Page 10 of Quietly Hux's
Despite my voice showing up during Hux’s fight, it hadn’t come back permanently. Sometimes I’d go days without beingable to utter a word. Sometimes, I couldn’t stop talking. There wasn’t a true rhyme or reason to it I could see. Only in the moments when it came easiest, Hux and I were usually at home. Although I’d managed several vocal conversations with Rylan and Sebastian too.
“Milo, look!” Sebastian said as soon as I stepped through the door leading from the kitchen to behind the bar. Of the five of us, only Sebastian, Rylan, and myself had stayed. The others went back to family and friends. We kept in touch on social media, and it was still surreal to me sometimes that we weren’t in the basement anymore.
In front of me, Sebastian waved a newspaper in my direction. He was on the opposite side of the bar and had to be standing on the rungs of his barstool because he was definitely not taller than me. Thorn stood on one side of him, stepping a little farther away the bigger Sebastian’s arm movements got. Rylan and Shep were on the other, looking as pleased as Sebastian was.
I smiled at Sebastian and shot Thorn a knowing smirk when Seb wasn’t looking. Seb set the paper on the bar, and my heart leapt. Right there on the front page was a mugshot of Trent. In a smaller photo, the warehouse where we’d been kept was surrounded by police vehicles.
Police Break Up Omega Trafficking Operation, the headline read.
I couldn’t stop my smile. After the fight, Shep had turned over the recording he’d made of Trent to his cop friend, George. George had told us it would be hard to get the ball rolling on only the word of Omegas, even with the recording, but that he wouldn’t give up on it.
He hadn’t, and according to the article they’d found enough evidence to put Trent away for a long, long time.
I cleared my throat and asked them, “Where’s Hux?”
Even now, they looked surprised to hear my voice. Shep answered, “He’s out front doing a parking lot check.”
I took the newspaper and headed outside. Night air, crisp and cool, greeted me. The parking lot was quiet. It didn’t take me long to follow the sound of footsteps around the side of the building.
“And what’s my mate doing out here sneaking around the parking lot?” Hux said, a smile in his voice. He was at the end of the row with his back to me, but I wasn’t surprised he’d known it was me. Maybe it was shifter senses, but somehow he always knew where I was.
“Look.” I held up the paper.
At my voice he turned and strode over, gravel crunching under his feet. He stopped close enough there was no way he could actually read the paper, and I chuckled when he took it from my hands and tilted it so that the security lights on the bar illuminated the page.
“Fucking finally,” he said with a relieved breath. Then he tossed the paper and wrapped his arms around my waist, picking me and spinning us in circles. I half-screeched, half-giggled, grabbing his shoulders and holding on for dear life.
I’d never, ever let go.
