7. Knox
Knox
I step into the room and find Havoc exactly where I expected him to be. Too close to the girl. He has her half-naked already, and he’s too amused with himself. Too comfortable for a man who just made a mess I now have to clean up.
“Havoc,” I say.
He glances over his shoulder at me, lazy and unbothered. “Knox.” Behind him, the girl scrambles to pull on her panties and jeans, face flaming red.
I try not to watch her. “We have a problem,” I say.
That finally gets Havoc to straighten a little, though not by much. The bastard still looks entertained, like this is all one big joke and I’m the only one rude enough not to laugh.
“With the kill?” he asks.
“Yes, with the kill.”
He shrugs. “It came from Apostle Andrew. We should be good.”
The girl looks between us. “Who’s Apostle Andrew?”
Havoc answers before I can stop him. “Don’t know. No one does. The Apostles are the ones who call the shots.”
“Stop talking,” I bark.
He cuts me a glance, all mock innocence. “What? I’m educating her.”
“You’re running your mouth.”
The girl folds her arms, watching us both now. Listening too closely.
Havoc pushes off the wall and looks at me like I’m the unreasonable one here. “The order came through. We handled it. End of story.”
I shake my head. “No,” I say. “Not end of story.”
His expression shifts, just slightly. Still casual. Still irritatingly loose. “The order didn’t mention directive,” he says. “We should be fine.”
I shake my head. “That’s not the point.”
He leans back like this is some stupid technical argument and not a real problem. “Then what is?”
“The point is you killed the main guy before we could question him.”
That shuts him up for half a second.
The girl looks at him, then at me. “Question him about what?”
I ignore her.
Havoc’s expression barely changes. “The order was to kill him.”
“No,” I say. “The order was clear enough. The problem is you didn’t wait.”
His jaw tightens a little, but he still tries to play it off. “He was going down anyway.”
“Maybe. But he was the only one who might’ve known something useful, and now he’s dead.”
He gives me this look like I’m being dramatic, which only makes me angrier. “You don’t know that,” he says.
“No,” I say. “Because you shot him before we could find out.”
The girl goes quiet at that.
Havoc drags a hand over his face and looks away for a second, annoyed. Not guilty. Just annoyed that I’m calling him on it. “The order didn’t say bring him in alive,” he says.
I let out a breath and look at him. “You’re still doing it.”
“Doing what?”
“Trying to hide behind wording because you know you screwed up.”
His eyes snap back to mine. “I made a call.”
“You got impatient.”
For a second, neither of us says anything.
Then the girl speaks, more cautiously this time. “So they brought me in for questioning?”
I look at her. “Yes.”
Her face changes. Not full panic, but close. “I don’t know anything,” she says.
“That won’t matter if they think you saw something,” I tell her.
Havoc cuts in. “She’ll be fine.”
I turn to him. “You don’t know that.”
He says nothing. Because this is the part he doesn’t want to deal with. Killing the guy was easy. Dealing with everything after is what he hates.
I look at him for another second, then say, “Next time, don’t kill the only person we need answers from.”
He laughs once, but there’s no humor in it. “You done?”
“Not even close.”
I move farther into the room, and the girl immediately folds in on herself.
Her arms wrap around her middle like that can hold her together, like it can hide the fact of what was happening when I walked in.
I don’t give her sympathy. I can’t. That’s not how I’m built.
But I notice it anyway. The flushed face.
The uneven breathing. The tension in her shoulders.
I look at Havoc again, really look at him, at the smug set of his mouth, at the way he’s standing too close to her like he belongs there. Is that why he lied about his name? Did Vale warn her about him, and Havoc decided to play games to get around it?
Too many questions.
I tell myself I’m irritated because he’s being reckless. Because he killed the guy before we could question him. Because now the girl got dragged into something she should never have been near in the first place. But I know that’s not all it is.
Part of it is simpler. Uglier.
I don’t like seeing Havoc with her.
He catches me looking and smirks, like he knows exactly what I’m thinking and enjoys it. That alone is enough to make me want to hit him.
“The order didn’t mention directive,” he says again, like repeating it will somehow make it true. “We’re covered.”
“No,” I say, stepping closer. “You’re trying to cover your ass.”
His expression changes at that. Just a flicker, but I see it. “I handled it,” he says.
“You rushed it.”
“I made the call.”
“You made a mess.”
The girl is silent now, watching both of us like she can feel the room tightening. Smart enough to stay quiet. Smarter than Havoc, at the moment.
He laughs once, low and sharp, and then he moves. One second he’s across from me, the next he’s right in front of me, crowding into my space, close enough that the message is clear.
He doesn’t like being told what to do.
“Careful, Knox,” he says softly.
I don’t move.
He gets in my face like he thinks I’ll back down, like he thinks if he pushes hard enough I’ll let this go. I don’t. I hold my ground and stare right back at him.
Behind him, I can feel the girl go still.
Havoc’s voice drops lower. “You don’t get to come in here and start barking orders at me.”
“No?” I say. “Then stop acting like a child and maybe I won’t have to.”
His jaw locks, and for a second, it feels like the whole room goes silent around us. Havoc stands there with that dangerous look in his eyes, and I don’t give him an inch.
“So this is just about the kill,” he says.
“Yes.”
He smiles then, but there’s nothing friendly in it. “Liar.”
He’s not completely wrong.
I’m angry because he was reckless. Because he cost us answers. Because the girl is now caught in the fallout. But I’m also angry because I walked in and found him touching something he shouldn’t.
And Havoc, being Havoc, can smell weakness the second it enters a room.
My voice stays flat. “Back up.”
He doesn’t. He leans in just enough to make it worse. To make it obvious he’s doing it on purpose.
The girl suddenly says, “Maybe both of you should stop.”
Neither of us looks at her.
Havoc keeps his eyes on mine. “You want to tell me what my problem is, or do you want to admit yours?”
I should hit him. Instead, I say, “My problem is that you keep turning everything into a game.”
“Or maybe,” he says, glancing toward the girl for half a second, “it’s that you finally noticed you don’t like losing.”
That almost does it.
I take one step forward. That’s all. Barely anything. But Havoc reads it for what it is, and the room goes even tighter.
He grins, mean and slow, like he’s been waiting for this. “There he is.”
I should walk away. I know I should. We have bigger problems than this. Dead men. Questions. People already digging where they shouldn’t. But Havoc has always known exactly where to press, and right now he’s got his thumb right on the bruise.
“Back up,” I say again.
He doesn’t. Instead he tilts his head, still in my space, still pushing. “Or what?”
I don’t answer. I don’t need to.
Something in my face must give it away, because the girl speaks up again, sharper this time. “Are you seriously doing this right now?”
Havoc’s eyes stay locked on mine. “That’s what I thought.”
Then he gives me a little shove to the shoulder. Not enough to start a real fight. Enough to dare me to.
My hand closes around the front of his shirt before I even think about it. I shove him back hard, and he laughs, the sound rough and ugly as he catches himself against the wall.
“There you are,” he says again.
He comes off the wall fast. For a second I think it’s really going to happen.
I see it in the set of his shoulders, in the way his fist tightens, in that wild look that means his temper’s finally caught up with mine.
I’m already braced for it, ready to put him on the floor if he takes one more step.
Then the girl moves. She steps between us before either of us can stop her, one hand pushing at Havoc’s chest, the other aimed toward me like she thinks she can hold us apart.
“Enough,” she snaps.
I stare at her.
Havoc does too.
It should be ridiculous. She’s smaller than both of us, shaking a little, breathing hard, and still stupid enough to wedge herself between two men who could crush her without trying.
“Move,” I tell her.
“No.”
Havoc actually laughs at that. Not the mocking laugh from before. Something shorter. More surprised.
The girl throws him a glare over her shoulder. “You too. Shut up.”
That wipes the laugh off his face.
I should drag her out of the way. I should end this before it gets worse. But all I can do is look at her standing there like fear and common sense lost a fight inside her.
Havoc lets out a breath through his nose. “Careful, girl.”
She rounds on him so fast it almost makes me smile. “No, you be careful. I have no clue what kind of insane mess I’m in, but even I can tell this is not helping.”
He opens his mouth.
She cuts him off. “You killed someone you weren’t supposed to kill yet, right?”
Silence.
Her eyes narrow. “Right?”
Neither of us answers quickly enough.
“That’s what I thought,” she says.
Havoc’s expression hardens. “Don’t talk about things you don’t understand.”
“Then explain it,” she fires back. “Because from where I’m standing, you two are about to beat the hell out of each other while I’m the one getting dragged in for questioning over something I didn’t do.”
Havoc looks away first, jaw tight. That tells me more than his words would.
I look at him over her head. “We’re leaving.”
He gives me a cold glance. “Still barking orders.”
“Yes.”
His mouth flattens, but some of the fight drains out of him. Not all of it. Never all. Just enough.
The girl lowers her hands a little, like she’s realizing we might actually listen. “Good.”
Havoc looks at her, really looks at her, and something shifts in his expression. Irritation, maybe. Curiosity. Something darker underneath. “You should’ve stayed out of it.”
She laughs once, breathless and disbelieving. “You dragged me into it the second you drugged and kidnapped me. Well, kidnapped me from my kidnappers.” She shakes her head as if she finds it ridiculous.
She still hasn’t moved out of the space between us.
I move my hand off Havoc’s shirt and step back. He straightens his jacket, glaring at me like I’m the one who started it. Typical.
“We’re done here,” I say.
Havoc laughs once. “You don’t get to decide that.”
“I just did.”
He opens his mouth, probably to keep pushing, but I cut him off with a look. This time he gets it. Not because he respects me. Because he knows I’m one second away from putting him through the wall, and even he can read a room when it matters.
The girl stays where she is, arms wrapped around herself, watching us both. Her face is pale now, but her chin is up. Defensive. Angry. Trying not to look shaken even though she obviously is.
I don’t give her sympathy. I can’t. That’s not how I’m made.
But I notice her anyway. And I notice the way Havoc keeps looking at her too.
That doesn’t help.
I tell myself I’m annoyed because he’s being reckless. Because he killed the main guy before we could question him. Because he keeps trying to talk around it instead of owning it. All of that is true.
It’s just not the whole truth.
Part of it is that I walked in and found him too close to her. Part of it is that I still don’t know what happened before I got here, only that something did. Is that why he lied to her about his name? Did Vale warn her about him? Did he decide to turn it into a game the second he realized that?
Too many questions. No time for any of them.
I look at Havoc. “We’ll deal with this later.”
His expression turns mocking again. “That a promise?”
“It’s the only one you’re getting.”
He grins like that doesn’t bother him. Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe he likes this. Havoc usually likes anything that gets messy enough.
I turn toward the door.
Behind me, the girl says, “That’s it? You’re just leaving?”
I stop, glance back at her. “Yes.”
She stares at me like she wants more. An explanation. A warning. Something useful.
I give her nothing.
Because the truth is, I don’t know what to say to her. I don’t know whether Havoc pulled her into this because he was bored, because he wanted something, or because he saw an angle. None of those options are good.
And even standing here now, with every instinct telling me to walk away and leave this where it is, one thought keeps scraping at the back of my mind.
The girl is trouble.
I don’t know what kind yet. Only that she is.