“It would appear there isn’t one,” I softly replied as I caught a glimpse of him through the crowd with a dark-haired woman clinging to his arm. Polly followed my line of sight and took a deep breath before heavily exhaling.
“Luke is a complicated man. He doesn’t believe he deserves a happily ever after. I was hoping you might be the one to prove him wrong.”
I sighed. “Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, Polly, but I don’t think it’s in the cards. It was never like that anyway,” I insisted.
She gave a snort and paused as if she was going to say something. Then she patted my arm and slowly made her way over to her husband who was helping their grandchildren with the duck pond.
“Girl, why are you being so damn stubborn?” Justine sidled up next to me as she shoved kettle corn in her mouth.
“Gimme some of that,” I said as I shoved my hand in her bag. “I’m not. Besides, he obviously didn’t wait around for me for very long.” Completely unladylike, I spoke around the delicious salty-sweetness I was devouring.
“Hmm, well, you could always go rip out her extensions and demand she leave your man alone. That’s what I’d do,” Justine helpfully supplied before dumping more food in her mouth. I rolled my eyes. She would probably do it, too.
Damn, I hated that he’d moved on in a fucking day. Sure, we weren’t a couple, but I at least expected we were exclusive. The thought that maybe I’d been the only half of us that had been monogamous turned my hurt into anger. Jesus, I needed to go get tested if that was the case.
“Maybe I will,” I said as I filled my face with another handful of popcorn. Yet, I stood rooted to the ground.
After three more helpings of Justine’s kettle corn, I was about to go give him a piece of my mind when there was a shout. A boy of about fifteen or sixteen was racing into the crowd yelling for help.
“Please! Someone help my friend!” Eyes wide in terror, he cast his gaze helplessly around. Several of the town’s firemen were there, and they hurried after the boy as he went back behind the amusement rides.
Worried, I raced after them.
When I pushed through the crowd, I saw several of them working on another boy. CPR in progress, they had serious expressions on their faces. “Someone call 911!” one of them shouted.
“On it!” I yelled, my phone was already ringing through. When the 911 operator answered, the older fireman started to shout out information to me that I relayed to the dispatcher. Within seconds, I heard sirens drawing near.
The paramedics pushed through the crowd to take over. The firemen were filling them in as they continued to give alternating compressions and bag the unresponsive boy. Not stopping, they loaded him up in the ambulance.
I glanced around for Luke. No matter how tough I liked to think I was and no matter that I’d pushed him away, I needed him.
I pulled out my phone and called him.
“Hailey,” he said, and I questioned whether he sounded happy to hear from me.
“Are you busy?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.
He hesitated, and I almost hung up.
“A little. Can I meet you later at your place?”
I almost told him never mind, but my mouth and my brain weren’t in sync. “Yes.”
“Okay, see you as soon as I can get away.”
“Sure,” I said quietly and ended the call.
Glancing around, I felt my heart sink.
The mood had gone from jovial gaiety to somber silence in the blink of an eye. People started to quietly disperse, and most were leaving. Though the event had been close to wrapping up, I hated that it had ended this way. I was sick to my stomach for that kid. I dropped to a picnic table and held my head.
“Ms. Monroe?” a soft voice said, and I looked up. It was Gemma, one of the kids from our facility. Lynn, the tech assigned to the few kids who were at a point in their therapy where they had limited outings, was standing behind her. She whispered in Gemma’s ear to encourage her to talk.
“What’s wrong, Gemma?” I asked.
She bit her lip, gave a nervous glance to Lynn, then looked back at me.
“I overheard those boys talking when I was doing the ring toss.” She swallowed hard. “They were talking about using something.”
“Something?” I questioned cautiously.
“A special drug they had picked up,” she admitted with worry in her eyes.
“Shit,” I heard and whipped my attention to where the voice had come from. Luke pulled out his phone and walked off talking.
Needing to assure Gemma she wasn’t in trouble, I dismissed Luke from my thoughts for the moment and got up to walk around the table. I crouched in front of her to look her in the eye. “Did you have anything to do with them?”
Frantically, she shook her head. “No, ma’am! I swear!”
“Easy, I wasn’t accusing you, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You have nothing to worry about if you weren’t involved, but the police may want to talk to you about what you overheard.”
Tears welled in her eyes before spilling over when she blinked. With a sniffle, she nodded.
“Was there anyone else who was with you when you heard the boys talking?”
She nodded, then said it was two of the boys in her group.
“Lynn, could I please talk to them?”
She motioned over her shoulder to the rest of the kids from her group. They all stepped forward.
“Which one of you overheard those boys talking?” They all fidgeted nervously, but no one spoke up. Finally, Tommy, a boy with shaggy blond hair, nudged Julius, who glared at Tommy, then his shoulders slumped.
“I did,” Julius admitted. “And so did Jose.”
The volunteers were closing up and tearing down the various booths as the colored lights of the Ferris wheel blinked brightly. Knowing I should have them talk to the police, I pulled out my phone and the business card to call the officer who had arrived with the ambulance.
“What are you doing?” Julius asked with wide eyes.
“I’m calling the police officer so you can tell them what you know.”
“No! No way! I ain’t talkin’ to no cops, Ms. Monroe. I didn’t hear nothin’ at all,” he belligerently said with a defiant lift of his chin.
Frustrated, I set my phone down. “Okay, will you boys tell me what you saw or heard?”
They exchanged a glance, then met my gaze and reluctantly nodded.
I made sure the volunteers and the staff that were helping with teardown were okay, and I returned to the Leon to see what the boys had to say.
They spilled what they knew, and after puking in my trashcan, I sat there stunned long after they returned to their rooms for bed.
12
Snow
“Hush”—HELLYEAH
All day I’d been agitated. Hailey hadn’t called me last night, nor had she called at all today. I’d thought about going to talk to her at the fundraiser, but she always had someone with her. Then I stubbornly reminded myself that I told her we were better off calling it quits. No way would I be the first to cave.
I didn’t need her.
But fuck if I didn’t want her.
Though I knew I needed to call things off and she’d offered me the perfect opportunity to do so, I’d been on the verge of dragging her off somewhere quiet. At least until Sonja had come up begging me to win her a stuffed bear or some shit. By the time I pawned her off on one of the other brothers, Hailey was talking with Polly.
Then I’d been stopped by a guy wanting to talk about bringing his classic Mustang in for a bunch of custom work. I’d barely finished talking to him when the kid had come running for help.
Shit had gone downhill from there.
By the time the paramedics drove off, everything had essentially ground to a halt, and I couldn’t see Hailey anywhere.
When she called me, I was beyond shocked, but I didn’t let on.
When I ended the brief call, I cursed. For the first ti
me in my life I wanted something with a woman—one I didn’t deserve. After we finished asking around the few people remaining, it was late, so we helped with the teardown, then headed back to the clubhouse.
“Prez, I got the toxicology reports on that kid.” Hacker stood in my office doorway.
Motioning him in, I swallowed the shot I’d poured. “What does it say?”
But I knew before he told me.
“Pretty sure it was Black Night,” he said, confirming my suspicions.
“At a fucking fundraiser for a drug prevention and rehabilitation center. Jesus,” I said before raking a frustrated hand through my hair.
Hacker remained wisely silent.
“Did he make it?” I asked.
“Yeah, but he hasn’t woken up yet.”
“Did we talk to the other kid?”
“Yeah. Apollo knew the dad. Kid won’t talk. Insists that he doesn’t know where his friend got the shit from.”
“So we have to wait for the kid to wake up?”
“Appears that way,” he apologetically replied.
“Cops are gonna be waiting for that moment too,” I said, then sighed. “Maybe it’s time to pull in a favor. Is that all?”
“For now.”
I waved him off and took another shot. Then I picked up the phone and hit send on a number I didn’t relish calling for a favor.
“Snow,” the deep voice said in greeting.
“Venom.”
“Now that we both know who we’re talking to, why the fuck are you calling me on a Saturday night when I’m trying to get lucky with my ol’ lady?” I heard Loralei squawk in the background. Venom chuckled.
Venom is the president of the Royal Bastards MC down in Ankeny. He’d also been my best friend growing up. It was because of him that I joined the military and pulled my shit together after my brother died.
I’d also helped him and his ol’ lady when shit had gone crazy for her up here.
“I’m calling in one of those favors,” I admitted as I slouched back in my chair and stared sightlessly at the ceiling.
His tone sobered immediately. “What’s up?”
Hating that I hadn’t been able to get to the bottom of this shit myself, I clenched my fist. Then I told him everything I knew. Once I was done, I waited. He blew out a hefty breath.
“Fucking hell. We’ve heard whispers of that shit being run by some scattered members of the Bloody Scorpions and some thugs that came from out of state. But so far we’ve kept it out of this area. At least as far as we know. Damn, you’d think that would be more prevalent in a big city than up there. Wish you’d told me right away.” He was silent for a moment. It didn’t sit well with me that he was right—I should’ve reached out sooner.
“The problem is, there’s not much for kids to do around here. Not a lot of jobs for teens. Not much of a future industry-wise. Kids are bored and restless. The pieces of shit peddling that crap prey on that.”
“True. At least when we were kids it was just beer around a bonfire on a Saturday night. Let me talk to the boys tomorrow morning and see what we dig up. If I have to, I’ll see if Chains is willing to go up there and check things out.”
“I appreciate it.” They had a few more connections and, um, other advantages that most people didn’t know about. Things I didn’t tell my own brothers about.
“Now if you don’t mind, I have a woman to ravish.”
I gave a half-hearted laugh. “Well, thanks for answering my call.”
His tone went serious. “Anytime, brother. And I mean that.”
“I know.”
We ended the call, and I sat alone in silence. My mind wouldn’t shut off though. I kept going over and over everything we knew—which wasn’t much. Then it wandered to Hailey. Staring at my phone, I debated calling her. Now that shit was seriously heating up, I needed to ensure Hailey was nowhere around me or any of the shitstorm that was brewing.
Knowing I’d cave if I heard her voice, I sent a text instead.
Me: Some things came up. I won’t be able to stop by to see you.
The little dots danced on my screen, disappeared, then reappeared.
Hailey: Okay? I probably won’t be able to sleep
Hailey: If you want to stop when you’re done
More than anything, I wanted to ask her if that meant she was ready to admit it didn’t matter what the town busybodies said. Except I knew that wasn’t conducive to what needed to be done.
Me: Probably not a good idea.
Hailey: Do you want to go over the final numbers from the event tomorrow?
Me: No. I’m going to be tied up for a while. This isn’t working for me anymore. I’m sorry. If there’s any issues, you can contact my VP Vinny
The words made me feel physically ill. The last thing I wanted was to end things with her. Knowing it was the right thing to do, no matter how much I disliked it, I sent her his contact information. My teeth ground as I thought about her talking to Vinny. For a few minutes there was no further communication. Then her next text made me wince.
Hailey: Fine.
Venom had come through in spades.
“Fuck you!” the little punk tied to the chair spat, remaining stubborn.
“No, thanks. You’re not my type,” Soap said before he planted his fist in the guy’s eye. Though I already knew it, I didn’t give a shit what his name was.
I’d give the puny pissant credit—he’d lasted much longer than I’d thought he would. Soap was a big bastard, and I knew his meaty fists had to pack a wallop. The guy had to be feeling it.
“Now, I’m going to ask you again, Stuart… where are you getting the product from?” Soap quietly demanded.
“Fuck—” But the guy didn’t get the chance to finish his thought because Soap pressed a pistol to his head.
“Fuck this shit, P. Let me just shoot him. We can pick up the other guy and get answers from him,” Soap growled. There was no other guy, but we waited to see if the battered asshole in the chair took the bait.
Soap cocked the pistol. The sound echoed loudly in the underground space. The asshole pissed himself. My nose curled slightly at the smell of urine mixed with blood.
“Wait! Hold on, let’s not be rash!” he begged in a suddenly whiny voice.
“Give us something, or I let my friend here blow your brains across the room,” I said in a sinister whisper.
“Hugo. The guy’s name is Hugo,” he whimpered.
“Hugo, who?” I demanded.
“All I know is Hugo! I message him when I need another batch. Once a month he sends me a new number with a random area code, so I don’t know where he is exactly.”
“Bossman?” Soap questioned.
“Get his phone,” I ordered Joker. He grabbed it from the pile of the dude’s shit and handed it to me.
“What’s he saved as?”
“Hugo Boss,” the guy muttered. I looked up from his phone and gave him an are-you-serious gaze.
“This is how things are gonna play out. I’m gonna dial your good friend Hugo. You’re gonna tell him you need another shipment.” Unwavering, my gaze held his.
“But I just got one,” he started to argue.
“Shut the fuck up and listen to me,” I said with exaggerated patience. Something I didn’t have much of at that point. “You had a boom this month. Sold out like it was a chance at Willy Wonka’s last golden ticket. You need a refill.”
“But—” Soap smacked him like a bitch.
“What part of shut the fuck up didn’t you understand?” he asked the guy.
We told him what he needed to know about the plan. What we didn’t tell him was that Venom’s boys were waiting on stand-by for a cleanup and disposal of his ass once we had what we wanted. Piece of shit was selling that shit to fucking kids as young as eleven. What kind of morally reprehensible dickwad did shit like that? Without remorse, even.
“Now, do you understand? Nod if you do.” I slowly enunciated every syllable. The guy furious
ly nodded.
“Remember, he gets suspicious in any way and my friend here is gonna cut your fingers off one by one, then shoot your dick off.” The pussy whimpered and nodded again.
I dialed the number and put the phone on speaker.
“Why are you calling me? You just got the black hoodies you ordered,” the mechanically distorted voice came through the speaker.
Stuart did as he was told, and by the time the call ended, we had a meetup scheduled for the next week to get another shipment of “black hoodies.”
Asshole played it off like a pro; I had to give him credit.
“Toss him in the cage.”
He was yelling as I walked out of the dank cellar. Dumb fucker actually thought we were going to let him go and risk him running. Not happening.
Now we simply had to bide our time until next week.
13
Hailey
“50 Shades of Crazy”—Chase Rice
“I was surprised to hear from you,” my date said with a smirk.
“Well, as you know, it’s been a really busy few months. My mom got hurt, then I’ve been working insanely long hours after—well, there’s simply been no time for myself at all. Things have finally settled down, I hope.” I gave him what I hoped was an innocent smile.
“Honestly? I thought you were seeing Luke Matthews,” he said before taking a sip of his drink.
My lips flattened as I held in my emotions. Then I flatly replied, “No.”
“My mistake,” he said with a crooked grin.
That out of the way, I encouraged him to prattle on about himself, since he was so good at it.
While we ate, I pretended to drink copious amounts of alcohol. Little did he know, I’d ordered a Sprite before he arrived. Then when the waiter came by, I simply requested another of the same on my own tab.
“Your job must be sooooo fascinating!” I simpered. Inside my head, I was making the universal gag motion.
He preened as he rubbed his jaw. For about the eighteenth time since we’d met at the restaurant, he stared at my cleavage. Exactly as I planned when I wore the low-cut, clingy sweater dress.
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