The Reluctant Siren

Texas Sirens: Legacy, Book 2

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About the book

Harlow Dawson went through something terrible while working a case in Los Angeles. She fell in love. To be fair, the love part wasn’t so bad, but the betrayal left her devastated and in police custody. She returned home to decide how to move forward. One thing was for certain. Her life wouldn’t include Jensen Wiley. Two years later she’s back on her feet, working with her best friend, and building her business. She’s been falling for a new guy at The Hideout. Niall Griffen makes her feel safe. Until she learns his secret at the worst possible time.

Jensen Wiley has spent years working his way up in the criminal organization that took his brother’s life. The only thing that ever threatened to break his need for revenge was meeting Harlow Dawson. She became his partner until he realized she was being drawn into the darkest part of the organization. He had very little time to get her out and didn’t think she would go quietly. He knows his betrayal saved her life, but he hasn’t stopped loving her. Now they’re in the same city and he needs someone watching over her. He means to keep his distance until she walks right into the middle of his mission.

Niall Griffen has worried about his best friend, Jensen, for years. When Jensen asks him to watch over the woman he loves, Niall reluctantly agrees. The trouble is he falls for her too. If nothing happens, he doesn’t feel there’s any reason to talk to his friend about their unrequited love triangle. But after one night together changes everything, Niall knows he needs a new plan to make sure no one gets their heart broken. The good news? Harlow comes from a family with an interesting dynamic. He just might be able to make this work for all of them.

Things begin to unravel when Jensen’s past comes back to haunt him and the man he’s been hunting threatens to turn the tables on him. Protecting Harlow is now the only priority and might just send them all right into the relationship they all need.

Excerpt

Chapter One

Harlow Dawson sat on the bench in front of the locker that had been designated as hers since the day The Hideout opened and wondered if she should even be here.

Maybe instead of shoving her body into a corset and making sure her butt floss was properly positioned she should be at home, drinking tea and questioning all of her life choices. Beginning with the decision to hire Daisy O’Donnell. Sweet girl. Funny. Nice to have around. Cursed.

Firing her had been an excellent decision, but even weeks later everyone kept staring at her like she kicked a puppy.

A puppy who inadvertently sicced a hellhound on her.

“Hey, you okay?” Chloe Lodge-Taylor looked like she’d come straight from work, which given the fact that the club didn’t even open until nine said something about the young woman’s work ethic. She worked for one of her father’s companies as a junior executive, but Harlow often wondered if the job wasn’t making her friend utterly miserable. “I heard there was some trouble a couple of weeks ago. Sorry. I was in New York last week when Hurricane Daisy really blew through this time. Then I was in London and Madrid.”

Which all sounded lovely if she thought for a second Chloe was taking some time to smell the sangria. She wasn’t. She wouldn’t have done touristy stuff. She wouldn’t have taken a spa day or found new friends. Harlow was worried about her.

But wasn’t she doing the exact same thing?

“Is there a worse storm than a hurricane? Like what if a hurricane also threw bombs all over the place. Shit. I know where they got the idea for Sharknado. That writer met Daisy.” Ruby Lockwood poked her head around the corner. Her locker was on the next row, but it wasn’t like she couldn’t hear everything that happened in this part of the lounge. “Get this, Chloe. On her very first day…”

“First hour,” Harlow corrected because this was a story they would tell for all of time.

“On her first day, in the first hour of her employment, our brand-new admin not only sicced the deranged Dawson dad on us, but also managed to become a material witness in an ongoing drug investigation. Big Tag was forced to hire a bodyguard, who Daisy promptly fell in love with. They had to hide out in Sanctum because there was a cartel hit on her. They shot up Nate’s new truck and everything.”

Chloe sat down with a sigh. “Oh, dear. Tell me everyone’s alive.”

Harlow waved off the fear. “She distracted the assassins with her boobs and her dad turned the cartel on itself and all the bad guys are dead. Mostly. And did I mention the fall in love part? I’ve been told I’ll receive the save the date soon.”

It was how things tended to go on that side of the club.

The Hideout was made up of what Harlow liked to think of as two weird cults. There was the one she belonged to, which consisted mostly of young men and women who grew up with parents who played at a club called—sigh—The Club, owned by Chloe’s father, Julian Lodge. And the spy kids whose parents founded a club called Sanctum, watched over by a man everyone called Big Tag, who was a spy. The corporate kids, as Seth Taggart called them, mainly worked in fields like finance and law. The spy kids, well, there was a reason they had a conference room that sometimes was filled with people who went by names like Mr. Black or Ms. White.

Or Ms. Magenta, but at least she knew what to call those two.

Sometimes she worried she fit better on that side of the club.

Opening a private investigations agency apparently wasn’t on the same level as Chloe’s junior executive or her own sister’s budding art career. Sometimes her dads acted like she was rebelling when they literally made their living as detectives. Well, outside of the massive trust fund they came into when they were younger.

“Daisy O’Donnell is getting married?” Chloe huffed. “I did not have that on my bingo card this year. Her cousin getting a venereal disease was, though. Did you see his latest… Do I call them girlfriends?”

“And I’m out.” Ruby disappeared again. “Let me know when we’ve moved on to new material.”

Harlow groaned, facing her childhood friend. Ruby had a point. They’d had this talk before. A lot. “I don’t think he has girlfriends. But then it’s not like you have boyfriends.”

Chloe had been circling Seth Taggart since they were teens, though it didn’t reach the level of enemies who would almost certainly end up as lovers until they opened The Hideout. Chloe had rejected Seth’s advances since the first night when he offered to top her and she told him she needed more than he could ever give her.

Sometimes she wondered what would have happened if Chloe had been brave enough to give him a try. If she hadn’t let being burned by some other guy before hold her back.

Like Jensen was holding her back from giving Niall a chance.

Big, gorgeous, sweet Niall, who every sub in The Hideout thought was absolute forever Dom material. Niall, who had let her know any time she wanted to play, he was there.

He had joined the club a few months before, and in all that time she was almost certain he hadn’t slept with a single sub. At least not here. He’d never once signed up for a privacy room, and he definitely hadn’t been having sex on the floor. She would have heard about that.

“I have a boyfriend, thank you,” Chloe announced.

And Ruby was back because this was definitely new material. “What? Who? The last guy you were with was your college boyfriend, and you broke up because you knew you didn’t love him.”

A weird smile came over Chloe’s face. A kind of still, expectant smile. A smile that held zero humor and let Harlow know she was masking some unnamed emotion. If she was interrogating the other woman, she wouldn’t believe anything that came out of her mouth next. Oh, the basics would be true, but Chloe was hiding something.

“Tom,” Chloe said with a brisk nod. “Yes. We actually broke up because our career paths diverged. He went to New York to work for a start-up, and I settled in at Lodge Corp.”

Which was killing her. Oh, she said all the right things, but Chloe wasn’t happy being the heir apparent to her father’s massive conglomerate. All the money in the world wasn’t going to take the place of Chloe shoving down her creative dreams because she felt a responsibility to her family.

Unlike her own deranged dad, who had done his absolute best to ensure Harlow didn’t follow her dreams, she rather thought Uncle Julian would understand.

“So who is the new guy?” Ruby asked.

Harlow put the pieces together. Chloe hesitated because she didn’t want to admit the truth. Because Harlow knew the real story. No wonder she’d been spending so much time in New York. “It’s the old guy. She ran into him while she was working in the New York offices. He felt safe and warm and right in line with her new life plan, which is to stay safe and warm and never go for what she truly wants.”

Chloe’s eyes flashed with a bit of the fire she’d had as a teen. “Oh, really? Is this judgment of yours about Seth? I should follow my lust and forget everything I know about him? Maybe get my heart broken? You want to talk about the new guy and how you make doe eyes at him and never say yes to him?”

She was being too harsh. “I’m sorry. I don’t have a right to judge. But it is Tom, isn’t it?”

Harlow remembered him being a “nice” guy. Said all the right things. Mostly did the right things. Something had felt off to Harlow. He was a bit self-centered, but he could turn on the charm when he needed to. He had definitely liked the idea of being attached to Julian Lodge’s daughter.

Chloe sat up straighter. “As a matter of fact, your detective skills are excellent. We met up at a conference and now I see him when I’m in New York. It’s getting serious.”

She could see so easily what Chloe was doing, but it wouldn’t do anything but start a fight to argue with her. Chloe could be extremely stubborn. “If you’re happy then I’m happy. Are you going to bring him to the club anytime soon? I would love to see him again.”

She would love to take the man’s measure now. She glanced over at Ruby and knew she was already mentally prepping the thorough security review they would be conducting on Chloe’s new/old boyfriend.

Chloe grimaced. “I’m not ready for that. If I bring him to Dallas, then he gets on my dad’s radar. I’d like to be engaged before that happens. If I’ve got a ring on my finger, I think my papa will rein Dad in.”

Like Harlow herself, Chloe had two fathers. The corporate side of the club was heavily invested in the ménage lifestyle. Harlow and her sister, Greer, had a reasonable dad named Ben, a deranged dad who went by Chase or Asshole, depending on who was talking to him, and a ridiculously cool mom named Natalie. Chloe had a scary dad named Julian, a cool dad named Finn, and her supersmart mom, Dani. “You’re that serious?”

Chloe shrugged. “It’s time. I’m not getting any younger, and I don’t want to wait until I’m forty to start a family. I’m well established at Lodge Corp. All I’m missing is a husband. Tom fits the bill.”

“Chloe, this is a marriage, not a corporate merger,” Ruby said and then shook her head. “Sorry. I’m just… Is he in the lifestyle? Does he know you’re in the lifestyle? How does he feel about two dads walking you down the aisle, and it’s not like a blended family situation?”

Oh, Julian and Finn blended. Often and intimately, but she got what Ruby was saying.

A flush crossed Chloe’s delicate features, answering the question before she did. “I’m easing him in. He comes from a conservative family. They don’t know about Papa yet. I mean, Tom does, but we’re figuring out how to tell his parents. Anyway, that’s not happening tomorrow. So Daisy’s getting married. Are we taking bets on what natural disaster will strike?”

This was a mess but one that would have to wait because if she pushed too hard, Chloe would shut down.

Or point out what a hypocrite you’re being. Again.

Because she was.

A vision of Niall in his leathers flashed across her brain as Ruby talked about how the betting book they kept in the bar was getting full of all sorts of apocalyptic possibilities for the O’Donnell/Carter upcoming nuptials. Given no one had guessed a helicopter filled with assassins would buzz the last wedding they’d all gone to, the bets were getting wild.

She’d thought about asking Niall if he would be her plus one to the wedding of Aidan O’Donnell and Carys Taggart. She’d wondered what he would look like in a suit. Wondered how it would feel to dance with him.

Now she was thinking about whether or not he wanted to witness the apocalypse that would surely be Daisy’s wedding. If she got an invite. She had fired the bride.

But that had led to her getting a superhot bodyguard and this whole wedding thing. So when she thought about it, Daisy didn’t get Nate without her. She should totally be invited to the wedding, and it would be a shock to everyone if she came with someone other than Ruby.

There it was. She could say it was all to win a bet. Maybe Niall would be into that and then, well, as long as they were there, she might as well become his sub for the night.

Then she remembered the last time she took on a Dom and how she ended up in jail. Not that he’d put her there. He’d simply left her in a situation where she had to call her reasonable dad to save her, and naturally he brought his insane twin and she now had a watchdog.

You’re going to kill yourself with this job. You can’t expect me to stand by and watch it happen. Can’t you see how worried your mother is? This is not what we wanted for your life.

Her father had chased her down to the café where she and Ruby had been planning strategies to grow their private investigation business, and to say he put a damper on the meeting would be an understatement.

After a moment Chloe stood and gave them a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I think I heard your sister. We’re going to dinner at Top to discuss her doing a series for the new London office. You know my dad thinks having Dawson originals hanging in the place is lucky. You two have fun tonight. I’m going to pause my membership for a while. I’m spending a lot of time in New York. Gabe and John will be thrilled since they refuse to play on nights when I’m here.”

Oh, they refused to play at The Hideout when their sister was in the house, but she was pretty sure they went to Sanctum on those nights. Harlow sometimes went, especially when a new crop of Doms was released into the wild.

None of them affected her the way Niall did. Not a damn one.

“I don’t have to have super investigative skills to know that is a bomb waiting to go off.” Ruby kept her voice down since they weren’t exactly alone.

In the distance she could hear her sister greeting Chloe. Greer Dawson was pretty much the perfect big sister. Gorgeous and friendly and loving and unbelievably talented. She inherited their mom’s artistic skills and had already had two well-attended showings of her works here in Dallas and another in Austin.

Greer Dawson made her parents so proud. They didn’t worry about her at all.

“Chloe doesn’t explode,” Harlow replied as she pulled her T-shirt over her head. “That’s the problem. She stays as far as she can from big emotion. Honestly, her sniping at Seth is one of the healthiest things she does.”

Ruby went quiet for a moment, and Harlow had the worst suspicion her BFF/business partner had been making the same connections she had. But then the other woman sighed. “So are you watching or participating tonight?”

She always came in ready to participate and then something would happen and she would think about Jensen’s big, strong, lying hands on her body and she would offer to work a shift in the bar or help out the Doms with their scenes. Today had been a lot. They took a new case that connected to the one Daisy had started. While they had shut down the cartel that had come after Daisy, they apparently weren’t the only ones using the system put in place to move drugs through the city.

“I don’t know,” she replied honestly.

“Is it about the Falls case? It’s reminiscent of the case you were working when…” Ruby let the words trail off.

Harlow’s first instinct was to ask what she was talking about. The case that led her straight into Jensen Wiley’s arms and then to a jail cell had nothing to do with the case they were working for Miranda Falls’s mom.

Except they were both missing persons cases where a daughter got caught up in a dangerous world.

“I suppose it brings back memories,” she admitted because she needed at least one person who knew what she was thinking. Her parents knew what had happened, though she hadn’t given them the name of the man who had sold her out. Jensen Wiley. After she fell in love with him and gave him everything and planned a whole life with him. “It’s another young woman who is in trouble because she followed a guy into a bad situation.”

“Are you talking about Miranda or yourself?” Ruby asked.

“Both, I suppose, and Sarah Gains. She was…”

“The woman you went to California to find.” Ruby sat down beside her. “I know it was before you took me on, but I do my research, bestie. I’ve always thought it was interesting that she got out even after you ended up in jail from the raid. Two weeks later Sarah was on a plane home. You know she says a guy helped her.”

A guy who she described as looking an awful lot like Jensen.

“If he did save her, it was out of guilt for giving me up. He had his own agenda,” Harlow said with a sigh. “And it was years ago. I was a kid.”

“It was two years ago, and you were twenty-four. Look, I don’t know everything that went on with the case in LA, but I do know this new case is similar and might be too much of a reminder of what happened there. If you don’t want to pursue this we can talk to Big Tag,” Ruby offered. “Honestly, we should anyway. He told us if we ever need muscle, he’ll give us a good deal. I actually think the big bastard meant that. Like free bodyguards if we’re going somewhere dangerous. This case has the potential to get dangerous, and it’s going to be you on the line since I’m glorified tech support.”

Sure she was. “You’re a brilliant hacker. It makes no sense to send you in. You need to be on the outside watching me. Besides, I have way more lifestyle practice than you do, and it’s an underground club. I agree about talking to Big Tag.” She took a deep breath because she’d also been thinking about this all day. “I’m going to need a partner.”

Ruby grinned. “You mean a top. Wanna go the girl route? I’ve been watching Kala and I think I can totally whip your ass.”

The thought made her laugh. “No. We’re not going the lesbian route. I meant what I said. You’re going to play tech on this one. I need a big bad Dom the other tops will open up to because they think he’s one of them. I know Big Tag could assign one, but that guy will inevitably report back to my dads. It’s why Big Tag is so very willing to not charge the competition. It keeps psycho dad off his case.”

To say Chase Dawson had been against his daughter opening her own private detective agency would be another one of those understatements. He’d forbidden her to work outside the agency he and her other dad formed when they were way younger than she was. So she’d asked the owner of Sanctum to allow her to not only join the BDSM training class—her dad objected to that, too—but also to allow her to train with his bodyguards. Her father had been all for the training since he’d thought she would quit. Ian Taggart had offered her what she liked to call the Kill the Girl class.

It had been a rough six months, but the man knew how to ensure his people could survive.

Ruby winced. “You’re probably right. And he’ll freak if he knows we’re following up on a case that got our admin put on a hit list. So who do we ask? If the twins are around for a while we might be able to get Cooper or that Zach guy to do it. Although he’s a little scary.”

“He’s a CIA operative and I would say Cooper McKay could be our guy but if we get him scratched up, we have to deal with Kala and I just can’t. No. I was thinking of someone else. Someone who’s ex-military and owns his own business. Someone who knows the lifestyle but didn’t grow up with everyone, so none of the dads can guilt him into talking.” It was a terrible idea. An awful idea. The first idea she’d had that made her excited. He was the best choice. It only made sense. Her rational, professional self was going to have her emotional scaredy cat in a choke hold.

And then her horny, curious self could finally play.

Ruby’s eyes widened. “Niall Griffen? The dude you have the worst crush on but you’re too scared to even play with? You want to go undercover with Niall Griffen?”

It sounded…not so bad. This could work. “I don’t know. He’s a solid guy. He passed all the background checks, and Gabe thinks he’s great. I mean we’ve only known him for a couple of months, but I can say the same for anyone Big Tag would assign to us, and he won’t feel the need to tell my father everything. Also, Big Tag would probably assign someone who wouldn’t end up trying to sleep with me, and that means a married dude, and it would be awkward.”

“I agree. If you’re going in, you need to look like you’re really a Dom and his sub. That would be hard if the guy can’t touch you in an intimate way. You would have to get super comfortable with him. Physically.” Ruby nodded. “I like this plan. It feels like a backdoor route to getting what you want. You don’t have to admit you like him. You need him and you’re going undercover as a Dom and sub, and oops, there’s probably only one bed.”

Her friend read way too many romance novels. But then so did she. “Fine. Maybe I want to push myself, and I know if I don’t have an excuse I won’t do it.” She glanced down the aisle and caught a glimpse of Chloe, who was still talking to her sister, but they had been joined by the infamous aforementioned Daisy O’Donnell, who was showing them her engagement ring.

Daisy was happy. A complete wreck, but happy.

Didn’t she deserve some happiness, too?

She caught Chloe’s expression before she smiled. There was a blank look like she was thinking of someone she shouldn’t. Like she was wondering what it would be like to get a ring from Seth.

Or to follow her real dreams.

“I’m going to ask him. I’m going to walk right up to him and ask if he’ll help us.” She stood, unclasping her bra.

She didn’t have to let what happened with Jensen Wiley wreck the rest of her life. She didn’t.

Of course she also didn’t have to go into this very practical “work” relationship with the delicious Niall Griffen wearing her heart on her sleeve either. She could use the mission to see if he was the kind of man she could trust.

“We’re doing this?” Ruby asked with a smile that told Harlow she was on board.

“We’re doing this.” She pulled out her corset and gave her bestie a wince. “But I’m going to need you to get me into this thing.”

Ruby stood. “That I can do.”

Harlow took her last deep breath for a while, but she was suddenly optimistic.

It felt good.

* * * *

Jensen Wiley stared out over the dungeon floor and wondered what Harlow was doing tonight.

Was she sitting at home watching TV and eating her favorite takeout? Or was she at another club much like this one?

He wouldn’t know until he got the report in the morning, and that bugged him.

It was odd to be back in Texas. He spent the last several years of his life undercover, finding the man who killed his brother. Taking down the entire organization only to find out the last man he needed to get revenge on was building a network in Dallas. Where Harlow lived.

He was so fucking close to her and he couldn’t reach out and touch her, couldn’t call her and hear that voice that always got his motor going.

Couldn’t beg her damn forgiveness. See if there was any way she would take him back.

“Hey, Master J.” Lila winked his way as she walked toward the bar.

He gave her a nod. The pretty sub who worked the bar—and did some other things for the organization—had made it clear to him that she wouldn’t mind having him for more than a temporary play partner. They’d run a few teaching scenes in the months he’d been here, but he always explained he didn’t sleep with his coworkers.

He didn’t sleep with anyone. It was one sin he would not have on his soul when he finally made his way back to her.

He took a long breath as the music thumped through the club and the lights fluctuated along to the sexy beat.

He would get her back. He would do this one last thing for his brother and then he would show up on her doorstep when it was safe and he would do whatever it took to get her back.

Because she was the one.

The trouble was he’d found the “one” in the most dangerous place he could have imagined. The woman had two fathers and still ended up walking into a sex club looking for a missing person.

One day he would have such a talk with Ben and Chase Dawson.

Quietly. Where she couldn’t hear because his baby could be fierce.

“You know she likes you, right, J?” The manager of Decadence was a forty something who looked like a suburban dad when he wasn’t in leathers. Then he looked like a suburban dad in leathers. Like every kid’s absolute worst nightmare of how they would find their dad someday. Phil Jackson seemed like a nice guy. He was excellent at his job. The only trouble was his job was moving drugs and money for some of the world’s most dangerous people.

“I’m afraid she’s not my type,” Jensen replied.

Phil watched Lila’s hips sway as she carried her tray of drinks away. “She’s everyone’s type.”

She wasn’t a gorgeous woman with a sunny smile and a sarcastic wit that could flay a man alive. He would bet Lila had never watched a man’s back while he snuck into a drug dealer’s office to gather evidence on him.

He had a very specific type.

“I also think it’s a bad idea to fuck around with employees I’m supposed to manage,” he pointed out.

Phil sighed and ran a hand over his balding head. “You’re probably right about that. It causes a lot of drama, and we don’t need that now. How is it going?”

He managed to get hired on as the dungeon monitor for this underground BDSM club because of his close ties to other groups Phil worked for. When his old job had been decimated by…well, by him, but he’d done a damn good job covering his tracks…all the higher-ups getting murdered or going to jail, he offered his services here. He had an excellently faked criminal record going back to time spent in juvie. No one knew him as Jensen Wiley. They knew a criminal named Jay Wilson from Los Angeles, California.

The trouble was the bad guys figured out he had a weak spot, so he’d been forced to prove she wasn’t.

“Quiet night,” he reported back. “I haven’t even had to kick anyone out for going too hard.”

What you have to remember is that the submissive is actually in control. She only gives the Dom what she’s comfortable with. It’s the Dom’s job to figure out if that’s all she needs or if they should push some limits. Consensually, of course.

Just the thought of her with her husky voice and absolutely no hangups when it came to sex could get him hard. He’d learned so much from her. So much about the lifestyle. So much about life and what he wanted from it.

He needed to remember why he was here. To avenge Tommy. To protect Harlow.

His revenge seemed so much less important than protecting Harlow.

Once Cliff Hamilton was dead, there would be no one left who could come after her. No one left to care that he loved her more than his own damn life.

Loved her so much he’d been willing to give her up to save her.

“Good, because you need to know something.” Phil moved in, putting a hand on the wall behind Jensen. The leathers were all for show. He’d never seen Phil once play with any of the subs who came through the club even if he would give them all once overs. Decadence was a front for Hamilton’s criminal operation, but it was a working club. Mostly tourists, from what he could tell. Which is why he had to break things up. Phil also didn’t have the super-sane rules good clubs had.

Two drinks max when you’re playing. Usually one before and one after. Or if you’re my friend Seth, it’s one before and then a shit ton after, but he’s not playing at that point. After hours, The Hideout pretty much becomes a bar and we all sit around gossiping and Seth plays some songs and one of the twins tells some insane story no one quite believes. It’s my favorite place.

He had never gotten to see her home club, hadn’t gotten to meet her friends and sit in that bar with her cuddled up on his lap. Their entire time together had been adrenaline and anxiety, and yet he’d known he could find peace with that woman.

Would find peace with her one day soon.

“What’s up?” Jensen asked, certain he sounded like he didn’t care. He’d perfected the look, the tone, the dead-eyed stare that let people know he had no soul.

He feared he might have given up his soul in revenge for his brother, but he knew it wasn’t gone. His soul was simply walking around with a woman named Harlow.

“Hamilton is coming through town next week,” Phil said, leaning against the wall. “I want you to check in with the guys in the office. Make sure everything is tight, you know. They’re smart kids who run that part of the business, but they don’t know how the world works. At least not ours. Sometimes I’m sure those fucking kids are going to get us all killed.”

The kids who wrote the code that looked to the world like a gig app. The kind where someone else picked up your orders for a fee. And it ran that way, for the most part. But if you knew the code, it was an excellent way to order drugs and get them dropped off right at your doorstep. To the cops it would look like late-night tacos or someone picking up your kid’s meds from the pharmacy for you. It was the perfect cover.

Hamilton found the coders on the Dark Web, outsiders looking for a place to fit in. They probably hadn’t intended to become criminals, but soon they were in far too deep to ever get out again.

Most of the employees had no idea what was going on. Like his brother hadn’t. His little brother had thought he was making some extra money so he could try to pay off the student loans that seemed to never fucking get smaller no matter how much he paid. He’d been desperate, and criminals took advantage of it.

And then one day they gave him a “special” delivery.

Jensen brought his attention back front and center. He had to focus on the now and not the ghosts that haunted him. Even though he was doing it all for them. The two people in the whole world he ever loved.

Well, three. Three. There was one more, and he counted on that man for everything right now. His other brother. The one he hadn’t shared a mother with. The one who had been there for everything, and now he trusted him with his greatest love.

“Yeah, I’ll make sure security is tight down here,” he promised.

Phil sighed, an audible sound even over the pulsating music. “I need you to take care of upstairs, too. I know it’s a lot to ask but I’m in a bind, and I don’t trust anyone else.”

Jensen managed to not drop his jaw. He was moving upstairs? He thought he would have to wait months, maybe years for this kind of chance. “What happened to Austin?”

Phil grimaced. “He has been…reassigned.”

It was everything he’d been waiting for, and he didn’t even feel bad since he’d caught Austin about to rape a passed-out club girl a couple of weeks ago. He’d stopped it, but Austin had it in for him ever since. Austin was pretty much one of the top dogs here. There wasn’t anywhere else to go unless he was joining Hamilton himself.

So Austin had been reassigned to a shallow grave somewhere.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

“Let’s just say we might have found out Austin was taking more than his fair share,” Phil admitted. “It couldn’t happen at a worse time. The cops are all over us since they identified the Jalisco cartel we were working with here in Dallas. Lucky for us that ditzy broad who caught them doesn’t know we’re the real force behind the operation, and anyone who could have talked died in the war her dad set off.”

He’d been surprised at how easily the cartel had gone down. He wasn’t a fool. Someone had gotten them to turn on each other. A pro. “I heard her dad used to work for an intelligence agency.”

Phil shrugged. “His daughter’s safe. Trust me. We aren’t going after that crazy bitch. We’re going to stay as far away from that whole group as we can. I think one of the things Hamilton wants to talk about is moving the operation to a bigger city. Now that we know it works here, we can start the business in Houston. In a couple of years we’ll be the supplier of choice for the entire US.”

It was good to know they had ambitions. He intended to make sure they never reached their goals. “So I get to meet the big boss?”

Phil put a hand on his shoulder, a paternal gesture. “I think it’s time. And I’ll get you moved out of here in a couple of weeks. I promise you won’t be pulling double duty for long. We just need to find someone who can run this club and train him. You’ll like it upstairs. I think you’re smart, J. You can go places here. I’m happy you didn’t get caught up in that mess that happened in LA. You never told me how you started working for the cartel. You don’t seem like their type.”

He noticed the couple on the main stage. They were playing out a fantasy scene. At least he hoped so or those ears that guy had were seriously deformed. Nah. He had pretend wings, too. Jensen sighed. He was never going to get used to the freaky stuff, and that seemed to come from people who read a lot.

He wondered if Harlow liked those fairies fucking books.

He remembered her talking about her aunt’s books. Something about cowboys and women who liked more than one of them at a time.

Not that he would ever share, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t wondered if it was a fantasy of hers. Something they could play out in a club like this and then go home and be together and it would all have been nothing more than an adventure they shared because they were in love and trusted one another.

Would she ever be able to trust him again?

He needed to focus. It was being so close to her that had him on edge. “They needed someone who didn’t mind getting his hands dirty but who also could put people at ease. I can be charming when I want to. They were particularly interested in hiring young women. I made them comfortable.”

And managed to get at least one of them out. He wondered if Harlow knew he hadn’t completely abandoned her. He finished her case when it was too dangerous for her to continue. He made sure the woman she was hired to find came out of the experience with her life.

It had been the only gift he could give her.

“Well, you’re going to have to do that again.” Phil gestured to the dungeon floor. “Hamilton wants us to find a couple who can make a run for us. He’s got a package he wants to send to Canada. He wants a couple. Someone we can have some control over.”

The thought turned his stomach. He knew what control meant. It meant they would get leverage over a couple and force them to do their will. They would get evidence of what they did here in the club and blackmail them with it. They would have to be selected carefully. They couldn’t have ties to law enforcement. It was best if they didn’t have many ties at all.

Just a few more days. He wouldn’t actually have to do it. He would kill Hamilton before this went down, and then he would find a way to be with Harlow.

His debt to his brother would be paid, and he could start his life.

If he didn’t wind up dead or in jail.

He nodded Phil’s way. “Yeah, I can find someone for us. Don’t worry about it. We get new couples in here all the time. I’ll be a mentor and then I’ll be their boss.”

“That’s my boy,” Phil said and strode away.

It wouldn’t be long and then he could see her again. He could try to put the pieces back together.

She was probably going to punch him. She would definitely punch him if she ever figured out that when he’d come to Dallas, he’d brought along his best friend so someone could watch over her while he worked.

If these people ever found out how he felt about her…

It was fine because according to the reports all she was doing was tracking down wayward husbands so the ex-wives could enforce their child support agreements. And gathering evidence for divorce cases and working with some insurance companies to prove their clients were committing fraud. She was staying away from the dangerous stuff. She was spending time with her friends and family.

She was probably going to be at The Hideout tonight, and Niall would watch over her like he had for a couple of months now. He kind of hoped his friend found someone while he was working his mission there. He knew Niall had taken to the lifestyle quickly. His friend talked about how much more in touch with himself he felt since taking that first class, how he seemed to fit in. It would be so cool if Niall fell for one of Harlow’s friends. It might help his case if they could double date and hang out and…be a family.

A shout from his left caught his attention and he sighed, realizing those stupid frat boys they let in were causing trouble.

He had a job to do.

But once it was over. He was coming for her. This time he wasn’t going to let her go.

Copyright 2025 Lexi Blake