Page 34 of Hush (Fighting Fate)

I almost gasped out loud. I watched him turn away and glare out his side window, looking very much like he was kicking himself for saying anything. I was in shock. Did he seriously mean that?

Taking his cue, I turned and looked out my own window. I knew I should be going, but as crazy as it sounded, I wasn’t ready to leave him just yet. I had no idea when I’d be seeing him again.

Without turning away from the window, I asked, “How often will I have to come back?”

When he didn’t answer me, I turned to look at him. He was watching me again, but this time his expression was guarded. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “I don’t know. There’s…” He pressed his lips together and shook his head. “I don’t know.”

I didn?

?t understand, but he seemed too dejected now to push. Sighing, I reached for the door handle. “I better go then.”

When all I got was a nod, I slipped out, grabbed the bag off the back seat and turned away. He waited for me to leave first, and as hard as it was, I forced myself not to look at him as I drove away.

Not wanting to have that god awful bag in my possession any longer than I had to, I drove straight home, dumping it at Aaron’s feet before trudging up the stairs to my room.

I was so done with thinking. My brain felt absolutely fried. All I wanted to do was take a warm shower and climb into bed. I didn’t even think I’d care if I missed dinner.

But try as I might, I couldn’t sleep. I just couldn’t get Mitch out of my head. The second I snuggled up under the blankets, the image of him came straight onto the screen of my mind. All I could see was his hard, muscular chest, and his intense colorful eyes.

And once I started there, I couldn’t stop it. The sweet, sugary taste of his lips, and the firm, mouthwatering contours of his body, had me groaning from the memory of them against me. I wondered if what I was feeling was something along the same lines as Stockholm syndrome. I hadn’t been kidnapped, but I was definitely forced into a situation I had no control over and had to rely on the one person to look after me.

Yeah, great. I was a walking head case.

Chapter 26

Noah

The closer the shipment came, the harder it was to push down my excitement. TJ still hadn’t given any of us any details, but I had a feeling that had more to do with the fact that he didn’t know the details yet either.

One thing I could console myself with was TJ’s opinion of me. Since both my visits to Delaney and Jay, it was obvious he was more relaxed around me than usual. I didn’t think he’d ever be able to look at me without suspicion, but I’d learnt he was like that with everyone. Hell, he was probably like that with his own mother. All I knew was that I’d passed some sort of test.

Ever since we’d put the heavy on Jay and found the counterfeit pills, TJ had been holing himself up in his office on the phone, talking to every single one of his buyers. He’d sent Pock and Vinnie out to find Jay again, but it seemed he’d pulled a disappearing act.

We also had a lot of discussions about where the shipment was going after we’d taken delivery and bagged it all. TJ was quite amazing to watch really. If he’d managed to pick something legitimate to do with his life, I would almost put money on his success.

The other thing we were doing a lot of was counting and bundling money in to piles. That was the reason I knew the shipment was still going ahead. TJ was making sure the money would be ready when the shipment came in.

I also knew what I’d be doing for the rest of the week.

Debt collecting.

Yeah, my life was just fucking awesome.

Chapter 27

Kaeli

The next few days at school were weird. I almost felt as though I had two different people living inside my body. The person I’d always been, and this new person that had emerged since I’d become caught up in Ken’s bullshit.

Thankfully, some new girl by the name of Sarah had arrived at school, somehow finding a place within our circle of friends and keeping everyone’s attention away from me. I thought that might actually give me more time to ponder over my problems, but unfortunately, she seemed to take a special interest in me and constantly kept trying to talk to me, when all I wanted to do was sort my head out.

My main problem was that I had no idea how to reconcile these two different people who had taken up residence inside my body, together. I didn’t know how to pretend I was okay when my head was so screwed up it didn’t know which way was up.

Surprisingly, the thing I had the most issues with wasn’t what I suspected it should be. It was my growing attachment to Mitch. I was still shit scared of that god awful house of horrors, but the protectiveness I felt from Mitch kind of made it bearable.

And that was where my worries came in.

I couldn’t understand for the life of me why I felt that way. It seemed wrong on so many levels. He. Was. A. Criminal. I said it to myself so many times, hoping it would sink in and reasonable feelings of panic and disgust would take over. But they didn’t.

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