Page 88 of Rescuing Kaye

I do a double-take. “What do you mean bysupposed to be?”

Mitzy snorts, then covers her face. “Sorry.”

“What’s so funny?” I look between her and Brady, confused.

“We’re going to have fun tonight.” Booker turns off his tablet.

“Why?” I glance around the table. Once again, I’m missing a key piece of information. Then it hits me. “Because he isn’t in Tahoe?”

“Exactly.” Mitzy presses her fingertip to the tip of her nose, telling me I got that on the nose.

“So he’s not where he said he would be. Who cares? If he’s off-duty, he’s off-duty. He’s a grown man, and how would you know…” I cock my head and give Mitzy the eye. “Unless…” My voice is full of accusation and outrage. “I thought you didn’t track us like that?”

One requirement of being a Guardian is allowing Guardian HRS to implant two tracking devices in our bodies; one to find and one to hide. It’s an issue of safety, in case we’re ever captured or killed. No matter where we are on the globe, Mitzy’s team can find us, or our body.

“Cool it,” Brady speaks up. “I asked her to locate him.”

“Why?”

“Because he wasn’t answering my calls.” Brady gives me a look, calling me out for calling Mitzy out. “I needed to track him down, and good thing I did.”

“Why?”

“Because we were wasting resources trying to locate the fourth roommate.” Mitzy taps on the keyboard. Those lightning fast fingers draw my eye while her words sink in.

“Barbi?” I rub my nose as it all falls into place.

“Turns out, Barbi’s with him in Vegas. Not Tahoe,” Mitzy interjects. “We’ve been trying to track her down, wasting time—and you know how I feel about that.” She props her hand on her hip and shakes her head.

“Looks like the two of them have been sneaking around. Not wanting us to know they’ve been hooking up.” Rafe glares at me. “Like you’ve been doing with Kaye.”

“I know nothing about any of that.” I hold my hands up in defense. “And I haven’t touched Kaye. I’m keeping things professional.”

“Seriously?” Hayes shakes his head. “You’re such a terrible liar. The two of you are totally hooking up. It’s not like we didn’t see you leaving her room this morning.” The muscles of Rafe’s jaw clench.

“Are you stalking her? Me? Isn’t that what brought us here? Stalker behavior?”

“Not stalking, but it was kind of hard to miss.” Rafe’s eyes narrow down into two slivers. He’s fucking pissed. “Getting caught up with a woman in the middle of an operation puts your head in the wrong damn place.”

“Says the pot to the kettle.” I slam my hand on the conference table and stand, raising my voice. “You of all people…” I stop and point to Hayes as well. “The two of you have shit to say to me about that, and for your information, Kaye asked me toholdher while she slept, emphasis onsleep. There was no fucking going on. She’s scared. Terrified over what Scott might do to her friends. Not knowing where Barbi is only makes things worse. She asked me to hold her, and that’s exactly what I did.”

“Zeb…” Brady raises his voice, not to shout, but to end the back and forth. Basically, grab our attention and tell us to shut the fuck up. “Sit down. No one is accusing anyone of anything. Or judging one another.” He points to Rafe and Hayes. “It’s none of your business what Zeb does, or doesn’t do, and if Kaye asked him to hold her while she slept, then leave it be. It’s not like either of you haven’t done the same. Alec is on his way, or will be once he reads his texts. Barbi is with him. We can stop looking for her because we know she’s with him. As for making Alec pay, we’ll have fun with him tonight. Right now, let’s get down to business and stop wasting time.”

“Now that we’re done with the macho, testosterone bullshit…” Mitzy presses a tiny remote. The images of six college-aged women pop up on the screen at the far end of the room.

“Who are they?” Rafe, Hayes, and I aren’t finished with this conversation, but we put it aside for now.

“They are the women who filed complaints against Professor Parker,” Mitzy says. “He’s one of those assholes who finds himself in a position of power over young, impressionable college coeds. He uses that power to prey on his victims and feed his depraved fantasies.”

“Kaye was terrified when I saw the ligature marks on her wrists and the bruising around her neck. The look on her face…” I drag my hand down my face, remembering that moment. Bile rises in the back of my throat, feeling her fear, her desperation, and the betrayal that went against everything she knew about Scott. “He’s into dominating women and forcing them into dangerous situations.” I’m going to teach this asshole a lesson when I see him.

“That’s how predators work,” Mitzy says. “They lull their prey into feeling safe, then pounce when least expected.”

And that was Kaye.

Prey.

“So what do we do with the women?”

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