good?’ he asks, looking me up and down to make sure I’m ready.
“Yeah, but we’re going to need to stop for coffee on the way.”
He rolls his eyes which is as good as a yes. Nic isn’t a coffee drinker and honestly, I don’t get it. What kind of person isn’t a coffee drinker?
Soon enough, I’m riding in the front of Nic’s car as he speeds down the highway. Music fills the cab while heaviness sits on my heart. I’m not ready to go back. If I could stay just another few hours, maybe another day then that need to be with my boys might ease just a little, but I can't. I'm supposed to be working and if I’m late, mom will never …
Fuck. Mom.
I suck in a gasp and start rifling through my things for my phone. “What’s wrong?” Nic demands, struggling to keep his eyes on the road.
“I didn’t tell mom that I was staying out yesterday. She would have worried all night.”
“Chill out, O,” Nic soothes. “I called her last night when you passed out on the couch and let her know I was driving you home this morning. She’s good. She knows you’re safe.”
Relief settles through me and I relax back into the seat. “Thanks,” I say with a grateful sigh, looking out at him to watch the way he handles his car with ease. “Did you hear from Eli last night? Is he good?”
“Yeah, He’s fine. There was a hold up at the doctor’s office so it took longer than he anticipated but he got his antibiotics and will probably be popping pills all fucking day. The poor fucker can’t get his rocks off for at least two weeks.”
I laugh, imagining the way his heart would have broken hearing that advice. “So, no cream?”
“Apparently not.”
I nod, feeling sorry for the guy when I remember one of the reasons I wanted to see Nic in the first place. “Can I ask you something?”
His brows furrow, knowing I never ask if I can ask something. It’s simply not something that I do. He looks over at me and narrows his eyes. “What?”
“You’re not going to like it.”
“Spit it out, Ocean.”
I press my lips into a firm line, trying to work out the right way to word this when I fuck it all to hell and go for it. Nic isn’t easily offended and despite knowing that he’s not going to want to discuss this, I can’t go back to Bellevue Springs without knowing the truth. “I need to know what you know about Colton and his friends. I know you’ve done your homework on them,” I tell him. “I’m not stupid. I know that you dug into their backgrounds and I know it wasn’t exactly done legally which means that you have all the dirt you need on them, and I need to know it.”
His fingers tighten on the steering wheel. “Can’t you just be satisfied with me telling you to steer clear of them?”
I shake my head. “I need to know what situation I’m about to walk back into. They all have skeletons in their closets.”
“Do you understand what kind of position you’re putting me in? This information was given to me in confidence. If word gets out that I spilled information, we’d lose our contact and it’d be my head on the firing line.”
“I won’t tell anyone,” I promise. “I just need to know what to look out for.”
Nic is quiet for a short moment before letting out a pained sigh. He doesn’t want to break his contact’s trust but at the same time, my safety will always come first where Nic is concerned. “Alright,” he finally says, “But I swear to God, O. If this gets out and it’s traced back to me, it’s my fucking balls on the line. Do you understand that?”
“Yeah, I got it,” I tell him. “You can trust me.”
Nic’s eyes slice across to mine and seeing the honesty shining back at him, he nods. “The four of them were all involved in some sort of rape allegations,” he starts, making me suck in a sharp breath. “The whole thing is a fucking mess and I’m amazed by how they were able to get out of it. I'm telling you, O. If this shit happened in Breakers Flats, there’d be jail time and fucking heads blown off.”
“What happened?”
“It was nearly two years ago and there was some kind of party at Carrington’s place. Colton had his boys over, you