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But it’s out of the way, away from any unwanted eyes that undoubtedly follow Rowan as the potential heir to The Snake.

My shoulders are heavy with tension as I look at him now. He’s wearing trendy sunglasses despite the lack of sun, but they do nothing to hide just how attractive he is.

“So, what changed your mind?” I ask, picking at the peeling skin on my thumb. I need a cigarette or a joint. Maybe both. I’m not half as nervous as I was when we met a few days ago or even when he called yesterday, but there is still that feeling of apprehension, like if I’m not careful, he might actually kill me.

“Who said I did?” he asks,

Standing up, we’re pretty much the same height, but Rowan has more muscle on him. He works out, and in his short-sleeved t-shirt, thick veins trail up his arms like they are trying to escape his body. They are bare, but I’m wildly aware of the serpent tattoo that traces his back in hypnotic black lines, marking allegiance to his clan and his family.

I purse my lips, my eyes falling on a woman dragging her screaming toddler out of the convenience store. She lets him go and begins to walk away from him, but all he does is scream more.

I turn away, focusing back on Rowan. “Forgive me for my confusion, but you explicitly asked me to stay away from you, and then you asked me to come here,” I say. “I think that’s the definition of changing your mind.”

He laughs quietly then, “Okay, you got me. I changed my mind.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to help.”

“Cut the bullshit, Rowan.Why?”

“Why wouldn’t I want to help you?” He tilts his head.

He’s baiting me, but I’m not going to bite. I shake my head, somehow already exhausted. I didn’t sleep very well last night. I haven’t been sleeping well for weeks.

“You called me here to talk about Haze?”

He watches me for a second, but I can’t read his eyes hidden behind the dark sunglasses. Finally, he nods and says, “I also need to know who is behind it, so I figured we could help each other out.”

It’s my turn to tilt my head. “Why?”

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

I try to remember whether he has always been so frustrating, but maybe there was no time for me to experience this part of his personality between all the sex and lies.

“You can’t ask me to show you mine and then refuse to show yours,” I say.

“From what I recall, you were always quite happy to show yours without me showing mine. What’s changed?”

My cheeks flare and I hope to God I don’t look as embarrassed as I feel.

He must read the look on my face, because he chuckles quietly. “Okay, fine. I don’t need to know why you’re so curious about Haze, but it must be a huge secret if you don’t have any backup. You weren’t carrying your gun when we first met and you’re not carrying it now, which is another sign you’re not on official police business,” he says with a triumphant smile. “So, I won’t tell if you don’t.”

I instinctively reach for my hip, where I usually stow my .9mm. Of course he’d notice I don’t have it. I take in a quiet breath, tempted to get into my car and drive back to work, but I need him more than he needs me right now and judging by the way he’s smiling at me, he knows it too.

“Okay, you win,” I say finally, “But I don’t have much. That’s why I called you. All I know is that Haze is relatively new on the street. It’s being passed off as a new fashion party drug, a combination of molly and some other shit. There isn’t much on it in the databases either. So far, four deaths have been reported in the last three weeks and, like I said last time, I think they are connected to Haze, but I can’t be sure. The autopsies have all come back inconclusive.”

“Five,” Rowan says.

“What?”

“Five deaths.”

I bite my lip, my mind whirring. I’ve been keeping an eye on any drug-related or inconclusive deaths that have happened at parties or clubs around Senna recently, but nothing has come up since the last one, a twenty-two-year-old college student and lacrosse player who was found dead in his bed the morning after a party. He was healthy with no underlying conditions, but when he was discovered, his body was already in rigor mortis, just like the other three.

I don’t think I should ask about how Rowan knows the about the fifth death either. Positive deniability and all. Not that it matters.

“All right, five deaths then. It’s unclear whether Haze itself is causing the deaths, or they are simply overdoses. That’s why no one has rung the alarm bells yet, but the college kids have latched onto it, and things could get pretty ugly fast.”