Page 1 of My Hotshot

Prologue

Dice

I punched in the number I had memorized, and my thumb hovered over the final digit for just a second before I hit send.

The dial tone rang once. Twice. Three times.

I held my breath.

Then the line clicked.

“Hello?”

My heart slammed into my ribs.

I knew that voice.

“Stretch?”

“What the fuck are you calling this number for?” Stretch’s voice snapped through the line, low and laced with panic.

“Pretty sure I’m the one who should be asking you what the fuck you’re doing,” I growled, pacing the sidewalk behind the garage. “You’re fucking working for—”

“Don’t fucking worry about what I’m doing,” he hissed.

I stopped pacing and curled my hand tighter around my phone. “Yeah? Don’t worry, huh? Then I won’t tell you the Banachi are two steps away from taking you fucking out, man.”

Silence.

Dead air.

Then a muttered, “The Banachi? What the hell do they have to do with this?”

“If you were fucking here, you’d know they’re helping us,” I bit out. “They’re going to clean house. And you, Stretch?” I exhaled harshly. “You’re about to be next.”

He let out a long string of curses, some I hadn’t heard since high school. Some I was pretty sure he made up on the spot.

Yeah, it was bad.

You didn’t fuck around with the Banachi and expect to come out clean. Those guys didn’t send warning shots—they sent bodies.

“Get the fuck out of there, man,” I ordered. “I’m serious. Ghost out. Drop everything. You stay another minute, you’re done.”

“I can’t,” Stretch said quietly, his voice dropping to just above a whisper. “I’m in too deep to stop now.”

“You’re not hearing me,” I said, every word clipped. “The Banachi are going to fucking kill you.”

“I’m not leaving. Not yet.”

The background of the call shifted—muffled voices, too far away to make out, but close enough that Stretch turned his head. I could hear it in the way his voice became more distant, the way he cupped the phone.

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath. “I have to go.”

“No, wait—Stretch—”

“Keep the Banachi off my ass,” he cut me off. “You know me, Dice. Don’t call this number again. I’ll call if I need you.”

The line went dead.

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