Page 21 of Shattered By the Currents

When Nathaniel headed down the back hallway, Connor stepped away from the bar. He passed the bathrooms and watched Nathniel push out the back door of the bar. Connor followed quietly as he closed the door behind him. He crossed the distance between the building and the dumpster.

Nathaniel turned—and jumped at the sight of Connor before cursing. “Fuck, man, what the hell? Are you trying to scare me?”

“Yeah. I am, actually.” One more step to bring them nose to nose. “You leave Raven Price alone.”

The guy laughed. “Or what? You’ll come to the bar and stare me down like you’ve been doing for the last hour?”

Connor didn’t raise his voice. He’d come to learn over the years that sometimes, a deadly quiet got the point across better. “If you don’t, we’ll have a problem. And I’m really fucking good at sorting out problems.”

“You gonna hit me, tough guy?”

“Nah, that would be too easy. You know whatisn’teasy? Finding people. I do it because not many people have my skills. But going missing? That’sreallyfucking easy in this town.”

His smile dropped. “You’re threatening me?”

“I’m telling you to leave Raven alone.”

“You have no idea who she is.”

“And you do?”

Nathaniel laughed again, but it was more of a scoff. “Yes. And her hands aren’t as clean as she wants people to believe. But I think you’ll figure that out soon enough.”

Then the asshole re-entered the bar.

Connor watched him go. He didn’t want to believe anything the jerk said. But Nathaniel had known Raven for longer than him. Was there any truth to his words? If there was, then Raven might have more in common with his ex than he’d thought. The idea sat like a rock in his gut.

6

Raven hit the Bluetooth key on her steering column to call her dad. She’d meant to call him before leaving for work, but she was running late. Not that anyone was waiting for her, there were no activities at the community center this morning. But her start time was nine, so that was when she needed to get there. Lottie liked to keep a close eye on her, and there was every chance the bitter woman could be spying from Bloom or The Pancake Bar.

Yes, it sounded unhinged. But that was Lottie.

Her father answered on the third ring. “Hi, honey.”

“Hi, Dad. You sound tired. Is everything okay?”

“Your mother just had a bad night, that’s all.”

Her stomach rolled as she turned right. “What happened?”

“She woke up about two and was disoriented. She didn’t recognize me for a few minutes and was trying to get out of the apartment. I had to call a nurse, but before she got here, your mother saw a photo of us on the dresser. It brought her back.”

Unexpected tears gathered in Raven’s eyes. Because it would just keep getting worse until one day she wouldn’t recognize either of them. “I’m coming now.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No. You have work.”

“I don’t care?—”

“I do. I know you need that job. I don’t want you doing anything to jeopardize it.”

She wrinkled her nose, hating that her father was right. Shedidneed her job. “Fine. But I need you to call me if anything else happens like that or if you need my help with anything.”

“Of course, sweetie.”