Page 83 of Living with Fire
I wait another five minutes to see if anyone else is going to burst through the office door before I set my note and the USB on the desk, grab my purse, and head out the back door for the second time in the last hour.
This time the coast is clear. There’s nobody overdosing on drugs behind the dumpster, and like I thought, there are no signs of Vincent.
Just to be safe, I weave my way through the streets on my way back to Nate’s house. There are a few things I need before I can disappear, I just need to be quick about it. The hour window that I bought myself is quickly closing, and I know the first place that Nate will look for me is home.
His home. Not mine.
CHAPTER 28
NATE
Snapping my fingers in front of Liam’s face, I watch my best friend return to the present moment. He’s been staring into space for the last five minutes.
I smirk as he blinks at me, then takes a long drag from his beer bottle.
“What’s got you so out of sorts?” I ask curiously.
“Nothing,” he mutters, but a second later he’s drumming his fingers on the countertop. His eyes are glued to the doors leading to the kitchen, and I can’t help but wonder if he knows something I don’t.
I glance at Brody, who looks at me, an eyebrow cocked. He’s noticing Liam’s odd behavior as well.
Leaning against the bar, I grab my glass of water. “C’mon man, seriously. What’s up?”
That makes him stop tapping, only to grab his beer bottle in both hands to still them. “Just a feeling. It’s probably nothing.”
I can’t help my snicker.
“Dude, we knew you were capable of them,” Brody says with a grin, clapping Liam on the back. “We’re proud of you.”
“Oh, fuck you both,” he says, rolling his eyes, and pulling away from Brody’s hand. He seems grouchy, which isn’t normal for Liam, so while it’s fun to rib him, it makes me feel a little apprehensive. Then he asks, “When’s Savanna’s hour up?”
That has me standing straighter, sobering completely. I’m not sure why he knows about that, the uneasiness growing in the pit of my stomach. I’ve been trying not to think about her, or the hour I gave her, because something seemed off when we came back inside. I just couldn’t put my finger on what but decided to shrug it off as her seeing someone overdose and needing some time with it.
Glancing at my watch, I frown. “Another thirty-five minutes. Why?”
“I dunno, man,” he says, drumming his fingers again.
“Liam.” My voice is sharp, unable to hide my growing worry. “What the hell, man?”
“You know what I want to know?” Brody asks from beside Liam, and we both turn to look at him. “Why’d she send Jeremy out here to get you?”
The breath leaves me in one long exhale. I’d forgotten about that. At the time it had scared me half to death because I thought something had happened to Savanna in the back. A myriad of thoughts went through my mind while my heart found a new home in my throat. I know it only took me two seconds to get to the kitchen to find her standing there, but it felt like an eternity. I nearly laughed with joy when she told me what the problem was, but the firefighter in me took over and then I was in work mode.
“Did you guys see the guy in the alley?” Liam questions hesitantly.
Alarm bells louder than we’ve got at the station sound in my head. My hands slam down on the counter as I lean towards my two friends.
“What guy?” I demand.
Liam looks startled at my outburst. “I don’t know. There was a guy at the end of the alley. It looked like he was watching her, but he could have been watching us. I was more concerned with her, so I didn’t pay attention. She was spooked about something.”
It’s all I need. Something is wrong. I knew it in my gut, but I let her talk me out of it instead of trusting my instincts. Christ. If something happened to her, if he somehow found her, if that was him in the alley…
I’m flying through the doors to the kitchen one second, the next I’m in the office. It’s empty, and there’s no sign of her, but there’s also no sign of a struggle. Surely if Vincent had found her and taken her from the office, one of the guys in the kitchen would have said something or would have stopped it.
I’m about to head back into the kitchen when a piece of paper on the desk grabs my attention. The USB on top of it looks like the one I gave Savanna when she asked what she could put everything onto for the accountant, so I take a second to grab the sheet of paper, seeing her flowing script on it.
Nate,