Page 31 of Gatsby's Starlet
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“GATSBY.”
MYSTIC’S VOICEstopped me the next afternoon just as I was heading out for my shift at High Voltage, one foot already angled toward the door.
“Yeah?” I said, turning back and waiting for him.
He closed the distance between us at an easy pace, but there was something in his expression that didn’t match the casual way he moved, something quieter, heavier.
“Got a few questions for you.”
I leaned a shoulder against the wall, folding my arms loosely across my chest.
“Shoot.”
“It’s about Evie.”
That got my attention in a way I didn’t bother hiding.
Mystic leaned back against the wall beside me, his gaze drifting briefly past me like he was sorting through something before settling again.
“Where’d you meet her again?”
“She’s Ruby’s sister,” I said, giving him a slight look. “Met Evie through her.”
Mystic nodded once, slow. “Remind me who Ruby is again.”
Now I frowned a little. “She waitresses at the bar,” I said. “Been around a while. Why?”
Mystic didn’t answer right away. Instead, he dragged a hand down his face, the movement rougher than usual, like whatever he was trying to put into words wasn’t lining up clean.
“I just…” He exhaled through his nose. “I got this feelin’ in my gut something’s not right.”
I felt my shoulders tighten a fraction. “Mystic—”
“I know how that sounds,” he cut in, pushing off the wall and then settling back against it again like he couldn’t quite decide what to do with himself. “I can’t explain it. But the way shelooked at Zeynep…” He shook his head slightly. “Didn’t sit right with me.”
I let out a quiet breath, forcing my tone to stay even. “She was nervous,” I said. “First time in a biker clubhouse, first time meeting everyone. You remember what that’s like.”
Mystic’s gaze shifted to me, studying me in that same quiet way he had the night before. “Yeah,” he said. “I do.”
For a second neither of us spoke.
Then he sighed, the tension easing just a little from his shoulders. “You’re probably right,” he said. “I’ve just been… on edge lately.” His hand moved unconsciously toward his chest, like he was grounding himself. “Ever since we found out about the baby,” he said, his voice dropping just enough to carry the weight behind it, “I won’t let anythin’ happen to them.”
And there it was, not suspicion, not accusation, just something solid and unmoving beneath it.
Protection.
I gave a single nod, steady enough to match what he was putting down. “I get it… but Evie’s safe.”
Mystic held my gaze a second longer, like he was measuring that, deciding what to do with it, before giving a small nod of his own. “I trust you,” he said, his hand coming down once against my shoulder before he pushed off the wall and walked away without another word, leaving the hallway quiet in that way places get when something’s been said that doesn’t quite settle.
I stayed there a moment longer, staring at nothing, letting that silence press in just enough for the thought to slip through anyway, sharp and unwelcome.
What if he’s not wrong?
I let out a breath and pushed myself off the wall before it could dig in any deeper, shaking it off with more force than it probably deserved.
