If there weren’t a lingering nefarious air of something loitering in the shadows, this would have been the best party I’d ever been a part of. The music was amazing, the smiles of the denizens of Babylon were genuine as they mingled with the guys from the MC and the high school kids. While the love of my life was standing there doing what he did best… looking damn good.

I didn’t miss the way he followed every stumbling move Jacob made as he walked through the diner on unsteady feet. I could see that every twitch of Jacob’s body was another reason for Drew to hate him, and I couldn’t find it in myself to disagree with him. Jacob had always been arrogant, but the way he was while he was in this room, moving around in short, jerky steps like he owned the place showed he was openly disrespecting the MC and Drew, and I didn’t appreciate that. I was also sure he was high, which only added insult to injury.

“Hey, Ayda?” I looked up at a lanky kid with an apologetic smile. He played football with Tate. I think he called himself Cody, but I’d spoken to so many of the team the names were all blurring together at this point.

“I’m sorry, there’s so much going on,” I shouted back over the music. “What do you need?”

“One of the guys in the parking lot said he was going on a run, and to tell you and that you would know what that meant.”

“I do,” I said with a smile. “Thank you.”

He beamed a high wattage grin at me and sauntered off like I’d given him a compliment. Apparently, I’d forgotten how easy it was to stroke the ego of a teenage boy. With the band in full swing, and almost everyone on the dance floor, I slid into the shadows by the kitchen and took the opportunity to slip out of the towering heels Libby had convinced me to wear.

I was bent over rubbing my foot when Sloane passed me on her way to the restrooms. She had her head down, and her shoulders curled in, moving quickly as she worked her way around the edge of the room. I kept my eyes on her until she was inside and replaced my shoe, taking a moment to rub the other while she was safely tucked away. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Jacob trying to hit on one of the girls that worked in the Roller Freeze alongside half the team.

Even hidden away in the darkest corner, I could feel eyes intently on me, and I had no question of who was on the other end of that stare tonight. There was no cold trail of fingers down my spine in alert. This reaction was a slow, burning fire in the pit of my being, and as I pulled my eyes from the one man in the room I hated, I locked them onto the one man in the room I loved.

Drew.

Everyone outside of the club gave him a wide berth, but I was sure that hadn’t been intentional—he just had a way of exuding power when he was feeling particularly pissed off, and from the flickering glance at Jacob, I knew exactly what was feeding that frenzy. We communicated silently across the heads on the dance floor—me in the shadows, while he was standing in a circle of his own power. If it hadn’t have been for Sloane exiting the restrooms and catching my eye, I think I would have ended up gravitating to him, no matter how much that wasn’t part of the plan.

Sloane was looking at her feet as she moved. Her body was almost doubled over in an attempt to make herself smaller. Needing to help her, I headed closer to walk with her and offer support, while my eyes scanned the room for anyone who was watching her, hoping they would give themselves up.

The answer came without much effort.

It was so subtle—so unassuming and hidden in plain sight. The answer came as one swipe of a guy’s hand across her ass followed by a sadistic pinch before she leaped from his reach. If she hadn’t have been so introverted as she had been lately, I think I would have missed the whole transaction, but I hadn’t—and one glance at Drew, I knew he’d seen her reaction just as clearly as I had. The moment Sloane’s eyes widened with abject terror and stumbled away, we both moved without thought.

It was Jacob.

Jacob had been the one to attack her that day in school, and the realization brought everything into an almost violent light. Sloane had been protecting someone, but that hadn’t been her attacker. She had been protecting the people she’d loved.

Drew had been on a tightly wound spring, holding himself back until he knew the truth, and the moment his eyes made contact with mine confirming what he’d seen, he launched himself across the room. Not in a full attack as he would once have, but in a way that made the sea of people part with every step he took toward them.

I understood his reaction. God knows, I did. I could feel the anger pulsing through my veins with every step I got closer to the two of them. I just knew that if something went down in this room with all these people and Sloane watching, the fallout could be disastrous.

I sped up in the awkward heels I was wearing, sidestepping a couple dancing so I could catch Drew’s gaze with mine and translate everything I needed to with nothing but a single look. I had no doubt I could do it. The trick was just getting his attention. Only when I stumbled over my own feet, though, did his eyes flash to me. He was always so aware of my movements that I should have known he would have caught my clumsiness, but I now had the opportunity, and I took the moment to deliver the message.

Take it outside, I begged silently. Do what you need to do, but not in here.

Drew blinked suddenly and stopped in his tracks like he’d seen a slight speck of clarity in a raging red fog and was desperately trying to focus on that. His entire body seemed to expand and grow as the rage made him square his shoulders, tense his arms, grind his teeth and stay in control, but in another blink of his eyes, I saw him swallow and change course, his head snapping in the opposite direction of Jacob. When I saw him heading toward Deeks, I let out a breath of my own and focused on playing my part.

Sloane seemed to be frozen in fear, a deer standing stagnant in the middle of a road unable to avoid its fate. I was going to be the idiot running into the road to push her ass out of the way. I wasn’t afraid of Jacob, and so the moment I reached them, my hand slipped into Sloane’s and squeezed in reassurance. There was no doubt in my mind that she knew we’d seen the interaction between them and the resulting fear that had drained all of the color in her face, which only confirmed what we’d already figured out.

Jacob wasn’t normally stupid, but he was high, and that had made him sloppy. He hadn’t realized he’d been caught touching Sloane inappropriately, so he just stared at us both with a stupid smile stretching his lips, unaware that his face was about to be rearranged by any man who could get his hands on him... including the chief of police.

“Now, wouldn’t this make a pretty sandwich,” Jacob spat out too fast, his hands moving from his pockets to rub his thighs and then scratch the back of his neck in one jerky, awkward movement. That wasn’t a reaction to being caught because he still hadn’t realized I’d just figured out what he’d done to Sloane. Those jerky, uncouth movements were, what I assumed, to be the meth running through his veins and cutting off what little cognition he had.

My own laugh was sardonic as I pulled Sloane behind me to protect her, and my eyes scanned the crowd for Deeks who was moving toward us fast, his face attempting to smooth away the disgust before he reached us. A second glance around, and I found Drew already at the door, waiting for the hand off.

Deeks didn’t waste any time using pleasantries or his usual smooth schmoozing when he reached us. He slapped Jacob on the back, almost too roughly, while his hand closing around the back of Jacob’s neck and squeezed. The move was one that intimidated without being brutal to anyone watching from the outside.

“I hear you have an interest in bikes, young Hove. How about you come out and see mine?”

Jacob didn’t have much room to argue. His mouth opened and closed even as Deeks was using the hand on his neck to steer him toward the door, his usual friendly smile painted on his lips as he propelled them both forward. I watched for a moment but didn’t have the chance to see the transaction through to the door. I could feel Sloane trembling behind me.

“Come dance with me,” I said, tugging her to the dance floor, where the music was heading toward the something that resembled a ballad. I kept the smile on my face, but angled Sloane away from anyone that would see that haunted look in her eyes. I angled her away from Tate most of all. She needed a moment, so I was giving her one.

I kept us both moving, steering us into the thickest part of the dancing crowd so she could cry… and she did without restriction. When I finally pulled her close and wrapped my arms around her, she clung to me desperately.

“I’m so sorry, Ayda.”

I ran my hand down her hair and kept my smile on so people wouldn’t be alerted. This was the most forced smile I’d ever worn in my life, and it hurt to the point I couldn’t continue with the facade. Taking her hand, I headed to the back and into the small office, where Sloane would have a true moment to focus on getting herself together, and I wouldn’t have to fake anything. As she perched on the desk, my hands cupped her cheeks, angling her head so she couldn’t avoid my gaze.

“Now I know who, you want to tell me why?”

“Why?” she chirped with confusion.

“Why you didn’t tell us. I know you were protecting everyone. I just want to know how he made you feel that was a necessity.”

She closed her eyes as two fat tears broke free and slid down her cheeks. “I was so scared anyway, Ayda, but before I ran the first time, he promised that if I told someone, he would hurt the twins, and I thought, how’s he going to do that? But then, under the bleachers… he said he had the power to hurt everyone I loved, including Tate and the precious MC. He said he would unleash Hell and it would all be my fault.”

I knew what hid under those words. I understood what the threat meant, but I could also see that Sloane had no real idea. She was just scared.

“What did you think he meant?”

“I didn’t know. It was the way he said it. The way his eyes went all empty like he would actually enjoy hurting everyone. I couldn’t shake the feeling that he had that power. Then there was Tate and the football. If he found out it was Jacob, Tate would quit the team. He wouldn’t get a scholarship if he quit, and then the twins… so small and helpless. If we lost them, I would lose Dad, too. You saw what he was like after Maisey, after my…”

She trailed off, and her words were replaced with sobs. Jacob had effectively silenced her by using her past tragedies and base fears. He was more of a low life than even I could have imagined. Then again, I already knew that, didn’t I? He had tried to rape her. He’d used the school as a hunting ground for his own sick pleasure.

As I pulled Sloane against me, I hugged her tight and wished, for just a moment, that Drew had the opportunity to really hurt Jacob. I hope he broke him. I never thought I would ever feel that way, but once again, Jacob had to be the exception.