Watching him stalk in, I thought, although I’d never tell Shy, Carson “Joker” Steele was more than a little intriguing.

At that present moment, however, he was also more than a little frightening.

He prowled around the outside of the bar, eyes glued to Rush, and he stopped four feet from me.

He then growled, “I do not like this shit.”

Uh-oh.

“I don’t like it either, brother,” Rush agreed before he took a slug of tequila.

Joker’s eyes raked through me before he strode across the room and disappeared through the door at the back.

The good news was, his eyes raked through me, and it seemed he was just generally angry, not angry at me specifically because my best friend was addicted to drugs, unfortunately chose a dealer who also made  p**n  films and also unfortunately called me in order to extricate herself from a bad situation that involved cameras, sets, costumes, and fluffers.

The bad news was, I didn’t know what was going on but I did know it wasn’t good.

I turned back to my brother to see he was taking another pull of tequila, and I instantly changed my mind about what I was going to say next. First, I was going to ask for the tequila bottle. Second, after I took a hearty slug (or three), I’d ask what the heck was going on.

I didn’t get the chance. The door to the Compound opened, and I felt my eyes get wide when Elvira walked in.

Uh-oh again.

Elvira.

In normal circumstances, this could mean anything.

In the present circumstances, this could only mean bad things.

I’d known Elvira for years. She was a petite, curvaceous black woman who excelled at three things. She really knew how to dress. She put together things called “boards,” which were plates filled with fruit, cheese, veggies, and other stuff that didn’t sound all that exciting but the way Elvira did it, it was. And if she cared about you, blood, color, religion, politics all melted away, you became her sister in all that entailed and she let you know it. I knew because Tyra had that from her. I hadn’t quite been let in but then again, Elvira usually performed her adoptions when you were in the throes of a serious drama.

Something like what was happening right now.

It was also important to know she worked for Hawk Delgado.

I’d known Hawk for years too. He was a friend of Dad’s and around, not often, but enough.

I didn’t know what he did for a living, but since he routinely wore cargo pants and often sported a loaded gun belt in full view but had no badge, I had a sneaking suspicion he was either a commando or a mercenary. Though I couldn’t say what the difference was between those two, I just knew a man was one or the other. I also knew Hawk Delgado could totally join the cast of The Expendables but it was more likely he would act as a consultant on the film because Hawk Delgado didn’t playact badass. He just was one.

The presence of Elvira wearing a fabulous wrap-around green dress and spike-heeled chocolate brown boots while strolling into the Compound at five o’clock in the morning meant she wasn’t there for the usual reasons she was there: to eat, drink, and raise her brand of hell alongside a bunch of bikers.

Her expression and the phone held to her ear, not to mention the words she was snapping into it said finding fun while dressed to kill was not her current mission.

“I’m tellin’ you, Hawk, Tack kicked me out. I was all set, everything was good, then badass biker boy didn’t hesitate to blow my cover and send me on my way.”

Her cover?

She glanced at me, hauled her ass up on the stool next to mine, moved her gaze to Rush, and slapped her hand on the bar. This meant tequila, STAT.

She also kept talking on the phone.

“Those biker boys strolled in packin’. I knew no good things come to those who suddenly garner Chaos attention at three thirty in the freakin’ morning on a  p**n o set and I was right. They made no bones about stating their intentions. They wanted that new girl. Those boys ambled in full force, the whole freakin’ Club showed, interrupted everything and launched right in, starting negotiations. Not surprisingly, Benito didn’t feel like negotiating. He wouldn’t accept a Chaos marker. He wouldn’t accept Chaos doin’ him a needed favor since you and me know Benito keeps his shit tight and he’s got no strings dangling so he don’t need no favor. He wouldn’t accept anything they were offering. He wouldn’t even accept payment with interest for what the girl owed him. The girl was goin’ to work. Seein’ she owes him thirteen thousand with interest, she’s got a lot of work to do. Therefore, negotiations had reached a stalemate and with those boys, well… you know.”

I closed my eyes.

Thirteen thousand. With interest.

All for drugs.

God, Natalie.

“Told you she was a pain in the ass,” Rush muttered.

My brother was not wrong.

Elvira kept talking and I opened my eyes to watch her.

“That’s when things got hot and I tried to hold my cover by not leavin’. Tack was tryin’ to be subtle then he got impatient with subtle when I didn’t move my ass so he upped and blew my cover in order to get me out of there before negotiations totally broke down. When I left, Benito gave me a look that was uncomfortable. Tack sent me on my way tellin’ Benito that if anything happened to me, shit that was already makin’ plans for the winter would seriously go south and on my heels he sent the Chaos recruits. I’m thinkin’ you know what that means.”

I didn’t know what it meant and I didn’t want to know, but I was going to know because she continued.

“Yeah, it’s good you’re haulin’ ass out there, Hawk. Girls in slutty nurse’s outfits and boys with big dicks in patient gowns were scurryin’. They felt the vibe deteriorating but then again, that shit was hard to miss.” She stopped talking to Hawk and looked to me. “Seriously, can they not get more original with this shit? Nurses and patients? That’s been done to death. If I was makin’ a  p**n o, not that I’d make a  p**n o, but, just sayin’, if I was, it’d be all about a UFC ring, sweaty hot guys with tape on their hands and shorts that come off easy, say, with that Velcro stuff at the sides. One yank and gone. You get what I’m sayin’?”

I blinked.

I didn’t get the chance to confirm or deny I got what she was saying before Elvira’s attention went back to the phone.

“I’m here,” she stated, then ordered, “You get there.” Pause, then, “Take that up with Tack, and get this, I’m gonna take it up with him too. Spent two months hornin’ in on that crew for you, such filth, I had to shower about seven times a day. Now all that work is blown with shit to show for it. I don’t care if he can kick my ass, Kane ‘Tack’ Allen is still gonna get a few words from me.”