Page 134 of Hushed

Fifteen minutes later, he returned with a manila envelope and a somber expression.

“Do you take any kind of steroids?” he asked Reggie.

Reggie frowned. “No. Why the hell would I do that?”

Samuel shrugged. “A lot of guys in our line of work experiment with performance enhancers.”

“I don’t fucking do steroids, Carter. What did the tests say?”

Samuel shoved the envelope at Gage, and he withdrew the two page lab report.

“Jesus,” Gage said with a whistle. “If you’re not taking them yourself, someone is definitely slipping them into your food or something. Looks like a pretty fuckin’ high dose, too. Who would be able to get away with that?”

Reggie dragged a hand down his face. “Mother fucker. A few months ago, Jake and Evie got me hooked on these protein smoothies. It has to be in the powder. I bought a giant canister of the stuff from Evie when she became a rep for the company.”

“We’ll send someone to get it and run some tests to confirm. I’m getting real tired of Evie’s shit.”

Samuel put a hand on Gage’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t jump to conclusions about her so quickly.”

Gage brushed Samuel away and stared at him. “What the fuck does that mean? She harassed Kenzie, and she has a history of being a drama queen. Can’t say I pegged her as violent or criminal, but I think we’ve got plenty of evidence for that.”

Samuel didn’t respond. Just pulled his seatbelt on and nodded to the road. “We should go and drop Reggie off like we discussed.”

What was Samuel not telling him? The question was going to bug him the entire drive to drop Reggie off a few miles from the house they’d tracked Maggie to.

When they dropped him off with a reminder for check ins, Gage sent a text to Jax asking how his background check on Evie was going.

There was a response waiting for him by the time he and Samuel got to the diner they were going to wait in.

JAX:I’m running into some unexpected roadblocks. Is the club the only place you know this girl from?

Gage scratched the back of his neck and reread the message. What roadblocks could someone as talented as Jax be running into?

He looked at Samuel who was scrolling through his own phone.

“What do you know about Evie that I don’t?”

Samuel glanced up and tucked the phone in his suit jacket. “Not my place to say anything.”

Gage wanted to throttle his friend. “That’s horse shit and you know it, Carter. Why won’t you tell me?”

Samuel’s expression remained neutral as he picked up the worn plastic menu and opened it. “National security.”

Fuck.

Was Evie some kind of informant for the federal government? He couldn’t see how. But it was clear that Samuel had no intention of sharing the information he had, so he was on his own. Frustrated, he tapped out another message to Jax.

GAGE:I’m getting the sense that there is more to her than meets the eye. See if you can find any indication that she’s an informant of some kind.

JAX:On it.

He pocketed the phone and glared at Samuel until the server approached and placed a pot of coffee on the table between them. Letting his mask of charm slip back into place came naturally, and he flashed a grin at the woman as he ordered a breakfast combo that he didn’t really need.

“I’m sorry,” Samuel said when they were alone again.

Gage tipped back in his chair and put his palms flat on the table. “I get it. But if you’ve got information that can keep Reggie from being killed or arrested…”

Samuel lifted the coffee pot from the edge of the table and filled both mugs. “It’s not like that. If Reggie is in danger and I need to break protocol, I will. But not until I think it’s absolutelynecessary. I’m about to be a father. There’s no way I risk going to prison over this.”

---