Page 38 of Hate Me

I’d thought I was gonna head back to my rehabilitation centers once Ash was all good and back on his feet with his head on straight.

But it looked like that was gonna be delayed now.

Caspian needed me.

And after all this time, after everything I’d done and experienced far away from him and all the rest, he was as impossible to deny as he always had been.

I had to go.

I stared down at my text response to Caspian.

Caleb: Send me the details. I’ll see to it, Cas.

Yeah, that was the extent of it.

Simple. To the point. No emotion. No pleasantries.

Just like his bullshit message.

I knew him so well that I’d recognized the tone of his text for what it really meant—he was closed to me right now. Purposely. He felt like he needed to be.

It meant that if I’d come back with sentiment, it would’ve been futile and just basically bounced off him.

No, right now, I needed to concentrate on Skylar.

She was obviously in trouble.

I couldn’t actually believe he’d found her. It had seemed like something completely off the table for so long.

The idea of laying eyes on her again, of touching her, hearing her voice, being close… it was hard to wrap my head around.

My gut twisted at her being in pain, though. The kind Cas had referenced was hard to endure, especially when it was likely rooted in grief for her. I’d know soon enough once he sent me all the details.

He was likely waiting until I was away from Ash and off his territory.

How did he know that?

Because of one particular fucker right here in my midst.

The porch door creaked open and I looked to see the guy in question walking on out, his eyes on me.

Aaron Wakefield.

The guy I’d actually spent a lot of time collaborating with lately in our bid to bring Asher back.

“They’re headed out here in a few,” he told me.

I finished the last drag of my smoke and stubbed it out as he joined me by the porch railing.

“Does Ash know?”

He arched an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“That you’re also Dante Mancini’s spy?”

He tensed. “Excuse me?”

“I know you’re loyal to Ash, but I also know you owe Mancini a favor and repayment of said favor is keeping an eye on me, which is then reported back to Caspian King. Correct?” Fuck, I knew it damn well was.

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