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I gave her a moment, letting her breathe before I spoke. My voice was quiet. “Will you let me help you?”

Chapter 8

Noah

Kate was quiet in the seat next to me as we drove. I was glad she was letting me help her, but also worried this might be beyond me. Us.

This gang was bad news. Not only because of the animal cruelty, but because of the other scraps of information we had. There was every possibility they were deep into other illegal activity. Trafficking guns or drugs. Maybe both. And if they were throwing people in with the dogs, it added a whole other component we hadn’t even thought of.

On the way out of town, we stopped at the motel so she could check out of the room she’d never used. I wished she’d told me last night. The guest houses were unoccupied currently, and she wouldn’t have had to spend any time in a panic.

Most of the drive passed in easy silence, with nothing but the radio playing. Kate seemed lost in her thoughts, and I didn’t want to interrupt them. It was only once we pulled into the hospital parking lot that she came out of her stupor.

“Holy shit,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”

“Why?”

She looked over at me. “I just... didn’t talk that entire time. That was rude of me.”

Chuckling, I put my truck in park. “You’re anything but rude, Kate. You have a lot on your mind, and I live on a ranch. I’m used to quiet.”

“Yeah...” She shook her head. “It’s almost scarily quiet out there.”

“At first.”

“You get used to it?”

I jumped out of the truck and was around to her door before she’d had the chance to open it. “You do get used to it.” I helped her down from the cab, very aware of how close it put us. Kate seemed to notice too. “At first it’s unnerving because your brain is still listening for the background noise. But eventually it quiets down, and it feels like you can finally hear yourself think for the first time.”

“That sounds nice,” she whispered.

We walked toward the hospital, and when we got to the doors, Kate put her hand on my arm. “There’s something I forgot to tell you. When Brandon woke up, I told him that I’d seen you. He reacted... badly. Told me none of you could be trusted and you were only in it for the money. That you had to be kept out of things at all costs. It happened right before I saw you in the waiting room, and it shook me. All of that is to say that I don’t think Brandon is going to take kindly to seeing you. He’s not himself.”

I nodded and gestured toward the doors. “I’ve seen plenty of men at their lowest. Everyone recovering from something like this has to go through that place. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay.” She didn’t sound convinced.

The elevator ticked up slowly. “How much does he know right now?”

“I haven’t seen him since yesterday. He doesn’t know about the apartment, or that I know how much money he owes.”

I slipped my hands into the pockets of my jeans. “Can I ask you a favor?”

“Yeah.”

Following her out of the elevator, I slowed down, not sure how close to his room we were. “I’d like you to let me go in first.”

Kate’s eyes widened. Such a unique color, intense, nearly violet blue...

I snapped back to reality. Looking at her eyes was trouble. I wanted to stare at her, and I couldn’t do that right now.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because you’re right. He’s not going to be happy to see me. And I’d rather him let the anger out at me than you.”

Her spine straightened, gaze turning sharp. “I can handle my brother.”

“I never said you couldn’t. But you don’t have to. Let him take out whatever anger he has at me instead of blaming you for going against his wishes.”