Ryker (Hope City #6) - Kris Michaels Page 0,58

call him?”

“About… ten minutes ago.”

She snorted at Bekki’s impatience. “Give him a half-hour before you call him again. He might be doing something important.”

“Again, whatever. Doesn’t he know that his world rotates around me?” Bekki cackled an evil laugh.

“You’re horrible.”

“Nah, I’m perfect. Look, I got to go. My Uber is pulling up. Send me that email and I’ll look into it. Don’t engage with these guys, just find a workaround until I get answers.”

“We’ve done that.” Or rather, Roger had done that.

“Okay. I’ll call as soon as I have anything. Got to fly. Bye.” The line went dead.

She shifted the phone away from her ear. “Bye.” Her sister personified perpetual energy that seemed wound just a bit too tight. She was a wonderful person but a lot to take if you didn’t know her. Well, even if you knew her, she was a lot to handle. With a chuckle, she grabbed the orders that her vendors didn’t fill and scanned them into the computer. She needed to get through the paperwork so she could meet Ryker at home tonight. A smile filled her heart. She had a reason to leave work. Damn, could life get any better?

Chapter 15

Ryker sat down in the rehab facility’s intake room. The need to speak with Mouse privately put them in the small room. He looked up when the door opened.

“What happened to you?” Mouse froze just inside the door. She looked better. Her skin held a pink tint instead of the grey pallor she’d had the last time they’d met. Her hair was clean and secured in a ponytail, her eyes were clear, but there were still dark rings under them.

“A bullet.” He would not pull any punches with her.

“Because of me?” She leaned against the wall instead of sitting down across from him.

“I think so. Care to fill me in?”

She looked down at her fingers she’d knotted in the hem of her hospital scrub top. “They couldn’t have found you through me. I was careful.”

“You used your friend Alice to reach out to me. They found Alice floating. They knew my number. Anyone with any connections can find the name to go with a telephone number. Peña and Rubio have many, many connections.” He shifted in the chair so he was facing her.

Tears welled in her eyes and then traveled down her cheeks. “Alice didn’t deserve that. She only sent a text.”

“Why are they after you, Mouse?”

“Don’t call me that.” Mouse snapped before she sniffed and wiped her nose on the long T-shirt she wore under her scrubs. “My name is Sarah.”

He nodded. “Why are they after you, Sarah?”

“They paid off Dexter. They own me.” She shrugged.

“Dexter was your pimp?” He clicked his pen and started writing before he pushed the chair across from him with his foot and nodded to it.

Sarah moved across the room and sat down. “Pimp, drug supplier. Yeah. I didn’t lie to you. Peña and Rubio bought four of us for that party. That was sometime last summer.” She sobbed and closed her eyes. “I was the lucky one. They chose me to stay. The others… Peña gave Lacey to his guards. I could hear her screaming and crying. That went on for days and then… it didn’t.”

“They kill her?” Ryker stared at his informant.

She nodded. “They carried her out. She was dead. OD or they did it. I don’t know which.”

“The others?” He waited for an answer.

“I don’t know. Didn’t see them after that.” Sarah wiped her nose with her sleeve again.

“Tell me what happened to you.” He leaned back in his chair.

“When you get picked, you get new clothes. They give you prime drugs. But man, the shit I did. I let them fuck me whenever they wanted. Rubio is into that sadistic shit. He liked it when I cried and begged, but only when he said I could. Peña liked to watch, or he liked to fuck me at the same time Rubio did.” She sniffed again. “Peña and Rubio are together.”

“You mean like a couple?” Ryker leaned forward.

“Yeah. I was wasted most of the time, but they were lovers. They only fucked me when Rubio wanted to get his freak on or when others were around. It was a secret. I was their cover.” She shoved her finger in her mouth and started chewing on her nail. “I knew I had to get out of there. I started acting like I was high, but I did less and less. Man, I fucking wanted it.