“That’s gonna be fucking expensive, Prez” he said.
“I don’t give a fuck, and while you’re at it, have the restaurant windows replaced, too. The club makes enough money to cover it. A big part of our income comes from paying customers who frequent the bar and restaurant. We were fuckin’ lucky last night that no one was injured.”
“Lucky if anyone comes back,” Jumper commented beneath his breath. Jumper was the youngest member at the table and had just been patched in the month before.
They would be back. Our place drew in those who were rebelling against society and their boring lives. They came here looking for excitement, too stupid to realize the danger. The girls were always seeking out a brother to fuck so she could go back, wherever that was, and brag about it, while the men came hoping they were big enough and bad enough to get a shot at club status. Some made it.
Most didn’t.
“Have faith, brother.” I said, grinning. “I want you to help Snake clean up the bar. We’ll get some of the girls to chip in, too.”
“What about the club windows, you want those replaced, too?”
There was a fucking grin on Rock’s face that told me he was kidding. He knew the brothers would never go for that shit. We weren’t pussies. If anyone dared attack us at the rear they would be dead before reaching the street. “Scared, brother?”
My comment drew snorts from some of the others, which he didn’t appreciate. “Fuck, no,” he snapped.
“We’ll hold church tomorrow at two.” I stood up, my signal that church was over. I needed to find Audra and set up some rules. She couldn’t be allowed to just wander around the fucking club at will. It was too dangerous, for her and for us. Until I was sure she was who she said she was she’d have to be watched.
I found her in the back in the club house sitting at the bar with a plate of breakfast in front of her. Lynn was behind the bar, cleaning glasses and straightening up. The conversation between them was the kind you’d expect to hear from two people getting to know one another. Lynn was forthcoming, answering without thinking. She had nothing to hide. Audra, on the other hand, seemed to think about what she was going to say before she said it.
Lynn finally glanced over and saw me watching them from the doorway. “Morning, Prez! Would you like a plate of food?”
I gave her a chin lift and she quickly dropped her cleaning rag and disappeared the back way into the restaurant’s kitchen. Audra slowly swung my way, nibbling on a piece of toast. The glimmer of humor in her eyes put me on guard.
“Morning, Prez,” she said in a teasing tone. “Just the man I want to see.” I crossed my arms, refusing to let her cheery fucking attitude get to me. She wanted something, I could tell. “Relax, Hawk. I just have a question.”
I stepped closer to her and reached over her shoulder. As soon as I did it I realized it was a fucking mistake. Her clean, floral scent assailed my senses, turning my dick hard. I didn’t fucking like the effect she was having on me. Clenching my jaw, I grabbed a piece of toast off her plate and pulled back. I met her curious eyes before dropping mine to her mouth. It looked smooth and fucking soft, and when her small, pink tongue came out I nearly said to hell with it and grabbed her. The powerful urge to kiss her came from nowhere.
I knew that if I kissed her it wouldn’t be the slow, sweet kind.
Thank fuck Lynn came back into the room at that moment.
“Here ya go, Prez.” She set a plate down that was piled high with scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. “Coffee?”
I gave her a brief nod, my focus on Audra. “What the fuck do you want to ask me?” I took the stool next to her.
Her smile widened. “I was thinking, as long as I’m here, maybe you could put me to work or something. I don’t have any money of my own, and I’ll go crazy with nothing to do.”
I took a hefty bite of eggs, not about to admit that I’d been thinking the same thing. “What can you do?”
She shrugged. “It’s been a while, but when I was in high school I waitressed and cleaned offices.” My brows furrowed. High school was a long time ago. What had she been doing since? She must have guessed what I was thinking, because she added, “I met Dane while cleaning his office one night. I guess you can say he swept me off my feet. I was young and he was larger than life. All of a sudden he was taking me to swanky places and buying me expensive gifts.”
“He paid to fuck you.” I watched her expression change as she contemplated my comment. “He take your virginity?”
Audra winced at that. “I thought I loved him. He was good to me. I had no clue what kind of man he was until that night.”
I took a sip of coffee. “He killed, he had his reasons. We’re no fucking different, Audra. We kill to protect our club. We kill to protect what’s ours.”
She seemed to think about that. When her gaze lifted to mine I could see the confusion in her eyes. “Then why am I here, Hawk? I know you think that I’m a threat to your club, so why haven’t you killed me?”
I exhaled a deep breath, looking deep in her eyes. She wasn’t going to like what I was about to say but that was too fucking bad. “Too many unanswered questions, and I’m not done fucking you yet.”
Her eyes grew round. “And when you get the answers you’re looking for, and you’re done fucking me, what then?” she demanded in a challenging tone.
I wanted to smile, I fucking did. Nothing turned me on more than the thought of a good fight, and the color flushing Audra’s face, the sparkle in her flashing eyes, told me that she was gearing up for one. She turned toward me on her stool, the anger coming off her in waves.
“So you’re no better than Dane,” she hissed.
I saw something else in her eyes, an emotion she couldn’t hide. She was hurt and trying to disguise it. I knew that I was a bastard. I’d spent too many years not giving a fuck, not caring enough, and all because of a woman I’d given everything to. Betrayal and the destruction it had caused ran too fucking deep in my blood.
Audra wasn’t Sonya. Yet it was fucking hard tearing down walls and breaking old habits. The fact that I was giving Audra more than I had any other woman showed me that she was getting to me. I couldn’t afford to let her but when she was in my bed, naked and sweet-smelling, all I could fucking think of was possessing her, all of her.
We’d strayed way the fuck off what we’d started out talking about. Aware that Audra was staring at me with eyes shooting rays of death, I picked up a piece of toast and took a large bite of it. I fucking hoped Fox found out what the connection was between her, her bastard ex, and Covacks fast so I could deal with shit and turn her loose.
“There’s a lot of shit that needs to be cleaned up from last night. See Snake and tell him to put you to work.”
I could see that she was still angry, yet she was doing a good job of controlling it. At least she wasn’t slapping me across the face. After a few seconds passed she jumped from her stool. I let her walk away, a slow grin covering my face. I looked up to see that I had Lynn’s attention. Realizing that she was staring, she jumped and went back to work.
I was still chewing the last of my bacon when I went out to the bar. I briefly took in the shit that was going on as I continued through to the entrance door. Snake had three prospects cleaning up the broken window glass beneath the windows, while club girls were picking it off the furniture. Glass had fucking sprayed everywhere.
Pushing my way through to the outside, I found Audra sweeping the walkway directly below the windows. She barely spared me a glance before pressing her pretty lips and glancing back at the glass she had piled up. I grinned, stepping away. My brothers were scattered around the lot, doing a thorough sweep for evidence. Gradually they began to walk my way, shaking their heads to show me that they hadn’t found anything.
“Do we know if they found anything last night?” Painter asked when he reached me.
“If they did I would have heard from the fucking sheriff,” I replied. Fuller crossed my mind. That bast
ard I didn’t fucking trust. I caught Fox’s attention and gave him a chin lift to let him know that I wanted to talk to him. “When you’re doing your research, contact Wild Marauders and Dark Menace to see if they’ve had any trouble with Blue Knights, or heard anything about Covacks’ son being murdered.” He gave a sharp nod and kept going.
I knew both MC’s, knew their presidents Lynch and Stone. We did business with their clubs, often had each other’s backs and I trusted them. We thought a lot like, ran our clubs similar, didn’t take shit from anyone. Sure, we did illegal shit sometimes, but we kept our clubs free of drugs and had legitimate businesses to keep the IRS happy. Recently Lynch and Stone had acquired old ladies. I wondered how that was working out for them.
My gaze shifted to Audra. Fuck, no, wasn’t gonna happen.
“Hey, boss.” I looked at Big John, and waited. “Got a call from Dolly.” She owned a strip club in town. “She said Blue Knights were at her place last night, around the same fuckin’ time that we were hit. She heard what went down and thought we should know.”
“She give any names?” I crossed my arms.
He nodded. “Said they were all there at one time or another, couldn’t be sure who the fuck was or wasn’t at the time of the shooting.”
“I still want their prez.” I saw a flash of something in the distance, and kept my gaze trained on it until it was close enough that I could determine that it was a car. A fucking long black limo, and I knew that we were about to get a visit from Covacks. That meant one fucking thing to me that whatever he had to talk about, he wanted to see my reaction when he told me.
Word was he was fucking good at reading people.
If he didn’t like what he saw you were fucking dead.
My brothers noticed the car approaching and moved to my side and behind me in a show that they had my back. Covacks’ had his own moves and when he exited the car he was instantly flanked by two huge bodyguards, both carrying shotguns. I had no doubt that they were probably armed with other weapons they’d make visible at the first sign of trouble.
“I hope you don’t mind this impromptu visit.” A row of even, white teeth followed his comment, looking more like a snarl that a smile. Sharp, assessing eyes took in everything at once. “I see you’re prepared for trouble.”
“We’re always ready for trouble.” His grin didn’t fool me. “Just happen to be in the neighborhood?”
“Afraid not. Do you think you and I might talk inside where it’s more comfortable, and perhaps I could get a drink?”
His message was fucking clear. Our men were to remain outside in a kind of silent stand-off. Waiting to see the outcome of our talk? Maybe. But we were at my home, and I called the fucking shots. Corvacks was a wealthy, powerful man, but even he had to know he’d overstepped the limits of his authority.
“You want to talk, my brothers will be there.” His eyes hardened, I could tell he didn’t like it, but that was too fucking bad. I turned to head inside when I heard a sharp gasp.
I glanced at Audra, watching as her face turned white. She was staring at Covacks as if he was the fucking devil, and he was looking at her, too, but without the same horror. He seemed oblivious to her fearful reaction to him, his reaction more that of a man taking in the form of a beautiful woman. That is until his gaze finally reached her face. He frowned then, as if he were trying to figure out where he’d seen her before. I thought back to the picture Fox had shown me. She hadn’t been in the picture with Covacks and her ex, hadn’t recognized his name, but that didn’t mean that they hadn’t met at some time.
When Audra’s gaze moved past Covacks to me, the hurt and disbelief I saw reflected in her accusing depths set me the fuck back. She quickly spun around as if nothing were wrong and continued to sweep. I’d have to fucking deal with her later, after I got rid of Covacks. I moved, but he continued to stand there, his narrowed eyes on Audra. I didn’t like it one fucking bit.
“Problem?”
“No.” He began to follow me. “The woman, I thought I recognized her from somewhere.” I didn’t respond. He’d probably remember where in time, but I wasn’t fucking helping him. “She’s very beautiful.”
Yes, she was, even dressed in hand-me-down clothes that didn’t quite fit, her fiery hair a tumbled mess all around her. I shifted my gaze to the swell of her ass showing beneath her cut offs as I yanked open the door and let Covacks precede me into the bar. My brothers and his men followed in no particular order.
“Snake, a bottle and a couple glasses.” I led Covacks to a booth in the far corner, away from the mess. Rock joined us. The others took seats at some of the tables close enough to hear.
Snake set the bottle of Johnnie Walker down, two glasses, and walked away without a word. I poured a generous serving in each glass, handed one to Covacks, and watched him toss it back without a breath.
“Someone killed my son, Dominick.” He slammed his empty glass down onto the table.
So, it was finally confirmed. I wasn’t going to ask him how. The ring we’d found had been over-nighted to him. That alone wouldn’t have been enough proof that the charred body on the side of the road was his son. I wondered why he’d felt the need to tell me in person, unless he was looking for something. His shrewd eyes were narrowed, watching me closely, as if gauging my reaction to the news, before shifting over to my brothers. He was going to be disappointed if he was looking for a sign of guilt, because we weren’t fucking responsible.
“I heard your fucking club is responsible.”
Normally a statement like that would have been cause for me and my brothers to draw our weapons, but no one moved. I crossed my arms and stared Covacks down with nothing to hide. The man was unpredictable but fucking smart. Confronting our club personally, with as little backup as he had, took balls. Especially if he believed what he’d just said. My gut told me he didn’t, that he was a prick who enjoyed using the shock factor. What the fuck had he hoped to gain by that?
“If you believed that shit we wouldn’t be sitting here having this conversation,” I finally said, not taking my eyes off him.
“We were the fucking ones who told you what we saw,” Keg piped up in a pissed tone. “We—”
I held my hand up before he made it worse.
Covacks shrugged, smiling. “It wouldn’t be the first time someone tried to take the heat off themselves by discovering the scene and then implicating someone else.”
I was getting tired of his game. “Stop the bullshit and get to the fucking point of why you’re here.”
The smile slowly faded from Covacks’ face, his eyes turning to stone in a face that suddenly showed his advanced age. He leaned slightly toward me. If he meant to intimidate me he was fucking with the wrong man and club.
“I want the person responsible for Dominick’s death, because I have no doubts that the Blue Knights were paid by someone, and I’m willing to pay to find out. I’m going to offer you the same deal I offered Dark Menace.”
“And that is?”
“One million dollars.”
Fuck. Those were a lot of reasons to get involved. I didn’t look at my brothers, but I could see movement out of the corner of my eye. I sensed their heightened interest.
Covacks finally leaned back, reaching for the bottle of whiskey. He splashed more into his tumbler. “And just so we’re clear, I want him or her delivered to me alive. I want to be the one to end them.”
I wouldn’t want to be that someone. I still had my doubts that the Blue Knights were involved. “Blue Knights said they didn’t kill him.”
Covacks’s took a drink. “That may be. Once I have Dominick’s murderer, the rest will fall into place.” He sounded very confident.
I knew Covacks wasn’t waiting for me to accept. He’d put the offer on the table and it was our decision to make if we wanted to get involved. First, we’d have to put it to a vote. It wasn’t all about the fucking money. The club was one, a brotherhood. Dark Menace was no different. Apparently Covacks’ h
ad gone to them first. Stone would need to be called before any decisions were made.
Covacks got to his feet, motioned to his two goons, and left without another word.
Chapter 16
Audra
Ohmygod! Ohmygod! Ohmygod!
I quickly swung around in stark fear, moving the broom but not really sweeping, staring down but not really seeing. What was he doing here? I felt my heart rate pick up speed to the point that I began to worry I’d give myself a heart attack. I couldn’t breathe and I felt sick to my stomach, expecting to feel a hand on my shoulder at any second, pulling me back around to face my bleak future. How could Hawk, how could he?
Phantom Riders MC - Hawk Page 14
