But still. It seemed like such a stereotype.
Then again, how much room did I have to talk? At least bikers usually had cool nicknames like Slayer and Demon and Rush. Meanwhile, my parents were classic hippies that found themselves out in the woods bird watching and decided to name me after one of their favorites. It was like they’d wanted me to have no choice but a life of crime.
You know how many legitimate businesses wanted to hire a guy named Hawk? Not many, I’d tell you that right now.
The door flew open and Collin’s grinning face filled it. “There you are, and just in time too. He finally stopped ranting and raving like a dumbass. Man, I swear I don’t understand people sometimes.”
He waved me in. I stepped inside, giving several of the bikers scattered around the bar a quick nod of acknowledgement. It didn’t take long for my focus to land on the reason I was here instead of in bed with my woman. Sitting in the middle of the scuffed, wooden floor was a single chair and an overweight man wearing boring, gray pajamas. His head shifted beneath the cloth sack over his head at the sound of Collin’s continued rambling.
“It just doesn’t make sense, ya know,” he was saying. “If you wake up to several people tying your limbs in place, shoving a hood over your head, and loading you into the back of a vehicle without a word, what makes you think that screaming at them is going to change things?” He shook his head, truly put out at Captain Holt’s displeasure to being taken. “You know how many times he said”—Collin made his voice flat and monotone—”’Do you have any idea who I am?’ Can you believe that? Of course we know who he is, otherwise, we would’ve kidnapped the wrong fucking person. And why in God’s name is it still called kidnapping no matter how old they are? Because I can tell you right now that heavy ass motherfucker is not a kid by any stretch of the imagin—”
I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I will go on your stupid podcast with you if you shut the fuck up right now.”
He blinked. Grinned. Stepped away from me and headed towards the bar.
I shook my head, watching him go as I stopped in front of Holt.
My fists clenched at my sides and my pulse climbed to a dangerous degree. I took a deep breath and let it out. As good as it would feel to paint my knuckles red with his face, it would be a temporary solution. He didn’t need a beat down, no matter how much I wanted to give one out. He needed to know what would happen if he ever, ever, crossed me again.
Yes, I could kill him right this moment and not lose any sleep over it.
The bikers in the room wouldn’t blink, although I’m sure the Prospect they found to clean up the mess afterward might not be too happy. But that would leave a hole in the system. Like it or not, disappearing government lapdogs came with more attention than any of us wanted. That was the kind of shit that got task forces deployed and brought federal agents to town to knock on doors.
So, he’d live. At least for now. If our little talk didn’t inspire him to never fucking step out of line again then that would change. Quickly.
Once the urge to watch the life drain from his eyes passed, I reached out and pulled the hood away.
He blinked several times, adjusting to the brightly lit space. I knew when he realized who stood in front of him. The same man who barely had any emotions beyond bored and annoyed went pale as a sheet until he matched the mustache quivering above his lip.
“Hawk,” he said softly. Glancing around, he pulled his lip between his teeth. “What’s the meaning of this?”
My fist lashed forward without warning, catching him on the chin. Blood flew, splattering against the floor as his head whipped to the side. He cursed beneath his breath and I hit him again on the other side, harder that time. Might as well give him two matching bruises while I was at it.
I waited for him to finish shaking his head and spitting blood on the floor. Once he turned to face me again, red flecks staining his white mustache, I crouched in front of him, lifting a brow.
“So...” I glanced at my knuckles, absently brushing them off. “Are we going to skip the part where you pretend you don’t know why you’re here? Or should I rearrange your face until it jogs your memory?”
He spat at my feet, flat eyes filled with the slightest tinge of bravery. I jerked forward like I was about to hit him again and the farce disappeared. He closed his eyes, shrinking back.
“You’ve spent too much time behind a desk, Holt. How long has it been since you did more than order around your little minions?”
His mouth opened but I raised a hand.
“Don’t answer that,” I said. “I’d rather know what you thought would happen when you put your hands in the cookie jar. As if no one would be watching you.”
I hadn’t been watching him because I was too busy being a fucking idiot, but that wasn’t the point.
He dipped his head, wiping his chin against his shirt. “With you gone, there was no reason to leave the money on the table. So yeah, I stepped in on a few of your deals, offering extra protection in exchange for a bit of compensation on the side. This job has been driving me to an early grave. And you know how much I get paid for this shit?”
“Not enough, I’m guessing. That’s the problem with civilian life though, isn’t it? You kill yourself for a pittance and then hope your body is still in one functioning piece by the time you actually retire.”
His eyes narrowed. “Then you know exactly why I did what I did.”
I stood to my full height, glaring down at him. Punching him those first two times was a mistake. I didn’t regret it, but it did lower my inhibitions when it came to doing more. And if I went further, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop myself.
Besides, this shit was pitiful. He was old, overweight, and tied up. Even without that last factor, he wouldn’t be a match for me. There wasn’t any joy in bullying someone helpless.
“I know,” I agreed. “It must have felt good to be able to take the kids out on the boat for vacation. To buy that house out in the nice suburbs. To get you and your wife a new car.”
He paled more and more with each sentence until I was looking at a ghost instead of a man. His breathing picked up, and I narrowed my eyes. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have a heart attack before the bruises faded at least.
“How?” he whispered.
I paced back and forth in front of him, scratching at the stubble coming in along my chin. “I don’t get it. Did you think no one would notice? Did you think with me out of the picture that you could just do whatever you wanted?”
Holt glanced around the bar, eyeing the array of bikers with disgust. “Everyone knows that the Sinners don’t give a damn about petty crime. As long as no one was getting murdered in the streets, I thought they’d mind their own damn business.”
Collin raised a glass behind the bar, throwing back a shot of something. “That’s where you’re wrong,” he called out. “The entire city is our business. Including fat idiots who consider themselves being sneaky when they suddenly start walking around town with brand new shit.”
I sighed. “It’s always greed isn’t it.”
“You made your point,” Holt spat. “Let me go already. We both know that if you were going to kill me I’d already be dead.”
“Accurate. But I’m not done with you.” I grabbed his hand, bending his index finger back. He struggled futilely against his restraints, legs kicking as the joint protested. “Be very careful what you say next. Why did you set up Jasmine?”
He panted, red in the face with exertion. “A distraction! Okay? I was in my car that night, sitting across the street minding my own business when I saw Jasmine walking towards the precinct and that bum behind her.”
Red tinted my vision. I was barely aware of the snap his finger made or his pitiful cry as I leaned into his face. “And you didn’t think to help her?”
“I was getting out right when you showed up! Then you went crazy on the guy and I knew I had a chance.” Tears wet his cheeks and I let him go, disgusted. “When I
heard you were only getting three years, I knew I was going to need some time before I tied up my loose ends and handed in my resignation. I figured you’d chase her around, terrorize her a bit, and by the time you knew the score I’d be long gone.”
“And what if I hadn’t stopped there, Holt?” Don’t strangle him. Do not do it. “You made me think she turned me in.”
“Give me a break,” he hissed, rocking back and forth in pain as he tried to avoid looking at his finger bent the wrong way. “You’ve been a thorn in my side since you were a boy, but you ain’t never hurt a woman in your life.”
I pushed away from him, sucking in oxygen that wasn’t stained with the smell of blood. It just made me want to draw more. “Your endorsement isn’t going to save you.”
“From what?”
At my hard stare, he sighed, dejected. Watching him crumple in on himself should’ve filled me with a sense of victory. But I mainly found myself wanting to get back to Jasmine and put this behind us. I decided then and there that the first thing I was going to do would be to bury my nose in her hair and inhale until I got Holt’s stink out of my sinuses.
“You’re going back to work,” I told him. “And you’re going to keep working until you either die or get replaced. You’ll keep your officers out of my way—”
“Our way!” Collin chimed in.
I briefly closed my eyes, praying for patience. “What he said. If you or anyone you’re involved with so much as farts and I don’t hear about it, I will take everything from you. Do you understand me? You’ll be living out of a cardboard box, and if I show your wife the pictures we have of some of the clubs you’ve been attending after hours, that cardboard box is going to be looking awful lonely.”
“What about her?”
I shrugged. “Jasmine is her own woman, and she can do whatever she wants. But on the off chance I find out that you gave her a hard time, breathed on her wrong, didn’t allow her time off...”
“Alright,” he growled, mustache trembling. “I get it.”
I clapped him on the shoulder hard enough to pull another grunt from him as I passed by. “Glad we’re on the same page, Holt. Now don’t fuck up and make me kill you.”
Collin watched me approach, wearing his perpetual smirk. He pushed a tumbler of amber liquid my way, but I slid it back.
“I’m heading back to my girl,” I said. My voice lowered. “But...thank you. For keeping an eye on things like you did. For giving me the info I needed.”
His smile slipped, but he bumped his fist against mine. “Don’t thank me yet, man. It was the smart thing to do. Besides, you know nothing in our lives is ever free.”
My attention sharpened. “Then what’s the cost?”
“Right now?” He spread his hands across the bar. “Nothing. We did you a favor and now you owe the club one back. Maybe Creed and the rest will cash in on it tomorrow or maybe they never will.”
“You didn’t think about sharing that before I called you?”
The grin returned full force. “And miss the chance to have this over your head? I don’t think so. We’re cool, Hawk, but you know where my loyalty will always be.”
My mind began putting together other offers and contingencies that might get me out of this favor in the future. Then I hit the brakes. Whatever might happen, the odds of it happening today were astronomically low. I didn’t like procrastinating, but on this, I’d worry about it later.
I knocked my knuckles against the bar. “See you around. Will you make sure you put our friend back before someone misses him?”
He mock-saluted. “Consider me on it. Well, not me me. What’s the point of having lackeys if you don’t let them do the leg work?” Collin put his fingers between his lips and whistled. “Gather round, boys! Daddy’s got some work for ya.”
I left to the sound of muttered cursing, very aware that there was a debt hanging over my head.
But the moment I was back in the car, I forgot all about it. I needed two things to complete this day and that was all I cared about. Breakfast and my woman in my arms.
That couldn’t come soon enough.
Chapter Seventeen
Jasmine
“Oh my goodness gracious,” I cooed to the bundle of fluff in my arms. “How did you get to be so dang cute? You get even cuter every time I look at you!”
Lucille—my chihuahua and pug mix—stared up at me without a care in the world beyond the fingers running through the black and white fur around her neck.
We’d been perched on the sofa together watching baking shows since I’d managed to get up long enough to retrieve her from Mrs. Nelson. My bed called to me, my body worn out from the gymnastics Hawk had put me through last night. Except I knew that if I laid back down I’d be out for the count, and I wanted to have breakfast with Hawk with a need that scared me a bit. It had little to do with how hungry I was—starving—compared to how badly I hoped he kept his word.
He had his world and I had mine. I appreciated that he told me what he was going to do, but that didn’t mean I wanted him to get sucked back into things on my behalf, either. Balancing our lives around our budding...relationship was always going to be a task, and I had to hold onto hope that we meant enough to each other that we could figure it out no matter what speed bumps we hit along the way.
Lucille’s ears perked up a moment before three knocks came at the door in rapid succession. My face had already split into a grin before a deep voice said, “It’s me.”
“Come in!” I called excitedly before the idea that I would need to unlock the door caught up.
Or maybe I wouldn’t. The knob turned in the next moment and Hawk stepped through, looking as delicious as ever while he shut the door behind him and placed a small, blue key in the fruit bowl sitting near the entryway.
I laughed at the ridiculousness of it since there was really no point in being upset. “Is that mine?”
“Yes,” he admitted shamelessly, lips quirking. “You were supposed to stay in bed, and I needed a way to get back in.”
“Oh, that was an order?”
“Yes.” His eyes flashed and my body responded, heart pounding as heat curled low in my belly.
I lifted one shoulder and let it fall. “Whoops.”
He moved closer and I noticed he had a hand behind his back.
“You’re going to pay for disobeying me, you know?”
“Yeah, yeah.” I waved a hand through the air right as the smell of something delicious reached me. “Give up the goods already. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
He chuckled and brought his arm around, flashing an over-sized, brown paper bag that smelled like heaven and had a bit of grease around the edges. I nodded in approval at the name of the local place stenciled along the side, and Lucille wagged her tail, agreeing with me.
“Is this the legend I’ve heard about?” Hawk asked, setting the bag on the table as he sat down beside me.
“You’re damn right. This”—I held her up, almost losing hold of her as she strained towards him—”is my sweet, sweet Lucille. First of her name, protector of the realm, eater of all things that even vaguely smell like food.”
“I see...” Hawk scooped her into his arms with ease. She looked even smaller than normal tucked against his chest as he scratched the corner of her ear until her tiny foot bounced in excitement. “Nice to finally meet you, Lucille. You’re as beautiful as the woman who takes care of you.”
Before that exact second, I hadn’t known internal organs could speak.
Then my ovaries stood up and shouted, Have this man’s babies or else!
Which, let’s be honest, was jumping the gun a bit. But damn was it hard to ignore the desire that streaked through me. Had he not been cuddling my precious girl, and there wasn’t hot food ready to be stuffed into my face-hole, I would’ve tackled him then and there, slid his dick inside me, and rode him until day turned to night and into the next day.
Maybe more than that.
It would depend
on how long it took before my body completely gave out on me.
Those huge, tatted hands stroking her fur. Those arms cut from solid steel cradling her securely in their midst. Those gray eyes staring down at her, bright with emotion like he was genuinely pleased to see her and not just putting on an act for my benefit.
If there’d ever been a question whether or not I was completely, head-over-heels, hopelessly in love with this man, it went out the window right then. Crashed and burned. Got caught in a fiery explosion. Right before it met its untimely demise, a steamroller crushed the last bit of resistance from it.
I’m trying to say that the idea was deader than dead.
I cleared my throat and sat up, swiping at my mouth in case I’d drooled without noticing. “So, what did you bring us?”
His gaze landed on the bag, brows furrowing, but he didn’t stop petting Lucille. “Seeing as how I got there and realized I had no idea what you like to eat for breakfast, a little bit of everything. Pancakes, waffles, two omelets—one is vegetarian. There’s also bacon, eggs—”
I held out a hand, beaming from ear to ear. “Did I hear bacon?”
He smirked. “Not a calorie counter then?”
I tore into the bag, eager to reach the interior. “I love fruit, and I like plant matter about as much as it’s possible to like things that have no taste. But I’ve been active the majority of my life. Carbs were my first love affair, followed closely by meat.”
“What’s your favorite fruit? And if you say anything other than strawberries, you’re wrong.”
I arranged the containers on the table, stomach growling as the smells hit me full in the face. That done, I gave him the glare his comment deserved. “You’re kidding, right? Nothing beats the satisfaction of crunching into a delicious apple, although having them in a pie comes in a close second.”
“She isn’t serious, is she?” He lifted one of Lucille’s paws and wagged it back and forth in a no gesture. It took everything in me not to shriek at the pure cuteness overload. “Maybe we should try and reach a compromise.” He smiled at me. “Favorite lunch food?”
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