Chase glanced at him over his shoulder and nearly slammed into a tree, which made Nate laugh harder. The FBI agent called him a particularly foul name.
Nate grinned as Chase walked back to join him on the step. Chase Roberts was one of the finest agents he’d ever worked with. Their undercover op last summer to find Brodie’s killer had gotten off to a rocky start. Chase was by the book, and Nate hadn’t met a rule he hadn’t tried to bend. Now Nate counted him as his closest friend.
“You’re an ass.”
“I missed you too,” Nate said, pulling him in for a one-armed hug. That was another difference between them—Nate was affectionate and Chase wasn’t. Or at least he hadn’t been. Living with Sadie had changed him. For the better in Nate’s opinion.
Chase returned his hug. “Yeah, you missed me so much you didn’t call to let me know you were in town.”
“I got waylaid by Mrs. M. Where’s your sidekick?”
Chase’s face lit up with a smile, the way it always did whenever he thought about his fifteen-month-old daughter. He’d adopted Sadie’s little girl last year, but Chase had claimed her as his own the day they’d delivered her on the side of the road in the middle of a snowstorm.
“With Elijah. Sadie asked me to look for Joe.” Elijah was Sadie’s brother. He was also the reason they had been undercover last year. Elijah had been their primary suspect in Brodie’s murder.
“How did you figure out Joe was here?” Nate asked.
“I made a couple of calls. Found out their poker buddies were missing and someone saw them heading in the direction of the inn over an hour ago. Their cars are parked on the side of the road, so I followed the path.”
“Gotta love small-town gossip. But I could have saved you a trek through the woods and a potential run-in with a copperhead if you’d given me a call.”
“Thought about it, but then I figured you might need backup. So just remember what I was willing to do for you next time I ask you to babysit Michaela.”
Nate laughed. “Unlike you, I’m not afraid of snakes, and I think I can handle four poker-loving old men.” Except he hadn’t been able to convince Joe to leave with him.
“I wasn’t talking about the snakes or the poker buddies. I was talking about Agnes.” Chase gave him a raised-eyebrow look. “What were you thinking, making out with Ellie in front of the inn? Not to mention in front of Agnes.”
“I wasn’t making out with her. I just—” Chase held up his phone. On the screen was a picture of Nate kissing Ellie. “Who the hell sent you that?”
“Who do you think? Agnes sent it to Sadie, who sent it to me.”
Nate hadn’t even noticed her taking the picture, which proved how completely that kiss had rocked his world.
“I thought you were smarter than that, bro. Sadie warned you at the wedding that Agnes was trying to set you two up.” Chase angled his head to study him. “Unless there’s something you’re not telling me?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Come on, it was obvious you were attracted to Ellie. You spent the entire reception together.” Chase glanced at his phone. “And you look like you were into this kiss as much as Ellie. You haven’t been dating her behind our backs, have you?”
Nate snorted. “I don’t date. You know that.”
“I do, which makes what you’re doing with Ellie all the more confusing.”
“I’m not doing anything.” Chase once again held up his phone. Nate wished he’d stop doing that. He was trying his best to get the kiss out of his head, which was why he snagged Chase’s phone and deleted the photo. “Agnes asked me to help out Ellie by pretending to be her boyfriend. She figured Ellie’s mother would think twice about messing with her if she thought she was dating”—he made air quotes—“‘someone like me.’”
Chase laughed. “And you believed her?”
“What can I say? I’m sleep deprived. It’s been a rough few months. I was up for a little fun.”
The amusement left Chase’s face. “I imagine it has been. I’ve been worried about you. Your one-word responses to my Are you alive? texts weren’t very reassuring.”
“Sorry about that. But you know what it’s like when you’re in deep cover.” The only way to get out alive was to become the person you were playing. There was no room for mistakes, no room for the people you loved and had left behind.
He’d spent most of his career with the NCSBI undercover. He had no delusions as to why his boss chose him for the assignments ninety percent of the time. The role of motorcycle-riding gang member came naturally to him because, at one time, he’d been in the life.
“The only time I’ve been undercover was with you last summer, and we had each other’s backs. So no, I don’t really understand what it’s like. But word is you got the guy who’d been supplying the Whiteside Mountain Gang with drugs. Something I had to hear from my boss and not you, by the way.”
“When it comes to mothering me, my sisters have you beat. I swear they’ve got someone at the field office feeding them information. The minute I pulled into the NCSBI parking lot, they started calling me. They didn’t let up until I answered.” Chase’s boss was married to Nate’s oldest sister, so he’d known his brother-in-law would pass along the information about the arrest. “I meant to call you after I debriefed my boss, but things went sideways fast, and I didn’t get a chance.”
The truth was, he’d been putting off this conversation with Chase. He wouldn’t react well to Nate’s news.
Chase’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean things went sideways during your debrief?”
“My boss and I had a slight disagreement on how to move forward with the case.” “Slight” was an understatement. They’d nearly come to blows.
“You got the guy. It’s over. Case closed.”
“No, it’s not. The guy I brought in isn’t the one calling the shots. I won’t rest until I bring the organization down.”
“Let it go, Nate. We put Brodie’s murderer and accomplices away. They won’t ever see the light of day.”
“I can’t let it go. I won’t stop until everyone connected to Brodie’s murder has been charged and convicted.”
“Do you hear yourself? You’re obsessed. Your need for revenge at any cost is going to get you killed.” Chase scrubbed his face. “I can’t believe your boss is letting you go out there again.”
“He’s not. He put me on mandatory leave.”
“Good. At least someone at the NCSBI is thinking straight.”
“I quit.”
“You what?”
He shrugged. “I owe it to Brodie to see this through. I owe it to his son. And I don’t need to deal with the red tape and the bullshit. It’ll be faster if I do it my way.”
“Yeah, because God forbid you have to follow the rules. Rules that are in place to protect you. To keep you alive. So what’s this? Your goodbye tour before you go out there again? You’re so caught up in this, I’m surprised you even bothered.”