Page 8 of Shadow

“I’ll do what I damn well want to do, Malik Quinn Carter.” I winced. I hated it when she used my full name like that. Rurik cut his eyes to me, no doubt able to hear her considering she’d raised her voiceandused my middle name. “I’ll contact Hyram. Be good for Rurik, you hear me? I need to go. Donotgive that man problems.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I muttered, even though she and I both knew I wouldn’t pay attention to her last order. “Love you, Ma.”

“I love you, too, baby. I’ll see you when you get back home. Be careful.”

“Always,” I promised.

She ended the call, her voice being cut off as she shouted at someone to tell them she was on her way and to hold their britches. I locked my phone and set it in my lap. I could feelRurik’s eyes on the side of my face, but I ignored him. Wasn’t a damn thing I had to say to him.

“Everything good with your Mom?” he asked me.

“Yeah,” I muttered, leaving it at that.

He hummed but didn’t say another word. Turning away from me, he looked down at his phone. After a moment, he grunted and reached into the pocket behind the driver’s seat, pulling out a sleek, black laptop. He flipped it open, then went to his email. I knew he could sense I was watching, but he didn’t say a word or reprimand me for being nosy.

I could never figure him out. One moment, he was as chill as fucking ever, and the next, he was forcing me to my knees and reminding me of my place.

I refused to even acknowledge the part where both sides of him made me hard as fuck. Nope.Nevergoing there. Pansexual or not, Rurik wasnotmy type. He wouldneverbe my type.

“He was your cell mate, wasn’t he?” Rurik asked out of the blue, dragging me out of my head. He turned his laptop around to face me, showing me a picture of a white guy with blonde curls, two teardrop tattoos beneath his eye, and a smirk tilting his lips. It was his mugshot, and yeah, he was definitely my cellmate. He was a decent guy. A bit out there, but decent.

“Yeah—Kaleen Jacobs,” I said. “Why?”

“He’s part of the club that’s not happy with the Ghost Born.” He turned his laptop back toward him. “I’ve got someone working on tracking him down. He got out not long after you did. I’m hoping we can use him as an in to begin negotiations for peace.”

“Kaleen’s not one for negotiations,” I warned him. “He runs by his own book, and he doesn’t care whose toes he steps on in the process.”

Rurik hummed. “Maybe. Maybe not. But you never had problems with him, did you?”

“No,” I said. “He owes me one, actually. I took a pen to the arm so he wouldn’t get stabbed in the throat while he was running his mouth.”

Rurik smirked at me. “Good. We’re using that to make him work with us—at least in the beginning.”

I sighed. “I’m guessing I don’t even have a fucking choice?”

“No,” Rurik answered, not even bothering to look at me. He just continued typing rapidly, his eyes never moving from his computer screen. “You’ll do this for your brothers. For the GBMC.” Hedidlook at me then. “And you’ll do it forme.”

My upper lip curled in a sneer. “I’ll never do a goddamn thing foryou,” I snapped.

He turned back to his computer, not the least bit bothered. “We’ll see about that, Shadow.”

6

Malik

He had to be fucking kidding me. All of this had to be one big ass joke.

I tightened my grip on the handle of my small duffel bag, glaring at thesinglebed in the small hotel room. I already felt out of place in this expensive, fancy ass hotel Rurik had put us in. When he’d ordered two rooms, telling me I was sharing one with him and the other was for his guards and driver, I’d had to physically bite my tongue to keep from lashing out at him and making a scene in the middle of a place that would one hundred percent call the police.

I could’ve suffered if there’d been two beds. But there wasone.

One fucking bed.

There wasn’t even a fucking couch I could crash on. Just an expensive, uncomfortable-looking chair that seemed like it’d be more for show than actual comfort sat by a small table. The floor would be better, honestly.

“I’m getting my own fucking room,” I growled, turning for the door. I grunted when I turned straight into Rurik. His hands landed on my biceps to steady us both, and my cock thickened behind my zipper. I hated how weak I always was to his touch. I wanted to hate him—not want him.

He drove me fuckinginsane.

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