His eyes widened like he hadn’t expected her to say that. “I guess it was a good distraction,” he said cautiously.
Rylla nodded slowly. “It was, but that wasn't what I meant.”
Hope lit up his face. “Rylla, when I said no it wasn't because I didn't want to go out with you, it was …”
“No.” She pressed a finger to his lips and held it there. “I can't do this now. We can talk later, but not now.” She believed him when he said that he had wanted to say yes, she’d felt it when they kissed, and if she was honest with herself, she had known it all along. But staying angry with him and blaming him for them not being a couple was easier than letting go of the fear that came with opening up her heart again. They would talk, but now wasn't the time for a conversation about it. Right now she had to focus on her sister and finding her and bringing her home to her children.
Nate nodded and gently removed her finger from his lips, turning it around and examining the torn and bloody nail. “You bite your nails,” he noted. “Come, sit, I’ll give you a manicure.”
That was the last thing she had expected him to say, and she couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re going to give me a manicure?”
He smiled, which made him look pretty darn adorable. “My mom owned a salon, I practically grew up there, and I have four sisters, I know how to do a manicure. You have things I can use?”
“Upstairs bathroom,” she answered.
“Meet you back here in a moment.” He grinned then dashed up the stairs.
Rylla was still smiling as she took a seat at the table, Nate was just full of surprises. She had never had a manicure, she’d always been too ashamed of her chewed nails to go and get one. Between her and Mila her sister had always been the girly one. As a kid, Rylla had preferred climbing trees, and playing sports, and doing stunts on her bike. Mila had loved the whole makeup and hair and clothes thing. Jeans and sweaters and sneakers had been Rylla’s outfits of choice. So many times Mila had rebuked her about her dress sense and told her that more boys would ask her out, but Rylla had been happy with her guy friends and had never bothered to girly herself up.
“Try not to think about it.”
Her eyes were watery when she looked up at Nate. “How?”
“I don’t know,” he said as he sat and picked up her hand, beginning to file her nails with an emery board.
“He could be hurting her.” Pictures of what the Fairytale Killer could be doing to Mila right at this very second kept playing through her mind on a loop.
“Thinking that doesn’t help. It doesn’t help you, and it doesn’t help your sister. You have to try to keep positive. You have to try not to keep thinking about it.”
“I don’t know how to do that.”
“We’ll talk, about whatever you want, whatever it takes so you don’t dwell.” Nate set her left hand in a small dish of warm water and picked up her other hand.
“Nate?”
“Yeah?” He glanced up from his task.
“Thank you.”
He shot her another winning smile. “Any time.”
July 28th
8:54 A.M.
“Thank you for meeting with us today,” Matthew addressed the Kites as he and Allina settled themselves in chairs in the interview room, Jonathon was observing the interview from outside. They had thought it was best to do the interview here at the precinct rather than at the Kites offices.
“Are we under arrest?” Jaden asked. He already had a belligerent face on and they hadn’t even started yet.
“No, definitely not,” Matthew answered. They didn't even have enough to force the couple to meet with them. They were hoping this interview would tell them whether or not they should pursue Jaden as a suspect while they continued to work on getting a warrant for the Happily Ever After Club user profiles.
“Then why are we here?” the man whined.
“Because three women are dead and a fourth is missing,” Allina answered.
“That has nothing to do with us.” His sulkiness was already annoying, and they’d only been in the room a minute.
“All of those women went missing after going on dates with someone they met on the online dating website you run,” Allina reminded him.