Page 79 of Law Of Love

Kaleb with someone else. I felt sick.

We weren’t officially together, but I liked to believe that if he wanted to cut things off because he’d met someone else, he would have the decency to speak to me about it first.

“I just don’t know what’s happened in the past two weeks. Something’s going on, and he won’t go into detail. He says it’s work, but usually, if work is bothering him, he tells me about it. When I’m talking to him, it’s like he’s there, but he’s also not, you know?”

Hannah hummed, tapping her finger against her chin.

I turned my head towards Brent, and he averted his gaze, having been watching us intensely. He wasn’t close enough to hear our conversation, but I had a feeling he was trying to read our lips over the music. Waving him over, I waited for him to join us, and he settled down into the chair beside me, arching a brow.

“Am I one of the girls now?” he asked teasingly.

I rolled my eyes. “How’s work been? Kaleb said there haven’t been any updates on Will.”

Brent ran his hand through his short, buzz-cut hair, humming. “No, we haven’t heard much. Because Will knows what Kaleb and I are, there’s not much need to involve us.”

That was what Kaleb had said, too.

“I mean, technically, it is actually Christmas break for us now.” Brent laughed. “Obviously, that doesn’t mean work stops for us, though. We could still get called to do emergency raids, but I think the chief is giving us a bit of slack.”

Slack.

Then what was making Kaleb so stressed and distant?

“When will you be heading back to base?” questioned Hannah, pushing her fries over to a starving Brent, and he dug in, shrugging in response.

“Should be the second week of January, but it depends when we get appointed our new locations.”

I gulped. I prayed Kaleb would be stationed nearby, but I understood the chances were slim.

“Any news on that?”

“Kaleb hasn’t said anything to me regarding a new base. The chief’s called me twice to discuss it, and he’s given me the names of a few he believes I’ll be stationed at, but it’s not a guarantee.”

“So, you and Kaleb won’t be sent to the same one?”

Brent shook his head. “We’ve been partners for years, but that was only because we were from the same area and could spy on Will easily, so no, I doubt we’ll be sent to the same base after he's charged.”

Blissful ignorance. It was damaging our relationship. Kaleb and I were both frightened for the future, but sweeping it under the rug wasn’t going to benefit us in any way. It wasn’t a topic we could put off—not with everything happening so quickly.

“Are you finished?” I asked Hannah.

“Yep, let’s go.”

Brent drove Hannah and me back to our houses, and I wrapped my arms around myself as I made my way up the stairs and towards Kaleb’s room. I wasn’t sure what he was doing tonight—yet another thing he’d been vague about.

“Kaleb,” I called, rattling on the wood of his bedroom door, waiting a couple of seconds before pushing it open, poking my head in.

His desk lamp was on, the yellow rays beaming down onto piles of paperwork. His bed was unmade, and his clothes were strung all over the floor. He usually kept his room pretty spotless, so it was unusual to find it looking like a bomb had detonated inside.

The scent of his musky cologne hit me, and I breathed it in meanly, stepping into the room further. I'd never really taken too much of a good look around Kaleb’s room—always far too distracted—but it wasn’t overly inspiring. Heavy weights thrown to the ground. An open wardrobe full of mostly black clothing. A bookcase shoved into the corner, filled with thriller novels that appeared untouched.

Grunting to myself as my hip bumped into the corner of the desk, I cursed as his paperwork and files tumbled to the floor. God dammit.

I leaned down to pick them up, my hands swiping up the papers, attempting to keep them in order as I stacked them back up on his desk. But one particular yellow file caught my attention.

Mark Henderson.

My face blanched, and my shaking hands reached for it, bringing it closer to my face as I took a deep breath. My eyes skimmed over the papers, but I struggled to pick up more than a few words, my head spinning.

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