Page 16 of Rough Love

"Hey," she said as she walked into his office. He could see she was a bit nervous as she sat down in the chair opposite him.

"Hey, how's the club looking?" he asked. He wanted to make her feel relaxed.

"Everything is going well, nothing out of the ordinary has happened recently," she replied. Sage could see her getting a little more comfortable as she noticed his energy was calm.

"That's good, that's very good," Sage said.

"So, what's the news you have to tell me?" she asked.

“Well, I phoned Laura's parents today and what they told me was very interesting," he said. He could see Mia's interest peaked at the mention of Laura.

"What did they say, do they know if she's alive?" she asked. Her voice filled with intrigue.

"She's not alive. She died two years ago and that's it. They said her sister visits them often so it can't be her and she doesn't have any cousins who could be pretending to be her either,” he said. He watched as the expression on Mia’s face became serious.

“What does this mean then?” she asked.

Sage didn’t actually know what it meant, all he knew was that someone had to stop Lorraine before someone got hurt.

“I honestly don’t know what we’re going to do. I really need to figure exactly what’s going on,” he replied.

“Do you think it could have something to do with the Omens?” Mia asked.

Sage had thought that they could be involved, the act of pretending to be someone else seemed cruel enough that the Omens could be behind it.

“I suspect it could have something to do with them, I just don’t know what their angle is,” he said.

The first thought Sage had was to just go looking for the Omens, taking them by surprise but he knew better than that. He had learned his lesson the first time that the Omens should be taken seriously.

“I think we should prepare ourselves for whatever could be coming our way. All of this sounds too dangerous for my liking,” Mia said.

Sage was proud of Mia. She had grown so much since she had moved to Florida and it showed when they were in trouble. Her face was strong and serious as if she was already prepared mentally for whatever was going to happen.

“I believe you’re right, we have to stand strong against this,” he replied. He wished he could keep Mia out of it. It hurt him to think that he could lose yet another woman during a fight he had no control over. He knew she wouldn’t stay out of it.

He could see that Mia was about to respond just as the sound of his computer went off, notifying him that he had received an email.

“Hold that thought,” he said as he turned to his computer to look at the email. He saw Fiona’s name and knew immediately that it was important. He scanned through the email, his eyebrows raised as his thoughts became real.

“What does it say?” Mia asked from in front of him.

Sage proceeded to read the email out loud.

‘Sage, Lorraine has grown up in Florida all her life so there is no way she could be Laura. Her DNA is also proof of that. She ties back to the Omens and is a threat to us. You need to be on high alert.’

The message was short and to the point. It set off warning bells in Sage’s mind as he read it over again in his head. His suspicions had been right and it was clear that the Omens would stop at nothing until they brought down the Screaming Demons. Sage knew he wouldn’t go down without a fight.

“Shit, this isn’t good, Sage,” Mia said after listening to the email and Sage had to agree. Whenever the Omens were involved, it only meant trouble.

“I’m going to call Fiona and see what she wants us to do,” he replied as he reached for the phone that lay on his desk. Fiona picked up almost immediately.

“Hi, Fiona. Let me put you on loudspeaker because Mia is with me,” he said as he quickly pressed the loudspeaker icon on his phone. “Go ahead, Fiona.”

“Hi, guys. Listen, whatever the Omens have planned is definitely not going to be good for us. I think it’s best if I send more guys to you,” Fiona said, her voice strong and powerful.

Sage knew it was the best idea for them. They couldn't risk anything happening and they would definitely need more help if the Omens were playing tricks.

"That would help a lot, thank you, Fiona," Mia said.

"Yes, that would definitely be good for us," Sage agreed.

"Okay, perfect. They'll arrive by tomorrow. In the meantime, stay alert at all times. Anything could happen and we have to be prepared," Fiona said.

"Of course," Sage replied.

"Good, I've gotta go. I need to pick out the best men for this. Let me know if anything happens," Fiona said just before the line went dead. Sage knew that if Fiona felt they needed back up there could only be one way things could go and it became a little frightening for him. He had been trained to survive at all costs and he could handle tough situations but he also knew that they were completely blindsided by what could happen. He hoped that they would make it out alive because whatever the Omens had planned had to be big. It would explain the lengths they had gone to just to try to catch them by surprise.

Sage looked at Mia as the severity of the situation sunk in. Whatever was going to happen sounded big and there was no way they could really know what the Omens had planned until they attacked. He knew he would protect Mia no matter what happened. In the end, her life meant everything to him. He couldn’t risk losing her after he had just let her into his heart. He loved her more than he had loved anyone before and that was huge for him. He didn’t want to picture his life without her because for the first time in the longest time he could picture himself settling down with someone. He had tried to cut himself off from that. Even when he had met Laura he had tried to stay away from her because of the type of job they had. He loved to play the protector, no matter what the situation was.