Page 104 of High Sea Seduction

My teeth smash together. “Get to the damn point, Savage.”

Zach shrugs, unconcerned by the seething volatility raking through me. “My Peaches and your Keely are close. Closer than you or I will be comfortable with, if you two survive the shitstorm that’s coming long enough to become a thing.”

The roar of the chaos increases, and panic deadens my limbs. “What shitstorm? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Keely called last week, after you dumped her.”

“Ididn’tdump her.” I can barely speak through the poison tearing through my bloodstream. “What did she say when she called?”

“She wanted to know whether there were any bare-assed skeletons in your closet.”

“What?”

“You can freak out in your own time when you’re chasing rats the size of lions in that shit of a jungle you’re so crazy about. Right now, shut the fuck up and listen, because I know one of two things is going to happen in the next five minutes. Right now, my Peaches is spilling her sweet little heart to her best friend—despite promising me she won’t—about what happened to Peterson after you got your hands on him.”

“Mother of Christ!” I charge for the door, but Zach gets there first.

I knock his hand away, intent on chasing down Keely, but he shakes his head. “It’s too late, man. By now she knows.”

“How? And how the fuck did your woman find out?”

Zach’s eyes gleam. “This is where I’m supposed to say I don’t have any secrets from the woman who holds every beat of my useless heart in her fucking hands, or some shit. And yeah, it’s true. But the unvarnished truth is, she was freaked out with worry about her friend. I couldn’t have that. So I asked a guy I know to look into things.”

I shake my head. “Bullshit. I covered my tracks better than ‘a guy I know to look into things’ standards.”

Zach crosses his arms and leans back against the door. “Let’s agree to disagree on how good we are at what we do. Does Keely know you’re investigating what happened to her six years ago?”

My hand drops from the door in a dead weight. “Shit! How the fuck do you know that?” I spike my fingers through my hair, certain in the knowledge that if there was any hope of salvaging anything from the first piece of shit news, it’s just gone out the window with the second.

“She’s important to Bethany, which makes her important to me. And before you throw a tantrum, Bethany doesn’t know about the investigation, or what Keely went through.”

My head snaps up. “She doesn’t?”

“No, and I’m going to make damn sure my little firecracker doesn’t find out from me. But do me a favor. Tell Keely. Trust me, things have a way of coming out whether you want them to or not.”

I thrust my hands into my pockets to keep from putting my fist into the wall. “I don’t intend to let the person orpersonswho violated her get away with it. But yeah, thanks for the hearts and roses and forgiveness sermon,” I snarl.

Zach bares his teeth. “Any time, pal. That code you wrote me ten years ago for tracking my stock made me a bundle and stopped my companies from tanking during the ’08 fuck storm. And I won’t divulge which one, but one of the toys you invented for me makes my Peaches a very happy woman. I figured the least I could do was give you a little man-to-man heads up that your life’s about take on epic clusterfuck proportions. As for letting anyone get away with it, I’ll go after them myself if you don’t.”

Our gazes meet, and an understanding passes between us. I nod, then pace in tight circles, noting wryly that Zach is still guarding the door. I can’t hear myself think over the roar in my ears. I want to see Keely, but I don’t know how I’ll react if she walks away from me.

I stop in my tracks as steel blades of irony slide between my ribs. I’ve been walking away from everyone who comes within caring distance all my life. Now, by attempting to care for Keely, and bringing her the justice she deserves, I’ve risked her walking away from me.

I see Zach turn sharply toward the door, and I lunge past him and yank it open.

When I see Daniel, instead of the woman whose importance has crept beneath the black noise of my life, I bite back a growl. “What do you want?”

The young guard looks from me to Zach, senses the volatile landmine before him, and hurries to speak. “We’ve a call to the captain’s office for you, Mr. Sinclair.”

I shake my head. “Take a message.”

Daniel grimaces. “That’s just it. She won’t leave a message, except to say it’s urgent.”

“Whowon’t?” I snap, although I know who he means before he replies.

“She said her name is Cassie McCarthy.”

“For the love of Christ,” I growl under my breath.

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