Page 117 of Perfect Rhythm

“Here,” Shade said as he handed her a glass of water. “I know you’re probably drained right now.” He looked around the room. “I hope you don’t mind, but I had Trace call up one of his guys to stay here and look after you.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Thank you,” I mumbled.

“No problem.”

“Well, I’ll let you two chat. I’m going to make a few calls so I can see about getting this shit cleaned up.”

Skye nodded.

“I’ll be right back,” I told her as I stood up. “Hey, Shade, wait up.”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

I didn’t know how to ask what I was about to ask, but the look in his eyes made me feel like I had to. Although the rumors weren’t loud, I’d heard enough to know about who Shade had connections with. The use of the wordcleanwasn’t always as innocent as it sounded.

“When you say that you’re going to make some calls to get things cleaned up, are you just talking about her apartment, or are you talking about?—”

He placed his finger against my lip. “I know what you’re about to ask me, and I would rather you didn’t.”

“I just want to know. Are you calling?—”

He stopped me again. “I’m calling who needs to be called.”

“And who is that?”

“Nyx, I’m not going to answer you, so you can stop asking.”

“You’re callingthem, aren’t you?”

Finally, he looked at me and shoved his hands into his pockets. “What if I am? Would that be a problem for you?”

I looked away for a moment. After seeing Skye’s face and her apartment, I wanted Mecca dead. But Skye had already done a police report, which meant his ass was going to jail. There was no point in doing something that could land Shade in prison. Then again, the Moving Boys weren’t the type that left a trail of breadcrumbs behind.

But still...I didn’t want to risk it.

I placed my hand against his arm. “Let the police do their job. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“Trust me, I won’t. They know what they’re doing.”

“Yeah, but I would feel better if you just weren’t involved.”

He blew out a heavy breath, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Fine. If that’s what you want.” He looked me over, and I nodded. “I guess I’ll just be calling a cleaning crew then.”

“Thank you.” Smiling, I kissed his cheek and hoped like hell I wasn’t making a mistake.

46

NYX

“Are you sure you’re okay with staying here alone?” I asked Skye as I stood at the edge of my bed. “I don’t have to go to this listening party tonight.”

“Yes, I’m fine, and yes, you do. You’re not about to have my cousin going off and accusing me of sabotaging her listening party.”

“Whatever. She wouldn’t do that.”

Laughing, Skye rolled from one side of the bed to the other and sat up. “Clearly, you don’t know Noni like I do.”