RUSH (Montgomery Men #1) - C.A. Harms Page 0,46

it a step further.”

“It would appear my girl is a real live daredevil,” he said with a chuckle. “Just another college mishap?” he asked, still giving me an amused smile.

“Yes, I have many,” I assured him. Only that too wasn’t the case. I only had “mishaps” like these after I met Jase.

I felt like I was driving another wedge between us with each lie I told. And that thought saddened me more than anything else.

ASHTON

IT’D BEEN ONE MONTH SINCE I convinced Kiera to give in to my advances and seven weeks since she first walked into my office and knocked me on my ass without warning.

I’d tried to wait for her to be ready to tell me fully about her past, and I’d remained silent throughout each lie. The stories she told about herself sounded so fake and forced that I knew they were a far stretch from the truth.

Maybe she’d come from a broken family that was nothing like my own.

Maybe she was one of those unlucky children that suffered at the hands of some sick fuck who should have known better, but didn’t.

I didn’t know, and not knowing ate away at me every day. But I didn’t want to be that guy that didn’t trust his girlfriend enough to wait for her to be to tell him what was bothering her.

Still, no matter how hard I tried to bury my curiosity, it just kept hammering away inside my mind day after fucking day.

So after staring for hours at the same spot on the wall next to the bookshelf in my office, I caved. I made a call to a man I knew would do whatever he could to help me find the answers I craved.

“What’s up, brother?” Beckett said as he answered my call.

“I need a favor.” I leaned back in my chair, feeling like the world’s biggest asshole.

“Name it.”

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. “I need you to look into the past of the woman I’m dating.” It came out in a rush, as if saying it fast would make me feel like less of a prick. “Things just seem off at times.”

“What do you mean ‘off’?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I whispered, feeling like I should have just kept this to myself, but knowing now that I brought it up, Beck would never let it go. “There’s this sadness about her, even though she tries so hard to hide it. All I want to do is find out what it is, what causes it, and make it all go away. I’ve never fucking felt like that before, Beckett. Most of the time I just didn’t give a shit about whatever the fuck the women I was with had going on in their heads, but I want to protect Kiera from whatever is bothering her or whatever has hurt her.” Silence set over us, and my mind rolled over all the stories she’d told me.

“She doesn’t give too many details about her past, ever. But sometimes it’s like she slips up and lets something resurface without knowing it. It is kind of like she gets lost in a thought, and her eyes get this sullen look. I don’t really know to describe it, but there is something there.” I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my desk as I held the phone securely to my ear. “I need to know where she came from, about her life before she arrived in New York. I know she’s hiding something, Beckett.”

“Get me her full name, her address, and anything else you know,” he told me. “I’ll find out what I can.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

I felt even worse now than I had before. But I had to know what she was hiding. And why.

I sat at the bar with a tumbler of scotch in my hand and my cell phone on the bar top, lightly tapping at the empty space next to the device that continued to ring and chirp with incoming calls and notifications. My head was so fucked up over the right and wrong thing to do. Every moment since I called my brother, I’ve felt guilty for prying. I knew I was violating her privacy, yet I also knew she wouldn’t tell me the truth, which meant I had to take matters into my own hands.

When my phone vibrated again, I looked down to find Kiera’s name on the screen. This was the third time she’d tried calling in the last hour