Page 61 of Love in the Wild

Thea rubbed her temples. “Okay.”

“I’ll go with you,” Hadley said. She needed a chance to apologize to Gage anyway.

Brett shook his head. “I’m not comfortable putting you in the middle of this either.”

“I’ve been meeting with him almost every day for weeks. Seeing me wouldn’t be a shock.”

Thea gasped. “Almost every day?”

Hadley shrugged. “We kinda hit it off.”

Brett groaned and threw his head back. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“‘Fraid not. He’s actually really sweet,” Hadley said, praying the heat in her cheeks was from the fireplace and not embarrassment.

Brett threw his hands in the air. “Whatever. I’ll drop you off at Everly’s after we meet. I’ll call Gage while you pack a bag.”

Hadley squeezed Thea’s shoulder as she stood. “We’ll get this figured out. Getting things out in the open with Gage is the first step.”

“I know. I hope he’s really on our side.”

“I don’t have any doubt,” Hadley said as she went to pack her bag.

18

GAGE

Gage propped his arms on the steering wheel as he idled in the middle of the road. Waiting for Brett was like waiting through a snowstorm. The anxiety built so slowly, yet it compounded with every second.

After a torturous ten minutes, headlights lit up the road in front of him. The truck turned onto the path where Gage’s signal pointed, but there were two people in Brett’s truck.

Gage knew better than to trust Brett. He’d asked Gage to come alone, but he’d brought his own backup.

Way to get things started, idiot. It was a good thing Gage never went anywhere unarmed. If Brett had backup, Gage did too.

Brett pulled into the clearing and stopped where Hadley had parked just a few nights before. Gage grabbed his pistol from the console and racked one before stepping out, not bothering to hide the weapon.

Brett got out of the driver’s side, but that wasn’t the reason Gage stopped in his tracks. A woman stepped around the front of the truck and into the glow of the headlights.

Hadley. What was she doing here?

Gage stepped toward Hadley and raised his gun at Brett.

“Gage, no!” Hadley shouted.

In the few seconds since they’d gotten out of the trucks, Gage had already decided he’d do anything necessary to protect Hadley. Darting his gaze back and forth between Brett and Hadley, he kept his gun pointed squarely at Brett. “You better talk fast, Patton.”

Brett held up his hands. “I come in peace. Hadley just wanted to be here for this because she has some things to talk to you about too.”

The roar of blood in Gage’s ears was too loud as his attention flicked back and forth. Gage had never been afraid of anything in his life. Not like this.

“It’s true. We just want to talk,” Hadley said, lacing every word with panicked assurance.

Gage hadn’t been mentally prepared to see Hadley with Brett tonight. He’d trusted her, and now all of the loyalty lines they’d drawn were blurring.

“It’ll all make sense in just a little bit. I promise,” Hadley said.

Gage kept his gaze locked on Brett as he lowered the gun. “What do you want? Is Thea okay?”

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