Raize jerked the wheel once more, pulling off into a field, and he kept going until we reached an isolated spot. A group of trees blocked us from the road when he turned the engine off.

No one moved.

“What are we doing here?” the guy asked in a low voice. “You got shit to bury? Because you ain’t putting a bullet in my head. No way, man. After what I just did for you—”

“Shut up, Basil.”

Basil. I had a name.

Raize opened his door and got out, going to the back of the truck and putting down the tailgate. He dug through his pockets, laying out everything he’d grabbed. When I followed him, he started for my pockets. I stood there, feeling weird about him digging through my sweatshirt, but in an odd way, I found it pleasant.

That was super-duper odd.

Duper.

I’d never used that word before in my life.

What was going on with me?

“She’s in shock.”

That was it. I must still be in shock.

“What are we doing here?” Basil leaned a hand on the back of the truck, watching us. “Can we talk about this mute one here, while we’re at it? If I’m joining your team, I need to know what I’m signing up for.”

I frowned at him. “Your name is Basil?”

His eyebrows shot up. “That’s what you’re focused on? Carrie? Like that’s your real name.” He nodded toward Raize, who was studying everything on the truck bed. “What’d this one call you before Carrie?”

I put my hands in my now-empty sweatshirt pockets and rolled my shoulders back. That was an easy one. “Girl.”

I caught the corner of Raize’s mouth lifting up, just a bit before resuming its normal flat line.

Basil straightened from the truck and put his hand in his own pockets, his head tipping back. “Right. Girl. Carrie. I’m sure names are so important to us now, but you can call me Abram. Abram Basil. Raize and I used to work together, long time ago. How’d you and he meet up?”

Raize paused, his eyes sliding my way.

“He won me in a poker game.”

Abram’s eyebrows shot up. “What? Since when do you play poker?”

Raize turned to regard Abram. He looked at me over his shoulder. “Stop giving him information.” He turned back to Abram. “Stop trying to needle her. She’s not wired like that. You won’t get a reaction.”

“What will get a reaction from her?”

“Kill someone. She doesn’t like that.”

Abram pursed his lips together. “I’ll take that into consideration. Nice officially meeting you, Raize’s girl.”

A low growl came from Raize.

Abram grinned. “There’s the reaction I was looking for. Surprised it came from you, though. You going to tell me what the hell we’re doing out here? You don’t trust me to take me to your headquarters?”

Raize leaned back against the truck bed, his arms folded. “I need your phone.”

Abram didn’t move.

I didn’t move. I knew he wasn’t asking for mine.

When this clicked with Abram, he stepped back and his hands shot out of his pockets. “Say what?”

“Your phone.” Raize wasn’t fucking around. His eyes were steady on his friend.

Was he a friend? I was guessing since Raize hadn’t shot him yet.

Raize leaned forward. “I’ve not worked with you for years. You put down with us in there, but that don’t mean shit, and you know it. You could’ve been Estrada's man on Oscar, and now you see an opportunity to find what exactly I’m here to offer Estrada. I gotta know if I can bring you in or not.”

“And if I refuse?”

“You walk from here, and I’ll kill you the next time I see you.”

See? Killing was not something Raize cared about.

Such an asshole.

I shifted back, ignoring the look Raize sent my way.

Abram smirked. “You’re right. She hates the killing—don’t even like you threatening it. Your girl is loony. I’m saying it again, you should put her down. She’s a liability for you, amigo.”

Raize shifted, blocking me from his friend’s view. “And I’ll tell you again, shut the fuck up when it comes to her. She ain’t your business.”

I looked down as silence settled over us, except for Abram shuffling his feet in the dirt.

“I either give you my phone or I walk? Those are my two options?”

“It’s not a bullet in your skull.”

A shiver went down my spine. Raize was just… so… dead. He was back to being nothing.

“I can’t give you my phone.”

“Then start walking.”

“Is this really how you’re going to play me out? All these years? I throw down for you, and now I’m not okay with you going through my phone?”

“We have different employers.”

“You don’t know my employer!”

“Then tell me.”

I closed my eyes, holding my breath for him.

I didn’t want this guy to die, despite him saying the opposite about me, but I could feel Raize coming to a decision. If Abram said the wrong thing, he wasn’t going to walk away, despite what he’d been told. And he knew it, too. I felt that in the air as well.

It was sweltering, pressing down on us.

I reached out, not knowing my hand was going to move before it happened, before my fingers touched Raize’s back. I felt him shift, his body going hard as I trailed my fingers down, looping them into the back of his jeans and I hung there.

Two days ago, I’d never have thought to do this, but I was.

I had touched Raize of my own accord, and it settled me.

Was that why I did this?

No. I was trying to touch him, affect him. I was asking for his friend’s life. He stepped forward, dislodging my hold.

“Who’s on your phone, Abram? Who don’t you want me to see?”

Suddenly, a growl erupted from Abram, and Raize shifted, his arm flashing up.

I jumped back, biting down on a scream, and braced, expecting to hear another gunshot.

“Look through it, you fucking asshole!” Abram yelled instead. “You piece of shit, making me choose!” He paced and flailed as he kept shouting. “You threatening to take me out? Who do you think you are? You’re not above my paygrade. You goddamn—I helped you back there. I chose you over Oscar. You. I chose you and who are you choosing—”

“Shut up.” Raize moved back to the truck.

I lifted my head to see Abram swinging his fists in the air. He paced back and forth, fists forming and unclenching. He shot daggers at Raize.

He growled, “You fucking asshole. Don’t have any feelings in you.”

Raize stopped thumbing through the phone. A sudden stillness came over him, and Abram felt it, too.

Both of us watched Raize again. A hot breeze blew over us, brushing the back of my neck, but I barely felt it. Different world, different life, I would’ve welcomed that breeze. Here, I worried what was trailing behind it.

Raize looked up at Abram. “You’re working for Estrada himself.”

Abram sighed, looking utterly defeated. “About keeled over when you threw that out, but yeah. Oscar reached out for a meet. I’m assuming he was going to tell us about you, about Macca. I knew nothing about any of that until Oscar dropped Macca’s name. We never sent Macca. He hasn’t been working for Estrada for two years. He’s sloppy. You know that.”