let me in. “He’s not here. He had to take care of something but he’ll be back soon.”
“Okay.”
My eyes rolled in their sockets trailing him to his chair. I learned early on Hiro was comfortable in his nakedness. He strode around in black boxers that were more form-fitting than boxers tended to be.
He bent over to plug in his laptop cord and the cloth traveled all the way up to where tattoo stopped covering flesh.
My heart thumped against my rib cage so loud it could give me away. I averted my eyes, asking myself if my wandering eyes and racing palms counted as cheating. Then I asked myself where the hell that thought came from.
“So,” I began, clearing my throat. “Royal said the dealer isn’t getting their drugs in the way you get your stuff.”
“That’s right.”
I spoke to Hiro’s back as he messed with stuff on his desk.
“How can you be sure? What is this super secure method?”
“You asking because you need to know, or because you want to?”
“Want to,” I said, blunt as a spoon. “You can’t blame me for being curious about how you get everything from Nerds to gin past the gates.” I threw myself on Royal’s bed. “Tell me. I can keep a secret.”
“I’m sure you can.” Amusement laced his reply.
“So...”
Heaving a sigh, Hiro straightened, looking at me seriously. “You don’t want to know, Bancroft.”
“My name is Ember. And I do.”
He considered me and I looked back unflinchingly.
“It’s simple,” Hiro said. “Packages have to go through the front office but Hart doesn’t go through those herself. The receptionist, Mallory, does.”
“You’re saying—”
“Everything I order goes right into her hands and she passes it on to me. And when there’s a surprise room search, she tips me off.”
“Mallory? The quiet lady with the tweed sweaters? Why would she do that for you? Does she get a cut?”
“I told you, Ember. It’s much simpler than that.”
I stared at him, face screwed up, as it finally dawned on me. “Is she your girlfriend?” I rasped.
“That’s not the word I’d use.”
“How old is she?”
“Twenty-six.”
My jaw worked. “And how long have you two been...?”
Hiro didn’t fill in the gap. “See? You didn’t want to know.”
Slowly, I slipped off the bed and swallowed the distance between us. Hiro tracked my approach warily—the same way Royal often did. It killed me that closeness made them cautious, not safe.
“I’m not judging you, Hiro.” I gently touched his forearm. He stiffened like it was a slap. “You’re doing this to make your payments. It crushes me that Rio put you in this position and then Mallory took advantage.”
“I wasn’t taken advantage of. It didn’t start until I was eighteen and, trust me, I’m willing. She gets what she wants and I get what I want. Everybody’s happy.”
“Okay.” I wouldn’t challenge him.
I understood why the boys insisted Hiro had to tell me this himself. This was bigger than my curiosity. And if Hiro wasn’t honest about when it started, it was bigger than all of us.
“I’m called out for being judgmental, so I don’t want this to come across that way. I understand you now, Hiro. Why you’re so angry. When your choices are taken away from you, all you have left is how you feel about it. And rage feels just right. I know what that’s like.”
My hand moved down, curling around his fingers. “Now your minimum payments have gone up because of me. I’m so sorry, Hiro.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“We both know this started with my family.”
“No. It started with mine.”
The door swung open. Hiro dropped my hand.
“Ready, Em?” Royal asked. If he noticed us holding hands, his face gave no sign.
“I’m ready.”
Royal and I didn’t say much on the way to the office. Mallory handed me the sign-out sheet, smiling away.
“You two enjoy your Thanksgiving.”
I said nothing as I signed my name, pen stabbing the paper harder than necessary. This woman bought alcohol for minors in exchange for sex with a teenager. I was strongly tempted to smash a clipboard in her face.
Royal tugged it out of my hand. Hooking his finger through my belt loop, he got me out of there.
“Where do you want to go first?” Royal asked as we slid into his car. “Bus station. Gym.”
I fished the list out of my backpack. “I need to tell Eli we exhausted all of our options. There are five gyms, one bus station, and two storage unit facilities between the OB, Estate, and on the outskirts. Do you think we can get to