“When I was in high school, I got in trouble for hacking the Pentagon’s more secure files.”
I blinked. “Wait, you did what?”
She sighed as she came to sit beside me. “Remember that debacle in the media where they figured out they were hacked because someone changed the home screen to—”
“Fuck the government and their secrets? Yeah, I remember that. That was you?”
She hung her head and picked at the beds of her nails. “Yeah, that was me. I even got into their email systems and ended up transferring some random emails to an outside server. At least, I thought they were random. Apparently, they contained some pretty serious information on overseas troop movements, and the full force of our legal system came down onto my head when I was only sixteen.”
I whistled lowly. “Hell of a way to introduce yourself to them.”
She lifted her head and closed her eyes. “So, after tracking me down and realizing I was just some kid in a basement, we struck a deal: I work for them helping with cyber crime for the next eight years, and they wouldn’t bring charges against me. But that also meant living a tight-laced life. No crossing into the gray area. Always updating them on my movements. Giving them unfettered access to my computer and phone and shit like that whenever they suspect something is wrong.”
I placed my hand on her knee. “I’m really sorry, Chloe.”
She scoffed. “Don’t apologize yet because you don’t owe me one. That man saw us arguing, West. He’s got a file on you, supposedly. He knew your name. I’m sure he’s researching the emblem on your leather jacket. This entire crew is teetering on the brink of trouble because of me, yet no one will let me leave.”
I squeezed her knee. “So, that’s why you’re trying to leave all the time.”
She sighed heavily. “Yeah, that’s why. I mean, Lexi and Natty are under this roof. I don’t want to compromise them.”
“Does she know what’s going on?”
“I mean, she knows now. She’s the one who caught me leaving the first time to go meet up with Agent Baker. She’s the one who gave me the keys to the van. But she didn’t know up until that point. I keep this part of my life under wraps for a reason. It’s not pretty, and it’s not something I care to relive, and it’s not a problem I want others wrapped up in. This Agent Baker? He’s ruthless. He’s a disgusting, misogynistic asshole that sees me as no better than the dirt on the bottom of his shoe. And anyone who gets wrapped up with him will absolutely suffer the same fate I currently am.”
I was upset at the predicament we had all been put in, but I couldn’t blame her for it. Like she had once said, everyone had lives before all this shit happened, and those lives didn’t get to be put on hold just because some cartel wanted us dead.
“Well,” I said as I pushed myself to my feet, “sounds like the club needs to help you get out of this.”
Chloe shook her head. “West, no. That wasn’t the point of—”
I turned to face her. “This club always knows how to skirt around the law. We dwell in the gray area. We succeed in it. It’s our passion. Our specialty. And every contract has a loophole. I can have—”
She leapt to her feet. “That doesn’t change the fact that I still have to meet this man at one o’clock today.”
I blinked. “Oh.”
“Yeah. I’m still informing for him. I’m still helping him. I still have a contract to fulfill. And at noon, I have to be out of here so I can go meet him. How the hell am I going to do that with Stone and everyone else breathing down my neck?”
“The only way they’ll allow that is if I go with you. Maybe I can convince Agent Baker to lay off the club or something.”
And to my shock, she actually relented. “Look, you obviously know your skills better than I do. But all I know is that if I miss this meeting, he’s coming after me. He tracks the signal on my cell phone and everything.”
“Wait, he knows where we are?”
She swallowed hard. “I’m so sorry. I never thought I’d ever be caught up in something like this. I never thought that this part of my life would ever put anyone else in danger. I’m so sorry, West.”
“Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh,” I said softly as I wrapped her up in my arms, “it’s okay. I’m going to come with you, I’ll keep an eye on things, and I’ll see what I can work out with the agent. It’s okay. We’ll get you out of this.”
“I just want to live my life. Is that so much to ask?”
She sobbed against my chest and I wanted to strangle the man. I’d never wanted a fed dead more in my entire fucking life. I scooped her into my arms and we crawled back into bed, fading in and out of sleep until around eleven that morning.
Then, we got ready for our afternoon adventure.
“Where the hell are you two going?” Stone asked as we approached the front door.
I ripped it open. “Stone, do you trust me?”
