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“Can we help you?” Hannah asks, her hand tightening on my arm. He smiles and it hits me like a ton of bricks, recognition flooding my mind as I take a step back. Chills blanket my skin and as he takes a step toward us, I take one back. Hannah’s gaze flicks from me to the man in front of us before she reaches into her bag and pulls out a pistol I didn’t know she had. She points it at him. “Who are you and what do you want?”

He holds his hands up in surrender, that same creepy smile on his face. “I’m a friend of Oliver’s. He wanted me to send his love and let Kady know that he’s looking forward to seeing her again real soon.”

I struggle to breathe as tears sting my eyes and my grip on Hannah’s arm tightens. She glances over at me before turning back to the man in front of us with a steely glare.

“Leave. Now.”

He nods, his hands still in the air as he backs away from us. There’s something so chilling about the look in his eyes but I can’t say it surprises me. You’d have to be half dead to work for the man he works for. We watch him drive away before Hannah tucks the gun back into her purse and turns to me, gripping both of my arms.

“Are you okay?”

I shake my head. “I haven’t been okay for six years, Han.”

“Let’s get you home,” she whispers, tucking me under her arm like she can somehow protect me as we walk to her car and I love her even more for it.

Trouble is, she can’t protect me.

No one can now.

Chapter Nine

Noah

“Who in the fuck is this guy?” I whisper into the empty cab of my truck, watching as a guy looks in Hannah’s car and turns toward the back entrance of the animal clinic. He’s fucking huge, six-two at least, and there’s just something about him that sends off warning bells in my head. Grabbing my phone off the seat next to me, I snap a picture of him just as Kady and Hannah burst through the door laughing and I can’t help but smile. Fuck, I love that look on her face. It’s a moment of pure, unfiltered glee and I get the feeling that those are rare for her these days but back before I was locked up, it was one of my favorite damn things.

I roll down the window as the guy calls Kady’s name. She whips around and scowls, studying him. That little “V” she gets in between her eyebrows when she’s concentrating really hard catches my attention and I shake my head, my smile widening. This is the kind of shit I missed the most all these years I’ve been locked up. Sure, I missed the sex, too, and I’m so goddamn horny right now that I’m not sure how I haven’t lost my damn mind but it’s the little things that make up my Kady that made me regret getting locked up every night I laid in that cell.

“Can we help you?” Hannah asks. He smiles, taking a step toward them and Kady gasps as she takes a step back. My heart jumps into my throat and I grip the steering wheel as Hannah pulls a gun out of her purse and aims it at the man. The man throws his hands up in the air but there’s a smile on his face - the kind of smile that tells me all I need to know about him in an instant - and all I want to do is run across the parking lot and tackle him. Somehow, I remain seated. Based on my last interaction with Kady, I know she wouldn’t appreciate me stepping in or the fact that I’m still watching her.

What else can I do, though?

She’s my goddamn world and being away from her is torture.

“Who are you and what do you want?” Hannah asks, the gun still leveled at his chest. He takes another step closer and says something that I can’t quite make out but the effect it has on Kady is immediate. The color drains from her face as she grabs Hannah’s arm and takes a step back, tears filling her eyes. What the ever-loving fuck? My hand is on the door handle when Hannah turns back to him, her eyes fierce. She says something, making me wish I could hear their conversation even more, and the man slowly starts backing away from them. My gaze flicks back up to my girl and I’ve never seen her look more afraid in her entire life.

What the fuck is going on here?

As the man retreats to his car, I grab my phone off the seat and dial Streak’s number. My gaze follows the man as he reaches his car, a large black SUV, and I memorize his plate.

“Streak’s Empire of Knowledge. How can we inform you today?”

I let out a reluctant laugh. “Dude, I need you to run a plate for me.”

“Give it to me,” he instructs and I read off the plate number as the guy pulls away and races past me, all too eager to get out of here. The line is quiet as he works and I watch Hannah guide a practically comatose Kady over to her car and tuck her into the passenger seat.

“Huh.”

I arch a brow. “Huh? What does that mean?”

“It means I know who that car belongs to but I can’t tell you who’s driving it.”

“Can you try not to be so damn cryptic?” I ask, sighing as I rub my hand over my face. Hannah climbs behind the wheel and turns to Kady to talk to her but she barely even acknowledges her.

“Okay, grouchy. The car is registered to a car rental company a couple towns over but they don’t have it rented to anybody at the moment.”

I scowl as Hannah pulls away from the curb and contemplate following her. I can’t stand that look on Kady’s face right now but I’m not sure if I’d help or hurt the situation. “So whoever owns the company is driving the car?”

“Or a friend or a friend of a friend. I don’t know. It’ll take me a little time to dig into this.”