"How's it going, Squirrel?" Drew asked as he and Dalton arrived at the predetermined meeting place and got off their bikes."I've been better."Taking a good look at the other man, Drew realized he spoke the truth. Squirrel had definitely seen better days. His skin was pale, and it looked like, even though it was not a hot day, he was sweating. As they got closer, they could smell the stench of an addict needing a fix. He'd obviously been sweating for a while, and the blood on his arm told them both he'd taken the fixation of picking at his skin."You're not gonna go crazy on us, are you?" Dalton asked, pulling back his cut to show Squirrel that he carried. "I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to. Don't go insane, stay level. You got me?"Squirrel scratched his arm, his eyes darting this way and that. "I got you, but we're gonna have to hurry, because I'm gonna need my fucking money."Drew widened his stance and braced his feet. "Nah, man, you don't tell us what we
As they went further into the county, Drew turned on his phone and enabled the GPS so that Travis could track where they were going. That served two purposes. The other members of Heaven Hill would know where they were if help was needed, and later, if they wanted to come back out here themselves, they would know how to get here. Drew had learned to live by his gut, and his gut was telling him now that this was okay. They weren't going to be ambushed once they got there. This was honestly a man who knew they needed information and he needed money. Business transaction, plain and simple.Squirrel stopped his truck in front of a building and motioned for them to come around. "I'm not going inside," he told them as they idled their bikes next to his truck. "If Dixon knows I'm the one who showed you, I'm dead."Drew wanted to tell him he was dead no matter what. The drugs would probably kill him before Dixon could or would."How do we get in?" Dalton asked, looking at the outside, wo
Charity stood up from the kitchen table, stretching her back. Mandy and Dalton had left over an hour ago, and she had spent that time plotting locations on a map and looking for something that would give her an indication of a pattern. So far, nothing."C'mon." Drew walked around the table and grabbed her by the waist. "Dad just called and said they're having a bonfire at the clubhouse. I don't know about you, but I could stand to get out of here and away from this for a while."Earlier, she'd gone to her apartment and gotten some clothes, not sure if she was ready to go back yet. He hadn't seemed like he was having an issue with her staying, so she would do it as long as it felt right. "I think that's the best idea I've heard in a long time."They were having an unseasonably cool October, and a bonfire sounded like a great idea to her. "I'm gonna go change into something that's a little warmer." She indicated the T-shirt she was wearing."I've got a jacket and hoodie you can w
Riding on the backroads of Warren County towards the clubhouse took Charity to places she hadn't been in years. In her mind, she thought back to all those nights she and Drew had snuck out of their respective houses and met each other in a field, in a barn, behind the clubhouse, wherever was available. She gripped him around the waist as he took a curve at a higher rate of speed so that her stomach did a somersault. No matter how fast he went with her on the back of his bike, she felt safe; she'd always felt safe with him.She figured that was one of the reasons she'd agreed to help Meredith with this case, and why she'd decided to come home. It had been long enough, but too, she knew that no matter what, Drew would keep her safe. Oh, she wasn't stupid; if he'd had a woman in his life, she would have declined the plea for help and found someone in the area she knew could take care of business as good as her, but when she'd called Mandy and asked what was going on in Drew's romantic l
She quickly did her business and flushed before walking over to the sink. Turning the water on, she soaped her hands before looking up into the mirror. The woman staring back at her wasn't someone she recognized. There was life in her eyes and redness in her cheeks.Back in North Carolina, it had been about doing anything she could to get ahead and stay ahead. Here, she realized, she was taking things easier. Even though she was working on the case, she was finding time, like now, to live. That was something she had been missing there. She knew the reason for that was Drew.Smiling to herself, she finished up and wiped her hands off before walking out and back towards the kitchen. As soon as she got there, she was met head-on with Tatum."So you knew my brother back when he was my age?" she asked as she loaded the fixings for s'mores into a basket."Tatum," Denise reprimanded. "I told you to leave her alone.""No." Charity shook her head. "It's okay. I did know your brother b
"We've got company."Drew heard the shouted words coming from Jagger and lifted himself up from where he'd been bent over a car checking the spark plugs. Those words hardly ever garnered a reaction in him, but today, his blood started pumping, his heart started pounding.Walking around from behind the hood, he saw two older model pickups pulling into the lot. He wasn't sure who he expected to step out of the driver's seat of one of them, but it sure as fuck wasn't Dixon McCall."Which one of you boys was over at my place the other day?" he asked as he spat out a stream of tobacco juice, standing tall as he faced off against the members of Heaven Hill.Drew and Dalton looked at each other, wondering how he'd found out, but neither one of them were scared."That was me." Drew stepped forward. Purposely he stood with his booted feet apart, lazily wiping his hands on a rag.Dixon tilted his head to the side, appearing to size him up before he strolled over to Drew. When he was
Drew had never been so scared in his life as he raced across town towards Charity's office. He thought about calling her, but then he was afraid she would leave on her own. Right now, he knew at least where she was, and there was help around the corner at the sheriff's office if she needed it.Racing down Louisville Road and blowing through a red light, he thought about all the things that could happen to her if he didn't make it there in time. He worried about what kind of man Dixon was and the things that he'd done to the people he'd supposedly cared about. Dixon didn't give a shit about Charity; she was expendable.Horns honked and people yelled at him as he sped through the streets, but he didn't care; he had one goal, and that was to get to her, get her out of her office, and make sure she came home with him. As he turned onto the quiet town square, he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw her car parked out in front of her building. Parking the bike, he took his helmet off and
Drew trusted that Remy knew these streets like the back of his hand. Having grown up inside the city and having worked at his sister-in-law's shop on the square, Drew knew Remy had more experience than the rest of them.He dared not look behind them or to the side to see who might be giving chase or taking a shot. As soon as he'd seen Charity's back window explode, he'd known they had to move, and they had to move fast.In a burst of speed, Remy took them around cars that were stopped at a light, and suddenly they were back on Louisville Road. This Drew could deal with. He knew how to get them to safety from here.* * *Charity gripped her steering wheel with knuckles that had turned white as she followed the path Remy cut through traffic for her. Not ever having been one who pushed the boundaries of speed, this made her nervous. She wasn't on the back of Drew's bike, and she could hear the wind rushing through her broken window.That was something else she didn't want to thi