reaching for his belt while she stood there, blinking as she watched the move.

“By stripping?”

“God, you really are a pain in the ass like Bailey,” Nathan said, sighing heavily as he pulled his belt free and quickly unsnapped his pants.

“She gets it from me,” Casey murmured absently before she gestured awkwardly in his direction. “Ummm, what exactly are you doing?”

“Getting ready for bed. I’m exhausted,” Nathan said, shoving his pants down.

“And this whole thing about keeping me safe?” she asked, watching as he reached down and tossed his pants on the chair before pulling his socks off and climbed into bed, more than fucking ready to put an end to this seriously fucked-up day.

“They have the letter, Casey,” Nathan reminded her as he dropped back against the pillows with a heavy sigh.

“And?”

“And now they know that Bailey has a sister and if they saw you go into her apartment, it won’t be long before they come after you,” he explained, watching as she went back to worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

“And if they haven’t…”

“Then, I’m going to need your help figuring out who’s behind this and keep Bailey safe,” Nathan said, watching Casey as she thought that over.

He watched as her gaze shifted to the door as she slowly exhaled before looking back at him and-

“What’s the plan?”