There was a lot about Kent that Alex Logan didn’t know, and I doubted Samuel had brought him up to speed on even the half of it. Ever since the college popped up and brought with it a new kind of community, Garth had quickly gotten into the distribution business. There was a reason why my father thought he was bad news, and although no one could really pin anything on Garth, it was common knowledge that he had his fingers in one too many cookie jars. The drug dealing was only the half of it, but a pretty lucrative half, especially amongst college kids.
He had a big stake in the casino and university, too. There was no telling how big his business would grow once those kicked off. And there was no doubt how much more aggressive and possessive he would become. He already had the Sheriff in his pocket, and I doubted there would be a limit to how much money he’d be willing to throw around to get what he wanted.
The only thing standing in the way of the casino was Samuel Logan, and now Alex had just beat the shit out of one of Garth’s ‘friends’. That was definitely not going to sit well with him.
I dabbed at the cut on Alex’s head. You need to let him know. He’s in the middle of all this now.
But I couldn’t. If today was any indication of how Alex’s moral compass swung, he’d probably try and put a stop to all this. As a DEA agent, I expected nothing less, and knew what that meant. He’d taken a risk and had almost been killed in the process. What would happen to him here where he didn’t have backup? And what would his involvement mea
n for Samuel, or Kelly for that matter?
I sighed, my mind whirling. This is one fucking mess.
“There,” I finally said. “I don’t think you need stitches.”
“I know I don’t need stitches,” Alex smiled.
“Stop that,” I said. “There’s nothing funny about what happened back there. What the hell were you thinking?”
Alex frowned. “I was stopping a drug dealer from distributing.”
“You do know that he’ll probably just be doing the same thing tomorrow, right?”
“With an arm in a sling.”
“Funny.”
“Seriously, why are you surprised?” Alex asked. “You know this is my job.”
“Not in Kent,” I shot back. “We have a Sheriff for that.”
“Right,” he scoffed. “The same one you said wouldn’t do anything?”
“That’s beyond the point.”
“Then what is the point?”
I opened my mouth, hesitated, and closed it again. “You’re not on home ground, Alex,” I finally explained. “The dynamic here is different. This isn’t the Kent we grew up in.”
“Care to explain that?”
I shook my head. “Let’s just try to remember that you’re here to spend time with your father and recover. It’s not fair for your family to get in the middle of the crap that goes on here.”
Alex shook his head. “That makes absolutely no sense.”
“It doesn’t have to,” I said. “Just let the local authority deal with this shit, and enjoy the summer, would you?”
Alex stood up. “What aren’t you telling me?”
I collected the cotton and Betadine, carrying back to the kitchen as he followed me. “Nothing,” I said. “I just want you to be safe. I want Kelly to be safe.”
“Okay, first of all, I can handle myself just swell, thank you very much,” Alex chastised. “Secondly, no one’s going to care about my daughter’s safety as much as I am.”
I whirled around. “Right, and you have the bullet wounds to prove it?”
Alex stopped and stared at me, his eyes locked on mine.
“I’m sorry,” I said, turning away. “That’s not my place.”