Page 4 of Ace

And where there's a demand, there will always be a supplier, even if that supply comes at the cost of human suffering.

Gatlinburg isn't the only place that has seen an influx of sex trafficking. Any place with a large flow of people will pull in sex traffickers. Why travel all over, looking for customers, when you can set up shop in a place that brings them to you? It's why any large event draws these people in, and it's been suspected that even large tours with rock stars or even celebrities pull in sex trafficking rings. There's nothing like an abundance of money that makes people think they can do whatever they want. Don't even get me started on what the people in Hollywood think they're entitled to. The same goes for professional athletes and any other group of people who are overpaid in the entertainment industry.

I close my eyes, blowing out a long, slow breath. I don't need my head running crazy with all the things I can't change. I need to keep my focus where I can make a difference.

"It's been a while."

Iturn around and face Hemlock as he walks closer.

"I have a lot going on," I tell him, and it's not really a lie. ICE keeps me pretty busy. "I just wanted to swing by and let you know that Lark—I mean Elliot Price—will be here later this week. He's going to swing in and get his room in order before he heads to Ashville for a job."

"Kincaid briefed me on him," Hemlock says, but not in a tone that implies he thinks I wasted my time by coming here. The man really isn't the type to hold grudges. He doesn't have the emotional capacity for that.

It's what makes it so surprising that he fell in love with Zara. I look over the man's shoulder at the woman, giving her a quick smile when she walks toward us with a cup of coffee in each hand.

I thank her when she hands me mine and watch as Hemlock does something I've never seen him do. When he looks at her, the man fucking smiles as if he knows me, but I can't recall another moment when I've seen his face. I don't see smiling as a weakness. It can be a great tool while on the job and, of course, laughter isn't new to me, but for this man to grin at her, tells me just how far he's fallen.

The man is completely smitten and more than likely willing to kill to protect her. There was a moment, not long ago, when I thought he'd put a bullet right between my eyes if I tried to interfere with what he was doing in regard to her. The man was out of his mind with sleep deprivation. Add in the fact that he'd just been stabbed, and he wasn't in his right mind. However, I don't think the ending would've been any different from what it is right now.

I feel the need to warn her, to tell her just how dangerous he is for her. Not him personally, but the kind of life he'll be living and what that could mean for her. Even if no harm comes to her physically, this life has the ability to change people. She's a kind woman, and it'll be impossible to keep all the soft, sweet edges she came into the house with. She'll seethings and hear stories of what other people are capable of doing to others, and it will taint her and cause irreparable damage. She'll harden once she sees just how life is behind the curtain. It has the ability to leave you feeling jaded and having a certain level of hatred for the world. Especially when every endeavor to make it better only causes fragmented sections of bad society to break off and continue to grow, like a cancer spreading. Sometimes I wonder if we're just making things worse.

"You okay?" Hemlock asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Damn, my head is a dark, scary fucking place.

"I'm good," I mutter. "Can we speak in private?"

"Of course," he says, pressing a kiss to Zara's cheek before directing me toward a room that was used as a secondary living room prior to Cerberus purchasing it.

I dip my head at Zara, handing her back the cup of coffee. "Thank you."

She gives me a soft smile, not seeming to be offended that we plan to have a conversation without her.

I follow Hemlock into the room, waiting to speak until he closes the huge double doors. The last time I was here, this room still held several cozy leather couches and a lot of black bear type of decor, the kitschy stuff common for nearly every cabin around here. Instead, the room has been transformed into a massive conference area with a table and at least a dozen office chairs surrounding it.

A huge television is mounted on the far wall of what would be considered the front of the room, and I see a lot of similarities between this room and the one I recently visited in New Mexico. Despite the different intentions of what started this new branch of Cerberus, it has taken less than three months for it to look eerily similar to the founding chapter.

Hemlock wanted to leave New Mexico because it wasn't a good fit for him, and I understood that reasoning morethan anyone. While a member of Cerberus, I was closest with Micah, aka Snake, and Noah, aka Skid. We were like the three musketeers, getting into all sorts of shit until Snake fell in love. Our merry band of brothers was fractured when he left Cerberus to join Lucy in Texas. I don't think he faltered once about that decision. His path was her, and he never doubted that. I stuck around for a few months, but as the missions continued, I realized our problem was more local than what Cerberus focused on.

It's why I split from Cerberus and joined ICE. I wanted to make a difference on American soil where the real war raged rather than putting out smaller fires in South America.

Noah followed me not long after, and it was the best thing in the world. We were kicking ass and taking names, and then, like Micah, Noah fell in love and everything changed.

Since then, there hasn't been a single day that I haven't regretted getting on my bike and riding away from that clubhouse.

"I just wanted to make sure that we're good," I say once the doors are closed. "That there aren't any hard feelings."

"That depends," Hemlock begins, and I expected this.

He isn't the type of man to just let bygones be bygones.

"Are you going to try to go behind my back and start trouble in my house?"

Myhouse.

I smile at his reminder that he's the president of this chapter.

"I'm only here to help," I tell him, and it's the truth.

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