Page 51

ACE

“ W hat the hell happened? Where’s Harley?” I leaped off my bike and ran to the dark Jeep parked at the edge of the parking lot, where Striker was crouched next to Tank.

“I’m fine,” Tank muttered. “Thanks for asking.” He had an ice pack on his head, and he’d have a nasty black eye tomorrow.

“Sean and a few of his guys jumped him,” Striker said.

“I didn’t think Sean had a few guys,” I snarled.

“Looks like things might be changing. Harley’s over by her car with Hawk.” Striker stood and pointed across the parking lot. Harley’s sedan was parked right in front of the pharmacy, and Hawk leaned against the trunk.

I left my bike where it was and sprinted across the parking lot, my heart racing. Hawk stepped aside as soon as I approached. “She’s all right,” he said. “I’ll go check in with the others.”

“Thanks.” Guilt gnawed at me. I should’ve been here first. I’d let Hawk leave our meeting early, and I’d lingered to thank all the guys involved in our new liquor investment.

I shouldn’t have trusted anyone else to take care of her. I should’ve known better. “Harley?”

She was sitting in the driver’s seat with the heels of her hands pressed into her eyes. She jumped when I approached, and then her expression softened. She stepped out of the car and closed the door behind her. In the backseat, Dylan was sprawled out with his video game.

“Harley,” I said again. I brushed the auburn hair off her forehead, then tucked another lock behind her ear. “Are you okay? I came as quickly as I could.”

“We’re okay,” she said. She glanced over her shoulder at Dylan. “I think so, at least.”

“What happened?” I asked. I pulled her into my arms, hungry for more closeness. Though she said she was okay, my dragon wasn’t convinced.

“Sean just… showed up.”

My dragon growled at the mention of Sean’s name. What the hell was he thinking, showing up in Lakeview? Was he following Harley?

“He threatened us,” Harley said quietly. “Not just me. Dylan. He—he said that you had a lot of enemies. And that someone might hurt Dylan. To get back at you.”

That made the smoke rise in the back of my throat.

“Harley—”

She thumped the side of her fist on my chest, then pulled away enough to look up at my face.

Her eyebrows were pulled together, her lips raw where she’d bitten them, and her face was pale.

“Don’t tell me it won’t happen. How can I believe that?

You keep telling me you’ll handle it, that we’re safe, and stuff like this keeps happening.

And it keeps getting worse. First, Blakely nearly killed me, and now Sean himself is ambushing me?

Steph, this… I can’t go on like this. When is it going to be over? ”

My heart dropped into my stomach. The guilt worsened, making me nauseous.

The worst part was that I knew she was right.

I’d been kicking the can down the road. Trying to figure out where Sean was posted up.

Trying to find out what was wrong with him.

Trying to get my legitimate businesses up and running so we could finally get out of our illegal businesses.

But while I was trying to set things up, Sean was eagerly looking to knock them down.

Sean wasn’t waiting. I couldn’t wait, either.

The problem was that I didn’t know if I was ready to do what had to be done.

“Mom?” Dylan asked from inside the car. “Hey, can we—oh, Dad’s here!”

Dylan scrambled out of the backseat and wriggled in between me and Harley. “Hey, bud,” I said quietly. “You all right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Dylan said. “That guy looked a lot like you. But my dragon didn’t like him at all.”

“Your dragon has good sense,” I said. I squeezed both him and Harley close, then stepped away. “Let me make a quick call. I’ll be right back.”

Harley didn’t look too pleased, but she nodded and wrapped her arm around Dylan’s shoulders.

I walked away until I was out of earshot but still had Harley and Dylan in my line of sight. I knew Sean and his lackeys wouldn’t show up again, not with so many enforcers around, but my dragon was still loath to take its eyes off them.

I scrolled through my contacts and pulled up a number I didn’t want to call. But I was running out of options and fast. The call connected after a few rings. “Ace?”

“Levi,” I said. “I need to speak to you about Sean.”

The wolf shifter on the other end huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, I figured. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to help you, though.”

I paused. “What do you mean?”

“I’m on Sean’s shit list,” Levi said. “He’s not telling me jack shit. Did he pull something today?”

I said nothing.

“Guess so,” Levi continued. “Well, whatever it was, I can’t tell you a damn thing about it. He’s icing me out. I guess I’ve been asking too many questions.”

“He wasn’t working alone today,” I said.

“He’s got some new clan members. They’re bad news. Worse than the guys he paid. I don’t know how he roped them in, but it’s not looking good.”

I frowned into the phone. New clan members… Having a clan would make him a little more mentally stable, I assumed, but that might not be a good thing. It might give him the fortitude to make good on all the threats.

“Since you called, I guess I’ll let you know I’m on the road,” Levi said. “I’m leaving town.”

“Seriously?”

“Sean’s crazy. I never should’ve gotten wrapped up in this mess.”

“Where are you going?”

He laughed. “Like I’d tell a dragon that. I learned my lesson. You should know that Sean’s plotting something. I don’t know what it is, but I do know I don’t want any part of it. You’d better keep your guard up.”

“I’ll handle it. Thanks, Levi.”

“Don’t call me again,” Levi said. “I’m done with all this.”

The line went dead. I didn’t blame him. If I were in Levi’s position, I’d also be trying to get as far away from this mess as possible.

What he’d said had unnerved me. Where the hell was Sean finding clan members? Across the border? And what the fuck was he planning?

I shoved my phone back into my pocket. Hawk approached me, hands tucked in his pockets. “Everything good?”

“I think so,” I said. “Take my bike back for me. I’ll take Harley and Dylan to the house.”

In the car, Harley seemed relieved to take the passenger seat. I drove back to my house, and inside, Harley said she needed to lie down for a little while. Dylan retreated to his room.

Alone, I sat down at the dining room table and scrolled through my emails about tomorrow’s event.

We were supposed to be celebrating. Not only Dylan’s shift, but the new business, too. Things were moving in the right direction—I just had to keep ahead of Sean.

But he seemed to be catching up to me much faster than I’d expected.

That night, Harley slept in my bed. Small gifts. She hadn’t spent the night in her bed in ages. I was grateful she still wanted to sleep next to me, even if she was hurt and frustrated.

My dragon whined. He was disappointed with me. Disappointed with himself. I had to fix this.

I barely slept and slipped out of bed early the next morning, careful not to wake Harley when I dropped a kiss on her forehead.

I made coffee for her and left a note that I was at the clubhouse.

Four guys were posted outside the house.

I didn’t think Sean would be foolish enough to show up at my home in broad daylight, but before yesterday, I wouldn’t have thought he’d show up in Lakeview at all.

It was barely nine in the morning, but the clubhouse was already bustling with activity.

A crew of guys from Night Shift Distillery were already on-site, in their branded denim button-ups with cases and cases of product.

There were clan members around, too, mopping the floors and tending to the weeds in the lawn around the clubhouse.

I shook hands with the Night Shift guys, then headed into the clubhouse.

“Morning, Ace,” Striker said. He had a spread of coffee and breakfast sandwiches on the bar. In the back, Hawk and Mia were hanging up a big Night Shift banner, while Bella was babbling to herself in her stroller. “Everything all right from yesterday?”

I grabbed a sausage biscuit. “As good as they could be. Having the official launch finished will make everything easier.”

“Does Harley know about it?” Striker asked.

“Not exactly. I didn’t want to give her the details until all the paperwork was signed.”

“And now it is,” Striker said with a grin. “I saw those projected profits.” He whistled, impressed. “You and Hawk really found something amazing here.”

“It was all Hawk,” I said. “I merely signed off on it.”

“End of an era,” Striker said. “Good work, Ace.”

It really was the end of an era. After today, the Lakeview clan would be out of the weapons business entirely.

No more special orders at the shop. No more cross-border shipments from Michel.

No more hiding evidence when Forest decided to pay a visit.

With the profits from this shifter distillery investment, the clan would be set for life, and then some.

Outside, Zoey started barking playfully, and the sound was echoed by Dylan’s familiar laugh. My dragon snapped into alertness, and Striker chuckled at the speed with which I whipped toward the clubhouse door.

Harley stepped inside. Her jeans accentuated the curve of her hips, and she was wearing one of my button-up shirts tied into a knot to reveal a tiny strip of her tan skin. Her auburn hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail.

Gorgeous. Even after she’d been so shaken up yesterday, she was still effortlessly beautiful, effortlessly graceful.

“What’s going on in here?” she asked, glancing around at the bustling clubhouse.

“Little celebration later today,” Striker said with a smile. “New business venture.”

“Business venture?” She blinked at me. It was a cute gesture that made her look like the twenty-year-old I’d fallen in love with.