Page 65 of Wicked Games

In all the years I’ve been around them, Jace has never once offered me a piece of gum. In fact, he usually makes a point to stare at me as he chews it like he’s making sure I see that he has gum and I can’t have any.

Slowly, I shake my head.

He slips the pack into his pocket and blows a bubble.

“Do you remember anything else?” Killian asks, steering the conversation back to my almost unaliving.

“Not about the car.” I chew on the corner of my lip.

“What aren’t you telling me?” he asks, his voice low and a bit rumbly.

“The call I got, the one that made me stop. It wasn’t a normal call.”

“Elaborate.”

“I don’t know who it was from, but after the car went past, they hung up, and I got two messages.”

“Texts?” Jace asks.

“No, like messages. They appeared on the call screen after the number disappeared.”

“Phone, now.” Jace holds out his hand.

I give it to him.

“What did they say?” Killian asks.

“The first said he’s still out there, and the second said be careful.”

“Jesus Christ. And you didn’t think to tell me this?” Killian demands.

“It’s not a big deal.”

“It is, and you know it is,” Jax says. “You’re not stupid, but you’re being an idiot about this because you don’t want it to be true.”

“Yeah,” I scrape out. “Maybe.”

“Anything?” Killian asks Jace.

He keeps his attention on the phone. “Not so far. Do you at least remember the number?”

“It was a line of zeros.”

He looks up sharply. “How many zeros?”

I think back and count them in my head. “I’m pretty sure there were fourteen of them.”

His expression hardens, like that means something to him.

“Do you think it’s the hacker?” I ask. “The one who doctored the video feed at the pool?”

“Most likely.” He looks back down at my phone and taps on the screen as he resumes whatever he was doing. “Only someone with that kind of skill set could get around the security on this thing. K made sure you got the best we have. No ordinary hacker could do that.”

I flick my gaze to Killian. His stare is so intense, so dark, I have to look away.

“I’m taking this.” Jace slips my phone into his pocket.

“Next time anything like this happens, you tell me immediately,” Killian says, his voice low. “Anything. You got it?”

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