Page 2 of Passion and Payback

I grinned as I tucked away my phone and returned to the conversation. “That is one of the many things I love about him. There’s no drama about the people in my life, and he’s not worried about me, which, hell, I take as a sign that I don’t have to worry about him.”

Then again, we’d been dating for a while and even had our business and apartment together. Those were three things I definitely wouldn’t do with someone I didn’t believe I could trust. The man was the steady rock in my life, always a place I could go to survive the buffeting and beating the world handed out.

“Well, and he’s also the first boyfriend who actually gets along with my best friend,” I added with a laugh.

“Is he a bit of a shit-stirrer?” Callum asked with a grin.

“No,” I snorted, thinking he had a nice smile. It was the kind of smile that made you think you could dress him up and take him home to Mom...well, if you didn’t have an alcoholic dumpster fire for a mother like I once had...who wasn’t dead from an accident that was entirely her and my father’s fault. “Kai doesn’t start shit, and neither does this one. He’s a little distant with the guys I date, but it was always them trying to stir something up.”

“He was pretty distant with me at first,” Lucas said as he drained his drink and waved off an offer for another. “Took me a bit to realize he was just keeping an eye on me.”

“Someone doesn’t trust my taste in men,” I said with a roll of my eyes.

“As any best friend should,” Lucas said with a laugh. “I just let him be, let him do his thing. Eventually, he came around, and everything was perfectly fine between us. We both want what’s best for Hunter, and that’s more than enough for us.”

I sighed contentedly, leaning against his shoulder and letting the warmth seep through me...helped along by alcohol and a cocaine supply that was quickly running out. Growing up, I dreamed of having the life I had now, but the hope of getting there had always been faint. Home was a constantly rotating cycle of abuse and neglect from the people who brought me into the world, and the neighborhood Kai and I grew up in was...bleak, to say the least. Meeting him and realizing that despite appearing poorly matched, we were practically made for one another made things better.

Ironically, his leaving for the military had been the best and worst thing. Worst because I lost my partner, my anchor, the person I could turn to when the world grew harsh and cruel. On the other hand, it was the best because it essentially kicked the crutch out from under me and forced me to face the world on my own. The time I had with him at my side had given me the strength to realize I wanted to do things differently and, more importantly, that I wasgoingto.

There had been a lot of missteps and mistakes along the way, and some things were outside my control, but eventually I found my way. I managed and owned a café and cat adoption business and had an apartment in the city. My car was new, my bank account was in five figures, and I hoped the hints I picked up from Lucas meant I was about to face a marriage proposal.

“So,” Callum said loudly, pulling me out of my reminiscence. “I was thinking.”

“Of?” I asked, suddenly curious.

“Well, we’re running low on supplies,” he said with a wink as he patted his pants pocket. “And I noticed you are too.”

“This is very true,” I said with a nod.

“And we just so happen to know someone around here who could hook us up. And it’ll probably be better than the stuff you’re getting.”

“That’s bold,” I said with a laugh and glanced toward Lucas. His face was polite, but I could see he was slightly uncomfortable. However, when he met my gaze, he smiled, which I thought meant he was fine. “But maybe, justmaybe,you have my interest.”

Callum grinned. “Well, I’ll take that as a yes. So why don’t you finish that drink, and we can have some real fun?”

If I’d been alone, there would have been no way in hell I would have taken him up on the offer. The three guys were pretty intimidating, even if they were apparently from good families and in good standing. I was eager to have even more fun, but that didn’t mean I was ignorant about how the world worked.

I chuckled. “How about you prove your stuff is going to be better? Because I already know how good my stuff is.”

“Sure,” he said, sliding a metal case my way. Knowing what went on in this place, I didn’t worry about opening it to find a small amount of powder left. Sliding the tiniest of spoons someone had bought me as a joke once, I quickly breathed in a bump. Within seconds, I felt the surge of adrenaline and pleasure hit.

“Holy shit,” I said with a laugh. “Alright, yours wins. I guess that’s that rich boy money.”

“It can buy you just about anything in this world,” he said with a wink.

I glanced at Lucas, who was still giving me a wary vibe but wasn’t shooting me the usual warning signs. To my surprise,after getting permission, he even took a bit, giving me a taste of what I must have looked like as he blinked in surprise. With that, I figured our night was set on its best path, and with a grin, I slid from the booth to follow them out of the club and onto the street.

Feeling too good to worry about anything, I slipped my arm around Lucas’, smiling when I felt him squeeze my arm and keep it there. He didn’t have the same wariness I did when being affectionate in public. Then again, he’d grown up with a good family in a decent neighborhood and didn’t have to deal with being a target just by being himself. Hell, he’d got more hell for being the son of the principal than he’d ever got for being gay.

“Seriously?” I piped up as we walked a few blocks, and I recognized where we were headed. “This isn’t the greatest part of town.”

“It’s alright,” Callum said with that same easy grin that invited us to trust him. “We’ve met our guy around here more than once. We know how to handle ourselves.”

I thought about telling them there were probably plenty of people in the hospital or the morgue who thought the same thing. We were only a couple blocks from the apartment building where I’d spent the first eighteen years of my life. I knew just how bad this place used to be, and from what I’d been told, it had only grown worse. All I wanted was to get off the street as soon as possible.

Lucas was the one who muttered when the three men headed straight for an alley, dead-ended by a wall. A flickering neon sign bathed the end of the alley in red, making it look like the dirty white door beneath it was covered in blood. “They’re going to get us all killed.”

“In there?” I asked from the mouth of the alley, watching them approach the door.

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