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He shouldn’t have.
They were lucky they had such a loving, supportive family. Not everyone did. Being a cop herself, she saw that way too often. Neglected and abused kids. Forgotten family. Parents who kicked their children out because they weren’t straight. Or because they dated out of their race or religion. Or whatever.
Sometimes parents were just looking for an excuse to shed themselves of their own children. It made no sense to Jet. Why have them if you’re looking for the smallest excuse to cut them out of your life?
Max coming into the kitchen pulled Jet from her thoughts.
He no longer had the soft look on his face as when he was holding Devlyn. “You want to talk about work now? We couldn’t do it at station?”
“You have me on midnights, Max. When are you ever at station at the same time as I am?”
His eyebrows shot up. “You could wait for me at the end of your shift.”
Maybe. But most of the time she was dog-tired and needed to crawl into bed. She hated midnights. They tended to be boring. If there were enough people working, they usually rode two in a car at night. But lately, their shifts were light, so she’d been working by herself.
However, most of her fellow officers, including her brother and cousins, were only a call or text away from backing her up, even at three in the morning. Everyone on the force was required to live in the PD’s coverage area for that reason. A quick response time could save a life.
“Something’s been bothering me and I need to ask you about it.”
Max sighed, planted his hands on the counter behind him and leaned back against it. “Shoot.”
“Copperhead Road...”
Max’s body transformed before her eyes. His jaw became rock hard, his blue eyes intense and every muscle in his body went solid. “Jet...”
“Max, it’s bugging me. That mountain is a part of our jurisdiction. We’re told to stay out of there, but they have to be up to no good. So, they get to break the law when the rest of the citizens don’t?”
“Who says other citizens don’t break the law and get away with it? We all do.”
“Minor shit. Jaywalking, speeding, rolling through a stop sign, sure. But something bigger is going on up there.”
“Says who? Have you gone up there after you’ve been told not to?”
Not yet. “No. I saw a van go up there full of people, I couldn’t see who was in it.”
“So, you’ve been nosy.”
“I can’t just look the other way if something’s wrong.”
“Vehicles come and go from that compound, Jet. The Shirleys even come into town to shop. But as long as they aren’t stirring up trouble in town, they can rot up there for all I care.”
“What if they are stirring up trouble?”
Max narrowed his ice blue eyes on her. “What trouble are you talking about?”
“Well, how the hell do you think Matt and Carly got Levi?”
Her older cousin blinked. “Because Autumn wasn’t ready to be a mother and the father had skipped out on her.”
“That’s what they told you.”
His spine snapped straight and he pushed himself off the counter. “Did my brother and employee lie to me?”
Jet pursed her lips. Shit.
“Are you saying Levi is tied to that clan somehow?” Max demanded.
“I... No.” Fuck.
“You better not be lying to me, too.” He shook his dark head. “Stay away from them, Jet. That’s an order.”
“They’re breaking the law, Max.” Though, other than them not having driver’s licenses, vehicle registration and insurance, she had no proof of what was rumored and what was suspected. Yet.
“They break the law the second they’re born. They don’t exist on paper. They all live off the grid. They’ve been living like that for decades.”
“What about the moonshine they’re making? They might even be cooking meth.”
He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Have you seen it firsthand?”
“No, I’ve been ordered to stay off the mountain. It surprises me, Max, that you’d bury your head in the sand when it comes to the things they’re doing up there.”
“Might be doing. And at least I still have my head. I need you to keep yours, too. I don’t want you going up there because I don’t want you dead.”
“You think I can’t handle myself?”
“Did I say that?” His deep voice got louder and anger tinged his words. “I can’t lose one fucking officer, Jet. Not one. And you’re more than an officer, you’re family.”
“But I have a job to do.”
“That I hired you for. But I have a job to do, too. Keeping my people breathing. I do not want to get into some gun fight with a bunch of armed rednecks. People will die. It’ll end up being a nightmare for this town, which relies on tourists visiting to survive. We don’t mess with the Guardians of Freedom, they don’t mess with us.”
