Page 9

I do as instructed, following behind him as he stumbles into his office. He shuts the door and motions for me to sit down as he ambles over to the filing cabinet and grabs another bottle of bourbon out of the top drawer. He carries it, with his glass, over to the desk and sinks into the chair, hopelessness and pain contorting his face. This isn’t the same man that I’ve come to know over the past four years and I’m even more worried about why he’s called me here tonight.

“What’s going on, Blaze?”

He finishes off the liquor in his glass before tossing a thick file across the desk and it lands in front of me with a thump. “I need you to do something for me.”

I rip my gaze away from him as he pours more bourbon in his glass and glance down at the folder in front of me, flipping it open. A photo of a young woman with dark red hair, pale skin, and amber eyes that seem to shred right through me lays on top and I meet his gaze again.

“Who is she?”

He shakes his head. “You don’t need to know that.”

What the fuck?

We’re a pretty tight club and we don’t keep secrets from each other, something that he insisted on when he turned everything around.

“What do you mean I don’t need to know?”

Blaze shakes his head, finishing off another glass and reaching for the bottle again. “Don’t worry about that. I just need you to follow her.”

“Follow her?” I ask, standing up and snatching the bottle out of his hand. “And how much of this have you had tonight?”

“Not enough,” he snarls, reaching for the bottle but I manage to keep it out of his grasp.

“I think you’ve had plenty.”

“No,” he moans, propping his elbows on the desk and dropping his head into his hands. “Just let me forget.”

“Jesus Christ, Blaze. Forget what?”

He grabs his glass and throws it across the room. I flinch as it hits the wall and shatters.

“Just do what I asked you to do!”

I stare down at the photo again, running through reasons why Blaze might need me to follow this woman. I flip through some more pictures of her, looking for any clue as to why he would ask me to do this. “Why?”

“Just do it, Kodiak. Follow her and report back to me every day. I want to know what she’s doing and who she’s seeing. Everything. Every little detail.”

I drop the photos and back away from the desk, shaking my head. The club has been dedicated to protecting people for the last five years and this doesn’t feel right.

“I need to know why I’m doing this.”

Blaze lets out a sardonic laugh. “No, you don’t. I’m your president and I’ve given you an order.”

I tense and meet his hard stare. “You know I respect the hell out of you, Blaze, but if you think I’m going to stalk some poor innocent woman without knowing why, you’re out of your goddamn mind.”

“Just do it!” he roars and I cross my arms over my chest, waiting for him to keep talking. Finally, he sighs. “You’re not stalking her and I need you to trust that I have a damn good reason if I’m asking you to do this.”

After studying him for a moment, I nod. He’s right. I know what kind of man Blaze is so I don’t really believe that he means this woman any harm but it’s still weird for him to be so evasive.

“Are you in trouble, Blaze? Is she?”

“No more questions, Kodiak. I need your help. Will you do this for me?”

I glance down at the photos on the desk and sigh. “What am I looking for exactly?”

“Don’t worry about that yet. Just record everything.”

Without another word, he grabs the bottle of liquor out of my hand and storms out of the office. I stare down at the photo and wonder what the hell I’m getting myself into.