Sam pulls me over closer to meet Jesse. I take one look at Jesse’s eyes and immediately want to step behind Sam to put him between us. If there is one person here who wouldn’t think twice about hurting me, it would be Jesse. He is the very definition of silent and deadly.

The ATF has placed him at the scene of several mysterious rival motorcycle gang deaths. Not enough to charge him with anything, but enough for me to keep a close eye on him. He makes me uncomfortable. To underestimate him would be a big mistake.

“Who is your girl?” he asks. When he smiles, his face softens and I relax a little.

“This is Lila,” Sam says. “She’s from Atlanta.” He waves a hand at the group of men. “Lila, meet the Steel Infidels. My two big brothers, Jesse and Flint.” He points them out and I pretend like I don’t know exactly who they are already. “The big guy with the dorky baseball cap is Toby. Don’t pay attention to anything he says about me because he’s a big fat liar.”

Toby laughs and takes a sip of the beer he’s holding. Sam goes on to introduce me to the rest of the Steel Infidels one by one. They all nod politely and smile. If I didn’t know better, I would think they were a nice group of Southern boys.

But I do know better.

Appearances in this case can be very deceiving.

“Where are Trish and Kendra?” Sam asks.

Flint nods toward the house. “They’re in the kitchen with the kids.”

“I can’t wait for you to meet them,” Sam says. “And my niece and nephew. Missy is only a couple of months old and Josh is a toddler.”

He takes me inside the house where his brothers' wives are busy putting out platters of food for the guests. An adorable toddler with dark curly hair is hanging on to a woman’s legs. Sam scoops him up off the floor and tosses him into the air. The toddler squeals with laughter and Sam tosses him again.

“Don’t come crying to me if he pukes all over your face, Sam,” the woman says with a laugh. “I’ve warned you about that before.”

“You wouldn’t do that to me, would you, Josh?” he says to the child, who giggles.

“I’m Kendra,” the woman says. “And that’s my son Josh being thrown around. I’m married to Sam’s brother, Flint.”

So this is Kendra, the town veterinarian.

“Nice to meet you,” I say.

Another pretty young woman walks into the kitchen with a baby in her arms. “And I’m the other brother’s wife,” she says. “We’re Trish and Missy.” She holds out the baby’s fist to wave at me.

“Missy is a lovely name,” I say.