Page 17 of Shattered By the Currents

“She’s—” Polly stopped. “Shewasright behind us.”

Connor turned and scanned the bar, but he couldn’t see her.

The fuck?

He weaved through the crowd, an uncomfortable pit forming in his gut, even though he wasn’t sure why.

He was just nearing the bar when he saw her in the corner—being crowded by the same asshole who’d been glaring at her from behind the bar.

That son of a bitch.

5

“I’ll be right there. I just need to make a call.”

Raven wasn’t sure if the women heard. Still, she took her drink to the corner of the bar—a drink Maggie had insisted on purchasing, regardless of her insistence that she didn’t need it.

Some woman nearby had been arguing with her partner. His name was Tim…and the second she heard it, it reminded Raven that she hadn’t heard from her PI, another Tim, in, well…she wasn’t sure how long. Weeks. Maybe over a month?

When she reached the quieter pocket of the bar, she hit his number.

Come on, Tim. Pick up.

She’d paid him. He shouldn’t be ignoring her calls. She needed his help. She needed someone to find something on Xander, free her from the mental and emotional prison he’d trapped her in.

But he didn’t answer.

Dammit.

“What the hell are you doing back here?”

She jumped and spun at the sound of the angry voice, her stomach dropping when she saw Nathaniel.

Not good.

He was friends with Xander. Not just friends—best friends. Hadbeenbest friends since high school. She hadn’t liked him then and she didn’t like him now. Although, that had everything to do with him heckling her at town meetings and barely serving her at the bar.

“Hi, Nathaniel.”

He inched closer. “You gonna answer my question?”

Why the hell did he think he could speak to her like that? “I’m making a call?—”

“No. Not back here in the bar. Why are you back in Deep River?”

“You know why I’m back. Xander and I are over and this is my hometown. It’s where my parents are. I have every right to move back. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” She went to step around him, but he stepped in front of her, blocking her way.

He lifted a brow. “You think Xander didn’t tell me what you did?”

His words felt like fingers around her throat, squeezing.

No. Xander wouldn’t have told Nathaniel what happened in North Dakota. He wouldn’t have told anyone, because that would hurt them both. “What exactly did he say?”

“The truth.” Another step closer. “That you tried to ruin him. That you?—”

“What the hell’s going on?”

Connor’s voice exploded from behind Nathaniel a second before he stepped beside them.