Page 19 of Carter's Battle

Bobby was afraid.Well, he could join the fucking club.She held up her palm in abe reasonablegesture.“I need money to gamble. If you want me to make two hundred and fifty grand in a couple of weeks, I need money to bet. I can’t earn that kind of cash betting small. Nickel and dime betting means it will take months to hit your goal. I need to keep the money I won as my stake.”

“She speaks the truth,” a voice said from the back of the van.

Mia’s head jerked up as she tried to look over Bobby’s shoulder to see who was there. Panic hit between her shoulder blades. She’d been so focused on Bobby that she hadn’t noticed anyone else in the back of the van.Shit. Big mistake. One Carter wouldn’t make.

Suddenly, a shape blocked out the van light. The man got out and came to stand beside Bobby. “Hello, Mia. How have you been?” He ran his gaze over her body and then said with a smirk, “You’re looking well.”

Donny fucking Nakamura. Bile rose and she struggled not to wretch. “Donny.” She acknowledged the other man but said no more. Donny gave her the creeps in a way Bobby never did. Bobby was a lowlife drug dealer with more issues than she could count. But Donny was an altogether different animal. He made her skin crawl, and after the look he’d given her, she wanted nothing more than to go home and take a shower.Yuck.

She turned back to Bobby. “I need money to make money. You can’t expect me to gamble with no money.”

Donny inclined his head. “She is, of course, correct, Bobby. She needs a decent amount of seed money if this little venture is to work.”

Bobby frowned at Donny. “Stay out of this,” he growled.

Donny ignored Bobby and continued, “Now, though, she knows that we know exactly how much she makes and she can start making payments at the end of the week. That will give her enough time to establish herself with Peter and use the ten grand to win bigger.”

Bobby snarled at Donny and then turned a fierce glare toward Mia. “Fine, but I want to see you back here on Sunday night,” he said and then started jabbing her in the shoulder as he continued, “and you better be bringing me a lot of fucking cash or you and your friends are dead.”

Mia’s mouth was so dry she couldn’t speak. She merely nodded her head.

“Lovely to see you,” Donny said and then disappeared into the deep recesses of the van.

Bobby poked her once more. “Sunday fucking night and you had better bring me a lot of fucking money.”

With a final glare, he climbed into the van. The driver threw the gear into reverse and was already backing up before Bobby even had the door closed. They were gone in seconds, leaving Mia to be pelted with the sand they’d stirred up.

Nearly hyperventilating, she slid down the side of her car, her head and neck jarring when her butt hit the ground. Why the fuck had she agreed to this? Carter was right; she was in way over her head. She hadn’t been this out of sorts since the first time she’d been ragdolled under a massive wave. All that water pounding over her, tossing her about, had been terrifying. Similar to what she was feeling right this minute.

Mia’s hands shook as she put them over her face. She needed a way out. She should call Emery and confess the whole story. Get Bobby and Donny arrested. If only. With the minimal information she had they weren’t going anywhere. Who knew, she might be in a worse spot if the cops wanted her to stay in. Not to mention, Akela would have to testify and there was no way she was going to do that if Kai’s life was threatened.

Going to the cops was a non-starter. She wouldn’t do that until her back was to a wall embedded with nails poking into her.

Staring out at the ocean, she realized how right Carter had been. She couldn’t handle this herself. Not with these assholes. Mia needed help.

She needed Carter.

The thought of him moving in, which had been an anathema to her twenty minutes ago, was the only thing that made her feel better after her encounter with Bobby and—she shivered—Donny. She wanted Carter with her twenty-four-seven. She was going to need his protection if she was going to make it through this. Hell, she wanted him with her at that moment, and suddenly, the shower she wanted to take didn’t seem safe unless he was going to be in the house with her.

Yeah, she was well and truly screwed. She flexed her shaking fingers and pulled her phone out of her back pocket. Time to face the music. She glanced at the screen. Carter had called three times already. She might not know the guy well, but she knew him enough to know just how pissed he was going to be when she told him what she’d done. It wasn’t going to be pretty, but his anger was nothing compared to the rampant fear the meeting with Bobby and Donny had instilled in her. She was willing to take the dressing down as long as Carter was still willing to protect her. It was suddenly crystal clear to her that the likelihood of her surviving this without his help was zero.

She hit the button on her phone screen.

“Carter?” she said when he answered.

“Mia, where are you? I thought we were going to meet at your place?”

“About that, I…” her voice gave out on her.

“Where are you? Are you okay? Tell me the address and I’ll come to you.” Concern laced his voice, and it was enough to clog her throat closed with unshed tears.

She swallowed hard and then cleared her throat. “I’m okay. I’m heading home. I’ll be there in a bit, and I’ll explain everything.” She paused then added, “You were right. I can’t do this on my own. Are you sure you still want to protect me? Because I think it’s going to be a much tougher job than maybe you first thought. Things are worse than I realized.”

“Mia, I’m in this. I promised I’d take care of you. We made a deal. I’m going to stick by it no matter what the situation is. You have my word.”

Relief bobbed through her, like sitting on a longboard in calm water. Breath came a little easier now. “I’ll be at my place in about twenty minutes. Wait, are you hungry? I can pick up something on the way.”

“Already done. Me and the food will be waiting. See you soon.”

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