by Jessie Cooke
“Hunter!” the nice-looking guy yelled, as if he was greeting Norm on the television show Cheers. “Want a beer?”
“I’ll take one,” Larry said.
Hunter laughed and shook his head. Claire couldn’t help but smile too. Her father was good for comic relief, that was sure. “Thanks, Gunner, but I need to see Dax first. Is he in the office?” Claire glanced around again and realized that everyone had stopped what they were doing and were looking at them. The men were looking at her like the ones outside the club had been, except for the cute one behind the bar. He smiled at her, but it didn’t look lecherous. There was a platinum blonde with massive breasts at one of the tables near the back. She was wearing a crop top that hardly covered them and a short skirt that came very close to showing her crotch. She was smiling in Hunter’s direction, but when Claire made eye contact with her the smile fell from her face. Claire felt the urging of the devil on her shoulder that she normally ignored, and took another step closer to Hunter. She had no idea what she was doing, but it felt good being so close to him. Their shoulders were almost touching and his musky, masculine smell filled her nostrils and seemed to seep into her blood, which was growing warm. Hunter glanced sideways and gave her a look, almost like the ones the other men had been giving her…but coming from him it didn’t seem too bad…actually, not bad at all. She had to take a step back so that she could clear her head and once more think clearly. Damn, she was going to have to watch that.
“He’s here, but he just ran down to the basement with Handsome. Hawk went into the office a while ago. I think he’s still in there. Y’all can go in and have a seat. I’ll let Dax know you’re here.” The Jamaican-looking biker spoke with a thick Texas drawl. It was another contrast that Claire’s brain was having a hard time processing
“Thanks.” Hunter said. He had Larry by the arm as he walked toward the door marked “office” and Claire followed them. When they passed the platinum blonde, she shot another wolfish smile at Hunter. “Hi, Gigi.”
“Hey, Hunter,” she purred. “I got a copy of my tape. You wanna watch it with me tonight?”
Hunter glanced at Claire before answering the woman. “No thanks, Gigi, I have plans tonight.” It made it seem to Claire like he had plans with her, and she was both uncomfortable and thrilled at the fantasy all at the same time. The look that Gigi gave Claire almost burned right through her. Claire smiled at the other woman and then chastised herself for being so wicked. Her emotions were all over the place today.
“I’ll watch it with you, Gigi,” a young guy at the table said.
“Oh, shut up, Buzz. I don’t even want you paying to watch it.” Claire saw Hunter chuckle at that as they walked away. When they reached the office, Hunter pushed the door open and let Claire step in ahead of them. She didn’t think about the loud gasp that escaped from her mouth and she barely registered Hunter’s voice saying, “Jesus H. Christ, Hawk! What the fuck?”
11
Hunter looked over at Claire, sitting quietly in her chair. She looked like she was still in shock. He didn’t blame her. The sight of Hawk’s saggy ass and little Kay on her knees in front of him with her boobs swinging free and Hawk’s old dick in her mouth had upset his stomach a little, and he was used to this kind of shit. Damned uncivilized bikers. It was bad enough that every man in the place was looking at her like she was “fresh meat” when they walked in the clubhouse and Gigi, who had never caught feelings for a man in her life, was shooting daggers through her…then this.
“I’m sorry about that,” Dax was saying to her. “That should have never happened.”
Dax and Handsome had walked in behind them while they stood there gaping at Hawk. Kay didn’t miss a beat, sliding her thick lips up and down Hawk’s skinny cock, and Hawk didn’t try to stop her. He had just looked over his shoulder at them and smiled and then looked at Claire and licked his lips. Hunter already didn’t like the old fool. He wanted to kill him just for that alone. Then to make matters worse the old fool had said:
“Well, now we’ve both seen each other’s asses.” Hunter actually let go of Larry’s arm and went toward Hawk before he heard Dax’s voice behind him saying:
“Hawk! Kay!” He didn’t yell the names, or even put any force behind them, but it was enough for Hawk to push Kay back and both of them to scramble to pick up and put on their clothes.
“Sorry, Dax, I didn’t know you were having a meeting,” Kay muttered as she rushed past them. Hawk didn’t rush, but he didn’t look Dax in the eyes as he walked past either.
“We’ll talk later,” was all Dax said to him, but Hunter was sure he wouldn’t want to be in Hawk’s shoes when that talk happened.
That was when Hunter finally looked at Larry. He was smiling and Hunter thought, The old pervert probably came in his pants when he saw Kay’s tits.
“It’s fine,” Claire finally said to Dax. “Can we get started?”
Dax nodded at her and Hunter said, “Dax, this is Larry Taylor and his daughter Claire…”
“Righetti,” Claire said.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Dax said. “Hunter tells me that you have some information for me, Larry.”
“Um…yeah.” Larry told the story that he’d told Hunter earlier. Dax and Handsome listened without interrupting and when he stopped talking Dax said:
“So, you never saw this guy in the bar before that night?”
“No. Never.”
“Do you know a guy named Jeffrey McCallister?”
“No sir.”
“Did you have any dealings with Street Chaos or Trayvon before this?”
“No sir.”
Dax raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t purchase anything from them, Larry? Ever?”
“Well…” Larry looked over at Claire. “Maybe once, or twice, I did…but I never met Trayvon.”
“Why did you go to that particular bar that night, Larry?”
“I was looking for…um…does my daughter have to be here for this?”
“I was under the impression that your daughter asked to be here.” Dax looked at Claire. “If this is making you uncomfortable, you’re welcome to wait out front.”
“No.” Claire and Hunter both spoke at the same time. Hunter didn’t want her out there with the bikers, who were already half drunk or stoned before noon. Dax raised an eyebrow at Hunter but turned his attention back to Claire as she said, “Just tell them what they need to know, Dad. I know that you’re no angel.”
Larry sighed and said, “I was looking for female company…and my dealer.”
“Jesus, Dad! You said you stopped.”
“I’m sorry.” Larry wouldn’t look at Claire. He was such a damned child. Hunter wanted to smack him upside the head. Claire crossed her arms and turned her head away from him. His dealer was obviously more of a sore spot than his need for “female company.”
“Had you been to that bar before?” Dax asked.
“Yeah, a few times.”
“But you’d never seen that man before, the one that asked you to drive his car back to Dorchester?”
“No, I’ve never seen him before.”
“Does Street Chaos hang out there?”
“Not that I’ve ever seen. It’s mostly old white guys, you know?”
“Did your dealer show up?”
Larry glanced sideways at Claire. She still wasn’t looking at him. “Yeah,” he finally stuttered out, “but I just bought weed. Honey, I just bought weed…”
“We don’t care what you bought, Larry. Who is your dealer?”
“A guy named Georgie…or that’s what he goes by anyways.”
“Did he talk to this guy Chuck while he was there?”
Larry drew his brows together and said, “You know what? They didn’t talk, but I was coming out of the bathroom when Georgie got there and he was sitting on the stool next to Chuck at the bar. I don’t know if they knew each other, or if they were talking at all…”
Dax sighed. “Did you text Georgie before you
got to the bar?”
“Yeah, I told him I was coming. I asked him for a ride home because I was getting dropped off…” Larry chuckled, nervously. “He told me to fuck off.”
Dax and Handsome exchanged a look. Hunter knew what they were thinking. Larry was an easy mark. If he pissed off either side, no one would care if he took a bullet to the head and disappeared. If he pulled off the task “Chuck” gave him, he would effectively get the evidence this man planted in the trunk to Trayvon, and Chuck could remain a ghost. Even if stupid Larry got a DUI on the way, or God forbid, wrecked the car and killed someone, that evidence would have landed in someone’s hands that Dax wouldn’t want it to be in. It was a brilliant plan, really, and it had almost worked. But now Dax knew that Larry’s “dealer” was in on it, and he wouldn’t be that hard to track down.
“You’re gonna call Georgie, Larry, and set up a meet,” Dax said.
Claire sat up straight in her chair. “What? No! He’s not.”
Dax didn’t look at her. Instead, he looked at Hunter. With a sigh Hunter stood up and said, “Claire, let’s go talk somewhere private.”
“And leave him here to be manipulated into doing something that could get him killed? No way.”
“Then I take him to jail and they kill him there. That’s almost a guarantee. Which will it be, Claire?” She looked like she wished she still had the pipe, but she stood up. Looking at Larry she said:
“Dad, don’t let them pressure you. You do what feels safest for you, okay?” Larry nodded, but he was looking at Dax, not his daughter. She stomped her foot before turning on her heel and heading for the door. Hunter tried not to smile as he followed her.
Hunter and Claire were in the room that he’d just had sex with Gigi in the day before. But he wasn’t thinking about Gigi. He was thinking about how hot Claire looked with fire in her eyes and her dimples creased in anger. “I thought you wanted to help him! You manipulated us. I should have called his attorney.”
Hunter sat down on the bed. Claire was pacing the room. “Can we sit down and talk about this?”
“There’s nothing to talk about. You’re a bounty hunter. That’s fine. You should have just done your job instead of making promises that you had no intentions of keeping. You’re just pulling him in deeper! He has a problem with drugs. That’s what gets him into trouble. But now his life is at stake because he got involved with you people!” Hunter chuckled and she stopped and glared at him. “You think this is funny?”
“No,” he said. “I don’t, really. I’m sorry. You just don’t seem to understand, Claire, that your father is involved in this up to his neck, and he was before I even caught him that night. He agreed to do something for a man he didn’t even know that could potentially piss off two of the most powerful clubs in this state.”
“Gangs!” she said.
“You can call Chaos a gang, but the Skulls are not a gang, they’re a club, and they don’t like people that refuse to make that distinction.”
“What are they going to do? Kill me?” Hunter didn’t say anything and she glared at him again before she resumed her pacing. He let her pace for several minutes and ultimately, she stopped again and said:
“He’s not a bad person. He just needs some guidance. He doesn’t think beyond this moment, right now, most of the time. He doesn’t get consequences.” Her eyes were filling with tears. “But he’s not a bad person. He’s genuinely remorseful for his actions…”
“After he gets caught.” Hunter thought Claire’s opinions of Larry were skewed and although he didn’t want to upset her any more than she already was, someone needed to open her eyes before he dragged her down with him.
“No, not just because he gets caught. He wants to be a better man, he really does. He’s just never had anyone to show him how. He doesn’t deserve to die a horrible death because some asshole tricked him into pissing off a gang or a club or whatever you want to call it. Do you know when I first found him, he stopped using drugs and got a real job?” Hunter shook his head. He knew that there was about a five-year spot in Larry’s rap sheet where he had no contact with the police in Massachusetts. Hunter just figured he’d gone out-of-state to be stupid. “He did. He went to meetings and I went with him. He was trying so hard to make amends. The people that own the inn that I run, they gave him a job working on their estate. He took care of their gardens and lawn and he did a really good job.” A tear rolled down her cheek and Hunter ached to wipe it off, but he stayed put on the edge of the bed and waited for her to go on. “We got news…really bad news…about my mom. I had to go to Italy and because he was on probation, he couldn’t go with me. He was really depressed and lonely while I was gone…”
“So, he started using, again.”
Another tear rolled down her face and she swiped at it with her hand before nodding. “Yeah. When I came home he was in bad shape. It was like starting all over again. He had weeks of sobriety, peppered with days or weeks of being wasted out of his mind. Every time he sobers up, he cries and begs me to forgive him. He’s genuinely sorry. He doesn’t want to be that way…it’s a disease and he doesn’t want to be sick.”
“Is your mom okay?”
Claire stopped pacing again. This time she sat down on the bed a few feet away from Hunter. She was silent for a long time before finally saying, “No. She died. While I was out of the country and not speaking to her for stupid things, she died.” The tears began to flow freely then. Hunter hated to see a woman cry, especially one that he cared for. He knew he was risking another slap, but he scooted closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. When she didn’t resist that, he pulled her close and let her cry into his chest. He didn’t move, other than to gently rub her arm. He wished that his body wasn’t reacting to touching her in a sexual way. He really did feel bad that her life seemed to be a mess, thanks to her wayward father. He really did want to just be a good person and give her a shoulder to lean on. But fuck, she was hot and her skin was so soft and she smelled like those roses in front of the bed and breakfast. His stomach was fluttering and his jeans were getting tighter across the front even as he tried to fight it.
After several long minutes, Claire pulled her head up and sat up straight. Hunter reluctantly dropped his arm to the bed behind her. Her eyes were everywhere except on his. She wiped at her face and he could see the color rising in her cheeks. She wasn’t used to depending on anyone other than herself and it embarrassed her that she’d had a weak moment. Hunter took her chin gently in his hand and forced her to look him in the eye. Those gorgeous eyes of hers put the lust he was feeling into overdrive, but unless she gave him some indication that she felt the same, he wasn’t going to act on it.
12
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“For what? You’re human. You’ve been through a lot. Sometimes we all need a shoulder to cry on.”
She smiled, sadly, and said, “I bet you don’t.”
Hunter chuckled. “You’d lose that bet. I lost someone close to me recently too, and without my family and my friends, I would have lost my mind. It’s okay to need people, Claire.”
“I know that. I need my dad.”
Once again, he risked her wrath by saying, “I don’t know you, or Larry, all that well. But just from what I’ve witnessed so far, I’m afraid that Larry is not the embodiment of what you were looking for.”
She shook her head gently. “He’s not,” she said, whispering again. “I feel so bad for saying that.” Her tears began running down her face again and once again, Hunter pulled her into him.
“You don’t have anything to feel bad about. Larry doesn’t know how to be a father, but that doesn’t mean he can’t learn. Just try not to give up too much of yourself in the process. He’s lost, Claire, and with your help, maybe he can find himself someday. But be careful not to get lost with him.” She nodded into his chest. They sat there silently again for a long time before she raised her head again. This time she shocked him by pressing her lips
into his. Hunter froze and she pulled back. Her face was crimson and she wasn’t looking directly at him again.
“Oh, Jesus, I’m sorry.”
“Hey, it’s okay…”
“No. I feel like such a fool. I don’t do this. I don’t kiss men that I don’t know. I don’t force myself on…”
Hunter laughed heartily at that and she finally looked at his face. “Oh, lady, you were so not forcing yourself on me. I’ve wanted you since the second I saw you. That night when you hit me in the head with that pipe all I could think about, before I passed out, were your eyes.”
She blushed deeper and looked mortified again. “Oh, God, I’m a mess.”
“No, you’re not. You’re a woman with needs and while you’re running around trying to make sure your father has what he wants and needs, you’re neglecting yourself. That’s not a line to convince you to have sex with me, I promise. It’s just a new friend giving you some advice. Claire, take care of yourself and your needs first, or you’ll never be able to manage his.”
She barely let him finish talking before pressing her lips to his again. Unable to contain himself anymore, Hunter took her face into his hands and pulled her in for a hot, passionate kiss that set his blood on fire. As they kissed he felt her hands run down his back, massaging and trying to feel him through his clothes. He kept kissing her as he laid her back on the bed. He wanted to touch her body so badly, but he had to be sure that she was ready first. He pulled out of the kiss and they looked at each other as they both sucked in shaky, shallow breaths.
