Free Maybe Always (Maybe Series Book 3) by Ella Miles

have already moved wouldn’t pay. And all the people at the next location wouldn’t be safe. I can’t run.  
    I glance to the corner of the hallway and see a security camera sitting in the corner. I couldn’t run even if I wanted to. There is no way they would let me. I would end up dead. Just like the girl.  
    I catch my breath and then begin making my way downstairs. I’m surprised by how few people are moving around the building. I guess they have all moved on to the next location. All the more reason to stay.  
    My stomach growls as I make my way toward where I assume the kitchen is. It smells like tacos. It smells like heaven.  
    I stand just outside the door to the kitchen and listen to the men talking. I don’t know how I’m supposed to go in there and eat with them like this is just a usual night for me. How am I supposed to do that when every man in there has smuggled drugs and people? When they have killed or at least watched people being killed?  
    I shake my head. How am I any different? I just watched a woman die. And I’m here. The only difference is, I’m not going to let them keep getting away with it.  
    I step into the kitchen, and the voices stop as everyone’s eyes turn to me. My initial reaction is to smile politely at them, like I would if I were entering a boardroom. But I don’t know how I’m supposed to react to a bunch of killers, as if they weren’t killers.  
    I smile politely at them and then walk over to the kitchen where there is a pot of meat and a tray of taco shells.  
    I grab a paper plate from the stack at the end and then place three shells on it. As I put meat in the shells, I feel everyone’s eyes on me. I turn from the kitchen to the long table that is only a third filled with men.  
    I don’t want to sit at that table. I want to take this food back to the room that is mine and eat in peace. That won’t help me earn Nacio’s or the men’s trust though.
    So, instead of going and hiding in my room upstairs, I march over to the table and sit in an open seat in the middle of the men. I ignore the surprised looks that are plastered on most of the men’s faces. I honestly don’t care, not when my stomach is growling loudly, signaling for me to eat the large plate of food I prepared myself.  
    I take a bite of the first taco, which practically melts in my mouth. It is a million times better than the slop they fed me when they were holding me in the room in the basement.  
    I scarf down the first taco as fast as I can, ignoring that I am eating in a roomful of men who are all looking at me. Usually, I would be too self-conscious to do anything, but today, I don’t care. I scarf down the second taco before I look up at their stares.  
    The man sitting across from me is smiling brightly. “See? I told you all I could cook. If the girl likes it, then it must not be that bad.”  
    “It still sucks balls,” a man further down the table says. “I don’t care if the girl likes it. It doesn’t mean anything.”  
    “Hey, first of all, the girl’s name is Kinsley. And, second of all…” I look down at the plate of food and realize that the meat is barely cooked. I have been consuming almost entirely raw beef. “And, second of all, this is terrible. I’m just starving, and I would eat anything right now.”  
    The men all chuckle.  
    “See, Karp? I told you it was bad.” The man sitting next to me grabs my plate with the one remaining taco on it. “Let me see if I can find you some real food.”  
    I smile at him, thankful that he is getting me more food that won’t make me sick in the morning.  
    “Sorry, Kinsley,” Karp says to me. “I was never taught to cook. I didn’t think it would be that goddamn hard.”
    I smile. “It’s okay. Just maybe leave the cooking to someone else in the future.”  
    Karp smiles back. He looks young, at least a couple of years younger than me. His hair is dark and short. His body is short but fit. He doesn’t