ON AIR by Hadley Quinn

was already heading for the address within seconds of stepping out of the truck.
    “Hey, hold up, man,” Madden called as he caught up to me. “Do you even know what the fuck you’re walking into? Dude, if she was in trouble, why wouldn’t she call the cops?”
    I didn’t know. And it wasn’t like Nat to call me for anything in the first place. But she had, and I felt like maybe it was her last effort to reach out to me. My thoughts were all over the place at the moment, but as I got closer to the address she’d given me, I slowed my progress to look over the house a bit closer. I could already hear noise inside—a mix of loud voices, laughter, maybe the television on—and then someone grabbed my arm from behind.
    I almost body slammed whoever it was but Madden quickly threw his arm against my chest, just as I realized it was Natalie.
    “What in the—?”
    She threw two hands up in my face and shushed me silent, then yanked me down the sidewalk back toward my truck.
    “What is going on?” I growled after getting in and hearing the other two doors shut.
    She didn’t say a word, even as I put my truck in gear and squealed away from the curb.
    “Explain what the fuck is going on!” was the next thing out of my mouth. I didn’t care if I lost my cool or not, I was livid at this point. Natalie knew it too, and when I glanced at her in the backseat through the rearview mirror, her silence didn’t exactly signify composure.
    In fact, she started to cry again. “I had no idea you’d bring him with you and—”
    “Madden?” I interrupted. “Jesus fucking Christ, Natalie! You were locked in a bathroom crying at someone’s house! I’m pretty sure you hung up on me, too!”
    “I’m sorry,” she whispered softly. “I had to go. Just let me explain.”
    “I’m waiting,” I snapped at her.
    With a sigh she said, “Not now. When we’re alone.”
    “Oh, fine, I get it,” Madden mumbled. “I’m a total Chatty Cathy.”
    “It’s not that,” Natalie argued. “I just…I can’t even believe I pulled Dane into this. I don’t need you in it too.”
    I grunted. “So why did you pull me into…whatever that bullshit was back there! I just… I can’t, with you, Nat. This is done. You and me, never again.”
    “Let me explain, Dane. Please .”
    “Come on, man, calm down first,” Madden told me. “Deep breath, everyone. Let’s not let our emotions decide anything, okay?”
    I felt my stomach tense up even more at his impartial bullshit. This was one of the strangest situations I’d ever been in with Natalie. I cared about her, I really did, but I wasn’t sure how much I could take anymore. She’d been at her boyfriend’s house, and I think the thing that was bothering me the most was that she’d pulled some raw sensitivity out of me the other day. That was the exact thing I tried to avoid with women.
    I felt like a fucking fool right now.
    “Fine.” It was all I could answer, and the rest of the ride to my house was in awkward silence.
    When we got inside, Madden joined the guys in the front room and I pulled Natalie behind me for my bedroom. I didn’t hear anyone ask about it, but I knew if they did, Madden would cover for me.
    I pushed her onto the edge of the bed to sit and crossed my arms over my chest. “Talk.”
    She took a deep breath and leaned her elbows onto her knees, rubbing her face with her hands. “It’s Davey,” she whispered, shaking her head. “He’s in trouble and I was trying to help but… I think I made it worse.”
     

10
     
    D avey was Natalie’s younger brother. I think he was about nineteen or twenty. I’d never known him to be a troublemaker, though. He was kind of a quiet guy, somewhat the opposite of their other two siblings, Ben and Oliver. Natalie was a mix of her three brothers.
    I sat on the bed next to her. “Tell me what’s going on.”
    She took another deep breath and slowly released it. “Davey’s mixed up with some people. A few of ‘em