Page 39 of Royally Embraced: RBMC

They came to a sporty, four-door vehicle with tinted windows and chrome wheels. The idea of anyone thinking that the high-end Benz could blend into her neighborhood was laughable. Of course, she saw several Teslas and other expensive cars driving around. Not that her Bronco had been chump change. She was being ridiculous.

JETER PULLED A BEANIEover his head as they drove through Chicago. As they’d prepared to leave, Enzo had gotten a text and needed to stay at the clubhouse because of an emergency. Now, it was just him and Tori heading to her apartment. For the first time that he could remember, he was nervous. Shit, if having an ole’ lady stressed a man out after a day, he could understand why King stomped around and carried Ayesha off every night. Fuck that. He would chain Tori to his side so there would be no surprises or issues.

“Penny for them?” Tori interrupted his thoughts. She looked at him from the corner of her eye and easily maneuvered the sporty Benz through traffic.

“A what?” he asked.

She tapped her finger against his head. “Your thoughts.”

He grabbed her hand, placing it on his thigh. “That’s cute. I’m afraid I’d owe you some change, babe.”

Her fingers spread, entwining hers with his. He stared at her smooth skin compared to his rough, tatted-up one. “You’re cute, too. We should get matching tattoos when this is over.”

He looked over to see if she was being serious or fucking with him. Her eyes were staring straight ahead. Every line in herbody was tense. Yet he couldn’t tell if she was bullshitting him or what. “What do you have in mind?”

They stopped at a red light, and she looked over at him. “Something meaningful,” she said.

Jeter nodded. He pulled out his phone and typed a message to Keys, letting him know they were on their way to Tori’s apartment.

‘How much time before you get there?’

“Keys wants to know our eta?” he asked Tori. He held his thumb over the keyboard, ready to text his reply.

“Approximately fifteen minutes.” Tori rocked her hand back and forth.

‘Fifteen minutes, give or take. You got any updates for me?’

His phone rang with Keys name appearing on the screen. “Hey, brother. You’re on speakerphone with Tori and me.” He ensured his friend knew she was listening unless Keys wanted to talk to him without her overhearing. The club had rules he wouldn’t break, ever.

“Good to hear, Jeter. From what I've seen, there’s been no motion. I pulled the live camera feeds from several places around her apartment. There’s a gas station around the corner, an ATM on the opposite corner, and every red light has one at each intersection. The issue I ran into is that there’s a shitton of assholes out and about at that time of the night. You’d think people would stay their asses at home when it’s cold out, but nope, damn, Chicago peeps just keep on trucking. No worries, though. I have a program narrowing down a few leads.” He sounded excited.

“I’ll let you know when we pull up. We’re in Enzo’s ole’ lady’s car.” Jeter gave him the description. Since he didn’t know the license plate number, he searched for the VIN number in the glove box, finding it on the insurance paper. Keys said he didn’t need anything else for now and hung up.

“That’s kind of scary to think he can track people through camera feeds like that,” she mumbled. Turning to look at him and biting her lip.

“Thank fuck he’s on our side,” he agreed.

A few minutes later, she circled an apartment complex. He looked around the area, noting the different vehicles, and checked the license plates. “Do you see anything that stands out as strange?”

She turned the signal on to show they were turning right. He didn’t like seeing her shoulders hunched as she sat too close to the steering wheel. She kept looking back and forth as if lost. “I don’t know. When I go out, I usually get in my car and just drive off. I’ve never been one to walk around the neighborhood and chat with old Miss Thompson down the street.”

He reached for her hand, needing to offer her reassurance that everything would be fine.

“Here we go,” she said, as it was their turn to go at the intersection.

Jeter felt like a prisoner in a cage. He did his best to act calm until shattering glass echoed in the air. Tori screamed as he tried to cover her head with his arm. “Go, baby. Drive, drive, drive,” yelled.

The gunshot came from behind them, but he didn’t know if it was from a person in another vehicle or not.

He hit the speed dial for his brother. “We’ve got trouble. Someone is shooting at us.”

“Where the fuck are you?” Kendrick demanded.

Jeter looked at the streets, trying to see a sign. Tori had tears streaming down her cheeks. Fucking hell. When he saw the next cross street up ahead, he rattled the name off to his brother.

“We’re two blocks away and closing in. Can you get her to pull over and let you drive?”

He opened his mouth to respond, but a yell escaped. The truck driving in the opposite direction revved its engine, and then he slammed into the side of the Benz. Their car did a hard jerk to the right and then to the left as Tori tried to correct them. Tires squealed. Metal crunched.

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