A sharp knock on my bedroom door had me groaning in annoyance. “Yeah?”

It swung open as I turned my chair away from the computer. I was deep in some detective work for the club, trying to get whatever info I could find on Hadley’s husband. Optimus had come to me about it after speaking to Judge. Judge had his hands tied, there was little information he could gather without pulling too much attention from the feds he worked for.

If he started asking too many questions about Hadley’s husband—another agent who had turned dirty—there was a chance that someone within the Bureau on his pay list would forward it on to him.

It was a clusterfuck of bullshit, especially given that this government agency had one of the toughest network structures, and penetration was difficult. It was like an eggshell, hard on the outside but once inside things were softer and easier to infiltrate. But it could take me hours, days, weeks even to get to through the shell. And I was already struggling to keep my head in the game as it was.

Blizzard appeared in my doorway, “Op wants us downstairs. Deacon called to say he needs to chat with us.”

I frowned. “Is hell about to freeze over?”

The club and Deacon, who was the head of the Police Department in Athens, had a tense relationship at best. His history with the club had been a range of ups and downs, including him trying to get in with Chelsea when hers and Op’s relationship was on the rocks. Him coming here voluntarily spoke for itself about how this meeting was probably about to go.

I pushed away from my desk and forced my body to my feet. Shaking off my aching muscles from over five hours sitting at my computer setup, I followed Blizzard out of my room and down the hallway to the stairs.

“You find anything good?” he asked as we descended into the main room of the club.

I snorted. “I haven’t cracked the shell yet. We’ll be lucky if I find anything before shit hits the fan and we need to go on the defensive.”

The corner of his mouth pulled up as we headed for the front door. “I thought you were good at this shit? Getting slow in your old age?”

I shoved him away and he laughed as we walked over to where Optimus, Eagle, and Ham were already waiting by the front gate. “You need us all here for this?” I asked curiously, leaning against the fence with my arms folded.

Op shrugged. “Not really, but when this asshole comes around, I just like to make a show of it.”

Chuckling lightly, I shook my head. Op really was protective of Chelsea. He didn’t like that she and Deacon still had somewhat of a friendship between them even after all the shit that they’ve been through. While Deacon has helped us out with things in the past, Optimus is still cautious of his motives, and why he gave up a high ranking place in the DEA in New York to stay in Athens and run the insignificant police department here.

When a dark car pulls down the road, we all tense—it’s not Deacon’s police cruiser.

My hands moved closer to my waist, and I noticed Ham step back inside the small gate to reach for his shotgun. Op stepped to the side as the car pulled into the driveway, and the window rolled down. We all relax when we notice Deacon sitting in the driver’s seat. He’s alone, but he isn’t dressed in his police uniform.

“You needed to chat?” Op asked suspiciously, his brow raised.

Deacon took us all in. “Yeah, but the shit I need to talk to you about could get me fired. I’d rather not do it standing at the curb.”

My curiosity piqued and I could tell Op’s had too.

Op waved his hand toward the clubhouse. “Park close to the wall and head around the back.”

Deacon nodded and pulled in, his tires crunching on the gravel. We all followed the car inside the gate as Ham pulled them closed.

“This shit doesn’t sound good,” Blizzard commented as we walked across the parking lot.

Optimus didn’t answer as we continued around the side of the clubhouse and met Deacon who was standing on the porch.

“Am I gonna need a fucking drink for this?” Op asked as he took a seat on one of the patio chairs, Deacon and the rest of us following suit.

“You’ve got some unwanted attention coming your way,” Deacon said, ignoring the comment and getting straight down to business. “There’s a couple detectives coming to town. They’re asking questions about the club. Digging around for information on you and any associates you might have.”

Optimus lifted his lips in a sneer. “What the fuck are they looking to find?”

“They’re quite interested in X-Rated,” Deacon replied, lifting his eyebrow as if to say ‘if there’s something I need to know you better fucking tell me now.’

“X-Rated is clean as a fucking whistle,” Blizzard protested, waving him off.

“And your girls? What about them?”

Everyone’s eyes moved to me. I’d done all their background checks myself, including the last one Connor had given me. They’d all come back with nothing. “They’ve all had a thorough check, and we’ve just done random drug testing which all the girls came back clean,” I explained.

Deacon nodded. “What do you test them for?”

I shrugged. “The usual… amphetamines, coke, weed—”

“Prescription?”

I narrowed my eyes but shook my head. “Some of the girls are on different things to help with depression and shit. As long as they’re doing their job, that’s their business, not ours.”

We gave our girls as much support as possible, but the reality was that being a stripper wasn’t exactly a glam job. Some of the girls were there because they had no other way of making money and some dealt with other issues in their lives, scars from their past that wouldn’t go away without the help of a happy tablet or two. We didn’t judge them for that and often supported them if we felt like they needed some kind of help.

The sounds of a gate opening and a car pulling into the compound had my back straightening.

“It’ll just be Sugar dropping off Har,” Optimus commented casually, but my bristles didn’t settle. I hadn’t seen her in fucking weeks. She’d been avoiding the clubhouse like the plague, and in turn, avoiding anything and everything to do with me. I’d said some harsh shit and shit, I regretted it. I’d even tried to apologize, but her only response was to simply stay the hell away.

I’d had about fucking enough of it, and had driven past her house one too many times to count, wondering if I should go over. My gut told me she needed me, but my head told me to give her space. I couldn’t say for sure just how long my brain would win out over that churning inside me that told me things weren’t right.

“There’s a new drug building up a reputation throughout some of the main cities. And it seems to, for some reason, be moving in this direction,” Deacon continued to explain. “It was used a few years ago as a prescription med that I have no idea how they managed to get past the FDA. It was only out for a few months before it was pulled from distribution due to the side effects. It’s toxic as hell and addictive to boot. The street name they’re using is ‘Manic.’”

Blizzard frowned. “What was it used for?”

“To treat psychological disorders, schizophrenia and such,” Deacon explained simply. “They managed to get it recalled and banned, but not before the Cartel and others jumped all over the damn shit and figured out how to reproduce it. Anyone who’s into trafficking women has figured out just how well it works. It makes the girls compliant so high that they don’t even know what’s going on around them. And with one round they’re completely addicted, and they’ll do anything and everything in order to get more.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Op cursed. “Ain’t no way in hell that shit is coming to my town. You know we don’t deal in that bullshit.”

“I know that, but you’re gonna have trouble proving it if there’s someone in your club who is taking it, or trying to sell it to your girls,” Deacon said with dread in his eyes. “You’re gonna have an awful hard time explaining that shit away.”

I gritted my teeth. “You think one of the girls is trying to do the dirty on us?”

Deacon cleared his throat and shook his head. “I have no fucking idea what the plan is. Whether they’re just an addict trying to get by…” he scratched his head, “… it could be that simple. They might just need help—”

“Or…” Op growled, hearing the hesitation in Deacon’s voice.

Deacon pursed his lips for a moment before he answered. “Or… someone is trying to make you look bad. You can’t tell me that these detectives are just working on a hunch? No, someone gave them the information.” He sighed. “You guys are known for keeping the shit away from here. Basically, everyone is afraid to track drugs through the entire state because of the repercussions that you guys lay down.”

Blizzard groaned and hung his head. “But if we get caught, we go down—”

“It’s gonna be a fucking free for all,” I finished, clenching my fists around the arms of my chair.

“Goddamn it!” Optimus cursed, standing quickly and tossing the flimsy chair to the side. “As if we didn’t have enough going on right now.”

He was right.

We were already dealing with Hadley’s shit, trying to keep her ex-husband from hunting her down, and that was fucking complicated and dangerous enough as it was. Now we had it coming at us from more than one fucking direction.

Deacon pushed to his feet. “I’ve got a lead on a dealer just across the border in Georgia. I’m gonna hand it over to the detective in charge, and see if I can send them that way for a while. My advice though… find out if there really is something fucking going down, and remove it fast. Because they’ll be back.”

Optimus’ face was filled with anger, but he gave Deacon a sharp nod. “We’ll get it sorted.”

If Deacon was expecting thanks, that was all he was gonna get. Deacon dipped his head and turned to walk away, stepping around the side of the building.

“Hey Sugar,” I heard him say quietly, my body tightening at the sound of her name.

Just then, Harlyn came shooting around the corner with a wide smile on her face. I couldn’t help but grin back at her. “Mom took me to the shop and let me try on some clothes.” She beamed happily. She bounced up and down in front of me, and I laughed.

“They’re a bit old for you don’t you think, kid.”

Harlyn rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but when I get older and go to prom, Mom said she will be able to make my prom dress, and that my date will have a matching tie. I’m gonna have a blue dress.”

Op choked, and Blizzard let out a booming laugh just as Sugar stepped around the corner.

“Baby girl, you’re gonna give your dad a heart attack talking about proms and dates. He isn’t prepared for that yet.” She forced a smile, but I could see the visible tension in her face and body. Her hand was shaking, my eyes zeroing in on it before moving up to her face. I raised my eyebrow, but she quickly tucked her hands into the front pockets of her jeans and looked away.

“Daddy, when I get a boyfriend, you’ll be nice to him, right?” Harlyn enquired as she headed for her father.

Optimus shook his head. “No boyfriends.”

Harlyn’s jaw fell open. “That’s not fair.”

Sugar let out a short giggle, and Optimus hit her with a dark glare. “Not until you’re… like thirty,” he said sharply before turning and rushing inside through the open patio doors.

Harlyn chased after him. “Thirty!” she protested as she followed him through the main room and down the hall to his office I assumed, their voices disappearing into the distance.

Blizzard nodded his head at Sugar. “You’re looking good.”

She cleared her throat and gave him a shy smile. “Thanks.”

His eyes moved to me, an unspoken warning in his eyes before he walked away. I twisted my cap on my head, the uncomfortable silence between us something I wasn’t used to. It had never been like this, it had always been easy, so fucking easy.

“Haven’t seen you in a long time,” I told her.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Yeah. Didn’t want Harlyn to get confused with me being here and not knowing why she couldn’t just come home with me. Better to keep both places separate.”

I nodded. “That’s pretty level-headed of you.”

I saw her cringe. “I need to get going.”

I wanted to ask her to stay. More than that actually, I wanted to close the distance between us and pick her up in my arms and carry her to my fucking bedroom. She’d gotten into my soul, wiggled her way inside and made a home there. I’d done okay. With not seeing her around, I’d been able to convince myself that I could give it time, that things would be fine. But now, I was right back to that first day when she’d walked into my goddamn heart and never left.

“Yeah,” I said casually. “I’ll see you soon.”

Her eyes widened at my choice of words, rightly so. They were purposeful.

I was telling her, no so subtly, that her time was up.

I could see she was doing better, even spending more time with Harlyn and having her for the night some days. Something had happened, and one day I’d find out what it was, but I was sick of sitting on the sidelines.

And I would strike out a thousand times if it meant just one shot at a home run.