Page 102 of Clean Slade
“You need to stop promising me things.” He smirked with sadness in his eyes.
I couldn’t tell if it was a poor attempt at a joke or if he was being serious and was pushing me away again.
“I’ll never stop promising you anything, King. Never.”
TWENTY-FOUR
SLADE
Last night’s events…I was still finding it hard to believe they’d happened.
But then I would look at my phone, see King’s heart emoji in response to my last message, and everything would come into perspective.
I finally had everything I wanted. Or, more precisely, the man I wanted, yet everything threatened to take him away from me.
King had told me about his father and their deal. He’d told me about Salieri. He’d told me about the drugs.
I wasn’t happy about any of it, but like he said, until we had a clear path forward, there was very little we could do.
If only he’d shared things sooner, I might have come up with a better plan, but for now, the only one I could think of was sabotaging his father’s efforts while also trying to uncover the man who may be behind the crime syndicate in Wyatt’s hometown.
There was just one thing that didn’t make any sense.
Why would Salieri send someone to take Mackenzie?
If he saw King as a new part of his network, why would he want to take him out? Unless he’d found out who he was.
This whole situation was frustrating and so terrifying.
Nothing had ever felt as scary as SEAL Team 13’s missions. They had always felt distant, like they were happening to someone else and the consequences would only ever damage us. And we were trained.
This…
This shit was real. This could affect Mac, King, his friend, my family. People who had never signed up for any of this. Who weren’t trained to fight the worst of the worst.
“Are you okay, Slade?” Mac asked, standing within reach, crooking up an eyebrow.
As she did, she let out a big yawn, and I snapped back to the here and now.
“I’m fine. Sorry, sweetie. I got…I got distracted.” I pulled her into my arms for a hug and then let her walk through the school gates.
As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. I had half a mind to follow her inside and spend the day being her living shadow.
We should have called in sick and stayed at home.
“Good morning.” Wesley reached the school gates with a bright smile that darkened when he spotted me. “Everything okay?”
“Huh? Oh, yes. Long night. Please go easy on Mac today. She was up late through no fault of her own.”
“Of course.”
I gave him a halfhearted wave and turned to make my way to the car.
“Oh, hang on.”
I stopped, and Wesley came closer.
“I think…I think I found out what’s going on with Mackenzie,” he said.
