“What?” I growl into the phone stomping up the stairs. My nerves are completely shot and my need to get to Emmy is the only thing on my mind. But first I have to take care of this shit.

“Heard about what happened at Sunshine’s. Your boy okay?” Drifter asks.

“Of course you fucking heard,” I say, not answering his stupid question. 

“Everyone heard, Kodah. Shit like that hasn’t happened in this town for many years. It’s got everyone talking.”

My body coils tight with the aftermath of last night. 

Over the last few weeks the drug issue has gotten worse. There have been no leads, no dealers, no talk of who the supplier is… nothing. Nothing but roofied women and overdosed druggies. It’s as if the drugs fell from the fucking sky and landed in people’s laps. It makes no fucking sense.

Last night, when JB showed up at Drifter’s telling me we had to take care of shit at Sunshine’s, that some punk was seen dropping drugs into drinks, I thought it was going to be a quick interrogation. Get answers, beat the shit out of the fuck, and get out. I thought I would only be away from my girl for an hour tops. But that quickly changed when we pulled up and the sound of somebody fucking echoed near the back entrance… No, it was the sound of someone being raped. A sound both JB and I are all too familiar with.

There was no stopping JB when we rounded the corner and saw a girl face down in the alley with some guy plowing into her while she laid there motionless unable to stop him. He fucking lost it.

One second he was beside me and the next he was behind the bastard snapping his neck. 

Done. 

Four witnesses, three drugged girls, one dead body and once again, no one to get answers from.

It was a fucking mess. A mess that I have been dealing with all fucking day.

“What the fuck do you want, Drifter?” I growl, throwing my door open. Placing the phone on speaker, I set it on my dresser as I change my clothes.

“It’s Emmy.” Placing my gun and wallet down I pause, my body freezing at the mention of her name. 

“What happened?”

“She had a flashback about Buck. She remembers him.”

“Is she ok?” I grate out. Fuck! She’s probably so fucking lost. I need to get there, I need to be with her, I should have been there instead of having to deal with this shit.

Over the last few weeks I’ve seen the way she looks at both Buck and Drifter. I’ve come to understand and respect their relationship, I've also come to be grateful for it. To her they are her family… the only family she has. She didn’t remember the man Buck was from her past, she didn’t remember all he had done. We all knew this day would come. We all knew her image of him was on borrowed time, but that doesn’t make it any less easy. It still doesn’t prepare you for when it happens.

Silence ticks on and I stand there staring down at my phone holding my breath as I wait for an answer.

“I don’t know, Kodah.” 

“Does she remember me?” Desperation seeps into my voice.

“I don’t think so. It was a dream… she hasn’t come out of her room since. I’m fucking worried about her,” he says and something in his tone catches my attention.

“She’s going to be okay,” I say, turning my question into a statement. Throwing my clean shirt over my head I grind out, “I’ll be there soon.”

Sighing, Drifter ignores me. “Kodah, with everything going on right now- the shit with your club, the shit with Marx, I think it might be best to have her go back to Texas,” he says slowly, then quickly adds. “At least until she can work through this shit. We can put round the clock guards on her and make sure she is safe. We can-”

I stop listening. Throwing my cut back on and securing my wallet and gun, I take my phone off speaker and put it to my ear, leaving my room. 

There is no fucking way she is going to Texas, not when I just got her back. She can fucking do this… We can fucking do this.

“She’s not fucking going,” I growl, stomping down the hall to JB’s room.

“Kodah-”

“No! You even think about taking her back again, Drifter, and I will fucking kill you. You are not fucking taking her away from me.”

A resounding sigh echoes through the phone and I can picture the defeated look on his face as he wars with himself.

“Buck and I are heading to the city. We won’t be back until late tomorrow,” he says changing the subject.

“What’s in the city?” I ask. Turning the knob, I open JB’s door and find him tying up his boots and throwing on his cut. Turning his head to me, I see his sanity slipping from his eyes.

“I got a contact up there who has been dealing with human trafficking for the last decade. I want to dig up some old files.”

“Has something happened?”

“No. It’s been dead. Nothing for weeks.”

Standing in front of his door, my eyes track his movements as JB begins to pace. “Maybe he knows that the club is looking for him, too. Could have scared him off,” I say hopeful.

“I don’t know. One thing I’ve learned in what I do is that silence doesn’t usually mean it’s over. In my line of work, it means someone is watching, thinking… It means he is either planning or the plan is already in action.”

Apprehension shoots down my spine mixing with my already raging emotions. “What are you hoping to find?”

“Something just isn’t adding up anymore,” he says, not really answering my question, his voice sounding far off, like he’s talking more to himself than me. “I’m starting to wonder if Buck is right, if this isn’t Marx we’re after.”

Narrowing my eyes, I turn away from JB with my phone propped up to my ear. “If it’s not him, then who could it be?” I ask. “Everyone who was close to her, who would have a reason to come after her is either dead, missing, or living in the same house as her. Marx didn’t let just anyone get close to her.”

Silence follows my statement as we both get lost in our heads. Turning my attention back to JB, I watch as he starts pounding his fist against his head.

Shit. I need to fucking deal with this.

“When are you leaving?” I ask.

“Now.”

“Okay, I’ll be there.”

Hanging up the phone, JB spins and faces me. “What the fuck do you want, Kodah?”

“What happened last night shouldn’t have fucking happened brother,” I growl, my voice low and serious.

“I was supposed to let him just rape her?” he shouts, his fists pounding against his chest at the word rape.

“No, JB, but you should have fucking waited. We needed him alive long enough to get some fucking answers as to why this shit is happening in the first fucking place!” I say, my voice growing louder as all the shit comes pouring out. “We need to figure out who is fucking behind all this shit and we can’t do that if you are fucking taking out every person before we even get their fucking name!”

Standing there we both stare each other down, our bodies heaving for two very different reasons. His heaves because the monster inside him has started clawing its way out, not stopping until it gets what it needs. Mine heaves because of the shit falling down around me, because the thought of Emmy going back to Texas is enough to kill me, because she is still in fucking danger and because even though being around her for the last few weeks has been incredible, she still doesn’t know who the fuck I am. She doesn’t remember who the fuck we are.

“I have to get the fuck out of here,” he says desperately, his humanity slipping away to his demon.

Taking a few deep breaths, I do my best to calm myself. “You going to the same place?”

“What the fuck do you think?”

“I just want to make sure you aren’t planning on making any stops on the way there,” I say calling him out.

Surprise flickers across his face but he schools his expression quickly. “What the fuck are you talking about, Kodah?”

“I’m not fucking stupid, JB. I have seen the way you have been looking at Bailey when you come to Drifter’s. I see the sadistic shit in your eyes as you watch her every fucking move.”

Baring his teeth, he steps up to me. “Shut the fuck up!”

“Leave her alone, JB.”

“Mind your own damn business.”

“You hurting that girl and upsetting Emmy makes it my fucking business. She’s been through enough. What if you hurt her? What if you fucking kill her?” I ask, causing him to flinch. “I would have no choice to put you down, brother. You would leave me no fucking choice!”

Stumbling back as if I had pushed him, he grates out, “I wouldn’t hurt her”. 

“You wouldn’t mean to.”

“You don’t get it. I see something in her, something that fucking speaks to the evil inside me.” Placing his fists to his chest, his eyes beg me to understand. “I think I speak to hers, too.”

Everything in me drains… I just can’t fucking deal with this. 

“What are you saying, JB? You think you love her?” I ask, exasperated...fucking tired. “You haven’t even spoken two words to her.”

“Tell me, Kodah, why do you love Emmy?” he counters, catching me off guard.

“Because…” Stopping, I really think about it. Why do I love her? I love the way she makes me feel, I love her strength, I love her fucking eyes… but the real reason I love her, the reason that makes breathing around her hard and fucking easy, the reason she can bring me to my knees in pain and in happiness?

“There is no way to describe love,” JB says, cutting me from my thoughts. 

“You’re going to hurt each other.”

Pushing past me, he heads for the door. “Maybe we will save each other”.

* * *

Heading back downstairs I rush to my bike, but I’m stopped at the last second. “Romeo!”

Sitting at the bar with a cigarette in his hand and Laney, his regular club whore clinging to his side, Pops motions me to come over.

Fuck. I need to get to Emmy, but I can’t turn my back on my Prez.

“What’s up, Pops?” I ask, walking over and leaning my side against the bar.

“You talk to Rage?” he asks, getting right to it. 

“Yeah.”

“He take off?”

Nodding, I don’t say anything. Only Pops and I know where JB goes and I want to keep it that way.

“He needs to get his shit under control,” he says, taking a drag of his cigarette and leaning back in his seat, Laney soaking in his every move.

Desperate whore… I hate her. Always have. There is just something about her that’s never sat right with me.

“Won’t happen again, Pops,” I say, but we both know it will.

Narrowing his eyes, he notices my need to get out of here. “How’s your other business?”

“Still dealing with it,” I grind out.

“I heard you’re taken now, Romeo,” Laney coos, running her hand across Pop’s chest. He brushes her off but she doesn’t waiver. “Is it true?”

“Bitch, mind your own,” Pops snaps, causing her to pout.

“I was only asking. Heard him on the phone talking to Drifter about some girl named Emmy. Said she was his and all that, just wondering if he finally got an old lady is all.”

“Mind your fucking business, Laney,” I growl at the same time Pops asks, “What did you just fucking say?”

Rolling her eyes and pursing her fake as fuck lips, she flips her blonde hair over her shoulder. “If it wasn’t my business, Romeo, you shouldn’t be having conversations where others can hear.”

I don’t have time for this.

“I got to fucking go,” I snap, pulling from the bar. Shooting one last glance to Pops, his eyes stare straight ahead not paying any attention to me. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”