Page 81 of Swerve (Boosted Hearts 1)

I walked out a second later, climbed into my SUV, and hauled ass out of there. I hit Tomas’s number and waited.

“Yeah?”

“It’s done,” I said, voice so remote and detached I barely recognized it.

“He going to be up and about any time soon?”

“You really need to ask?” The nausea in my gut intensified.

He chuckled. “You always did take pride in your work.”

I ignored him. “Give me what I want.”

“The recruiter you want goes by Mom. She’s a fucking bitch. Would sell her own kids if she got the chance.”

I wasn’t expecting a woman to be heading the operation, but it didn’t really make much difference. She’d come after Ruby, which meant shit was going to get real ugly for her real fast.

“Anything else?” I muttered.

“I hear there’s a meeting set up, not sure what it’s about, and I don’t know the players yet, but she’ll be there. As soon as I have more, I’ll let you know.”

I disconnected.

* * *

Ruby

The reception was unmanned when I walked in. I was on a mission. Zeke said I could spar with him any morning I wanted to. So here I was. I was also pretty angry that Neco hadn’t bothered to call or even fucking text last night. The least he could do was give me a heads up that he wouldn’t be coming home—that he was okay. He worried about me to the point he damn near suffocated me. Did he think I didn’t worry about him? That I could have no communication from him for eighteen fucking hours, and be all, “oh well, whatever”?

I punched in the code for the lower level where the gym was located, as well as Neco’s office and surveillance equipment, and jogged down the stairs.

I was walking past his office when the sound of murmured voices had me pulling to a stop. He was here? Neco was at the goddamn office and still hadn’t thought to call me? I dropped my gym bag at the door and shoved it open, storming in.

Hunter was standing in the middle of the room, Van, too. Both of them spun to look at me as I strode in.

Van reacted first, striding toward me. “You can’t be in here, Ruby.” He tried to usher me out.

Oh, hell no . . .

I spun away from Van, and that’s when I spotted Neco.

He was on the floor, sitting against the wall, knees up, arms draped over them, head hanging down. There was dried blood on his hands and forearms, his shirt.

Oh God.

Shoving past Van, yanking my arms free when Hunter tried to grab me as well, I dropped to my knees beside Neco.

He didn’t move.

I knew he wasn’t hurt, or the guys wouldn’t be standing around like this. This was something else entirely.

“Neco,” I whispered. “Baby?”

He didn’t acknowledge me, remained eerily still. I turned to Hunter and Van, still standing there, thankfully no longer trying to extract me from the room. “What the hell happened to him?”

Neither one answered.

We stared each other down for several seconds. I was done with this shit. Done. “I’m not a fucking idiot,” I growled. “You may think I don’t know what the hell goes on around here, but I have a pretty good idea. I grew up in the same neighborhood as you. I’m not deaf and I’m not fucking blind. There’s nothing you can tell me that can shock me at this point.”