Reese threw the bag across the table.

Everyone quickly shut their mouths and stared at it.

“What’s that?” Luca asked in a rough voice. “We’re not moving that.”

“No,” Reese said. “That was in our town.”

“Shit,” Jason said. “Where? Who?”

Reese looked at Levi. He nodded.

“Starla,” Reese said.

“Fucking hell,” Zac said. He punched the table. “Strippers moving junk behind our backs?”

“That’s a lot, brother,” Ellis said. “That’s either for a hell of a party or someone trying to make some cash on the side.”

“I know that,” Reese said. “Nothing you’re going to say about this I don’t already know.”

“What I want to know is why we aren’t down there trashing the fucking place?” Hawk asked.

“You just saw this,” Reese said.

“Fuck you, Reese,” Hawk spat. “This was from the other night. When the badges were riding our ass down there. Your girlfriend gave you this to hide.”

Reese looked to Levi again. Figures that Levi would tell Hawk everything. Hawk was his right hand man who did anything needed for the benefit of the MC, and the benefit of Levi.

“Look,” Levi said, “Before we get all hot headed and throwing fists, it’s not exactly simple here. We have a stake down there. That place is a legit business on our books. Dealing with Jefferson is a pain in the ass. But if we go down there and burn it down, we’re only hurting ourselves.”

“So, what do we do?” Hawk asked. “She’s supposed to do something with that shit. She doesn’t and the dealers, suppliers, whoever is running it, they’re going to come after her. And when they kill her, they’ll keep killing and eventually land right here at our clubhouse.”

Hawk looked around the table.

Reese did too, seeing the others nodding. Rightfully so. Under different circumstances, Reese would feel the same way. Shoot first, ask later. That was the shit that forever got him into trouble. But when it came to Josie, it was like the cards were reshuffled into a much different hand.

“What do we do?” Brett asked.

All eyes moved to Levi who then shifted his stare to Reese.

Reese was still standing. “We have a problem with this. I want to go down there and bust shit up. I promise you that, brothers. But if you think this out, bringing heat to ourselves isn’t good. Yeah, Josie threw me this shit as I was leaving. Because she found it on Starla and took it. We know Starla is a little…”

“Batshit fucking crazy,” Luca said.

Everyone chuckled.

“Yeah. She’s batshit fucking crazy.”

“But she’s fucking great in bed,” Hawk said.

“No way,” Ellis said. “You never…”

“Please,” Hawk said. “I’ve run through all the pussy at that place. Twice over.”

“There’s a new girl there now,” Jason said.

“I almost feel bad for her,” Hawk said. “When she meets Hawk’s cock…”

“I really feel bad for her,” Zac said.

“My point is this, assholes,” Reese said. “We need to approach Starla calmly. Or have Josie approach her. There’s a way to get the information we need.”

“And you reclaim that old pussy you lost,” Hawk said.

Reese looked at Hawk and curled his lip. “You know, brother, you’re really starting to fucking piss me off. Why don’t we take these cuts off and settle this?”

Hawk rose up. “You don’t need to challenge me, bro. I’m there. You fucking get a catch like that and ignore it because of your girlfriend? After preaching to us about being legit? You’re a fucking hypocrite.”

“Fine,” Reese said. “You’re right. I’m a fucking hypocrite.”

The table fell silent.

Levi slowly stood up. “Why don’t we all grab a drink and come back to this in a bit…”

“No, Prez,” Reese said. “Hawk is right. Why sit back on this? There’s obviously something really big happening here. So, let’s take a ride. Find Starla right now and make this all work out. Ready?”

“VP, take it easy,” Levi said. “We need to figure out where she got this from. How she paid for it.”

“If she didn’t and it’s on good faith and bad debt, she’s fucked already,” Brett said.

“We walk along the chain until we find who did this.”

“With the badges on our ass?” Ellis asked.

“What else do you want to do? Drop this off on Colt’s desk?” Levi asked.

“That might not be the worst idea, Prez,” Jason said. “Think about it. Give Colt something else to look into. Leave us the fuck alone.”

“Until he asks how we got it,” Zac said.

“We found it on a park bench,” Jason said.

“You ain’t finding that kind of shit on a park bench,” Ellis said.

“Now, we can put out feelers about DRM and the runners but I’m against it,” Reese said. “I don’t want anyone catching wind of this.”

“I agree with that,” Hawk said.

“So, we keep this in house for now,” Levi said. “We have to approach Starla.”

“With fucking flowers and chocolates,” Hawk said.

“No,” Reese said. “I have another idea for that.”

“What’s that, VP?” Levi asked.

Reese nodded and stared at the bag on the table. His lip curled as he swore to himself things with Josie wouldn’t get in the way of the MC.

“It’s simple… forget the flowers and chocolates… let’s bring her exactly what she wants…”

* * *

Reese saw Josie and he hurried over to her. He was alone in the strip club with a bag on his back.

“Reese?”

“Sweetheart,” he said. “I need to talk to Starla.”

“Wait a second…”

Reese touched her waist. “Don’t fight me on this. This is the only way to do it.”

“Shit,” Josie said. “Do you need Jefferson?”

“I need Starla. Get her to the back. I’ll be there waiting.”

“What are you going to do?” Josie asked. She grabbed his arm.

Her hazel eyes were beautiful.

“Trust me,” Reese said. “I’m going to try to help everyone.”

“She’s a good person, Reese. She works hard.”

“Don’t do that, sweetheart.”

“Right.”

“How’s Steph doing?”

“Sick all morning again,” Josie said. “She has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow.”

“Good. Get her checked out. If you need anything for her, let me know. I don’t know if she has insurance or whatever. I can help with that. Pay for some stuff.”

“That’s not your job, Reese.”

“It’s not my job, Josie. I know it’s not my damn job. But that’s Steph. That’s Lasz’s little sister. After everything that happened… she was basically a kid when Lasz was killed. And now this…”

“One thing at a time, outlaw,” Josie said with a quick smile. “I’ll go get Starla. Please don’t hurt her.”

“Don’t ask me to make promises that I can’t keep,” Reese said.

He reached out and touched Josie’s cheek. Again. It was the only thing he could do for the moment because she was getting more and more tempting by the day. Seeing her fighting to survive, standing strong and beautiful, taking care of Steph, running the club for Jefferson. It just proved something that Reese knew all along. That Josie was a bad ass woman. But even still, she had a caring heart that she sometimes gave away too easily. She needed a guy like Reese to keep things balanced.

But now wasn’t the time for love hour.

It was time to get down to business.

Reese walked along the stage and spotted Caramel as she strutted along the stage topless. She looked at him and puckered her lips for a kiss. Reese winked and smiled. The new girl - Angel - was on the other side of the stage, dancing against a pole, slithering down and back up.

Once in the back of the club, the thudding of the bass was now a faint echo.

He went to the vanities where the girls would get themselves ready and put their makeup on.

“Smoke break,” he said to three of the dancers. “Now.”

That was all Reese needed to say to get his point across. They hurried to find some clothes and scattered away.

Reese put a chair to the middle of the floor and sat down, dropping the bag to the floor. He lit up a smoke and waited for Starla to join him.

The moment Starla appeared from the front, standing there topless, her face dropped. She went pale white and looked terrified.

“Put on a robe, sweetheart,” Reese said calmly. “We need to talk.”

“Reese. Hey.”

“Put on a robe,” he said again.

She opened a door to her locker, storage, cubby, whatever they wanted to call it, and she took out a black silk robe and put it on. She tied it tightly and lingered back.

Reese stood up and pointed to the chair. “Take a seat.”

“Reese… whatever you…”

“I said to take a seat,” he said. “Look. I’m here to talk.”

He opened his leather cut and reached for his gun. He saw Starla cringe. He unloaded the weapon and put it on a table, along with the clip.

“Now sit.”

Starla put her nose up a little and walked to the chair. She slowly sat and adjusted the robe as she crossed her legs, her left leg bouncing like crazy.

She was nervous.

She should be nervous.

Reese stepped in front of her. “Do you know why I’m here?”

“I can guess,” she said. “I guess that little bitch ratted me out.”

“Little bitch, huh? The woman that runs this place. Keeps you in a job. Helps you when you get too fucking drunk. Yeah, she’s a bitch.”

“Sorry I said that then,” Starla said. “I bought some stuff for fun. She found it. I didn’t mean for anyone to find it. I wasn’t going to spread it around here.”

“Okay. Good. That’s what I was worried about. You know, the MC is tied to this place. We can get in trouble if anything goes wrong here.”

“Like the police showing up?”

“Exactly,” Reese said. “But that bitch covered your ass. She tossed me her bag to take so the cops wouldn’t find it.”

“I said I was sorry for calling Josie a bitch.”

“Now that the police are gone, we can get back to normal,” he said. He nodded to the bag. “There you go.”

“What?”

“Your stuff.”

Starla swallowed hard. “My stuff.”

“Open it, Starla.”

She reached for the bag and put it on her lap. She slowly opened the zipper. Her eyes went wide.

“What’s this…?”

“Show me,” Reese said.

“It’s one bag,” Starla said. “Where’s the rest?”

“That’s our fee for holding it for you.”

Starla’s face went white again. “Reese…”

“What? Something wrong?”

“I paid…”

She caught herself.

Reese stood like stone.

Before she spoke again, the back door opened and in came the rest of the MC.

The moment Starla looked back, she started to cry.

She knew she was in deep shit.

Reese stepped forward and took the bag. “We have the rest, Starla. And since you like to party hard so much, you’re going to earn your junk back.”

“I don’t want it,” Starla said. “I regret this.”

She stood up but had nowhere to go.

The guys had her surrounded.

Brett and Jason, the big enforcers.

Hawk with his finger always on the trigger.

Ellis and Zac.

Levi right in the middle, holding another bag with the rest of the stuff in it.

And Reese facing off with Starla.

“Holy shit,” she whispered.

“Yeah,” Reese said. “Running drugs through this town doesn’t work for us. Running it through this place here is even worse.”

“Which leads us to a difficult situation,” Levi said. “You’re too pretty to kill.”

“Nobody is too pretty to kill,” Hawk said in a cold voice.

“Please,” Starla said.

She put her hands together. She bent her knees a little. The robe started to open, showing off a lot of skin.

Reese lifted her by her arms. “No, no, Starla. No getting on your knees for this one.”

He turned her and put her on one of the vanities. She grabbed his face, and quickly stole a kiss.

Reese broke away fast, gritting his teeth as he seethed with anger.

“Tell us right now,” Levi said. “There’s no way out of this.”

“We can forget this if we know where it came from,” Reese said.

“I’ll get killed,” Starla said.

“Either way then, you lose,” Levi said. “But if you help us, we can protect you.”

“Yeah, I know how that goes,” she said. “You say you’ll help me but then I end up dead. And nobody gives a damn. Nobody ever gives a damn about me.”

Her voice cracked.

“Save the woe is me routine, sweetheart,” Reese said. “You’re the one with the bag full of drugs.”

“In my town,” Levi said through gritted teeth.

“We’re burning daylight here,” Hawk said. “Let me just take care of this the right way.”

Hawk reached for his gun and Starla turned, pulling her knees to her chest, sitting on the vanity. She began to rock, whispering something.

Reese put a hand out and approached her again.

“What are you whispering?” he asked.

Starla looked at him. “This isn’t me. This isn’t what I want.”

“What else?”

“This isn’t what I will become. This isn’t my life.”

“Why are you whispering that?”

“I used to say it with my sister when my father would beat on our mother,” Starla said. “We’d hug each other and say it. It helped.”

“Is it helping now?”

“Am I going to die, Reese?”

Reese curled his lip. “You’re the only one who can answer that.”

She slowly moved, swinging her legs off the vanity. Her robe opened quite a bit, showing off plenty of skin. Reese kept his eyes locked to hers.

“It was some guy,” she said. “I had been looking for something for fun. Okay? You guys have this entire town terrified of anything like that.”

“Good,” Levi said.

“So, there was a guy I met. He was dressed all in black.”

“A suit?” Reese asked.

“No. Not a suit. He had a black car with the windows all black, real low to the ground. Another guy told me to meet him in an alley. North part of town, where some of the buildings are abandoned.”

“Okay,” Reese said. “What happened?”

“I said what I wanted, and he said he had an offer for me. I could get my stuff for free.”

“Free,” Reese said.

“Yeah. He said if I help him hold some supply, I get my own. For free.”

“Jesus Christ,” Levi said. “Do you have any idea…”

“Prez,” Reese said. He kept his focus on Starla. “What else?”

“That’s it,” she said. “He said he would let me know when it was time to get his stuff. He warned me that if anything happened, he’d cut me into pieces. Then he’d drive my pieces up and down the coast, leaving me in random places.”

“Shit,” Hawk said. “That sounds like-”

“We got it,” Reese said.

He looked over his shoulder and widened his eyes. There was a chance that Starla was lying. Right now, they needed to play their hand low and calm, in case she did anything else stupid.

“What now?” Starla asked.

Reese backed away. “We’re keeping the supply. If your person contacts you, you contact me. We’ll handle it from there.”

“Are you going to kill me?”

“Not today,” Levi said. “If you ever do anything like this again, we won’t hesitate. You’re now in the middle. You’re now our pawn. So be ready to do what we say, when we say.”

“You’ll protect me though, right?” she asked.

“We’ll do what we can.”

“I’ll start the protection,” Hawk said. He tucked his gun away. “She owes me a dance anyway. And then some.”

“Have at it,” Levi said.

Starla stood up and let the robe open. Hawk was right there.

“Wait a second,” another voice said.

Reese turned his head and saw Josie approaching.

“What are you doing, sweetheart?” Reese asked.

“Starla okay?” Josie asked.

“She’s here,” Reese said.

“I need to talk to her for a second,” Josie said.

Starla put a hand to Hawk’s chest. “I’ll be with you in a second.”

The second Starla got near Josie, something wild happened. Josie swung her hand and hit Starla so hard in the face, she went stumbling into another vanity, knocking things over.

“Holy shit,” Brett said.

“Give her a patch, Prez,” Jason said.

Josie went after Starla again. This time it wasn’t an open handed slap, but a closed fist punch. Starla covered her face and started to scream for help.

Reese gave it a few seconds before he wrapped his arms around Josie’s body and pulled her away.

“Aw, come on, VP,” Hawk called out. “It was just getting good.”

Josie kept swinging as Starla leaned against the vanity, shaking.

“You ever call me a bitch again and I’ll kill you,” Josie said. “You fucking whore. You fucking bring that junk in here again and you’re done. You think what these guys can do is bad? Just fucking wait.”

“Okay, okay,” Reese said. “Easy, sweetheart.”

He turned, but Josie wasn’t having it.

So, Reese looked back and nodded to Levi.

“We’re good here,” Levi said.

“I’ll lick her wounds,” Hawk said. “And her pu-”

“I don’t want to hear it,” Reese said.

With his arms around Josie’s body, he lifted her and carried her to the front of the club. Just beyond the black curtains, next to the stage. The music was thumping loudly as he put her down and spun her around.

It was going to be almost impossible to talk.

Josie grabbed his leather cut and Reese touched her face.

He grinned.

She shook her head.

He leaned in and put his mouth near her ear. “What the fuck was that, sweetheart?”

Josie pulled herself to her toes and put her lips to his ear. “I’m tired of this shit, Reese. I feel like I’m going to snap.”

Reese didn’t respond.

Instead, he pulled her closer, his hands slipping around her body.

The music playing wasn’t romantic.

Reese’s thumb stroked Josie’s cheek.

He inched down and brushed his lips to hers.

It was dangerous.

But the only road Reese knew was danger.