Page 104 of Hush (Fighting Fate)

Chuckling, I looked back the way Mia had gone, but a figure walking in from the other room caught my eye. No way. It couldn’t be…

“Shit. Is that Joshua Emerson?”

Kaeli glanced across the room and smiled. “Uh huh.”

What the..?

I was just about to ask why the fuck an A-list movie star was hanging with her and her friends when the movie star in question looked up and narrowed his eyes at Kaeli. Then he was walking straight for her.

I watched in confusion as he pulled her into a fierce embrace before pulling back and clasping her upper arms in his hands.

“I am so pissed at you right now,” he said. “Why the hell were you living like that? You know I would’ve done anything to help you.”

What the fuck?!

Kaeli gave him a sheepish smile. “I know. There were lots of things I had to consider. I did what I felt was right at the time.”

I stared, still stupid with confusion. How the hell did she know Joshua Emerson? And why the hell did he have his hands on her? I wanted to punch him.

“Still not happy,” he said. “I hate that you went through that alone.”

“I wasn’t alone,” she said, reaching for my hand. “I had Noah.” She smiled at me and my anger melted. “Josh, this is Noah. He was there, working undercover. He kept me safe.”

Damned right I did.

“Noah, this is Josh.”

Josh eyed me suspiciously before offering me a hand. “You’re a cop?”

I tried to rein in my need to dislike the guy, reminding myself that he was Kaeli’s friend and that he obviously had her best interest at heart. Taking his hand, I gave it a firm pump. “Yeah, man.”

His gaze turned thoughtful. “You were working undercover?”

I nodded, wondering what he was getting at.

“Hmm…I’ve been offered a role as an undercover cop. If I take it, I might have to come talk to you.”

Okaaay…I hadn’t been expecting that.

Mia rushed up beside us and thrust a framed picture in her face. “Here.”

It was a picture of their whole group in their graduation robes. It was pretty cool.

Josh snatched it out of Kaeli’s hands before any of us really had a chance to look at it. “Nope. You can’t have this. I’m destroying all of them. You know it’s not fair that I’m not in it.”

Mia put her hand on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him. “Well, if you hadn’t gone off to be all famous and shit, you could’ve been.”

Josh smirked at her and held the frame up, out of reach. “Still not getting it.”

“You know I’m not starry eyed enough that it’ll stop me from kneeing you in your junk,” she retorted.

Josh laughed. “What do you mean ‘starry eyed enough’? You’re not starry eyed at all!”

He passed Kaeli the picture before draping an arm over Mia’s shoulders and pulling her into his chest. Jace appeared from behind me and punched Josh in the arm. It wasn’t soft either.

“Get your hands off my girlfriend, man. You can get any other girl you want in the entirety of the world. Just not this one,” he said, grabbing Mia and holding her away from him.

Kaeli punched Jace in the arm before huddling closer to me. “What are you implying ass wipe?”

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