Page 61 of Second Shot

“You don’t knowhim.”

“God, you are fucking him, aren’tyou?”

“That’s none of your business even if Iwere.”

“I thought you were smarter than this. But then, you did get yourself knocked up with the asshole’skid.”

“I’m hanging upnow.”

“Fuck. I’m sorry. I didn’tmean…”

“Goodbye,Felix.”

“Wait.” His voice isdesperate.

“What?”

“Just take a look at the article I’m sendingyou.”

“Fine,” I breath out in frustration, hating what our friendship has cometo.

“And Brynne. If you need me, I’m here foryou.”

I hangup.

A couple seconds later my phone pings with a text message. I stare at the link, not sure if I want to openit.

With a deep breath, I tap my thumb on the link and a page opens. It’s some trashy online gossipmagazine.

A quick glance at the article title and I know I’m going to regret openingit.

Kane Madden, Not SoGolden.

I know this magazine. Ninety-nine percent of everything it reports is false, or some fabrication of the truth. But as I scroll through the bullshit and get to the incriminating photos, that damn lump returns to mythroat.

The pictures are black and white and a little fuzzy, marked with a time and date stamp at the top. A quick glance and I know they were taken from the security camera just outside Kane’s apartment by the parking garage entrance. They’ve been zoomed in, enough that Kane’s features are slightlyrecognizable.

The first photo is of him getting out of his car. The second, him approaching a woman. She’s tiny, wearing a hoodie that covers half of her face. But the half that is visible holds a look I’m all too familiar with - hollow eyes, sunkencheeks.

But it’s the third picture that sends a cold shiver down my spine. Him handing her money. Not just pocket change like he might give a homeless person, but a wad ofcash.

I pace the apartment, hating the way I feel. The paranoia. The anxiety. Thefear.

The logical part of my brain, even the part that’s always wanted to see the worst in him, screams that there’s more to the story. That there’s some type of explanation. That he wasn’t doing what the article said he was doing – buyingdrugs.

This is the shitty part about caring aboutsomeone.

Because you either have to trust them, or walk away. There’s no in-between. Unless you want to drown in your ownsuspicions.

If this thing between Kane and I is going to work, then I have to trust him, or I should do us both a favor and end itnow.

Chapter 21

Kane

“We needto take her to the ER,” I growl out, frustration and concern straining everysyllable.

The second I’d walked into Blake’s apartment and saw a broken and beaten girl lying on his couch, my stomach had rolled. I still feel sick thinking about what kind of psychopath could hurt someone likethat.

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