Author: Jaci Burton

Pax and AJ came in a few minutes after she did. Instead of coming back to the bar, they moved off to find Joey and Russ. They huddled around one of the tables at the back, whispering together, no doubt about the Fists and what had happened. Teresa went back to work, relieved that it was all over.

She expected Pax and AJ to hit the road as it got later in the evening, but they didn’t. Weren’t they headed off somewhere? Why hadn’t they left yet? They’d stayed, played more pool with Joey and Russ, left only long enough to run out to grab something to eat with Joey and a few of the other guys, but then they had come back and now seemed to be having a great time hanging out.

She didn’t want them here. Having AJ around . . . and Pax, too . . . made her uncomfortable.

But not uncomfortable in the usual way guys made her uncomfortable.

This was different. AJ was part of her past, the part when she was still interested in men . . . that way. And Pax was just way too much testosterone for her to handle.

They needed to go.

She wasn’t ready to dredge up old history . . . or start new.

She just wanted everything in her life to remain as it was right now. She was content, if not happy. And considering how bad things had been a few years ago, content was a damned decent place to be.

A quick glance at the clock told her it was about fifteen minutes to closing time, which suited her just fine. Time to get everyone out of here so she and the girls could clean up and she could close and get home, lock herself in, take a shower and climb into bed, where she could pass out and hopefully fall into a dreamless sleep.

Tomorrow AJ and Pax would be gone and life would be back to normal.

She liked normal.

Aside from AJ and Pax, there were only a handful of people left, all Joey’s guys. She knew she could shuffle them out easily enough, so she sent Heather and Shelley home. Hopefully by two she’d be out of there, too.

She had her back turned to the bar and had just finished drying the last glass, about to tell Joey to move his guys out the door, when the front door opened.

“Hey, we’re closing,” she hollered as she turned around, hitting the main switch to shut off the music.

Dread sent her body into instant tense mode. It was Larks walking through the door, with more than a dozen of his guys.

“We’re closed,” she said again.

Larks ignored her, making a beeline for Joey, his intention clear on his determined face. He was smiling, but it wasn’t a friendly smile. The last guy through the door flipped the lock closed.

Shit.

Her gaze riveted on Joey and Larks, she reached for the phone, intending to dial 911. She yelped when someone grabbed her wrist and jerked the phone from her hand, tossing it across the room.

“No calling the cops, sweet tits. This is private business.”

As he moved away with her phone in his hand, Teresa swallowed past the terror threatening to squeeze her throat closed.

This was not going to happen. Not in her bar.

But as Larks jumped on Joey and all hell broke loose, she knew it already had.

FOUR

AJ AND PAX HAD BEEN IN BAR BRAWLS BEFORE. AJ KNEW THEY could handle themselves. Biker gangs often got into tiffs over territory. This wouldn’t be a first. And since they were here, they were going to get into the middle of it.

The middle of it happened fast, because Larks’s guys were in the door throwing the first punches before any of Joey’s guys could even blink. Joey and Russ and the others pushed right back. It didn’t take but a fraction of a second before Joey and Larks went at each other. Suddenly the shit was going down. There’d be no talking them out of it now. There was no way AJ and Pax could stay out of it, either, and it was a given they were going to take Joey’s side, especially since the Thorns were outnumbered two to one, since most of Joey’s gang had already left for the night.

AJ pulled a guy off Joey’s back so he could be free to fight Larks.

Man, he didn’t want to be doing this, but they had no choice. Bringing the cops in would just put the Thorns in trouble, too, and AJ didn’t want that—not if they could put an end to this fast. He threw a punch and ducked as one came flying his way. He missed seeing a fist flying from his left, though, and took one to the chin. He winced and shook his head to clear the pounding. Son of a bitch, that hurt.

But he had to admit, fighting exhilarated him. It had been a long time since he’d gotten into a fistfight, and it felt damn good. AJ caught sight of Pax, who had hold of two guys. Pax was good with martial arts. When they’d learned it at Wild Riders, Pax dove in and earned his black belt, which he was putting to good use here by kicking the shit out of a guy. He swiveled and knocked the dude behind him in the back with a hard shove from his boot. The guy crumpled, the wind knocked out of him. Pax knew not to give a lethal kick unless his or someone else’s life was threatened. The idea was to defuse the situation.

AJ knew Pax could take care of himself.

But the Thorns were outnumbered and the situation was not anywhere close to being defused. If anything it was getting worse. Bodies were everywhere in tight piles, fists flying.

AJ’s gaze skirted to the bar. Unfortunately, Teresa was stuck behind it. He couldn’t tell if she was scared or not, but she wasn’t moving. Her exit was blocked with fighting at either end, so she couldn’t get out of there, but he’d make sure no one touched her.

He made eye contact with her, signaled her to stay where she was. She nodded. Then someone landed a punch to his back and he winced, his kidneys throbbing. He pivoted and two guys slammed into him.

After that he had no idea what was happening, because it was one giant pile-on, the entire fight moving to the middle of the bar. All AJ knew was that he was getting pummeled and he was fighting one guy after another. He couldn’t check on Teresa or even Pax and Joey. All he could do was try and hold his own. His knuckles hurt, his ribs hurt, he was pretty sure his nose was bleeding, but he was giving as good as he got. And no shots had been fired, so his gun was still in the holster at his back.

Then he heard the sirens and the squeal of tires.

Shit. That’s not what he wanted at all. So much for defusing the situation without the police getting involved.

The cops busted through the door before anyone could make a break for it. Someone must have called it in, because there were about a dozen cops in riot gear breaking things up. AJ shoved one of the Fists away from him, backed the hell out of the way and raised his hands, wanting to let the cops know he was ready for this to be over with. They were all pushed outside in a hurry.

Everyone was patted down and weapons were confiscated. AJ could have pulled his federal ID, but he wanted to avoid that if at all possible. They’d get their weapons back soon enough.

He stood outside with the rest of the Thorns and took in heaping gulps of hot summer night air to clear his head. His muscles hurt, his knuckles were raw and bloody, and his lungs ached from the effort it had taken to fight the Fists. He wiped the blood from his nose and did a quick search for Joey, didn’t find him. “You seen Joey?” he asked as Pax came up alongside him.

Pax shook his head, his gaze scanning the parking lot. “Maybe he’s inside with Teresa because she hasn’t come out yet, either.”

That wasn’t good. He and Pax went to the door, but a cop blocked his way. “You can’t go in there.”

“My friends are in there.”

The cop looked down on him. “You can’t go in there. Everyone’s going into the station to give statements. Permits for weapons confiscated need to be checked. Some of you will be arrested.”

A van pulled up and started hauling both Fists and Thorns into the van. And in the meantime, Joey and Teresa were still inside the bar.

“What happened in there?”

The cop stood at the door and remained mute. AJ saw a couple cops go in with police tape, followed by a van pulling up with the word “Coroner” stamped on the side.

Coroner? Son of a bitch! AJ turned to Pax, who shook his head and shrugged. “No clue, man. It was a major fucking brawl in there, but I didn’t see anyone go down. Then the cops came and pulled us all out of there.”

“Teresa and Joey are still inside.”

Pax’s expression was grim. “I know. We need to get in there.”

“IDs?”

Pax was already pulling his out of his back pocket. “It’s the only way.”

Grange was going to have their asses for blowing cover. At the moment, AJ didn’t care.

AJ flipped his open at the same time Pax did. “Federal agents. We’re working a case here.” An outright lie, but the police officer guarding the door didn’t know that.

The cop scanned their badges, looked at their faces, and nodded, stepping aside to let them in.

The crisp smell of blood filled the air inside. The place was a wreck, with chairs and tables strewn everywhere, some broken. AJ’s boots crunched on shattered glass as they walked across the floor. His gaze zeroed in first on the body on the floor. He didn’t exhale until he saw it was Larks, then he spotted Teresa sitting at one of the tables being interviewed by one of the detectives that had gone in earlier. Joey sat at a table across the room.

His friends were alive. That was good. Now to figure out what happened. He went directly to the suit interviewing Teresa. The guy stood.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked.

AJ flashed his badge. “AJ Dunn. Federal agent investigating the Fists. This is my partner, Pax Hudson.”

The guy arched a brow, examined their badges and looked them up and down. “You in the middle of this?”

“The fight, yeah,” Pax said. “We were trying to maintain cover so we had no choice. Didn’t know it was going to end up with a murder.”

“So you didn’t see what happened to that guy?”

AJ shook his head. “We got hustled out of here when your black-and-whites showed up. Didn’t see him go down. We weren’t even aware there was a dead guy.”

“Detective John Warren. Why don’t you tell me what you’re working on?” AJ explained what they were doing there, though he embellished a bit about working an undercover case on the Fists so they could stay.

“No one knows your situation?” John asked.

AJ shook his head. “This is my hometown, so I’d appreciate keeping it on the down low.” Though he was afraid it was already too late for that. Teresa had seen him flash his badge and had frowned in confusion. He was going to have to explain to her who and what he really was. And since the Wild Riders kept their identities secret, that wasn’t going to make General Lee very happy.

“So what happened here?” Pax asked.

John looked down at the body. “It appears the leader of the Thorns stabbed the leader of the Fists. Not surprising considering the clashes these two gangs have had with each other over territory.”

Shit. Joey was being pinned for the murder? “Witnesses?”

“No. Well, one, though I question her reliability. Oliveri’s sister claims to be a witness. Said someone else did it. We’re going to bring Joey Oliveri in and take samples. I’m sure the blood on him will be the victim’s.”

AJ needed to talk to Teresa. And Joey. Figure out what happened. “Can we question the suspect and the witness? This could have direct bearing on our investigation.”

“As long as one of my guys is present, fine.”

AJ nodded and went over to Teresa, who stood and flew into his arms, burying her face in his neck. AJ felt wetness against his neck, knew she’d been crying. He put his arms around her. “It’s going to be okay.”

AJ flashed his badge to the officer sitting with her and explained that the detective had given his okay.

She pulled back, and Pax moved to her side. “Tell us what happened.”

The officer in charge of her stood and let Pax and AJ sit, but he stayed close to Teresa.