“You guys want a drink?”

Blizz and I both nodded and Connor pulled a bottle of whiskey from under the bar.

“Fuck that shit, give me a beer,” Blizzard grumbled, he didn’t have the taste for whiskey like I did. Admittedly so, it had only been since Chelsea had come around that I had found myself drinking more and more of it. The way her mouth tasted after she’d been drinking it was fucking amazing. I shook my head and swigged back the glass that Connor had placed in front of me.

“How’s things?” I asked him as he leaned his hip casually against the bar and folded his arms across his chest.

“Yeah, all good. No major issues except for Hayley, who wandered in or should I say stumbled in, late for work this afternoon.” He shook his head. He was clearly disappointed.

Connor wasn’t a member of the club, he wasn’t a brother, but I trusted him like one. He’d been offered the opportunity a couple years back to prospect but had declined. He had his head and heart set on being a lawyer and, unfortunately, being a member of the Brothers by Blood could possibly affect his future in that line of work. I respected him for it. He knew what he wanted and I admired his dedication. Connor wanted to change the world, protect people who had been done wrong.

One of the major things pushing him was the fact that he was gay. The club had nothing against sexual preference. While some of the boys had been stand-offish with him to begin with, they soon learned that he wasn’t out to get in their pants or try to convert them.

A lot of people had these stereotypes about what a gay guy should look like or be. I had to admit until I met Connor I was one of those people. You thought that they were flamboyant and girlish, that they wore stylish clothing and talked in a higher than usual pitch. That was not him at all. He was built like a line-backer, had a short beard and tattoos that covered his entire upper body from his neck and hips to his wrists. I didn’t care whether he liked cock or pussy, all I knew was that he looked after my girls and my men and ran the business better than I ever could.

“Can’t remember a Hayley,” I told him, racking my brains trying to put a name to the face. I knew most of the girls well, a lot of them visited the club on a Friday night if they weren’t rostered to work.

He poured himself a shot of whiskey in a short glass and tipped it back. “Yeah, newish, maybe a couple months. All her checks came back fine. Never been in trouble with the law. Got a kid at home. Trying to finish school.”

“College?” Blizz asked.

Connor shook his head. “She’s young. Nineteen. Had her little girl when she was fifteen and had to drop out. Wants to get her high school diploma.”

“Baby Daddy?” We always made sure that if there were kids involved, which there is for a handful of our girls, that there are no angry fathers out there looking to hurt them. We offer to help them, finding appropriate and trustworthy babysitters for when they need to work and help them get into a good home.

“No baby daddy. Withdrew his rights before the kid was born,” Connor explained. “She’s out the back. Probably had time to sober up by now and isn’t looking forward to your visit.”

“I wouldn’t be either. Our fearless leader here is nursing a broken heart now Chelsea’s gone. I bet he’s just itching to rip someone a new one.” Blizzard threw his head back and laughed, patting me on the shoulder even as I glared at him.

“Let’s go, fuckhead,” I growled, slapping Blizzard on the head. He rubbed at it, but grinned and followed me down the hall to the back room. I pushed the door to the back office open. The young girl sat on a small leather sofa off to the side, her head buried in her hands and her chocolate colored hair falling around her shoulders. It was wavy and thick like Chelsea’s, but the girl didn’t have Chelsea’s skin tone.

She looked so small – broken, but I wondered if it was just the way she was holding herself. I definitely didn’t remember her, but none of the girls were ever forced to come party with us at the clubhouse so it was a complete possibility she had never been.

No one had been posted outside her door to make sure she stuck around for this little chat and yet she hadn’t run.

I knew then this wasn’t just some bitch who was looking for her next high, fucking drug dealers and shit on the side to get her fix like I’d seen so many times before. If that were the case, she would’ve hightailed outta this joint the minute she had the chance.

“Hayley?” I said gruffly. Her eyes shot up immediately. She didn’t look too bad, whatever she had taken was likely wearing off and now she just looked tired—tired and scared. “I’m Optimus, Brothers by Blood President, this is my VP, Blizzard.”

“It’s nice to meet you...I think,” she muttered.

“Do you realize when you signed your contract to work here, you gave us your word that you would not use drugs. Connor seems to think with the way that you came in this afternoon—late for your shift—that you were possibly on something. Would he be right?” I tried not to raise my voice with her. She was young and she’d done something stupid, but we had all been there at some point in our lives, sometimes we just needed a little push in the right direction. I wasn't going to start accusing her of shit before I knew the details.I saw tears begin to well up in her eyes, but I didn’t falter in my stance. She needed to know this shit was serious and that if she had done something wrong that she wouldn’t get away with it.

“I’m sorry. I...I didn’t really know what it was. I’ve got finals coming up next week for school and my little girl has been really sick so I haven’t had much time to study.” She sniffed and shook her head. “I’m sorry, you don’t want excuses.”

“No, continue,” Blizzard told her with an encouraging smile. “We want to know what’s going on.”

She nodded, her hands pulled at the handle of her handbag, twisting and turning it nervously. “I just needed to stay awake for a few extra hours while Jayla slept. The girl who lives across the hall gave me a couple pills, said they would keep me awake, keep me focused. I took them and then I started feeling really weird. My mind was racing and I couldn’t calm down, it was really scary.”

“Sounds like she gave you BZP,” I said, frowning.

Who the fuck does that? Gives some young girl party pills and tells her they’ll help her concentrate.

“What is that?” she asked nervously.

“They’re pills that are designed to mimic the effects of other more addictive illegal drugs. People take them when they are going to raves and shit,” Blizzard explained.

“I’m so sorry. I really didn’t know. I was just so desperate to get this study done. I need to pass this before they’ll let me apply for college.” She sucked in air desperately as she tried to calm her tears. They were real tears. Not put on so that she didn’t lose her job or because she was attempting to get herself out of trouble.

I wasn’t heartless. This young girl was trying to make something of herself and she’d simply made a mistake. The Brothers by Blood didn’t just own X-Rated, we gave a fuck about our girls. It was why people wanted to work for us.

Blizzard caught my eye and I nodded.

“Look, Hayley,” he was better at this shit than me, “you fucked up. Now we have to make a plan so that you can move on.”

Her eyes widened in surprise and flicked between the two of us. “You’re not going to fire me?”

Blizzard shook his head. “How ‘bout you take a few days off, get your study done. We will pay you for it, then when your tests are over you can start making up the hours here and there whenever you have time.”

“Oh my gosh, really?” she gasped and looked over at me and I nodded. “Oh wow! Thank you so much. I promise I won’t do it again.” She stood quickly and I stepped aside, pulling the door open for her as she continued to thank us over and over.