“You’re wrong.”
Her cell phone started to ring, and she looked at the screen to see Caleb’s name. He’d bought her a cell phone when he discovered she didn’t have one. She’d never had a cell phone as she’d never needed one. Why buy something she didn’t need?
“Is that him?”
Answering the call she put the phone to her ear. “Hello,” she said.
In the background she heard a lot of men grunting. Frowning, she turned away from Lydia so her friend didn’t see her expression.
“Hey, baby. I’m not going to be able to pick you up. I’ll pick Chinese up and stop by your place tonight.”
“What’s the matter? How come I can’t come to you?” she asked.
“I’ve got work, babe. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to go.” He hung up before she could say anything else.
“How are you so sure?” Donna turned back to Lydia.
“Darren is never wrong. He’s been to a couple of the illegal fights. Don’t tell him I told you that. It’s not hard to start hearing gossip.”
Changeover was in less than ten minutes. Donna grabbed her bag and looked at her friend. “I’ve got stuff to do. Is it okay if I leave you to finish up here?” she asked.
“Donna, I don’t think you should go looking for him. He’s bad news.”
“He’s my bad news. I need to know what’s going on.” She quickly put her jacket on and hitched her bag on her shoulder. “Are you good here or not?”
“I’m fine. Go.”
Turning her back on Lydia she walked toward the door. She didn’t give herself a chance to think. Hailing a cab outside, she gave directions to Caleb’s club then sat back to think about everything Lydia had said.
Pimp.
Drug dealer.
#p#分页标题#e#
Fighter.
None of them made sense, and yet they did. What was going on with him?
He sported bruised knuckles, and he’d yelled a lot down the phone. Henry always kept his guard up around her.
It had to be true. There was no other explanation.
“Here you are, love.”
Glancing out of the window she saw Ecstasy’s sign on the doors. The club was closed, but she saw some of the staff cleaning up the crap outside.
“Could you stay here? I don’t know how long I’m going to be.”
“Sure, doll. It’ll add to the price.”
“No problem.” Climbing out of the car, she walked up to the door. For several seconds she stared wondering what the hell to do. When she couldn’t handle the curiosity anymore, she opened the door and walked inside. She saw the bartender cleaning glasses and chuckling with a brunette dressed in a skirt that didn’t even cover her ass.
“Donna, can I help you?” he asked.
She couldn’t remember his name even though Caleb had told her.
“I want to see Caleb. Where is he?” She tucked her hands in her skirt pockets and blanked everyone else out.
The bartender visibly tensed. Did they know who he was?
“He’s out at the moment, busy. Can I take a message?”
Glancing at the brunette, she saw how the other woman looked at the counter. Did everyone know who he was but her?
“Yeah, tell him not to bother coming around tonight unless he’s prepared to tell me the truth.” She turned on her heel and made her way out of the club.
The bartender called her name, but she ignored him. As she climbed back into the cab, her whole world felt tilted on its axis. Her gut had told her to stay away from him.
She’d ignored her gut, and now she was panicking.
Paying the cab driver, she climbed out and walked toward her door. She was inside her apartment and closing the door when her cell phone went off.
Rejecting the call, she placed her keys on the hook and tugged her jacket off. After a quick shower, she changed into a pair of jeans and a shirt. When she looked at her cell phone she saw over ten missed calls along with a dozen messages from him. Deleting them all, she tried to ignore the phone.
Caleb was not the kind of man to be ignored.
When her phone rang for the twentieth time, she answered, ready for him.
“Donna, what the hell is going on? I said I was bringing Chinese home and yet you’re going to the club. What’s going on?”
“Who are you?” Donna asked.
“I haven’t got time for this shit. What the fuck is going on?”
His anger wasn’t hard to miss. She chuckled. “Are you a pimp? Do you deal drugs? Are you a criminal? These are the kind of questions I’ve got for you.”
Silence met her questions, and her gut twisted.
“Who told you?” Caleb asked.
“So it’s true? All of it?”