Page 11 of Renegade
Chapter Four
Walker
I glance at the clock for about the twentieth time. Ten forty-five. Where the hell is Gemma? After promising to talk to me about McKenzie as soon as she got home from work, she left me a note saying she had a date tonight, but she’d be home by ten and we’d talk then.
Ten, my ass. I get up and stalk around the small apartment, irritated with myself for being put out. It’s not like she knew I was coming, or that I expect her to drop everything because I’m here. And of course, I don’t care that she’s on a date. What Gemma does is up to her. It’s just that she said she’d be back at ten, and the sooner I can get to the bottom of who’s after McKenzie—not to mention discovering if Liam really sold guns to the Mexican cartel and, if so, where the hell they are—the better.
I stare at the clock again. Four hours is a long-ass dinner. They’re probably at his place, having a quick fuck, and…I clench my fists at the thought of some man’s hands on Gemma’s body.
Enough.When I was younger, the pent-up energy created when I got frustrated often got me into trouble, but now I know how to deal with it. When I get agitated like this, the best thing is to work it out physically—either with a hard run, a hard workout, or a hard fuck. However, since it’s almost eleven o’clock at night and I’m in a town where I don’t know anyone but Gemma and Charlotte, options two and three are out. Thank God I can run anywhere.
Five minutes later, I’ve changed into athletic shorts and a T-shirt, put on my running shoes, and left a quick note letting Gemma know where I am. I open the door, steeling myself for the muggy heat…and Gemma tumbles backward into me. I reflexively catch her, my hands on her waist as I set her on her feet. She’s wearing a crop top with jeans, and her bare skin beneath my hands feels like warm satin.
A discreet cough makes me realize I’m still holding her, and I drop my hands like she’s a bomb about to detonate. In those skinny jeans that hug her ass, she might as well be. The source of the cough—a distinguished-looking man in his early forties, wearing an expensive suit—is standing in the doorway, looking at me with raised eyebrows. He nods toward me.
“Who is this?” he asks Gemma.
“Oh, right. This is Walker.”
I’ve never heard Gemma sound flustered before, and I look at the guy more closely. He’s attractive enough, I guess, but he’s not right for Gemma. He’s too old, for one thing, and there’s something about him I don’t like.Maybe it’s the fact that Gemma looks at him like a love-struck teenager. Or maybe because it’s obvious he just had her pressed against the front door, kissing her until her lips are slightly swollen, a voice in my head says derisively. I mentally shake my head. I don’t give a shit who Gemma dates.
Still, she’s like a little sister to me, and I want him to know if he fucks with her, he fucks with me. Pulling myself up to my full five feet and eleven inches, I take a step forward and hold out my hand. “Walker Kinkaid. And you are?” I fix him with my most intimidating stare.
He doesn’t look away. “Declan Campbell,” he says, shaking my hand.
We stare each other down, neither of us wanting to be the first to look away, until Gemma interrupts.
“Walker is one of my oldest and best friends. He just got in last night from the Philippines.”
Declan relaxes a bit, but he still regards me warily. “Well, I guess you two have a lot to catch up on then. I’ll say good night.” He turns to Gemma and says, “Think about what we talked about. I’ll call you when I get back.”
“So much for being a cat lady,” I say after he’s left.
She sighs and flops down on the couch. “I know. They say you always find someone when you’re not looking, but that was fast!”
“You just met him,” I point out.
“Yeah, but there’s something about him…” She trails off with a secret smile, and I inexplicably dislike the guy even more. Why have I never noticed Gemma’s lips before? They’re full and pink and perfectly shaped, and my traitorous imagination immediately conjures up an image of those lips wrapped around my cock while she stares up at me with her big green eyes.
Her voice breaks through my completely inappropriate thoughts. “But enough about Declan. You wanted to know about me and Kenzie going to California to visit the guy Liam saved.”
I’m as relieved as she seems to be to change the subject. “I do. Tell me about it.”
Gemma slips off her fuck-me heels and stretches out on the sofa, propping her feet on my thighs. “It was just a couple of weeks after Liam died. As you know, everyone loved Liam, and McKenzie got hundreds of condolences in the mail, on Facebook and Twitter, and in email. So many that she almost missed his. His name was Steve Morris, and he sent her a message that said the usual—he was sorry for her loss, Liam was a hero, blah, blah, blah. But at the end, he told her who he was—the man Liam had died saving—and that Liam had given him something to give to her right before he died.
“Kenzie was pretty raw emotionally at that time. This guy was one of the last people Liam had seen before he died,andhe said he had something Liam wanted her to have. So of course, she wanted to see him. She wrote him back and asked if she could meet him in person as soon as possible. He agreed, and a few days later, she and I flew to San Francisco to see him. He even picked us up at the airport.”
I frown. “That wasn’t safe. You didn’t even know him.” I lean forward. “When exactly did you guys go?”
“Let’s see…” She picks up her phone and opens the calendar. After a couple of swipes, she says, “April first. It was a Saturday. Why?”
“Did he drive you back to the airport?”
“No. We stayed at his house for a few hours, and then he drove us back to the hotel. We stayed overnight in San Francisco and took an Uber to the airport the next day.” She sits up and crosses her arms over her chest. “Okay. Tell me why you have your serious, intense face on or I’m not going to tell you anything else.”
I arch an eyebrow at her. “Is that right?”
She tilts her head to the side cockily, determined to outwait me. A long silence passes before I relent. “He died that day in a freak car accident.”
