Page 36 of Nauti Intentions (Nauti 4)

“She would have left a note. ”

Dawg snorted, but Alex heard the slam of his truck door and the squeal of tires.

“Janey hasn’t had to leave anyone a note in her life,” Dawg snarled. “Now, use your damned head. If Janey didn’t leave a light on, she’s safe. ”

“How the fuck do you know?”

“Because, that was our agreement with her when she moved out from Natches’s boat. She has rules to live by, Alex. Didn’t she tell you?”

“She would have to talk to me first. ” When he found her, he swore, he was going to make her understand his fucking rule.

“Okay, here are the rules. If she’s forced from the office or from the apartment, she’ll leave a light on.

Otherwise, all off. Were they off?”

“They were all off. Completely. Not even the porch light was left on. ”

“So ninety percent chance she left on her own. ”

“Her car is there,” Alex argued. “She didn’t go on foot. ”

“And that’s why we’re all out running the roads like fucking jackasses right now,” Dawg retorted furiously. “You sure she didn’t have a date?”

“No. Fucking. Date. ” The thought of it had red edging at the sides of his vision.

Janey, on a date? With another man? He’d have killed the son of a bitch.

Fuck. Fuck. What the hell was he doing here? What was he thinking?

“Check the movie theater. Bookstores,” Dawg ordered. “Grocery store. She likes to cook. Crista said she hasn’t been cooking while you were there. She might have decided to. She likes to browse the mall.

She could have taken a cab. Janey doesn’t like driving if she knows she’s going to be stopping somewhere to eat. She likes a glass of wine with her meal and won’t risk driving. She takes cabs a lot. ”

Alex disconnected the call. He was getting ready to punch in the number of the cab company when the phone rang.

“What?” he snapped into the line, expecting it to be Dawg.

“We have a problem. ” Zeke’s voice was almost amused.

“No shit!” Alex bit out. “What now?”

“I just talked to Natches. He called the cab company. Driver took her to that bar at the edge of town.

You know the one. The biker bar. ”

Alex didn’t say a word. He shut the phone, tossed it to the seat, and executed a U-turn in the middle of town before speeding through the traffic to the bar in question.

The biker bar. The one where Rogue Walker and her friends kept the town filled with gossip.

His jaw clenched as the phone rang and he ignored it. Dawg called. Natches called.

Ten minutes later he swung into the crowded graveled parking lot as the sheriff’s cruiser pulled in behind him. Before Alex was out of the truck, Natches rolled in on his bike, Chaya, Crista, and Kelly pulled in, and Dawg eased his pickup in behind them.

Alex strode furiously to the door, jerked it open, and stepped into the raucous, smoky atmosphere. He hadn’t taken half a dozen steps inside when he came to a full, hard stop and just stared.

He swore he swallowed his tongue. He heard Zeke curse behind him. Dawg was chiding Crista over something and Chaya might have been arguing with Natches. All Alex knew, all he saw, was Janey.

She was incandescent, and it wasn’t that bright red, too-damned-snug, tiny, strapped little camisole top that made her light the room up either.

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