Page 27 of No One But You
Nate shrugged.“Drugs?”
“Who the hell would bury drugs?”Connor asked.
Nate rolled his eyes.“Do you have a better suggestion?”
“A body.”Connor’s eyes gleamed.“Although if it was me, I’d have buried it in a more remote area or just tossed it down a ravine.The vandals seem to be sticking to locations within a few miles of town.”
“A body,” Nate scoffed.“This isn’t the set ofMidsomer Murders.”
“We have had more than our fair share of violent crime in the past couple of years,” I reminded him.
“Notmurder, though.”
“Attempted murder is pretty close.”And both Grace and Summer had gone through that.Hell, Kennedy had been shot, so she could probably be included, even if the bullet hadn’t hit anything particularly important.
Nate grimaced and rubbed his jaw.“My job used to be so boring.I miss those days.”
Connor slapped his shoulder.“Quit complaining.It keeps you busy, and we all know you hate to be bored.Hey, it could be stolen goods.”
“Probably the most reasonable suggestion so far,” Nate allowed.“It’s strange, though.You think they’d know where to look if they were the ones that buried it.”
“Who buried what?”Toby asked, dragging over a chair from another table and offering it to Mum.He dropped onto another and leaned forward, his forearms resting on the tabletop.
“We’re not sure,” I said, smiling at Mum in greeting.
Connor grunted and raised an eyebrow at her.“You put poor Bailey back to work quickly.”
Mum sighed and crossed her legs.“She insisted.She said she was going crazy cooped up inside all the time and needed a change of scene.Speaking of, don’t forget brunch on Sunday.”
“We’ll be there,” Nate said.
Connor and I just nodded because she knew we would be, but she liked to remind us anyway.
Toby turned to me with a shit-eating grin.“What’s this I hear about you and Bailey playing house?”
My gut flipped over.“It isn’t a big deal.”No matter how much I might want it to be.“She’s still healing, and I’m a doctor.It makes sense for her to stay nearby.”
Toby’s grin hitched up on one side, making him look slightly unhinged.“When Summer was shot, you didn’t move her in.”
My cheeks began to warm, and I wished I could blame it on the alcohol, but unfortunately it was obvious I wasn’t drinking any.“Summer had Asher to look after her.”
Not to mention that she stayed in the hospital for longer than Bailey had.
Toby cocked his head.“Asher could take care of Bailey, too, if she stayed with him and Summer.”
“He could,” I admitted, drinking more Coke to give myself a moment to think.“When she first came home, she needed to be watched by someone with more medical training than he has.And I suppose we didn’t see any need to move her when things are working just fine as they are.”
“I’m sure they are.”He winked.“If someone as pretty as her moved in with me, I’d sure as hell never want her to leave.”
“That’s not…” I huffed.“Don’t you have better things to do than tease your boring older brother?”
I focused on him, but I couldn’t help noticing that everyone at the table was watching our exchange with fascination.My cheeks burned even hotter, and I fought the urge to look down and hide my face.
Toby downed his drink in a couple of mouthfuls and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand.“Nah.I hardly ever get to tease you about anything.It’s great.Honestly, man, you know if you—”
“Who’s that?”I cut in, distracted by the man in jeans and a black hoodie that had just walked through the door and seemed to be staring at Bailey.He was average height with brown hair and broad shoulders.I didn’t think I’d seen him before, and I didn’t like the way he was looking at her.
Everyone turned toward the man, and I winced, expecting him to notice the attention.By some stroke of luck, he didn’t.
