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ACE

“ S o, who was she?” I asked Hawk as soon as he walked into my office. I was overlooking the garage, making sure we were on track to hit our profit targets for the quarter. It’d been a transition getting out of gun-running and going clean, but it looked like we’d still be a profitable business.

Hawk hadn’t been out on business orders. Rome’s younger brother out in San Francisco had finally gotten back to us about the security video. He’d cleaned it up, cross-referenced it with some video from a nearby gas station, and sent us photos we could actually see.

“Forrest is a real scumbag,” Hawk said as he dropped into the chair across from me. “She’s just a teenager. A runaway from Canada trying to make her way to New York City to ‘make it big’.”

“Jesus,” I said. “What did Forrest do?”

“Offered her a fat stack of cash to sneak in and plant the drugs,” Hawk said. “I’ve got her explanation on tape. She said she’d talk again if we asked.”

“Good work,” I said. “We might need that.”

“You’re sure this is the right plan of action?” Hawk asked.

I nodded. “Once Sean is cut off from Forrest, he won’t have any other options,” I said. “Forrest was his last-ditch effort. Sean will only have the guys he can afford to pay—and we know that’s not very many, if he even has any at all.”

“Thames may have scared all his muscle off.”

“I hope so,” I said. “That might be enough to get him to challenge me.”

Hawk rubbed his hand over his forehead. “So, it’s finally come to this.”

“We both knew it would.” It hurt me to have to do it like this—to chip away at Sean from the outside—but I knew it was the only way to break his ego. I had to force him to challenge me, so we could end this fight with honor. I sighed. “Let’s head back to the clubhouse. I’ll call Forrest.”

“How are you going to get him to show up?” Hawk asked.

“That part’s easy,” I said. “I’ll just tell him Blakely’s causing a scene at the clubhouse, trying to get on a dragon’s dick again. He’ll be right over.”

Hawk barked a laugh. “Sometimes, Ace, I think you’re a damn genius.”

We made our way to the clubhouse. It was early evening, so the place was still quiet. A few clan members lingered in the common area, and Tammy was behind the bar again. I flipped the sign to closed.

“Something happening?” Tammy asked.

“We’re going to have some company,” I said. “Guys, would you mind waiting in the back room? We might need a little backup.”

Tank nodded and led the four other guys away from the pool table and into the back. Hawk and I took a seat at the bar, then called Forrest. One mention of Blakely flirting at the clubhouse, and Forrest ended the call with a furious huff.

Minutes later, the door burst open. Forrest was red-faced and scowling. He cast his eyes around the bar, only to find it empty. “Where is she?”

“Have a seat.” I gestured at the bar. Hawk and I were seated at the corner, so Forrest could sit across from us.

Of course, he didn’t listen. He took a few stomping steps closer and glowered at us. “Answer my question.”

“I’ve got some questions for you, first,” I said.

“This isn’t an interrogation.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Hawk said with a smirk. “It kind of is.”

I placed Hawk’s phone on the bar and pressed play on the video.

“Sheriff Forrest paid me a thousand dollars,” the girl in the video said. “And he said he’d get my old trespassing charge wiped off my record. All I had to do was break into the body shop and leave the drugs in the office… He promised me it’d be fine…”

“What the hell is this?” Forrest said.

“ Why’d he ask you to do that?” Hawk asked in the video.

“He said the guy who owns the garage is a criminal, and this was just a way to get him behind bars quicker,” the girl said. “He said I just had to trust him.”

I stopped the video. “There’s more where that came from, Forrest. That nice girl connected us with some other people you’ve paid off. We’ve got a whole lot of interesting conversations on record now. A lot with paper trails, too.”

“How dare you?” Forrest’s face paled, and his voice quavered. “That’s official police business.”

“Seems so,” I said. “I’m sure the state police would be very interested in seeing these videos.”

“You can kiss your little sheriff position goodbye,” Hawk said.

“You’re both so full of shit,” Forrest snarled.

“You think this is a slam dunk? This is nothing. You’re a pair of criminals.

You think anyone will believe this shit?

You could’ve paid off this girl yourself.

You’re wasting my time!” He turned to storm out of the clubhouse and nearly walked directly into Tammy.

She blocked him from leaving with a hand to his chest. “The boss isn’t done talking to you.”

“Well, I’m done talking.” Forrest whirled around and drew his gun. His hands shook as he pointed it at me.

I whistled. Tank and the enforcers stormed out of the back room and flanked me, all of them baring their fangs. Forrest’s aim danced shakily between the dragon shifters surrounding me, but no one flinched.

I felt my eyes flash gold as I scowled at Forrest. “You’ll be dead before you pull the trigger.”

Sweat beaded on Forrest’s forehead as he lowered his gun. “What the fuck do you want from me?”

“You really thought you could get away with this?” I stood up from the bar and strode forward, so I was standing eye to eye with him. He swayed backward, like he wanted to retreat, but managed to hold his ground. “You thought you could get away with working with Sean? That I wouldn’t find out?”

Forrest’s face paled even more.

I didn’t actually have proof of Forrest and Sean working together. Not yet, at least. But Forrest didn’t need to know that.

“How stupid are you, really?” I continued. “You thought working with an insane man would benefit you?”

“What—How did you—” Forrest cast his eyes around the clubhouse desperately, like someone might pop out and save him. “Sean promised he had dirt on you.”

I rolled my eyes. “You are really fucking stupid if you thought Sean had a lick of dirt on me. You knew I was taking this whole clan straight, and you still thought you could get rid of me.”

Forrest said nothing, but he was shaking with anger. I could smell the fear growing and growing.

“I’ll make you a deal,” I said.

“Why the hell would I deal with you?” Forrest asked.

“You’ll never work as a cop ever again,” I said simply, “but if you cooperate with me now, I’ll let you leave Lakeview with your balls intact.”

Forrest froze.

Silence fell over the clubhouse.

“Fuck!” Forrest hissed. He knocked the heel of his hand repeatedly into his forehead. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

“There, there,” Tammy said with a smile. “Now, why don’t you hand me that gun, and we’ll talk this over like adults?”

To my utter shock, Forrest handed his gun to her. He shoved past me, then gestured dramatically toward the bar. “Well, should we sit? And can I get a damn beer?”

The rest of the guys went back to shooting pool. Hawk and I sat at the bar with Forrest, and Tammy returned to the other side to pour us a round—Night Shift beers for me and Hawk, and a regular pale ale for Forrest.

“I’ll tell you what I know,” Forrest said. “Only because Sean’s started to lose his fucking mind. I never should’ve gotten involved with this mess.”

“So, what exactly is his plan?” I asked.

“He wants you dead,” Forrest said curtly.

“And you were helping him with that?” Hawk asked.

“I want you back in prison,” Forrest said. “Where you belong. Sean said he’d be fine with that too. I thought we were working toward a common goal, before he went off the deep end.” Forrest took a long drink of his beer. “It was his idea to use Harley as bait.”

My dragon snarled in rage, but I kept him internalized. For now.

“His plan,” Forrest continued, “was to kidnap Harley and Dylan and keep them somewhere hidden. I wouldn’t agree to have them killed, so we came to a compromise. He said he’d hide them away somewhere, make the clan think they were dead, and then kill you and take over Lakeview.”

“But not a challenge,” I said.

“Nope,” Forrest said. “When he had backup, he was planning a surprise attack.”

Hawk and I exchanged a look. So Sean knew he wouldn’t win a challenge. And that backup had to be Thames.

“Something happened with his shifter friends,” Forrest said. “He lost his backup, and so the plan was put on ice. I figured he’d go back to the drawing board, but instead, he… He snapped.”

“What do you mean?” I pressed.

“He’s acting like a fucking psycho!” Forrest slammed his pint glass down so hard the beer sloshed over the lip.

“Suddenly, all the plans are out the window, and he’s talking about how his dragon is way stronger, he’s invincible, he’s going to show Lakeview what he can do…

And then he’ll shift gears and be all cagey and unsure again.

It’s fucking weird, and it makes me nervous. Guys like that are a time bomb.”

What Forrest was describing was unfortunately familiar to me. It sounded like Sean’s humanity and his draconic side were splitting apart. His dragon wanted one thing, and his human side wanted another. They both wanted me dead, but they couldn’t agree on how to achieve that goal.

Sean was an alpha. His dragon was strong. And soon, his dragon was going to overwhelm his human sense of reasoning. I wondered how much time we had left.

“What about Blakely? Is she working with Sean?”

“No,” Forrest said. “She probably would if she could. She wanted me to introduce them, but she doesn’t know what the hell she’s trying to get into.”

Hawk glanced at me, and I ducked my chin once. My dragon sensed no lie in Forrest’s voice.

“How many guys is he working with now?” I asked.

“Four,” Forrest said. “Paid muscle.”

“Shifters?” Hawk asked.

“I don’t know,” Forrest said. “But I know those checks will start bouncing soon.”