Page 25 of Lovely Darkness

I know Nate about as well as anyone can. Better than Indie does, that’s for sure. We’ve been working together for a while. And I’ve seen him with girls. I would not call Nathan St. James my friend, but we’ve done our share of bar drinking.

Watching him with Wendy is interesting though. And necessary. Because Nate is who he is—i.e. Indie’s other half—so I had to play him. I had to put him inside my plan from the very first day he became part of my team. He and I have never been in the same room with Wendy. Wendy was playing him too. She knew that part of the plan. She knew we’d end up here at Old Home. She even knew Donovan was the answer but never had a real-life interaction with either Donovan or Carter before now.

I’m not sure if that was someone else’s plan or it just shook out that way, but it’s in my favor. Otherwise Wendy might be in the same situation that Indie is.

And speaking of Indie, she says nothing as they walk. It’s just Nick and Wendy, chatting.

I note this because Indie Anna Accorsi is dangerous. I knew this. But she is proving to be the ultimate wild card in my plan to save Wendy and I don’t like that.

I don’t care what Nathan St. James thinks, he’s not in control of that girl. At all. Neither is Adam.

I’ve known enough of them over the years to spot the insanity. And sure, she came off quite articulate and in control during that phone conversation. She was playing me. But it’s an act.

I’m fairly certain that Adam is aware of this, but Nate? No. He’s too young to get it. And he’s lived his share of normal. Too much of it, really. He went to public school, for fuck’s sake. College—fuckin’ football scholarship. He had a couple years of dorm life, and Friday night lights, and friends who didn’t even know they were born slaves in a world of Company overlords.

And then the only girl he’s ever truly loved—the only girl a little Company boy like him could ever dream of being himself with—tried to kill him. While she was having sex with the other men in this house, no less.

I wasn’t here, obviously. But Nate told me what happened. How she beat the living shit out of him by mistake and then McKay was gonna finish him off, and didn’t. McKay called men who worked for me to get him out of the way without killing him, and that’s how Nathan St. James became part of my plan.

Well. I have to concede that Nathan St. James was never part of my plan, he was kinda sorta part of McKay’s plan, I guess. I just inherited him.

But Nathan is off script at the moment and I’m not quite sure where his loyalties lie.

I just know those loyalties don’t lie with me. If they are, I’ll eat my fuckin’ shoe.

I hear them stop up ahead and talk for a moment. There’s another path to my right, one that might take me out on the other side of them, so I go that way, stepping carefully like my life depends on it.

And who knows? Maybe it does.

A few seconds later my risk is rewarded with a mostly obstructed view of Nate, Indie, and Wendy standing in front of a tree house, lookin’ up.

Then they are climbing. One after the other, they spill into the little fort and disappear. I circle around so I have a better view. They just lie there. Feet a little bit sticking out. Wendy, Nate, Indie in that order.

What the fuck are they doing?

I catch a few giggles. Some low talking. But that’s it.

My phone buzzes in my cargo shorts. I pull it out, silence it, and watch the feet above to see if they heard.

If they did, they don’t care.

I check the screen and see that Merc has called.

As much as I want to stay out here, I’m gonna blow my cover if I don’t get back to the kitchen and make Wendy some breakfast. She won’t stay out here long.

Right?

She won’t.

I’m the only thing on her mind. I’ve made sure of it. She’s up there in that tree house probably thinking she needs to get back. So whatever they’re doing, they won’t be doing it long.

I head back down the path and once I’m sure I can safely make a phone call, I press Merc’s contact.

“Where are you?” he growls.

“In the woods. Why?”

“What are you doin’ out there?”