Page 76 of Hushed

Her phone rang, but she ignored it, knowing his name would be on her screen if she picked it up. He could come and talk to her face to face if he wanted to explain himself. She wasn’t having this conversation over the phone. Especially not with Evie standing right there next to him.

She sucked in a deep breath and blew it out again as she stalked into her kitchen and pulled out a pitcher of filtered water.

Ten agonizing minutes later, the door to her apartment opened, and tension in the air got so thick it settled around her shoulders like an unwanted weighted blanket, and she braced herself for a fight.

“What did you see?” he demanded as he prowled toward her.

“Does it matter?”

“Yes, it fucking matters.”

“You had your arms around that fucking bitch who already tried to hurt me once. What the hell is going on, Gage?”

He dragged a hand down his face. “It’s complicated. But I’m not sleeping with her or trying to if that’s what you’re worried about.”

She laughed. “No. I considered that for a split second, but deep down I trust you in that department. The part I can’t fucking stand is you keeping secrets from me. What is going on?”

Gage came further into the apartment but didn’t touch her, for which she was grateful.

“It really is complicated, babe. But the condensed version is she’s stuck in an abusive situation, and I’m helping her out. There are things she hasn’t told me yet, but hopefully we get answers soon. I’ve got Jax looking into it. The longer version involves the United States government and a lot of classified shit I literally can’t talk about.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “I can’t be all in with you if you’re going to keep things from me.”

He stayed quiet for a long minute before he finally pulled a chair away from the dining table and sat down.

“She came to me yesterday and told me that Jake and Chris are doing some really illegal things, including human trafficking. But something isn’t sitting right with me about her story. I don’t know if she’s lying. Or rather, I don’t know which parts she’s lying about, because Evie is almost always lying about something. But some of what she told me adds up enough that I’m convinced she’s not fabricating the trafficking or the fact that someone died.”

Kenzie gasped. “Died… like they murdered someone?”

Gage closed his eyes. “Yes. She swears she didn’t point you out to Chris, but he definitely took a liking to you. And that worries me.”

Kenzie frowned. “So, why is she harassing me?”

Gage laughed. “Said the surest way she knew of to get my attention was to threaten my girl.”

Her heart softened a little at that, and he patted his knee.

“Come here.”

She hesitated, and he lifted an eyebrow.

“Are you still my girl, Kenz?”

She sighed and looked at the sky. “I suppose.”

He laughed. “Brat. Come here.”

She went to him reluctantly and sat on his knee.

“I don’t like this, Gage.”

He snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. “I don’t like it either. But we’re going to sort it out and put it behind us. You understand I can’t walk away from this, right?”

Kenzie closed her eyes. Of course he couldn’t. Someone was in need. Whether that someone was Evie, or the people being trafficked didn’t really matter. He was going to help if he had the ability.

“I understand. But I don’t like it.”

“Tell me about your day,” he prompted, splaying his fingers over her thigh.

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