“I don’t know what they’re doing here. I haven’t worked up the courage to go in there,” Kelly said.

I heard the fear in her tone, and I understood.

“And it’s Eli and Luke. I thought I was seeing things, so I followed them, but it was them. They were running inside when I drove past. By the time I circled back to park here, I…” She faltered. “You can understand.”

I did. I wiped my hands over my jeans. “I’m going in.”

“What?” She grabbed my hand through the window. “Don’t. Think, Bri. Be smart.”

I was thinking. I wasn’t sure about being smart. I loosened her hold on my arm and patted her hand twice. “I dated a drug dealer for three years. I didn’t know he was a drug dealer, but still. We went to parties like this. I might even know people in there besides them. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Oh, hell no, it wasn’t going to be fine. As I started forward, my entire body tensed. This was foreign territory. I lied to Kelly. Yes, Eli took me to parties, but they were never this bad. The closer I got, the more I wished I had a steel bat with me instead of my phone and keys.

Nice weapons, Bri. They’ll do a lot of damage.

“Oh, you fucker!” one guy laughed, stumbling backwards until he was right in front of me. “Well, hey there, gorgeous.”

I moved around him. “Excuse me.”

“Come on.” He shifted and wrapped an arm around my waist.

The alcohol on his breath was overwhelming. I was close to gagging, but I didn’t panic. Not yet. “Do you know Elijah Turner?”

The guy released me and stepped back. His entire demeanor changed. Instead of the drunken flirt, he was cold. Raising his head, he asked, “You’re a customer?”

“Maybe.”

Disgust flared in his eyes. “You don’t need Turner. This is Brute’s house. He can get you whatever you need that Turner can, but better quality. Turner sells shit for quality.”

It was his competitor’s place. That realization settled in at the same time we heard shouts from the backyard, “Get ’em!”

I turned and took off at a full sprint, but I wasn’t running away. I was going for the backyard with the leech, along with his buddies from the front yard, hot on my trail. As we circled the house, the sight stopped me dead in my tracks. Elijah and Luke were pinned against the back fence. Both were sweating and bloodied. Elijah’s normal sweatshirt was off, and his undershirt had been ripped. Luke’s shirt was barely on as well. He had blood streaks spread down his chest, and both were sucking in mouthfuls of air.

If I hadn’t been so panicked at the crowd forming around them, I would’ve appreciated the sight. They looked gorgeous, sweaty, and deadly in that moment, but I didn’t stop to salivate. I pulled out my phone and called Kelly. She sounded terrified when I told her the plan, but she had to do it. I glanced back up; they were running out of time. The crowd had tripled, and a lone guy stepped forward. He was enormous. Big shoulders. Big hands. Big everything. He was bald, like Emerson, with a snake tattoo that slithered up the back of his neck and headed to the top of his head, resting above his forehead. He was gripping a bat in one hand, and he pointed to the sidelines with his other. He yelled out, “You come here, Turner? To start shit with me?”

I glanced to the sidelines. Emerson stood there, gripping a beer can. Moving through the crowd, I got closer and could tell my cousin was on something. He kept blinking like something was in his eye and shaking his head back and forth. He was teetering back and forth on his feet, too.

Then I got it—why Elijah had come for Luke at the hospital. He needed back up from someone else who cared about Emerson.

“You show up at my house, at my party, and you try to take one of my clients from me?” Brute pointed to Emerson with his bat and swung back around, tapping it against his palm in an intimidating gesture.

Elijah snorted, rolling his eyes. “He’s not your client.”

“He is, actually. You don’t sell to him, so where do you think he’s going to go?”

“Yeah.” Eli moved forward a step, his hands in fists. He glared at his competition. “I said what I said. He’s my best friend. He’s not a client anymore.”

Brute gestured around him. He laughed. The sound was cocky and eerie. “Look around. These are my friends. They’re here to back me up, not you. Not your pretty boy. Do your ‘best friend’ a favor and let him stay. He’s here to party. Let him have a good time.”

Elijah was still staring at Brute, but Luke was looking through the crowd, and I knew the instant he saw me. He didn’t move. He gave no indication, but a murderous look started as he continued to look at me.

He wanted me to leave.

I wasn’t going anywhere. I raised my chin. Whatever they were down for, I was joining them. I didn’t give a shit if I was a girl. I could fight just like they could. We had all grown up in our neighborhood. It wasn’t that great of one, so we’d all been in our fair share of brawls. I wasn’t a stranger to this scene.

He clipped his head to the side, a slight inch. He wanted me to leave.

I ignored him and scanned my surroundings. I needed a weapon, something to give us enough time before we could get through the back. There was a frontage road behind the backyard, and I knew Kelly was pulling her car up. It was just on the other side of the fence. We needed a distraction, and then everyone could climb the fence and get into the car. She could take off, she was our getaway car, but judging by Eli’s heated glare, I knew he wasn’t ready to go. He wanted to fight.

Eli lurked forward another step, closer to Emerson this time. “He’s coming home with me, and you’re going to stop selling to him.”

“You’re an idiot, Turner.” Brute pointed to the crowd with his bat. “It’s thirty to two—”

Eli cut him off, growling, “I have people, too. You don’t think I could’ve come here with them? I didn’t. I did this as a friend. I doubt you’d want me selling to your sister.”

Brute stiffened. He dropped his bat to his side, but gripped it harder around the handle. His voice sounded low and menacing, “You better leave Rose alone or—”

“Or what?” Elijah threw his head back; his eyes looked abnormally dilated, making him look crazy.