“But the cops showed up?”

He nods. “I panicked and told Grayson I was carrying. I knew that if I got caught with the drugs, I was going down. Grayson told me to give them to him. That he wouldn’t get searched because of who he is. I followed his orders. But then they searched him and carted him off.” Tyler meets my stare and says, “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. And now I’m totally screwed. We’re totally screwed.”

“You’re not screwed. All you have to do is tell the truth. I can help you.”

“You don’t understand,” he says, picking up his coffee and taking a big drink of it. “It’s gone further than that now.” He meets my eyes again. “You were right about what you said last night, about my bosses…not being happy. Shit.” Tyler covers his face with his hands.

“Calm down. Talk to me.”

He drops his hands and stares at me. “I got involved with the wrong people. The drugs…they’re cartel drugs. I’ve been dealing for the cartel.”

“Holy shit.” The words came out loud, so I adjust my voice down to a whisper. “You’re working for the cartel?”

Tyler nods. “The drugs that were seized from Grayson were part of my second run for them. I was supposed to sell them and bring back the money. But then Grayson was arrested. I didn’t want to ask him for the money to pay them on top of everything else. So, I…damnit. I stole some drugs from the stash, hoping they wouldn’t notice, so I could sell those to pay them the money I owed them.”

“You took drugs from the cartel and were planning to pay them back with that money you made off of stolen goods? What were you thinking?”

“Clearly I wasn’t!” he snaps. “I panicked. And now those drugs are gone, too, and I don’t have any money to pay them. And when I got home from Grayson’s late last night…my place had been shot up. And there was a note pinned to my wall…a warning. They knew I’d been arrested. They’re telling me to keep my mouth shut. I don’t think they know about Grayson’s arrest or the missing drugs yet, because if they did, then they wouldn’t have shot up my place as a message. There would have been someone waiting there with a bullet for my head.”

“I still can’t believe that you’re involved with the cartel,” I say, putting my elbows on the table, driving my fingers into my hair. This feels way out of my league.

“What do I do, Melissa? How do I fix this?”

I lift my stare to Tyler. I can see how afraid he is when he says, “I don’t want anything to happen to Grayson because of me.”

“Let me think about it. I’ll figure out what to do. But first I need to talk to your brother. He has to know what’s been going on with you.”