Chapter 10
10
Malik
R urik passed me a flip phone and a slip of paper, dragging my attention from the passing scenery outside the window. I took it from him without a word and flipped the device open, typing in the digits he’d given me. The SUV hit a pothole, almost making me hit the wrong number, and I shot a scowl at the driver.
“You couldn’t have avoided that?” I snapped, irritation lining my voice.
“Ignore him,” Rurik told Denis. “Malik is in a foul mood for some unknown reason.”
Denis cast Rurik a look through the rearview mirror that practically screamed when isn’t he ? My skin flushed hot, and my fingers tightened around the stupid fucking phone in my hand.
Everyone was on a mission to piss me off today, apparently. And it didn’t help that Rurik and I had another dumb fight over a wire after we left the restaurant—a fight I won. But he did not want to drop it. I knew Rurik was trying to keep me safe or whatever, but a wire was a sure fire of way of getting my head blown off.
I’d like to keep it firmly on my shoulders—thanks.
“If you two shut the fuck up for two goddamn seconds, I can make this phone call,” I seethed.
Rurik smirked at me. “Denis didn’t even say a word, Malik.”
I sneered at him, my upper lip curling. Rurik hummed and sat back in his seat, turning his head to look out the window. Muttering under my breath about what a dick Rurik was, I pressed the button with the little green phone on it and lifted the phone to my ear. It rang three times before a deep voice asked, “If you’re a fucking spam caller?—”
“Not a spam caller,” I said, interrupting him. I hadn’t heard Kaleen’s voice since I got out, and honestly, it was kind of nice to hear the voice of someone who’d once been on my side. Sure, we’d been behind bars and being cellmates had been the center of our friendship, if it could even be called that, but being in prison would either make or break someone.
Kaleen and I decided to let it make us.
“Who the fuck are you?” Kaleen growled, a dangerous edge leaking into his voice. “I don’t like fucking games.”
“It’s Malik,” I told him.
He was quiet for a moment—long enough that I had to pull the phone away from my ear to make sure the call hadn’t been dropped.
“Malik fucking Carter?” he finally asked, his voice a bit lighter now. I swore, his moods flipped like a fucking switch. It’d always been alarming. Bunking with Kaleen had always been a trip. I never knew what version of him I was going to wake up to. “Well, fuck me with a brick, brother. How the fuck did you get this number?”
“I’m resourceful,” I said, leaving it at that. I didn’t want him to know Rurik existed, and I was not pondering over that . “I was hoping we could meet and talk.”
He grunted, a clear sign his mood was souring again. “This about the Ghost Born bullshit?” he asked. “Got wind you were part of their club now. Bunch of pussies if you ask me. If you were looking for somewhere to belong, bro, I could’ve brought you into the Savage Dreams.”
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, already over this conversation. “It’s a lot more complicated than that,” I admitted. I didn’t want to belong to any club, but I did. And my hands were tied. And to be honest, yeah—the GBMC had kept my ass out of prison and kept my hands virtually clean so my parole officer couldn’t come after me.
I knew most of that had to do with the man next to me, but I refused to dwell on that too much. Shit was already complicated between me and Rurik, and last night had blurred too many lines in my mind, leaving me on edge and feeling like a ticking time bomb.
“We can meet,” Kaleen finally agreed. “Got to be by yourself though, Malik. You bring someone along, and we’re gonna have problems.”
I grunted. “Understood. I’ll drop you a set of coordinates.”
With that, I ended the call and tossed the phone toward Rurik. It hit the leather seat with a thump . I crumbled the phone number in my fist before flicking that his way, too. It hit his arm and bounced off into the seat. He arched a brow at me, clearly unimpressed.
“Childish much, Shadow?” he murmured. I hated the way a shiver rolled down my spine at his use of my road name—a road name he’d given me. Didn’t know why. I’d asked Hutch once why I had that name, and when he told me it’d come from Rurik, I let it drop. Because like fuck was I digging into that.
“Send him coordinates of where to meet. He’s expecting them.”
With that, I turned to look out the window, not giving him another bit of my attention. And thankfully, he didn’t push me any further. I wasn’t in the mood to fight with him. I just wanted to get this meeting over with and move on with my life, which would hopefully mean going the fuck home so Rurik could return to Washington.
And leave me the hell alone.