Chapter 0282

I stare too long at Kent in surprise and he rolls his eyes at me before shifting to reach over me towards the light, his body

brushing against mine.

“Hey!” I snap, smacking at him and making him flinch back.

“What?” he asks, glaring at me again.

“No touching!” I say, pushing him back to the other side of the bed that now feels much too small. “I can get the light!”

“Well, you weren't getting it, Fay,” Kent points out, but I flap my hand at him dismissively and turn to flick off the light. The room

instantly plunges into an inky blue darkness and when I turn back to Kent I can only see his shadowy outlines on my bed.

“Better?” I ask.

“Yes,” he sighs, starting to lay down.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Getting comfortable, Fay,” he replies, and then I see his head turn towards me as he holds open an arm, inviting me to come

closer.

“No. Touching.” I say through my teeth.

Kent sighs in exasperation in response. “Damn it, Fay,” he says, shaking his head and covering his face with his hands. “I have

given in to everything you’ve wanted tonight. You didn’t want to come downstairs? I came up here. You wanted to hear the truth?

I'm here to lay it out for you. Now would you please, please just let me fucking hold you while I talk, instead of glaring at me like

an angry cat?”

Alittle angry about being put in my place like that, I scowl and rip away the pillow between us, tossing it onto the floor and angrily

tucking myself in against Kent's side, my cute flannel pajamas pressed up against the clean white starch of his dress shirt.

“Touching privileges will be revoked,” I murmur, “if you are a dick to me.”

“Okay,” he sighs, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me a little closer. Then, quite soft, he murmurs “thank you”

before turning his head to bring his nose closer to me, sniffing my freshly-washed hair.

But I flinch away. “No funny business,” I murmur, wanting quite desperately to hold my ground but knowing that I will lose my

head immediately if this goes any further.

“No funny business,” Kent agrees, sighing again and turning his face up to the ceiling so that I can see the clear outline of his

profile against the dark of the room. “What do you want to know, Fay?”

I know my answer immediately. “I want to know what you're sending to Italy. Is it...drugs?”

“No,” he replies without hesitation, apparently wanting to make it clear that he’s not holding anything back anymore. “It's not

heroin. It’s not any kind of drugs.”

“What is it?” I ask.

Kent sighs, lifting a hand to pinch the

bridge of his nose again. “It’s...guns,

Fay. Alessi asked dosenddg

fofigunad Healy so that they

can...better conduct their business

there. As you might presume, guns

are harder to get in Europe than they

are in America.” Please read the

original content at .

“Oh,” I say, my eyes going wide as my body relaxes against his, my mind whirling. Because I feel, somehow, instantly better.

I don’t know why and I feel a little

guilty that I do — it’s not like guns

don’t hurt as many people as drugs

do. But there’s just... erpgthiag"""

ribig\to\me Gout the idea of

building a multi-million-dollar

business on an industry that gets

people hooked on a drug, drains

them of everything they own in their

further pursuit of that drug, and then

leaves them to die when they've got

nothing else to give. Please read the

original content at .

Kent gives me a moment to process

this, laying silent with his a! aun

wrapped war argune kite. tke th L

copra Ween I'm ready, my voice

very soft. “Why didn’t you just tell me

that? It doesn’t seem like that big of a

deal.” Please read the original content

at .

I see him shake his head a little. “Because, Fay. Like I said downstairs, you don’t need to know it.”