“You heard me! Did you sell me to Ocean?” I shouted in the middle of the sidewalk while people skirted around to avoid me.
“Of course I did,” he admitted with zero emotion. “He was going to kill me. I had to offer him something, and you owed me.”
Roshaun ended the call, and I swallowed the urge to scream. The worst part of all was that I wasn’t even surprised. I’d only been living in denial because I didn’t want to believe that my own brother hated me for something that wasn’t even my fault.
My phone rang again, and the little girl inside me, who once looked up to Shaun, hoped it was him until I read the name on the screen.
“Hey, Hunter.”
“Coby! Thank God. Where are you? Are you okay? I woke up, and you were gone. I didn’t know what to think. I—”
“I’m fine, Hunter. Breathe. We didn’t have any food, so I went to the store.”
“Oh.” I heard her relieved exhale. “Well, I’ll come help you then.”
“No need. I’m on my way back now.”
“Sorry, bestie, but I was already heading that way. See you soon.” She hung up.
Shaking my head, I smiled as I started walking toward home again.
Hunter turned the corner less than a minute later.
Her thick thighs and wide hips were encased in skin-tight medium-wash jeans, and she was wearing a cropped knit sweater like it wasn’t twenty degrees outside, a long brown faux fur, and a blue NY Yankees ball cap. There was a hunting knife sheathed inside the holster on the side of her small waist, but it was mostly hidden, peeking out from under her heavy coat with her movement.
When I saw her appear at the end of the block, my smile stretched even wider as a thousand tiny wings fluttered in my stomach.
She was so beautiful.
The YNs already hugging the block certainly thought so. They called out to her as she passed, and true to form, Hunter looked over her shoulder to talk shit to them as she kept walking. She was so preoccupied roasting those little boys that she didn’t notice the white van trailing slowly behind her. It hugged the curb as it steadily gained on her.
My lips parted to call out a warning, but it was already too late. The van slammed on the brakes, and the back door slid open. A man dressed from head to toe in black jumped out and snatched her right off the sidewalk.
“Hunter! Noooo!” Dropping the bags, I was already running for them.
The boys who had distracted Hunter quickly made themselves scarce while the man wrestled Hunter into the back of the van. She fought like hell, but her assailant was stronger and had the element of surprise. I screamed for my best friend again when the door closed behind them, and then the van peeled away from the curb before I could reach it.
Falling to my knees, I screamed until my throat was raw as I helplessly watched the white van disappear around a corner with Hunter trapped inside. Losing my best friend when I just got her back felt like deja vu, except this time, I was the one left behind.
A trap.
Hunter had been right after all.
Ocean didn’t lose.
I did.
HUNTER
Five and a half weeks ago…
The pink subcompact Ruger rested at my side as I watched the taillights of the Denali disappear with my best friend trapped inside.
I know damn well that did not just happen.
And yet…I was painfully and terrifyingly aware that itdid.
I’d barely gotten a glimpse of the man who’d taken her, and the only other witness was fighting for his worthless life in the back of an ambulance. I didn’t know what drama had transpired between Coby and her brother, but I knew Roshaun was behind it.
