Page 7 of Rough Trip

“Alright! I tracked your phone.”

“What do you mean? Like 007 shit?”

“Yes, like 007 shit if that’s what you want to call it.”

Mia rolled her eyes. “Why?”

Sage wasn’t going to answer that. He didn’t know himself why he did it in the first place.

“I’m asking you a question!”

“I was worried about you.”

Mia smiled, obviously pleased with what she’d heard.

Mia shuddered at the thought of what could have happened. She definitely would not be sitting in Sage’s house, that’s for sure. She was so out of it that she had completely forgotten that she was in Sage’s house. She would have preferred it if it had been under better circumstances but she couldn’t change that now. She started to look around his apartment.

Typical bachelor pad, she thought. He had kept it rather minimal. There was a couch, a TV and a coffee table in his lounge, a small dining table in the dining room and Mia noticed he didn’t have a dishwasher in his kitchen, also no dirty dishes in the sink. Did he always wash his dishes straight after using them, she wondered.

“Thank you, for rescuing me,” she said deciding that the question was better left unanswered. “I don’t think I would be alive right now if it weren’t for you. You saved my life and I owe you so much for that,” she said as tears started streaming down her cheeks.

“Hey, come on now. There’s no reason to cry,” he said as he gently wiped her tears away. “You’re here and you’re alive, not kicking just yet but we’re off to a good start,” he said with a smile.

“Haha, at least you can joke. But seriously, thank you, Sage,” she said seriously.

“You’re welcome. But now are you going to tell me why you were there?” he asked.

She had been hoping he wouldn’t ask.

“I’m a spy, Sage. I’ve been working for the Omens, leaking information about the Screaming Demons to them. I just didn’t have anything to tell them and so they were making me pay for it,” she admitted. “Basically, I’m the worst spy and the worst person ever.”

Sage looked her over long and hard.

“You need to tell Fiona and Grier,” he said.

“How can I tell them, Sage? They could kill me too.”

“Don’t be so dramatic. They wouldn’t do that but you need to tell them. They’re the only ones who can keep you safe.”

“They wouldn’t keep me safe, not after this incident. They’ll kick me out,” Mia said, “and I’d have nowhere to go.”

“You trusted me by telling me the truth, now trust me again when I say that they are not horrible people. They will listen, Mia. Please come with me so we can tell them. They need to know that the Omens are up to something and they need to be prepared.”

“No… Alright, I’ll tell them when the time is right,” she said.

“Of course, I’ll be right behind you every step of the way.”

“Will you keep it a secret until then?”

“Of course,” he said with a smile.

Mia was trapped. Beaten and tortured, all she could do was think about the argument she’d had with Sage and the mistakes she had made as she drifted in and out of consciousness.

“You did what?” She shouldn’t have done it. She should’ve listened to Sage and just come clean… A lot sooner.

“It was just a number.” Her tears were pouring out and her mascara started to run. She made no effort to correct that.

“I thought I could trust you.” Sage couldn’t even look at her at that moment.