Swallowing my enraged scream, I tucked my gun back into my clutch and jogged toward Deborah. She was my off-white 1993 Ford Thunderbird and the bane of my existence. However, the tragic history we shared meant we were stuck together.
“All right, you cranky bitch,” I warned the rust bucket once I was inside. “I don’t want any problems out of you. I’m not in the mood.” Deb’s engine was well past its last legs and would often stall in the cold. Since it was winter, and I lived in a city that spent a third of the year buried under snow, that was all the fucking time.
Thankfully, when I turned the key, Deborah sputtered and coughed her ancient ass to life. Patting the dashboard affectionately, I exhaled. “Thanks, Deb.”
I didn’t bother with the heat since it stopped working ages ago. However, I paused long enough to try tracking Coby’s phone.
When it said a location couldn’t be found, I knew her phone had been shut off, so I texted Destiny. She was a skilled hacker and fellow delinquent who owed me a shit ton of favors simply for the fact that she was still breathing thanks to yours truly. Once she sent me a thumbs up that meant she was on it, I sped away down the street away from The Diamond Lounge.
Ten minutes later, I was parking Deborah in front of the nearest police station.
I wasted no time climbing out and hurrying for the icy steps. I was so busy fighting not to bust my ass or break my neck (because who would help Coby then) that I didn’t notice the man leaning against the wall where he watched me with his foot propped against the brick. I paid him no mind since he wasn’t doing anything but standing there. That lasted until he spoke.
“Are you sure this is wise?”
I huffed my irritation because I just knew he was talking to me. Every second counted, and I didn’t want to waste a single one on some stranger. I couldn’t be sure how much time Coby had since I didn’t even know why she was taken in the first place.
“Look, man, I don’t have time for your bullshit today. I ain’t signing up for shit, and I ain’t got no money, so go on somewhere. I’m busy.”
“Busy snitching?”
His question caught me off guard enough that I paused to get a good look at him.
Lord, help me, it was a White man.
His blond hair had fallen over his forehead and past his brow, while the dark leather of his jacket made his fair skin and green eyes look even paler in the moonlight. He looked young, but hiseyes told a different story. He had this fatally gorgeous, tragic bad boy thing going on that I was sure wet many cats.
Unfortunately, mine was as dry as Popeye’s biscuits.
I’ve taken down a few White boys before. Another day, another time, maybe I would have given the cutie some play, but not now. All I could think about was my best friend being tortured and hacked into little pieces or trafficked to god knows where to do god knows what.
Sighing, I stared straight ahead at the door, but something wouldn’t let me walk through it.
As if reading my mind and knowing exactly why I hesitated, he said, “You never know when a chance encounter is really by design, or when a stranger isn’t a stranger after all, Hunter.”
Pivoting on my heel, I slipped my hand inside my clutch where my Ruger rested. “Who the hell are you?”
“No one important,” he evaded. “But you can call me Kellan.”
“Hmm…sounds made up. What do you want?”
Kellan lowered his foot and shifted until his shoulder was propped against the wall. “I want to know why you think talking to the cops will help your friend.”
Unmindful that we were in spitting distance from a building full of cops, I rushed him and pulled my gun before shoving it under his chin. “Where is she?”
Kellan didn’t care that I held him at gunpoint, and it told me one of two things—he either didn’t believe I’d shoot him, or he wasn’t afraid of dying. The first made him stupid, and the second made him dangerous. “Coby’s safer than you are right now.”
Hearing him say her name, I pressed the muzzle deeper into his skin. “Do I look convinced, Kellan? Take me to her.”
“Can’t do that.”
“That wasn’t a goddamn request!”
“My boss, who has some very powerful friends, would like me to inform you that going to the police is a mistake he will not forgive.”
“Good. Then you can tell him that taking my friend was one I won’t forgive either.”
Kellan’s green eyes twinkled. “He thought you might say that.”
