Page 55 of Swerve (Boosted Hearts 1)

I took the stairs back down to the ground level and out of the building. There was a small alley between Jimmy’s building and the next and I hustled down it and glanced up at the fire escape.

Doesn’t look too hard.

Fifteen minutes later, after boosting myself up on a dumpster, I was climbing the fire escape to the third floor. It was rickety as hell, rusted and squeaky, but no one poked their heads out to check what was going on. I found Jimmy’s window and tested it. Locked. It was dark inside. I couldn’t see much of anything.

Hmmm.

Screw it.

Taking off my jacket, I wrapped it around my fist and waited. As soon as a horn blared down the street, I smashed through the glass, hoping the noise covered the fact I was currently breaking and entering. I quickly unlatched the window and climbed in, careful of the glass. My feet hit the carpet and I straightened . . .

My hand flew to my nose. Dear God, what the hell was that smell?

I pressed my shirtsleeve to my nose and mouth, walked to the door, and flicked on the light. The place was a mess. Furniture overturned, food dumped out of the fridge onto the kitchen floor. Cockroaches scattered and I swallowed back a shriek. I fucking hated cockroaches. That must be the smell. It’d been over a week since Zeke came looking for Scott and the place was pretty stuffy and warm.

This wasn’t good, not at all.

I moved toward the bedroom. The door was slightly ajar. May as well check the place out before I left. Scott still could have been here, could have left some clue where he was going next. And where the hell was Jimmy?

I stepped over a couch cushion and, covering my hand with my sweater, so I didn’t leave any prints, shoved the bedroom door open.

A scream burst from me before I could stop it. I stumbled back a step, my eyes locked on the bed in the middle of the small room.

Jimmy lay face down, hair matted with blood. It had soaked into the covers around him, a reddish brown stain surrounding his motionless body. Going by how much there was, I could only assume his head wasn’t the only place he’d been injured. I’d never seen a dead body before, but I didn’t need to check his pulse to know that’s what I was looking at.

Someone had killed Jimmy. Had brutally murdered him.

I stumbled out of the room, scrambling back out to the fire escape. And as soon as I was back on the ground, I called the cops with an anonymous tip, because I couldn’t just leave him up there like that.

A shiver skated up my spine. Did this have something to do with what Scott wanted to tell me? Where the hell was Scott?

God, why would anyone what to hurt Jimmy? The guy was harmless, kind of sweet. He didn’t deserve to die like that. No one did.

I left the alley and, shoving my hands in my pockets, got the hell out of there.

I needed to get home before Neco did.

* * *

Neco

I stood, hands curling into fists, pacing my living room like a caged lion. The rage pounding through me was more than I could contain. I stormed back to Scott’s laptop and looked at the screen again. I wanted to find that fucker and torture him, dismember him, burn him until there was nothing left. The cameras Scott had put in Ruby’s room didn’t just feed to the sick fuck’s computer, they were live streaming to a website. I hadn’t been able to gain access to it yet. It was locked down tight, more than likely invite only, which meant assholes with lots of money. I had a sick feeling about this. Was there more to this than a bunch of perverts in suits watching Ruby sleep, shower, brush her damn teeth?

After coming home and finding Ruby looking wiped out, even in sleep, I ignored the urge to climb in beside her and decided to have another crack at Scott’s laptop. It paid off. I now knew the cameras had been used for more than just material for Scott to stroke his dick to, and I had a name: Imperious Incorporated. But that’s all I had. The owners were anonymous, hiding behind a shell company. They’d kept their names off any and all paperwork connected to the name, which was perfectly legal. Whoever was behind it had made sure to cover their tracks and then some, but I had a few contacts I could call on, people who may be able to dig deeper. I needed to make sure Ruby wasn’t at risk from these people. I carried on scrolling though files, pictures, whatever else I could find. Shit, I was almost afraid to look. What the fuck would I find on this motherfucker’s hard drive? There was nothing of importance in his documents. He didn’t have much in the way of pictures either. I clicked on videos and hit the first one. It was titled Chantal.

It took only a few seconds for me to work out what I was watching. The prick obviously liked to video the women he fucked. I clicked out and scrolled through the names. There were a lot and I couldn’t work out how all these women could be so damn blind, stunned that not only did they talk to the sick little fuck, they let him fuck them.

I was about to exit out and close it down, when a name caught my eye . . .

My entire body froze.

No.

Please, fuck no.

Ruby.

I felt like someone had just battered the side of my head with a baseball bat.