Page 129 of Hate Me

Fucking bullshit.

But I did what needed to be done as the three of us ironed out the rest of the details, down to every little thing, the way Cas needed any plan to be with nothing left to chance, every possible eventuality accounted for, and backups in place for the fucking backups.

I was fine with that because it meant putting in safeguards to keep our woman safe.

I knew he didn’t actually want her out there in the field and none of us wanted her getting within arms’ reach of Jett because that motherfucker was an unhinged dangerous shit who’d hurt her so much already.

But we also recognized it was something she needed to do.

And it was her choice.

She might be ours, but we couldn’t wrap her up in protection at all times and keep her in a bubble apart from the world. Skylar Bennett was a warrior in her own right and absolutely not somebody who could be treated like glass and kept on the sidelines. We’d known that going into this, growing closer to her. Hell, we’d originally set our sights on her in order to bring her into The Jackals, for fuck’s sakes. We were just a little gun-shy after what had happened to her a couple of years ago.

“All right,” Cas said, as we finished up. “I’ll bring Skylar down here to give this a look too.”

“Good call, she knows Jett better than any of us. Her input is vital.”

He nodded, then headed on out, leaving me and Dante alone.

I watched him stare out after Caspian, a wistful look in his eyes.

Hmm.

He turned back to me. “For clarification purposes, Wakefield wasn’t my spy.”

“What are you talking about?”

“For years, he was keeping a covert watch on Asher, looking out for him from a distance. That documentation and surveillance package I obtained pertaining to your interactions with Asher was his. He was concerned about him consorting with you, worried it would fuel his darkness.”

“It didn’t. I helped him to control it.”

“He didn’t know that at the time.”

I grunted.

“I was searching for you on Caspian’s behalf because he wasn’t whole without you here and it was causing him great distress not knowing where you were, what you were doing, or even if you were well. During that search, I came across Wakefield and from there, with his worry concerning you and Asher, he handed over that intel. From that point, I was able to trace your movements, back and forth and put the proverbial pieces together, and even determine your location. He wasn’t my spy, merely a source.” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his fancy suit pants. “But that isn’t where this animosity toward me is rooted, is it?”

I hooked my fingers in my belt loops and faced off with him. “Why have you drawn Caspian so close?”

“He’s an ally and a friend.”

“You have others. Why him?”

“His father and I were close.”

“Try again. It’s not that. There’s more to it.”

He smiled. “I admire your loyalty and love for him. He’s fortunate to have that. In you all, actually. He certainly has a good group of people around him, an admirable support system.” He scrubbed a hand over his goatee, worry taking him over. “If only he could bring himself to draw on that support more.”

I frowned. “You’ve noticed that too?”

“Yes. He may play it close to the vest and fancy himself superhuman, but it has become apparent to me. He operates much like I did when I was his age.”

“So, that’s it? You’ve drawn close to him in order to make sure he doesn’t break under the strain?” That made sense with Dante allying with him so closely against Elijah. It was obviously a good business move for him too to wipe one of his competitors, Bane Industries, off the board, but that wouldn’t entail getting so close to Caspian if that was all that it was about.

“Everyone requires a helping hand once in a while,” he answered, noncommittally and clearly evasively too.

Dammit. The hard way it was then. That had never stopped me before when it came to obtaining difficult to acquire information.

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