Pyke tucked his hands behind his head, entwining his fingers. “How about I tell you after I’ve had my wicked way with you?”
Oh god. Nester felt his face catch fire as he looked away, embarrassed at how easily he blushed.
Thank goodness he was saved by the doorbell.
“Hold that delicious thought.” Pyke smirked as he got up and walked away, giving Nester some breathing room.
He fanned his face, but the thoughts of seeing Pyke naked again had him growing hard.
With a deep sigh, Nester shook his head as he rubbed his temples. He was still trying to absorb everything, and Pyke’s flirting wasn’t helping matters.
Now all Nester had on the brain was sex.
Hot, amazing, sweaty sex. He just bet Pyke was a beast in bed.
Or on any flat surface for that matter.
Great, now Nester needed a cold shower.
Pyke returned with a small manila envelope in his hand. His brows were dipped as he set it on the table. “It’s addressed to you.”
“Me?” Who on earth would send something to him? Aside from the guy from the motel and the housekeeper, no one knew he was there.
“There’s no return address,” Pyke said.
“Who gave it to you?” Nester wasn’t sure he wanted to open it.
“The mailman rang the bell. Hank’s a good friend and thought it might be important. Did you tell anyone you were here?”
Nester gave him a droll stare. “I don’t have my phone, and aside from taking off and walking the streets, I’ve been with you since we met.”
“All right, now I’m curious.”
So was Nester. His heart pounded as he looked at the envelope as if a bunch of snakes were somehow hidden inside. He really didn’t want to open it.
“Mind if I do the honors?” Pyke snatched the envelope off the table and waited for Nester to answer.
“Go ahead.” Nester was on the edge of his seat as Pyke pealed back the flap and pulled out what looked like a photo. “Well?”
He turned the paper over, and sure enough it was a picture. A picture of Nester fleeing from the bathroom window of the motel. It even had a date and time stamp on it, showing it was taken the night he’d killed Scott.
Pyke sat and placed the picture on the table. “Was there someone else there besides you and Scott?”
“No…I don’t know.” Nester couldn’t stop shaking his head back and forth. “Things were frantic, a total mess, and I didn’t stop to look around. Clearly someone saw me, but why would he or she snap a picture of my escape? No one knew what happened until your friends busted into the room.”
“Lewis and Arlan,” Pyke said.
“Okay. No one knew what happened until Lewis and Arlan busted into the room.”
Nester had taken off but had circled back around and watched in horror from behind a large tree. Aside from Lewis, Arlan, and the first responders, he hadn’t seen anyone else.
Then again, he hadn’t been looking for anyone else. He had been too riddled with guilt to notice if he’d been sharing the woods with anyone.
Pyke tapped his finger on the photo. “Finish telling me what happened.”
That wasn’t going to happen. Nester got up and walked out of the kitchen, his stomach twisted into knots. Could Dublin McLeay have found him?
Nester needed to get his phone back. That was the only thing that was going to save him.
“Nester.” Pyke followed behind him. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”
“Nothing is going on. I told you what happened.”
If Dublin found out that Nester had said a word, he would kill Pyke. Nester couldn’t let that happen, even if Pyke was a bear and could probably defend himself. Dublin was a nasty piece of work. He knew a lot of guys who would do anything for the right price.
“Goddamn it, Nester. Talk to me.”
“I don’t even know you,” Nester argued. “Only a crazy person would trust someone they just met, yet here I am, standing in your living room. Just back off!”
“I told you everything about me up front,” Pyke argued. “I gave you my trust.”
“I never asked you to do that!” Nester stormed down the hallway to his bedroom. He slammed the door and paced, so freaking angry that hot tears filled his eyes.
Fucking Scott.
Nester wished he’d never met the bastard. He was the cause of all this, and if you asked Nester, Scott had gotten off to easily, even if he still felt guilty about killing the guy.
* * * *
Inside his two-car garage, Pyke was seated on an overturned milk crate tinkering with his motorcycle. He’d given it a tune-up not too long ago, but working with his hands helped him think.
Plus he needed some space from Nester. It was rare Pyke got this angry, but he knew Nester was hiding something. All Pyke wanted to do was help, but the longer he sat there, the more he realized forcing his help on Nester was the wrong thing to do.
He’d been an impatience asshole. It was the part of his charming personality that Pyke had been working on for years. A part of him that he was trying change.
And he’d failed miserably.
Pyke had never been able to get relationships right. He was over two hundred years old, and every attempt in the past led to his partners leaving him because not only did Pyke lack patience but he was too damn honest. A lot of people were repelled by that quality.
He was doing it again, and this was the most important person in the word to him.
There was only one who’d been able to handle his honesty, but that relationship had been venomous. Pyke was glad he’d ended things with Payton before he ended up killing the prick.
Only it seemed Payton hadn’t ended things with him.
“Hey.”
Pyke gritted his teeth and gripped the wrench tighter in his hand. Don’t fuck this up. Remain calm and don’t be so fucking truthful.
“Hey.” Pyke looked over his shoulder, and his gut clenched.
His mate stood there by the door to the garage looking uncertain as he glanced around.
“You know, most people use garages to store their cars.” Nester took a step inside the space. “It seems you’ve turned yours into a mechanic shop.
It was true. There was a huge workbench to one side, a car lift in the center, and tools too big for the bench strewn about. There was no room to park his pickup inside the garage.
“I like working with my hands. It helps me think.” So much for keeping some things to himself. Maybe the recreation center in town offered classes on how not to open your big mouth and spout off the truth every time you spoke. Pyke would have to look into that.
Nester gave him an attempt at a smile. “Do you mind if I invade your space, or do you want to be alone?”
Pyke wanted to tell Nester he needed more time to himself, but he didn’t want his mate walking away. He also wanted Nester’s company. If he was to earn his mate’s trust, keeping him at arm’s length wasn’t the way to go about it.
“Nah, you can come in.” Pyke wiped his hands on a shop rag and tossed it aside before he stood and leaned against the workbench, crossing his arms and watching Nester closely.
Nester parked his butt on a stool and clasped his hands between his knees. “You have an amazing home.”