Tentatively, I took a step forward. “Calm down for just a second and tell me what happened.”

Lee took a few deep breaths before steadily settling his gaze on me. “The prick came in, started looking around, then went up to Stu and tried shaking him down. He said that if we set him up with two grand every month, he wouldn’t report what he found on our premises.”

“What did he find?” I asked, my tone serious. The news that Steve was dirty didn’t exactly surprise me. I’d always known there was something off about him. However, the fact that he might have found evidence of illegal activity inside the garage put me on alert.

“He didn’t find anything. Nothing that belonged to us, anyway. He claimed there was a bag of coke hidden under some tiles in the bathroom, but it’s bullshit. None of the boys do drugs, and if they did, I wouldn’t allow them on the premises.”

What he said sparked a memory of Steve bragging to me, Tony, and Keira about a coke dealer he’d busted last week. I wouldn’t put it past him to keep some of the drugs he seized to use in a situation just like this.

“He planted it,” I said as it all fell into place.

A look of surprise crossed Lee’s features. “You believe me?”

I glanced up at him. “Yes, actually, funnily enough, I do.”

“Well,” he said, looking at me differently now. “I’m not giving that fucker two grand. He can go and swing for it.”

“You don’t have to give him anything. I’ll deal with him.”

His expression grew serious. “I don’t want you getting caught up in this. More than likely, the bloke has a whole network of scams going on. The way he spoke, he didn’t strike me as a first-timer.”

I took a moment to absorb that, trying to come up with a plan on how to deal with him. It went without saying that there was no love lost between me and Steve, and if I tried to get in the way of whatever little corrupt network he had running, he wouldn’t hesitate to mess with me and my career. Hell, I wouldn’t put it past him to try to blackmail me in exactly the same way he’d tried to blackmail Lee.

I flicked my eyes up to meet his, firming my lips. “Leave it to me. I’ll think of something.”

“Karla,” Lee murmured tenderly as he came to stand directly in front of me. “Don’t get involved. I don’t need your good deeds. And anyway, your boy doesn’t realise who he’s fucking with. The next time he shows his face, I’ll make sure he gets the message.”

It took me a moment to comprehend what he was saying, mainly because of the way he called me by my name, but also because of how his smell was infiltrating my senses this close. Finally, his meaning sank in, and I frowned.

“Who is he fucking with?”

Lee didn’t answer, and instead he took a step forward, forcing me to back up if I didn’t want us to collide. The problem with this meant my back hit the wall a moment later.

“You’re so pretty, Snap,” he said, voice low, as he dropped his face to my hair and breathed in.

I wasn’t wearing a hat, and my hair was tied up in a bun. My entire body trembled when he wrapped his arms around my waist, inhaled deeply, and pulled me into a hug. This was a distraction, I knew it, and yet, I let him distract me. I wanted to be distracted, and I was just glad that the blinds in his office had been pulled.

Standing in his embrace for at least a minute with silence all around us, I was unable to move. I liked having Lee close, loved the warmth of him and how he could make feel so…surrounded. Despite all the warning signs, my attraction only grew stronger. There was just something about him that called to me.

“Lee.”

His mouth moved against my hair. “What is it, Karla?”

“Why are you hugging me?”

“You looked like you needed to be held.” His response was low, and the affectionate undertone had me swallowing deeply. At long last I summoned the willpower to break the hug. His arms fell away from me easily, my stomach churning with confusion. What the hell was I doing?

I stared at the floor when I spoke. “I have to go.”

Heading for the door, I paused when he said gently, “Hey, I needed it, too.”

I didn’t turn around, but instead practically ran from the office. Moments later I was strapping myself into the patrol car where Steve had been waiting. My heart hammered at Lee’s words, feelings beginning to stew deep in my belly. He was playing me, he had to be. Blokes like him weren’t romantic. They fucked you and then they left you.

“What took you so long?” Steve asked, eyes narrowed on me with suspicion.

Remembering Lee’s warning for me not to get involved, I lied, “I just had a few more questions I needed to ask.”

A silence elapsed.

“And?” Steve prompted.

“And, uh, all of their stories checked out. Sorry.”

“Huh. They must have been ready for us, then.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Must have been.”

Four

About a week passed, and I didn’t see Lee at all. For a while it felt like he was everywhere, and then he was nowhere. And I’ll admit that every time I went to the gym, I kept my eyes peeled, eager for a glimpse of him.

Yeah, it was just as pathetic as it sounded.

I was driving home late one evening when I passed by a newly constructed office building. It was built in such a way that there were lots of steep stairways and criss-crossed walls surrounding it. The building, however, wasn’t what caught my interest, as I pulled to the side of the road and peeked out the window. There was a group of young men there; all of them looked to be in their late teens or early twenties, and all of them were pulling off some pretty impressive stunts. It was only when I took a closer look that I recognised Trevor Cross.