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“WASN’T THAT INSANE?” said Krystal, digging around in her purse.
“Very.”
“God, I need a cigarette.”
“I thought you were quitting.”
“I was, but after that scene, can you blame me?”
I smiled grimly. “No. I guess not.”
“Do you have some cash on you?” she asked, pulling out her wallet. “All I have is a five dollar bill and I’ve already maxed my credit card.”
“Another reason why you should quit smoking.”
“Don’t be a drag,” she said, laughing.
I rolled my eyes.
“Seriously, can you loan me a couple bucks for a pack of smokes?”
“Yeah, fine.”
“Thanks.”
“Where’s your car?”
“At their clubhouse.”
“Where is that?”
“A couple blocks away from Griffin’s.”
“You want me to drop you off there, right?”
“If you could?”
“Why not? I’ve got nothing else going on.”
She sucked in a breath. “Is that the necklace from your dad?” she asked, leaning toward me.
I touched it and smiled. “Yeah.”
“I can’t believe you’re wearing it. It’s beautiful.”
“Thanks. I have to admit, I was nervous wearing the thing.”
“I would be, too. If someone found out it was real, they’d try and steal it.”
“Speaking of which...” I told her about Breaker, from when I first ran into him, at the gas station, to where he chased me after work.
She stared at me in horror. “Oh, my God, are you serious?!”
“Yeah. It was scary. I headed toward the police station and he must have known what I was doing, because that’s when he left me.”
“That prick. You should call Raptor and let him know.”
I shook my head. “Oh, no. I don’t want anything to do with him.”
“You know, he has the hots for you.”
“I don’t care. Raptor is fucking crazy,” I said firmly. “You saw him back there. He could have shot Jason.”
“Why do you care? The guy is a douchebag.”
I looked at her in surprise. “Don’t tell me you’re condoning murder now?”
“No, of course not. But, Raptor was just trying to scare him. Now he’ll think twice about drugging girls for sex.”
“After that, you’d think so.”
We pulled into a nearby gas station. She ran inside and bought a pack of smokes. When she got back into the car, she asked me if she could light one up.
I grunted. “Seriously? I just bought it. It still smells new.”
“What if I open the window?”
I frowned. “You know that doesn’t really help.”
“Fine,” she pouted, shoving the cigarettes into her purse.
I let out an exasperated sigh. “Do you want me to pull over somewhere so you can have one?”
“No. I’ll just wait until we get to my car,” she said, looking out her side window. She was silent for several minutes and I knew something was definitely wrong.
“You mad?” I asked.
“No,” she replied, looking back at me. “I’m just thinking about Tank. I’m afraid of what he’s going to do when I break it off with him.”
“So, you’re really going to do it?”
She nodded.
“Good. They’re both bad news. I’m sure Tank carries a gun, too.”
“He does.”
“Great. Well, if I were you, I would definitely do it over the phone.”
She smirked. “I was planning on it.”
“So, where is this place?” I asked, as we neared Griffin’s.
She directed me past the strip joint to a warehouse district, about two miles away. We pulled up to a set of gates.
“Great, how do we get in there?”
“Very easily. It’s not locked,” she said, opening the car door. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.”
Krystal got out and ran up to the gate. She unlatched it and pulled it open. I drove through it and waited for her to get back in.
“My car is just over there,” she said, pointing to a row of vehicles that were parked near the side of an old warehouse.
“So, this is where these guys usually hang out, huh?” I said, driving slowly. “The building looks abandoned, except for the cars.”
“Most of those belong to the club whores,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “The guys keep their bikes inside of the building. There’s a garage door in back.”
“Why are the windows all boarded up?” I asked, stopping behind her car.
“Because of the shit that goes on inside,” she said, picking up her purse. “It’s like a playground for men in there. They’ve got this wraparound bar with hundreds of bottles of booze. Hundreds. A couple of wide screen TVs, some video and pinball machines.” She smirked. “Hell, they even have a stripper pole.”
“Why does that not surprise me?”
“I know, right? Get this, some of the girls walk around naked, like it’s no big deal.”
“Classy.”
“Exactly. Anyway, I’d better go,” she leaned over and gave me a hug. “I’m just going to go home and crash, I think. I’m still a little hung over from last night. I tried the old ‘Hair-of-the-dog’ thing, but it’s not working.”
“Okay. Call me tomorrow.”
“I will.”
Krystal got out and walked over to her car. As I watched her get inside, my cell phone went off.
Trevor.
I ignored his call but then he began texting me. Sighing, I picked up my phone and called him.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“I just dropped Krystal off at her car and now I’m on my way home,” I replied, backing out of the parking lot.
“Wait there for me. I want to talk to you. I’m only a couple minutes away.”
“We have nothing to talk about.”
“Yes. We do.”
“Look, I’m grateful for what you did, picking me up in the middle of the night and letting me stay at your house, but it can’t go any further than that.”
“That’s not what I got from that kiss earlier.”
That was before I saw you almost kill someone.
“Things have changed,” I said, driving away from the clubhouse. Knowing that he was almost there, I wanted to put as much distance between him and my car as I could.
“What do you mean?”
“I think you know exactly what I mean. That thing with Jason...”
“He needed to be taught a lesson.”
“You broke his nose.”
“Yes, I did.”
“And you threatened him with a gun.”
“Of course I did. He needed to know we meant business.”
I sighed.
“Did you expect me to ask him nicely?”
“No, but I didn’t expect that!”
“Look, Kitten, he deserved a lot more than what I dished out, believe me.”
“He wasn’t even the one who slipped me the drug.”
“No, but he knew about it and tried to use it to his advantage, didn’t he?”
“Yes, but –”
“And then he threw you out of his car, in the middle of nowhere, without giving a shit. You’re probably lucky to be alive. Are you really going to stick up for that asshole?”
He had a point.
“No. I’m not. I just don’t like the way you handled the situation.”
“I did what I had to do to ‘handle it’. And because I scared the fuck out of him, College Boy will think twice before trying something like that again. I guarantee it.”
“I’d say.”
“Now, if that’s all you’re pissed at, then I need to see you, Kitten. Tonight. Are we good?”
“I... um...I guess so. I’m kind of tired. Maybe we could have lunch or something tomorrow?”
“Lunch?”
“Yeah.”
He chuckled. “Hell, we can do that, too. I’ll see you soon.”
“But –”
“Meet me at my place.” He hung up.
I stared at the phone and realized this was the second time, in twenty-four hours, that he’d cut me off when I’d tried to say ‘No’. He obviously didn’t do well with that word.
Sighing, I put my phone down and headed toward my own house. If he wasn’t going to listen to my protests, he’d sure as hell hear my actions loud and clear.