NINE: Boyle Heights

  “Her dad took her home.”

  Drew nodded. “Yeah, it’s his weekend with her. But I know he won’t mind me stopping by to see her. He’d do the same if she were sick at my place.”

  “Of course he won’t mind, but won’t your man mind?”

  Her man? Drew couldn’t help rolling her eyes but kept them on the road ahead of her. “That I wanted to see my sick daughter who was in the ER tonight one last time before going to bed? Why would he mind?”

  Nine laughed under his breath, looking out the window. “He white too?”

  Now she turned to him with a frown. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  He turned to her, and Drew did her best not to get caught up in his chiseled facial features, especially when he smirked and it lit up his eyes under those heavy lashes. “Never mind.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “I’m curious now. How does him being white have anything to do—”

  Nine laughed out loud. “See. I knew it. He’s as white as you are.”

  “Again,” she said, even more annoyed, but brought her attention back to the road since the light was green now. “What does him being white have to do with this?” Even more confused, she added one more thing. “And am I missing something? Aren’t you white too?”

  “Hell no.” He shook his head adamantly. “I’m Hispanic. No guy in my world would be cool with his girl dropping by her ex’s house at all. Much less at this hour. But white folk are different, I guess.”

  She didn’t think it was possible, but his close-minded blanket statement managed to annoy her even further. Glancing at the dash, she saw it was almost one in the morning. “I’m not stopping by to see him, Nine. I’m there for my daughter. Besides”—she lifted her chin, holding the wheel a little tighter—“Brad and I are adults with mutual respect and trust for one another. There’s no need for me to worry about him being upset over a nonissue like this.”

  She’d keep to herself that first, Chelsea’s dad was gay and second, her turning down Nine’s invitation to grab something to eat at this hour of the night was exactly because she didn’t think Brad would be thrilled about it. She wasn’t even sure she’d mention having to drop Nine off tonight. Not that she thought she was doing anything wrong, but just the fact that, despite his prejudiced comments about all white people in general—and even his own people—none of that took from how damn attractive he was. It just felt wrong.

  “Well, there you go—”

  Nine stopped talking when something clicked loudly and the car lost power. With her heart spiking immediately, Drew looked down at her dash. The engine temperature warning light was on.

  “Has that light been on all this time?” Nine asked.

  “Yes, but it goes off and on all the time.” The sour expression she’d seen on him earlier was back when she glanced at him.

  “For how long?”

  Drew shrugged, cruising the car over to the side of the freeway while she still could. “I don’t know. Weeks?”

  “Weeks?”

  God, could this night get any worse? She pulled over far enough that the cars wouldn’t be whizzing by them when they got out. She scooted over the center console to get out the passenger side, even though Nine insisted she stay in the car while he looked under the hood. His blanket statement earlier still didn’t sit well with her. She wasn’t about to sit there idly and take orders from headquarters. Especially when the orders were coming from this chauvinistic caveman.

  He scowled when he saw her come around the front where he stood already, frowning at the smoking engine to begin with. “It’s on fire?” she asked, her annoyance suddenly replaced with alarm.

  “No. But you’re lucky the engine shut itself off because it might’ve caught fire if it hadn’t.” He pointed at the area where most of the smoke was coming from. “It’s your radiator. When’s the last time you refilled the coolant?”

  The what? She glanced down at the engine, lifting and dropping a shoulder. “Not sure what that is.”

  He looked at her, and the continued soured expression had her swallowing hard because even that was sexy as hell. “Not sure?” He shook his head without even trying to tone down his annoyance. “Then that means never. You better hope you didn’t fry your radiator because that’s expensive to replace.”

  How in the world could such an exasperated expression—aimed at her—be anything but annoying? The man was hot even when he was irritated with her. Between his still wide open dress shirt and her being this close to all those damn tattoo-covered muscles, the only thing annoying about it was that she had to struggle to keep her eyes on his and not his bare chest.

  “You have Triple A? ’Cause this ain’t going anywhere unless you wanna wait for it to cool down, but it could be a while.”

  Her phone was already at her ear, even as she shook her head. No way was she waiting for hours out here with Mr. Sexy Sourpuss times nine. “I do have Triple A.” She walked back to the car so she could pull her card out of her wallet.

  Walking off a little farther from the loud cars driving by, she glanced down at the card for the phone number. She caught him checking her out when she looked up, and he didn’t even bother to mask it. Instead, he grinned in approval. Suddenly remembering her sexy dress and too high heels, she felt her face warm. Fortunately, Triple A answered at the most opportune moment, taking her attention away from him.

  Rattling off her info and situation, she waited while the attendant on the other end typed up her information into their system. So much for seeing Chelsea one last time before going home. At this point, it could be hours before she could be on her way home. Her other line beeped while she waited on Triple A. She lifted the phone away from her ear, alarmed that it might be something about Chelsea.

  “Of course,” she muttered at the sight of Brad’s name on her screen.

  Normally, he wouldn’t be calling her this late, but given the fact that he knew she’d been in the ER earlier with Chelsea, he was likely calling her back to see how she was doing. She’d completely forgotten to call or even text him to let him know Chelsea had been released.

  Unwilling to cut her call with Triple A short, she decided she’d just have to call him back. “Thank you for holding, Ms. Morris,” the attendant said as she came back on the line. “We can have someone out there, but unfortunately, the wait time at the moment is approximately an hour.”

  “An hour?”

  The attendant apologized for the long wait and offered to look into a truck in a different area if she wanted.

  Drew let her head fall back with a groan. “Whichever you can get here sooner works for me.”

  It wasn’t until she looked up to see Nine still shaking his head as he stared at her smoking radiator, that she realized, not only would she be stuck waiting around for at least another hour, she’d be doing it in the confinement of her car—with Nine.

  “Do you have an Uber or Lyft account?” she asked as she reached the car and leaned against it.

  “Yeah, why?” Nine asked, peering at her. “What happened with Triple A?”

  “Oh, they’re coming.” She grimaced at the thought. “But the wait time is about an hour. No sense in you waiting around that long since we’ll both be going our separate ways anyway. I figure I’ve made you wait long enough tonight: first at the ER and then while I comforted Ali. Now this. I apologize for the inconvenience, but—”

  She paused when her phone rang. Glancing down at it, a bit alarmed, she worried again it might be about Chelsea. Maybe Phoenix had been forced to take her back to the ER. Frowning, she stifled a groan when she saw the name on the screen.

  “Is that Triple A calling back?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “But I have to take this. He called when I was on the phone with Triple A. Hey, Brad.” As soon as she answered, she took a few steps away from the car—and Nine. “Sorry, you called when I was on the phone with Triple A. My radiator overheated, and now I’m waiting for them to come and tow me o
ff the freeway.”

  He was quiet for a moment before responding. “I know it’s later here, but it still has to be past midnight there, right? And you’re on the freeway?”

  “Yes, it’s almost one. You know how it is at the ER. They took forever, but they finally released Chelsea. Then I had to drive Ali home.”

  Thankfully, the subject was momentarily changed because of that last comment. When he’d called earlier and she’d spoken to him at the ER, there was too much going on for her to explain it all. Even now wasn’t the time or the place to explain the convoluted story about Ali. So she gave him the short and dirty explanation. When she was done, she added one last thing. “We don’t know what’s gonna happen next, but Ali’s extremely upset because, since her boyfriend is on probation, she’s afraid he may run instead of turn himself in.”

  He was quiet again, and Drew knew it was a lot to take in, so she waited for him to let it all simmer. “What’s he on probation for?” Drew thought about it for a moment, but before she could tell him, a loud semi drove by, making her heart thud, and he went on. “Wait. Are you outside? On the side of the freeway?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I have to wait for Triple A. They said it might be awhile.”

  “Why aren’t you locked in your car, babe? It’s dangerous. You’re all by yourself out there in the middle of the night.”

  Pinching the rim of her nose, she closed her eyes but refused to lie, especially since she wasn’t doing anything wrong. “I’m not alone. Beast’s—” She cleared her throat, deciding it’d be better if she used his real name. “Leo’s . . . Uh, Ali’s boyfriend’s friend, the one who rushed us out of the party tonight, has been stuck with us all night. I was driving him home when the power in my car went out.”

  More unnerving silence ensued before he went on. “They call her boyfriend Beast?”

  Of course he caught that. Drew exhaled softly. “Yeah, something to do with his boxing,” she said quickly. “Anyway, I just got off with Triple A, so I probably will go sit in my car now.”

  Feeling her stomach rumble again, she was glad for the loud passing cars.

  “What’s this guy’s name? Beast’s friend?”

  Damn it, she’d never thought to ask him about his real name. “Nine.” She’d lowered her voice but still tried to say it as casually as she could. Then she glanced up at Nine. Of course, he’d be smirking smugly.

  “Nine?”

  She turned her back to Nine, taking another step away. “Yeah, another nickname. Listen. It’s really hard to hear you with all the cars passing. I’ll text you an update once I’m home in case you’re asleep by then.”

  “Nah, I won’t be able to sleep until I know you’re home safe. I’ll wait up. Call me when you get home.”

  Drew started to agree, in a hurry to end the call, when he asked her one more thing. “How old are these guys?”

  She could see why he’d ask. He knew Ali was considerably younger than her, so he was probably wondering if her boyfriend and his friends were Ali’s age.

  Not the case.

  Glancing back at Nine, who was staring down at his phone screen, she could only hope he was calling Uber or Lyft. She knew Beast was thirty, but she had no idea how old Nine was. If she had to guess though, he was about the same age. But it didn’t matter. Last thing she wanted was for Nine to overhear them discussing him. “Around my age, I think.”

  She didn’t elaborate further because she didn’t want to encourage more talk of Nine. She’d been spot on about turning down Nine’s invitation to grab something to eat. Already, she was certain Brad would be asking more about Nine when she called him later. Had he called and they’d been somewhere eating at this hour, things might’ve felt even more uncomfortable than they already did.

  Once off the phone, she was forced to endure Nine’s ongoing smug smirk as she walked back toward him, but she ignored it. “Did you get a ride?”

  That seemed to wipe the smirk away. Instead, he shook his head with that now familiar almost annoyed expression. “I’m not leaving you out here on your own. I can wait an hour then call for a ride.”

  “You don’t have to.” She frowned. “I’ve already made you wait enough tonight. I’ll be fine, really. I’ll just lock myself in the car.”

  Nine peered at her, strangely now. “Would Brad leave you out here?”

  She pressed her lips together because she got the feeling the question had everything to do with his “White folk are different, I guess,” mentality.

  “Brad’s my boyfriend.”

  “I know that. I’m just saying, boyfriend or not, no dude would just hop in a car and leave a chick out here on her own.”

  But a white guy might? She kept her thoughts to herself. After the night she’d had, she was in no mood to verbally spar with him. She may not know a whole lot about him, including his real name, but there was one thing she’d picked up on about him already: he could be argumentative.

  “Well, if you insist, but I think maybe we should sit in the car.”

  She started around to the driver side. “No, come in this way.” Nine pointed at the passenger side. “Too dangerous that way.”

  Drew wasn’t sure if she just had a chip on her shoulder because he’d pretty much labeled himself a caveman, but it didn’t sound like a request. Again, it sounded more like an order. Though another huge semi whizzing by and shaking the whole car had her going toward the passenger side anyway. She opened the door then realized she’d have to awkwardly climb over the center console—with him watching this time—then again when the tow truck finally arrived. “I’ll just sit in the backseat.” She reached for the back door. “No sense in climbing back and forth over that thing.”

  She got in the car, and to her surprise, he stood at the open door as if waiting for her to scoot over. Turning to face his six pack right at her eye level, she took a deep breath, swallowing hard again. “What are you doing?”

  “Slide all the way in.”

  “Why? Aren’t you sitting in the front?”

  “Nah, we’re gonna be here an hour. I’m not gonna sit there backwards the whole time and get a stiff neck. Scoot over.”

  Stupidly and because she really didn’t know how to argue without sounding petty, she slid over. She’d hoped, with him in the front, he might not hear if her stomach did the growling thing again. Once again, she was overwhelmed by his presence next to her and that nerve-altering scent as soon as he closed the door. Looking over the front seat at the driver side, Nine looked like he might be climbing over to the front, his legs rubbing against her upper thighs in the process, but he was just turning the key in the engine.

  “You’re turning it on?” she asked, confused.

  “Nah, just enough to get these back windows down.” As he scooted even further forward, Drew sat back so as to not get a face full of his ass.

  In the next few seconds, both back windows were all the way down, and Drew was just grateful for the noisy highway. He made his way back to his seat and leaned up against the door, legs wide open and wearing a very telling smile. “It’s been a while since I ended up in the backseat of a car with a hot chick on a Saturday night.”

  Drew laughed nervously, digging in her purse for a piece of gum. Trying her damnedest not to appear prudish about the harmless joke or the least bit excited about the compliment, she slipped a piece of gum in her mouth then offered him one.

  Nine took it, still grinning sinfully. The lines and compliments were probably a dime a dozen with a smooth-talking guy like Nine. She hated to be as prejudiced as he was, but she was fairly certain she knew his kind as well as he thought he knew hers.

  She shrugged, refusing to appear rattled by his comment. “It’s been a while for me too.”

  He grinned even bigger, taking her in again, almost obscenely. “So, why isn’t your man here with you tonight?”

  Chapter 2

  Nine

  Drew’s big baby blues stared Nine square in the eyes, almost as if to show
she was up for the challenge. Her sassiness was amusing, and after the night he’d had, he could go for a little fun. Not to mention he was curious as hell why any guy would let a girl as hot as Drew, looking so damn fuckable, out of his sight. Let alone be okay with her going to a party dressed this way—without him.

  “He’s out of town on a business trip.”

  “Kind of business he in?”

  “Sports publicist.”

  “How long you been with him?”

  “Officially, a little over two months,” she said, going head-to-head with his quick questions. “But I’ve known him for over five.”

  That had him peering at her, even more curious. “Took you three months to decide if you wanted to make it official?”

  “He’s gone a lot,” she explained, beginning to sound a little uncomfortable about this line of questioning, but she went on anyway. “For the first three months, we dated off and on, until we decided to become exclusive.”

  This time Nine’s brows shot up. “So, for the first three months, it wasn’t exclusive?”

  “Well, we hadn’t agreed it would be, but I never date more than one guy at a time. So . . .” Without finishing, she glanced away then, to his surprise, turned back to him with her own question. “What’s your real name?”

  “Rudy, but very few call me that.” He lifted a chin in inquiry because that reminded him of something. He hadn’t realized until now how many things about her he was curious about. “Your ex, at the hospital . . . I heard him call you Dani. Is that your nickname?”

  She stared at him blankly for a moment then shook her head. “Daniele is my first name, but my brother’s name is Daniel. We were both named after our dad. So, to avoid confusion, everyone has always referred to me by my middle name, Drew. But Phoenix has always preferred Dani.”