I grabbed my vest and my wallet and headed for the door. “Come on. I know a place.”
We took my bike to a coffee shack right off the highway. It was kitschy as fuck, one of those converted shipping containers with mismatched patio furniture. It was quiet other than the passing cars and most of all, it was private.
She sat across from me, her fingers wrapped around a cup with steam rising up between us like a barrier. “So you’re a biker,” she said after a long silence.
“Yep.” I tapped the patch on my chest. “About five years now. Found the Steel Demons about fifteen months after I left the Army.”
“Not for you?” she asked.
“Nah,” I shook my head. “I mean I’m glad I did it, learned a lot that ended up being useful. But this?” I tapped my leather vest again. “This is home and these guys are my brothers. My family.”
She smiled again, this one soft and fleeting. “I’m happy for you, Drew. Truly.”
I smiled at her use of my real name. It was just one more thing that was so fucking familiar that the old ache in my chestreturned. “What’s going on Mace?” My voice was rough, thick with worry. “You never were one to beat around the bush.”
Her gaze lifted to mine, haunted and pleading. “I need help.”
I instantly felt lightheaded at her words. She was in trouble.
“I know this is super shitty of me,” she rushed on. “Showing up here like this after all these years, only popping up because I need your help. It’s just…” She stopped and shook her head, breathing out slowly. “I convinced myself that you’d moved on from our friendship. That our old life didn’t matter anymore and I didn’t want to ruin or darken the life you built for yourself.”
“No offense, Mace, but that’s bullshit. You have always been a bright spot in my life.”
“Drew,” she whispered.
“I’m serious. I hate you’re going through whatever brought you to me, but I’m so fucking glad you’re here.”
Small dots of pink spread across her cheeks as she nodded like she was trying to psych herself up to get the words out. “I was working as an accountant,” she began. “Turns out that among the restaurants, boutiques, and fitness centers as clients, there was also a cartel.” The words tumbled out after that. Sombra Negra. Diego Ruiz. The kidnapping. Her dead boss.
I said nothing, just waited with as much patience as I could muster for her to finish.
“I left Alabama and have been bouncing around the country working under the table when I could, which was ideal.But when I had to be put on payroll, a dirty cop on Diego’s payroll would track me down.” She finished on a shaky breath, trying for a smile that never came.
By the time she finished, my jaw ached from clenching. My hands were fists on the plastic table between us. I had no words. None that wouldn’t come out wrong. I wanted to tell her I’d find the fucker and rip his limbs off and let her beat him with them, but I didn’t think that would go over well.
She saw the silence and misread it instantly. Her face fell. Her shoulders slumped.
She thought I was rejecting her. Of course she did, it was the story of her whole damn life.
Chapter Two
Macy
Drew didn’t say anything. He didn’t blink. He didn’t even fuckingbreathe. His chiseled jaw flexed, the muscles ticking hard, and all that anger rolling off him made my stomach drop. I just knew he would send me away.
This was what happened when I asked for too much. When I needed too much. This was what I got for forgetting my place in other people’s lives. I was the only person I could rely on now. Drew had always had my back, and it was instinct to hop on a bus to Nevada to find him. Instinct and six months of running that had stripped me of some of the armor I wore to keep myself safe. But I should’ve remembered that time changes shit.
I straightened my spine and pushed off the plastic chair, determined to stand even though my knees trembled. I wasn’t going to fall apart in front of him. Not after everything I’d survived. Not anymore.
I forced myself to meet his angry stare. “Sorry,” I said, forcing the word past the tightness in my throat. “Shit, that was a big ask. And, well, we don’t know each other anymore, do we?” I reached into my back pocket for my phone, pretending my hands weren’t shaking. “It was worth a shot, right? I’ll find a ride back to town. Don’t worry about me.”
I turned away before my emotions had a chance to overflow. Tears threatened but I forced them back because I didn’t cry anymore. Tears didn’t help shit and they never had.They didn’t stop beatings or kidnappings. Didn’t stop bad shit from happening.
Tears were useless.
“Macy.” His voice, deep and restrained, hit my back with the force of a wrecking ball. It was so low it was almost a growl, which should have scared the shit out of me, but it didn’t. Didn’t even come close. It was something else altogether, something which I’d felt so sparingly in my life, I wasn’t sure that it was actually lust.
I shook my head, refusing to turn. I couldn’t face him.
