“Shh! Keep your voice down.”
I abandoned my food altogether as I stood to my feet. “So, you know that there are others out there, and you didn’t tell anyone?”
“I can’t,” she said as she stood with me. “The only reason I’m telling you right now is because you got fired from your job. If you were still employed there, I’d be under contract to not say a damn word. They come to us in confidence, and I’m not about to betray that at the expense of their safety.”
“Even when you know without a shadow of a doubt that there are other women out there?”
“I’m doing what I can now, Aria. So, are you going to help me out or not?”
I chewed on my lower lip. “Do we have any indication that the Steel Scorpions are involved at all?”
“Involved? Oh, hell no. I know that as well as anyone else. They have a strict code that the town is very familiar with. They don’t harm women or children. Ever.”
“And you’re sure about that?”
She tilted her head side to side. “Yeah, I’m very sure about it.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re hiding something from me?”
And when her eyes didn’t meet my own, my jaw hit the floor.
“You’ve slept with one of them, haven’t you?”
She groaned. “Oh, shut up. So have you.”
“It’s that Angel guy, isn’t it? Is he the one you slept with?”
She shook her head. “A woman never kisses and tells.”
“Oh, come on! Give me a bit of gossip to break up all of this heavy bullshit. Was it Angel? Or are you making your rounds?”
I wiggled my eyebrows and she reached for a fry, tossing it right at my face. I moved my mouth and caught it between my teeth before she sank into her office chair and covered her face to mute her giggling. I eased myself back down and reached for my burger, taking a massive chunk out of it with my teeth.
But after a bit of silence, Nadia sighed. “They aren’t bad people, Aria.”
I nodded softly. “I know. I know they aren’t.”
“In fact, they might be the only ones right now that can help.”
I shrugged. “Then tell them what you know.”
“I can’t do that. If I betray these women’s trust, then none of them will tell me exactly what is going on. If someone is going to tell the club, it has to be someone that isn’t directly involved with these women.”
“So, I have to tell them is what you’re saying.”
“Yep.”
I took another bite of my burger. “Guess there’s no time like the present.”
“Can I have your fries, then?”
I shook my head as laughter fell from my lips. “I’m going to find out who you slept with. I hope you know that.”
She winked. “Good luck.”
And after I chugged the rest of my root beer down to wash the grease into my stomach, I set my sights on the clubhouse.
Again.
