Page 70 of With Spite

Hux walked to it and opened it up wide, revealing his cousin, Katana.

“I took this job to see more of y’all,” she said. “And guess what? I never see y’all. It was like you all dropped off the face of the earth. I only have six months, you know.”

Hux paused. “Six months for what? This was just a weird week. I was gone for five days. Hampton had to work a couple of forty-eight on and twenty-four off to cover for one of his coworkers that had a baby. Heidi is sick as a dog. And Harvey hates our mom with a passion.”

Katana covered her mouth. “Oh, nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Hux caught her hand and stilled her from retreating. “Katana, what did you mean?”

“Oh, nothing.” Katana stilled, looking cornered.

Huxley moved closer. “Katana.”

Katana’s shoulders drooped. “It’s just…”

Huxley growled. “Katana!”

Seventeen

Here, hold my morals.

—Hux to Bernice

Hux

Katana looked like she was about to run away and never look back.

When Katana stayed stubbornly silent, I said, “I’ll find out one way or another.”

Katana shrugged and smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “Sure.”

I let her go and watched her leave, having a bad, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

The moment the door closed, I walked the food over to the bar that I used as a kitchen table and placed it there before taking my phone out of my pocket and finding the number I wanted.

Beaufort answered in four rings, sounding hesitant when he finally answered with a gruff, “Hello?”

I placed the phone on speaker, set it on the counter, then leaned on the counter with both hands, letting my head hang. “What’s Katana hiding?”

There was a long pause, then, “Give me a minute. I’m in a meeting.”

He hung up, and I knew it was bad.

“Who is that?” The soft voice came from beside me.

Her hesitant hand went to the ball of my shoulder, and the calm that came over me at the simplest of touches from her was nearly overwhelming.

“That’s one of my club brothers, who also happens to be best friends with Katana,” I said. “Always thought that they were going to get together. They’ve been neighbors for their entire lives. I think they have some pact at thirty-five that they’ll marry if they’re single. If anyone knows what’s going on with her, it’s Beau.”

“Beau?” she said. “Is that the billionaire that owns that professional soccer team?”

“The one that Nettie, Boone’s wife, is on?” I nodded. “That’s him.”

“Oh,” she breathed. “The Dixie Wardens have some really important people in their fold.”

“That they do,” I confirmed just as the phone rang again. I hit answer almost immediately and said, “Tell me.”

“She swore me to secrecy,” he replied. “I can’t.”