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No one said a word. We all stood around the room exchanging glances, letting the situation sink in.
Then Kev’s body tensed, and he dragged in a huge breath. I knew what he was going to do before he even opened his mouth, and I wished like hell I could stop him, but the words were out before I could move a muscle.
“I can get his Horn.”
19
KEV
I deliberately didn’t look at Hux. I knew he’d be mad and worried. Instead, I looked at Champ. “I know I can do this. I have a relationship with Ad—Linus, and he thinks I’m naive enough to go along with him.”
Hux’s body thrummed with tension, so much that it vibrated the air between us and coiled all my own muscles in response. I knew Hux was going to freak out, especially coming on the heels of my last interaction with Linus, but at the same time, I wasn’t going to sit by when I was the team member best placed for this particular op.
“You know it’s true,” I added.
Thankfully, Hux kept his mouth shut. Meanwhile, Laurel’s eyes glittered like a sacrificial lamb had just dropped into her lap… because I had.
Champ rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Let me think about this.”
“There’s nothing to think about,” Laurel scoffed. “The kid has an in, so we use him.”
Hux’s muscles had turned to steel, and anger radiated off him in waves. “This kid is a brilliant programmer who’s not trained for this shit,” he snapped. “And he doesn’t work for you—”
“No,” Champ said firmly. “He works for me.”
“And he makes decisions for himself,” I added in a much softer tone.
Champ nodded. He exchanged a look with Hux, then Riggs before turning back to Laurel. “What’s the risk assessment entail? What do we know about this Linus guy?”
Laurel winced and shot me a look that was almost guilty. “Nothing good. Let’s just say that if Vince had carried out the hit on you the way Linus wanted… it wouldn’t have been the first murder he was involved in.”
Oh. Good. Great.
Hux pushed himself back from the table so quickly his chair toppled over. “I need… fuck.” He stalked toward the bedroom and slammed the door behind him.
Riggs ran a hand over his face. “Kev, have you really thought this through? What you’re risking for yourself… and what you’re asking him to risk?” If there was any doubt in my mind whether Carter had shared his suspicions about me and Hux with Riggs, that confirmed it.
I looked at the closed door over Riggs’s shoulder. The part of me that still wanted to protect myself felt like I should say something self-deprecating about how Hux and I were new, about how Hux’s reaction said more about his protective streak than about his feelings for me. But it felt wrong to deny or minimize what had grown between Hux and me in such a short time.
While the conversation at the table turned to discussion of Linus’s service record and the crimes they suspected him of, I stood up and walked toward the bedroom. The door wasn’t locked, so I entered without knocking, then leaned back against it, closing out the rest of the world for a moment.
The bedsheets were still crumpled from where Hux and I had lain on them earlier—shit, was it just a few hours ago?—expecting to have the entire suite to ourselves all night, and now here we were, plotting to take down my supposed online boyfriend, who was actually a corrupt DEA agent acting on behalf of a crime lord.
Hux stood in front of the large picture window, his muscular frame a dark shape that blocked out the night sky and the colorful lights of the Strip beyond.
“Hux?” I said softly, stepping toward him cautiously.
He spun from the window and met me halfway, dropping to his knees before me in front of the bed and grabbing my hand in his. “I’m sorry. I know how hard this is on you, and I don’t want to make it harder. I just… I’m sorry.”
My knees suddenly felt like jelly, and I sank down onto the bed with a bounce.
I knew what he meant. He was sorry I was still involved in this mess. Sorry that someone I’d considered a friend—or maybe more—had betrayed me. Maybe even sorry that he’d freaked out.
I was sorry too. Sorry that I was so fucking naive that I hadn’t seen Anomaly for a smarmy asshole when he’d done a really shitty job of hiding it. Sorry I couldn’t find a genuine friend to save my life, since even Smitty had peaced out of my life at the first opportunity. Sorry I’d been taken in by someone with an agenda. Sorry that I couldn’t sit this op out, even though it would cost both of us.
Hux laid his head on my lap. “You don’t have to do this. I don’t want you to do this.”
