Page 4 of Rough Trip

“Mmm… a few weeks ago,” Sage had been busying himself, pretending to sleep through the Wall Kats and the Hell Kats, he didn’t notice they had a new girl working at the bar.

“So what will it be, big guy?” she said with a cheeky wink, bringing him back to reality.

“And who are you exactly?” Sage asked. Danger, he thought to himself. He could already sense that she would be bad news for him if he were to get involved and the one thing he knew about himself was that he was never wrong. There had only been a few times where he didn’t listen to his instinct and he had learned his lesson.

“The name is Mia, but you can call me whatever you like, sexy,” she said with a cheeky grin that showed off a perfect set of white teeth.

He couldn’t help but smile at her little grin.

She oozed confidence and sex appeal.

“You done with your questions?” Sage could tell she was part of the Hell Kats and he knew how they worked, a little too well. Messing around with the Kats was one thing, having a close relationship with one was another. He knew he couldn’t get too close.

“Don’t you have better things to do?” Sage asked. She hadn’t moved, she had taken a seat next to him at the bar and rested her head in her hands and stared at him while she leaned on the bar with her elbows.

“Well, I could be doing you but I think that’s still up for discussion,” Mia said with yet another wink.

Sage chuckled. “Someone is coming in hot.”

He would be lying to himself if he said he didn’t like her attitude. Although she came across as cute, or rather she looked cute, he could tell she had a bit of a feisty side. He liked it but he had to keep his head straight. He wasn’t here to get involved with anyone, he already knew how that could go. He had a job to do and that had to be all he focused on.

“I’m only matching the heat that’s radiating off of you,” she said. She seemed to have a sharp tongue and a quick mind.

“Do you have a handbook of sayings hidden somewhere?” he asked.

“I can’t help myself, you bring it out of me,” she replied.

“Haha, see you around,” Sage said as he saw Fiona call him over.

Sage had had to pop into the bar more frequently the more he worked for Fiona. Sometimes she’d send him there without her to get files from Grier.

He would be shadowed by Mia every time he went. She seemed to have taken a liking to him and she made it very obvious. And he hadn’t taken any interest in any other Kats since he saw her.

“So it’s another day, what can I help you with?” she asked the next time he was at the bar.

“You never quit, do you?’ he asked. He could have felt irritated by her constantly at his side but instead, he rather liked her following him around.

“Not when I want something,” she said. “And you’re something I want.”

“I’m not something you should want,” he said.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” she replied.

Clearly, she would not give up any time soon.

Although Sage liked the attention she gave him he knew couldn’t allow himself to feel anything for her. He would not allow himself to. The last time he had fallen in love he had lost it all and it had taken him a long time to recover from that. He could not put himself through that again, especially in this line of work; it was even more messed up than the army ever was. He still missed Laura every day and he could never see himself getting mixed up with anyone again.

Mia was fierce and beautiful; he definitely had thought about them together but he had to keep his distance. He could not risk getting his heart torn apart. After Laura had died, he could not put himself in a position to lose someone important to him again. It had taken everything he had just to survive after the attack, it had taken everything just to feel normal again.

Since Mia had joined the Hell Kats she knew she was there only to get intel for the Omens but she had never had to sell her body for anything before and she couldn’t bring herself to do that now. She had done a lot of things in her life but she could never feel comfortable sleeping with someone she didn’t truly care about or love. She had been caught up with the wrong people all her life and now she had put herself in a life-threatening situation. She only had herself to blame; she had found the Omens and had agreed to be their spy. No one had forced her into it, she had just run out of options and had to do it. Another problem she began to face was that she felt like she belonged with the Hell Kats and she didn’t want to lose that. Although they demanded to be known and respected around town, they treated everyone within their group like family, and for Mia, that was all she had ever wanted. She didn’t want to risk it by being a spy anymore.

She had managed to flirt her way up and luckily for her, it didn’t seem to be that much of an issue. She wasn’t sure if it was because of her personality or what but Fiona hadn’t said anything to her and she hoped it would stay that way because she couldn’t afford to lose her position. She couldn’t let the Omens down because she knew her life was on the line. They didn’t care if you were a woman; if they didn’t get what they wanted, they would make you pay and Mia could only imagine what that would mean for her as she was their strongest lead. She was the only person that had gotten this far and yet she still had nothing to show for it.

She had wanted to get out for so long now, but she could never find out how she could do it without putting herself in danger. They would never just let her walk away, she knew too much.

They would kill her. She knew that was a fact. She couldn't die. She had no idea what to do.

Mia had never meant to develop feelings for Sage, but she could never take her eyes off of him whenever he was around. She had tried to keep her distance but whenever he was around she felt drawn to him like a moth to a flame. It didn’t help that he had been coming around more often now that he was one of Fiona's top guys.