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"You'll be fine," he says when I finish. "June's good people. She'll help you out."

"You keep saying that. Good people. Is everyone in this town good people?"

"Most of them. The ones who aren't don't last long."

"What happens to the ones who aren't good people?" I ask.

Angel meets my eyes. "They learn to be. Or they leave."

Chapter 4 - Angel

Bree got a forkful of pancake halfway to her mouth, and she's staring at me like she's trying to figure out if I'm serious or just trying to sound tough.

I'm serious.

Millhaven isn't perfect, no place is, but the Iron Phoenix has spent the last months making sure the people who live here know they're protected. That protection comes with expectations. You don't fuck with the people we care about. You don't bring trouble to their doorsteps. You don't make them feel unsafe in their own town.

And if you do, you deal with us.

Bree sets down her fork. "That's kind of intense."

"Yeah."

"But also kind of..." She trails off, searching for the word.

"What?"

"Comforting," she says finally. "In a weird way."

I wasn't expecting that answer, but I should have been. She ran from somewhere. From someone. She showed up in Millhaven with nothing but a backpack and fear in her eyes, and she let me walk her to a motel without asking a single question about who I was or whether she could trust me.

That's not someone who's used to feeling safe.

I pick up my coffee and take a drink to give myself something to do that isn't staring at her. Because I am staring. I've been staring since I walked up to her motel room door and she answered wearing my cut over that soft pink sweater that makes her look even younger.

And I'm still half-hard from the bike ride.

The second she wrapped her arms around my waist and pressed herself against my back, I knew I was fucked. Every shift of her weight, every tightening of her grip when I leaned into a turn, I felt all of it. Her thighs squeezing my hips. Her breasts pressed against my spine. Her breath on the back of my neck when she laughed and asked if I knew everyone in town.

And when she said she didn't mind people assuming she was my girlfriend…

Yeah. I've been adjusting myself under the table since we sat down, trying to think about anything other than the way she felt on the back of my bike, and it's not fucking working.

I need to focus. She needs a job. She needs help. She doesn't need me thinking about how good she smells or how badly I want to…

"So, what happens if you fuck up?" Bree asks, cutting through my thoughts. "As a prospect, I mean."

Right. This is safer territory.

"Depends on what you fucked up," I say. "Minor shit, you get corrected. Major shit—" I shrug. "You're out."

"Have you fucked up yet?"

I think about giving her my cut last night. About how Canvas and Brick looked at me when I walked into the clubhouse without it. About how I couldn’t find Phoenix this morning and he’s definitely going to want to talk to me later.

"Not yet," I say.

She smiles, and those dimples show up again. Christ.