“Shoulda, coulda, woulda,” I murmured.
He put the car in gear. “Stay away from Porter.”
“That’s the plan. Hell, I thought he’d be well on his way to Missouri by now.”
We were waiting to turn back onto University. He glanced at me and back to the on-coming traffic. “What’s in Missouri?”
“His family’s business.”
“What’s his last name?”
I gave it to him, and he leaned forward, grabbed a burner phone from under his seat and tossed it to me. “Press and hold the three button. The moment it connects, put it on speaker.”
The phone rang twice before a male voice said, “Yeah?”
Nate told this man to look into Porter and his family, then ended the call.
“This is nuts. Porter doesn’t have—”
Nate spoke in a firm tone. “He fucked with you. That deserves something, and my gut says you aren’t the first, but you’ll damn sure be thelastwoman he jacks around like that.”
Andthatwas what he had in common with Dad and the Riot brothers.
“Thanks, Nate.”
He chuckled. “Don’t thank me. Thank Derek. He’d kick my ass if he found out something happened to you and I didn’t handle it.”
I nodded. “Still, I appreciate it.”
“Yeah. We’re almost there. You need to look scared out of your mind.”
With two men on either side of me, each one holding an arm, I didn’t have to act scared, because I was terrified. My fear rolled off me as though every pump of my heart created a new wave. Nate might have gotten me here in one piece, but I hadnoidea how I was going to get out of here. And that scared the hell out of me.
They shoved me into a small bedroom that appeared to be converted into an office. A stocky black man sat in a leather swivel chair. He had tightly braided dreads peeking out from the edge of his satiny-looking black doo-rag. His brown eyes turned sharp and he eyed me up and down. Then he focused on a point behind me.
“She didn’t give you a hard time? Why didn’t you rough her up?”
“Cornered her on campus, K.C. If I roughed her up, it would cause a scene. That wouldn’t help us,” Nate said from behind me.
K.C. - or whoever this person was - stared at Nate for a long moment, then nodded. “Yeah. Ain’t got no time for cops today.” His eyes locked on me. “You know why you’re here?”
My eyes widened, my lungs expanded with my deep breath, and I focused on K.C. Even though I was scared, when I got nervous, I didn’t talk faster. No, my words dragged out like they could buy me more time. “Um, no… Sir.”
He tipped his head back and bellowed with laughter. “No, sir! I don’t think any white girl’s ever said ‘No, sir’ to me.” He locked eyes with someone behind me, and I guessed Nate still stood there. “Eightball, without even roughing her up, you scared the hell out of her.”
I almost flinched at the use of a street name for Nate, but growing up around the Riot brothers, I recognized the name for what it was.
“Where’s Ines?” K.C. asked.
Again, I took a deep breath. “She passed away on Tuesday.”
“What the hell?” K.C. muttered.
“She says there was a car accident, and that other bitch didn’t make it,” Nate said.
I clenched my teeth and closed my eyes. It took a lot not to argue that Ines wasn’t a bitch.
K.C. chuckled at me. “I can’t tell if you’re just that stupid or if your loyalty to Ines means you were in on it with her. Those white boys say you weren’t, but I don’t trust them.”
