Wish You Were Here (12 page)

“
Nate won’t let you get within two feet of Piper,” she said. “And I have three passports and a burning desire to see South America. I’ll be out of here before the authorities so much as have their paperwork filed. So I think I’m standing by my original ‘fuck you.’”

And she hung up.

She
hung up.

Malcolm stood up, staring at the phone in his hand, squeezing it tight in his fist.

This was maddening. He’d told Richard Daly he had the plate, and the man had practically laughed. He’d threatened Nikkie’s daughter
and
her freedom, and she swatted him away like a fly. All those years of being a useless drunk had done his image more damage than he had realized, perhaps.

“
Fucking hell,” he said, getting up from his lounge chair. “What does a villain have to do to be taken seriously these days?”

Of course, he knew exactly what he had to do. He had to take action. He patted his pocket for the box of matches; they were still there. Then he walked around to the back of the RV and grabbed the two
red plastic gas containers he’d filled the day before.

It was time to send a message to them all.

Way past time.

Ten

Freya
took the first step on her cabin porch and turned to face Nate, their eyes level. The full moon cast him in a sexy blue glow that made her want to throw him to the ground and have her way with him on top of the pine needles.

But her condoms were inside the cabin.

“Thanks for walking me home.”

“
Thanks for coming to dinner.” He moved a little closer. “It meant a lot to Piper.”

“
Yeah,” she said. “Piper.”

He smiled.
“Piper. Yeah.”

He put one hand on her hip, sending waves of heat shooting through her, and she raised a brow at him.

“So, it’s like this now, is it?” She moved a little closer to him, to the point where she was close enough to feel his breath on her, but not so close their bodies were actually touching.

Man, this was fun. She
’d forgotten how much fun this could be.

“
You have an objection?” He slid his hand around her waist and pulled her close, pressing against the small of her back as their bodies finally touched.
Whoa.

“
No,” she said, her voice barely registering as the blood rushed in her ears. “No objection.”

He angled his face toward her, almost kissed her lips, but then grazed her neck lightly with his, running his tongue in a light little circle over her skin, sending tingles down her back.

“I’m especially not objecting to that,” she breathed.

“
Good to know.” He worked his way up her neck to her jawline, placing light, teasing kisses in a path until he got to her lips. Then he pulled her lower lip gently between his teeth and suckled it a bit before letting go.

You
’re definitely coming inside, Cap’n.

She put her hand on his chest, slowly unbuttoning the top button.
“We’re clear, right? It’s just sex. No commitment. No honorable behavior allowed.”

“
Right.” He leaned in and exhaled behind her ear, sending tickling rays of warmth down her neck with his breath. “It means absolutely nothing.”

“
Mmmm,” she said, closing her eyes as his hands ran down her lower back. “Good man.”

“
Put it back in your pants, Brody, we need to talk.”

Nate stiffened and stepped back and there, of course, was Nikkie, stalking toward them in the moonlight.

“Go to bed, Nikkie,” Nate said. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“
No,” she said. “We’ll talk
now.
It’s important.” She took a drag on her cigarette, and Freya caught herself staring at the brightly glowing red ember on the end. She’d forgotten how pretty lit cigarettes were at night.

“
Nikkie,” Nate started, but Freya touched him on the shoulder.

“
It’s okay,” she said.

He turned to her.
“No. It’s really not.”

“
If it’s about Piper. You should go.” Freya knew it was the right thing to say, but she hated it all the same.
This is what I get for having mommy issues.

He looked at her, an expression of disappointed helplessness crossing his face before he accepted his sexless fate.
“All right. Fine.”

Nikkie took another long drag on her cigarette. Freya inhaled deeply, taking in as much of the secondhand smoke as she could.

Hello, old friend.

“
Let’s go to the house,” Nikkie said, shooting the world’s least subtle glance at Freya. “I want you to be able to concentrate.”

Nate sighed.
“Fine. Let’s go.”

“
Hang on,” Freya said, then walked down the steps to Nikkie and held her hand out, palm up. “Gimme.”

Nikkie looked at her like she was crazy, but Freya raised her open palm higher.

“Smoker’s code,” she said. “Unless you’re down to the lucky in that pack, you know you have to.”

Nikkie sighed, pulled the pack out of her purse, and opened it. It was almost full. Freya plucked a cigarette out and placed it between her index and middle finger.

It was like coming home.

“
You smoke?” Nate said.

“
No. I quit.” She put the cigarette between her lips and raised an eyebrow at Nikkie, who sighed and flicked her lighter. Freya leaned in, touched the tip to the flame, and inhaled.

Ahhhhh
.

She pulled the cigarette from her mouth, exhaled blue smoke into the moonlight, and took a few moments before noticing Nate
’s expression of severe disapproval.

“
I only smoke now when I’m frustrated,” she said, hitting
frustrated
hard so he didn’t miss her meaning.

He didn
’t. “It’s bad for you.”

“
I know that.” She took a drag.
Ohhhhh, that’s good.
She exhaled. “That’s why I quit.”

“
Don’t bother explaining,” Nikkie said, taking another drag on her own cigarette. “He’ll never understand.”

“
Of course he won’t,” Freya said, giving Nate a wicked smile. “He’s Captain Cleft Chin.”

Nikkie laughed.
“That’s good. I’m gonna have to use that.”

Nate put one hand on Nikkie
’s elbow. “No, you won’t.”

“
Whatever you say, Cap’n,” Freya said, and both she and Nikkie giggled.

“
All right, that’s enough,” Nate said, guiding Nikkie away. “The last thing I need is you two bonding. Good night, Freya.”

“
’Night,” Freya said, waving with one hand as the man she wanted desperately between her thighs strode off with his ex. She sighed, took another drag off the smoke, and tossed it to the ground, crushing it under her shoe.

It wasn
’t helping.

But,
she thought, remembering the showerhead in the bath,
perhaps something else will.

She headed inside, kicking the door shut and stripping down to her underwear. She picked up her cell phone and turned the power on; there were four messages waiting. She checked the call log quickly—two calls from Flynn
’s house; she guessed one was from Flynn worrying about her, the other from Jake with the results of his inquiry. Then there were two from her father, neither of which she cared to hear at the moment. She powered the phone down again, grabbed her MP3 player, turned it on full blast, and stuck the earbuds in her ears, then went into the bathroom, shut the door and locked it.

Who needs a man?
she thought, looking at the handheld showerhead as she started the hot water running. She slipped out of her underwear and stepped into the tub, lowering herself in gently. She closed her eyes and imagined Nate settling into the bath with her.

***

Nate placed a mug of black coffee in front of his ex-wife, then sat down across from her at the table.

“
You want to talk, let’s talk,” he said. “What is it?”

She sat back, crossing her arms over her stomach like a petulant teenager.
“All right, let’s cut to the chase, because I’m out of time. Where’s the plate?”

“
What?”

She widened her eyes at him, not even trying to hide her annoyance and frustration.
“The plate. I need the plate.”

“
Okay,” Nate said. “Fine.”

He walked to the cupboard, got a saucer and placed it under her mug. She looked down at the saucer, then back up at him.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“
You asked for a plate,” he said, trying to keep the edge out of his voice. “I gave you a plate. It’s getting late, Nikkie, so if you want to talk about Piper—”

She pushed herself up from the table.
“Knock it off, Nate. I’m not fucking around here. Just give it to me and I’ll be out of here by daybreak, never to darken your door again.”

Nate stared at her.
“What the hell are you talking about?”

She watched him for a moment, her eyes narrowed.
“You
do
know about the plate, right? Tell me you know about the plate, Nathan, because if you don’t, my pretty pink brains are going to explode all over your nice wall.”

“
I don’t know anything about a plate,” Nate said, “but now I know for sure that you’re not here for Piper. Goddamnit, Nikkie. If you wanted money or something, you could have just asked me. Why’d you have to drag her into it?”

“
It’s a plate.” She held her hands out, about twelve inches apart. “It’s got some kind of gold inlay. Scalloped edges. Some kind of bird in the middle. Purple rim. Where is it?”

Nate froze, flashing on his last conversation with his father.
“Purple?”

Her eyes brightened and she put her hand on his arm.
“Yes.
You know it. Where is it? Nate, I can’t tell you why, but I need it. Now.”

He leaned back against the wall, taking a moment to absorb this information.
“Christ. It’s a plate?”

“
Um,
yeah.
And quit playing dumb. I saw the look on your face. I know you know what I’m talking about.”

“
No, I...” He sighed and ran one hand through his hair, trying to gather his thoughts. He was pretty damn sure he hadn’t seen anything matching that description in his searches of the grounds. He’d handled every plate in that house over the last six months; there wasn’t a purple- rimmed one in the bunch. He looked up at Nikkie. “How did you know about it?”

Nikkie shrugged.
“It’s not important. But I’m telling you, I need that plate, like
now
, so just hand it over, and this whole thing will be done.”

He shook his head.
“Not a chance. How did you know? Did Mick tell you about it? Have you been in touch with him?”

She sighed, then sat down in the chair next to his, leaning over the table, her eyes pleading.

“Nate,” she said, “this is really serious. If I don’t get that plate, something could happen to Piper.”

The air in the room went still, and he stared at her.
“What?”

“
It’s complicated,” she said, unable to meet his eye. “I just... all you have to do is give it to me, and it’ll all be over. She’ll be safe, I’ll be gone, and you can go back to fucking your snow bunny—”

He shot over to her, grabbing both her arms in his and practically lifting her off her feet.

“Jesus, Nate,” she said, her eyes widening in surprise as she glanced down at his hands clamped on her arms. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”

“
What the fuck did you do, Nikkie?” he asked, his heart pounding with a primal fury. “Did someone threaten Piper? Because I’m telling you right now, if one of your fuckups so much as touches her, I’ll kill you myself, do you understand?”

“
Ow,” she said, squirming in his grip. “Nate. You’re
hurting
me.”

He realized what he was doing and let go.

“Wow,” she said, laughing bitterly as she rubbed her arms. “I didn’t think you had it in you to hurt a girl, Nate.”

“
You don’t count,” he said. “Tell me what’s going on, Nikkie, because so help me God, if anything happens to Piper, you’ll find out exactly what I’ve got in me.”

Nikkie
’s eyes flashed with surprise and, Nate was satisfied to see, a little bit of fear. She stepped back from him and ran her hands through her hair.

“
Just give me a minute,” she said, closing her eyes. “I need a minute to think.”

“
You’d better think fast, or—”

There was a crashing sound from upstairs, and Piper called out,
“Dad!”

Nate met Nikkie
’s panicked eyes for a second, then charged through the house, taking the stairs three at a time until he burst through Piper’s door to find her leaning over the desk by her window, peering out, her desk lamp lying sideways on the floor at her feet. He ran across the room and pulled her into his arms, then released her and knelt before her, his hands running over her arms, her face.

She was fine.

“Jesus, Pipes, you scared me,” he said. “You okay?”

“
Dad, look,” she said, pointing out the window. Nate ran his eyes over her once more to be sure she was okay, then looked in the direction where she pointed. In the distance, bright orange flickers laid angry, dancing shadows on the trees surrounding the cabin area. He stared for a moment, calculating exactly which cabin they were coming from, and then his body went cold.