No Strings Attached

Chapter Twenty Six

Shannon stopped dead in her tracks when she walked back into the kitchen to see Nate speeding away – nothing more than a red blur past the window – and Jayden, still reclining nonchalantly on the chair with eyes like steel as they watched the doorway that Nate just sprinted out of.

“What was that?” she murmured, panic starting to slowly rise in her stomach for some reason – maybe it was just an instinct, or premonition, but something felt ... off. It had all morning.

Jay pulled a cigarette out and tapped it on the table softly. He rarely smoked these days, and yet she spotted the laden ashtray on the wooden table. Something had him tensed up.

“I’m not sure,” he muttered, “I think I know, but he sped off before I could ask him.”

Fucking Jayden and his cryptic little messages – she could see how that Thou shalt not worry the little women attitude would grate on Tori. Right now she wanted to scream.

“Jay, answer the fucking question!”

“I’m digging,” he murmured softly, before moving to his feet, stretching out his back slightly before grabbing his car keys off the table, “Come on, best place for you right now is with Tor. She’s really cut up about last night.”

Tori was her best friend, she couldn’t afford to be angry with the people in her life that didn’t want to stalk or maim her quite frankly. She needed all the help she could get!

She wasn’t about to let any of this shit drop though – Jayden obviously knew where Nate was headed – at least he thought he did. Why wouldn’t he tell her?

“I’m following you,” she said, eyes narrowed suspiciously as she poked him in the centre of his broad chest, “Because I sense that you have answers, because I have an apology to make to my best friend, and mostly, because you have access to the server that Nate’s GPS is linked to, and you’re going to hook me up the second we walk through your front door. I’m most fucking definitely not following because you told me to. Drill it through your thick skull if you have to, but I will find out what’s going on, whether you want me to or not.”

“What the fuck?” Jay spat, “Who do you think you’re speaking to like that?”

His face would have been enough to send her into hysterics had she not been so overwrought with worry for Nate – he’d never had a woman stand up to him in his life. His mother left when he was too young for her to be any kind of influence, and women more often than not fell gratefully to his feet at the slightest attention because he was – quite frankly – a stunning man, although she’d rather cut out her tongue than say that out loud ... ever. But his dark looks, and broad physique were at such a stark contrast to those ice blue eyes that they would startle you into submission almost immediately – even Tori struggled to stand up to him as she really needed to, and she was well aware that he adored her, so what chance did the rest of the female race actually have?