“Thank you for the bath,” I said.
“Anytime,” he said, smirking.
He tucked a strand of hair back behind my ear before we slowly scooted from underneath the covers. We pulled our clothes back on, and I threw my hair up into a bun, hoping to cover up my disheveled appearance from Emery. The last thing we needed was her asking questions before the both of us had figured out how to tell her about Hawk.
“I gotta go take care of some club stuff tonight,” he said.
“I thought Sundays were rest days for the group?” I asked. “That not the case anymore?”
“For the group, yes. But, I’m part of the leading team now. Sergeant In Arms.”
“Hawk, are you serious?” I asked, smiling. “That’s great! That’s so great.”
“Yeah. Sunday’s a rest day, but the core group takes that day to do inventory in the mechanic's shop and the bar, stock up shit, count tills, pay bills, talk about upcoming events. You know, boring shit.”
“Oh. Yeah. Boring shit,” I said as I rolled my eyes.
His chuckle fluttered up the back of my neck as his hands trailed up my arms. I felt every single hair stand on end as his hot breath hit the back of my neck. He leaned his lips into my skin, ghosting them against my shoulder before planting them on my cheek. I shivered at his touch and could feel him grinning into my skin, his eyes taking in the physical reaction his touch ensued in me still.
“I feel the same way,” he murmured into my ear.
We went downstairs, and I saw Hawk kiss Emery. She wrapped her arms around his neck, begging him not to go. He hugged her and pulled her up from the couch, her legs wrapping around him while she clung to him. My hand flew to my mouth in shock while I tried to keep my emotional tears at bay.
“I promise you when I get back you and me are gonna watch a movie,” he said.
“Promise?” she asked.
“Promise promise.”
“Can we eat ice cream while we watch the movie?” she asked.
“Of course.”
“And can we watch Beauty And The Beast?” she asked.
“Whatever you want, princess.”
The word flew from his mouth before he could catch it and I stood, eyes wide, as I watched Emery’s reaction. Her nose crinkled up as she turned the word over in her head, silently debating on whether or not that was a good thing. She looked at Hawk curiously as his eyes darted over her shoulder, and for the first time in my life, I could see fear brewing behind his eyes.
This tall, strong man-- who could fist fight like none other and shoot a gun with greater accuracy than a sniper-- was petrified of the reaction a six-year-old girl was about to have.
But the moment a smile bloomed on her face, we both visibly relaxed.
“I like that. Call me that more often,” she demanded.
“All right,” he said, chuckling. “I can do that… princess.”
She giggled and placed a kiss on the tip of his nose, and I could’ve sworn I saw his heart lurch from his chest. He hugged her close, burying his face into the nape of her neck just like he would do me. I watched his back expand with the breath he was taking, memorizing the way she smelled before he finally put her back down on the floor. I knew at that very moment we had to tell her. I didn’t care when, where, or who was involved, but we had to tell her.
We had to tell Emery that Hawk was her father.
He kissed her one last time and put her down before he threw me a look. He came up and planted a barely-there kiss on my cheek, but my hand cupped the back of his neck. I drew my lips up to his ear as I felt his shoulders pull taut, no doubt worried that Emery was watching us.
“Soon,” I whispered. “We’ll tell her soon.”
I felt his forehead press into the side of my face as he smiled. I kissed his cheek lightly before I stepped off to the side, then turned and watched him walk out the door. His leather jacket spanning the length of his back as I hurried for the window. I watched him bring his bike around from the corner, which told me right there the paranoia he was working under. Emery was laying back down on the couch, stretching and groaning as she tried to wake herself up further, but my attention was elsewhere.
My attention was on Hawk driving down the road, leaving us behind at the house while we were being stalked.
“I really need to get his number,” I murmured to myself.
I almost stepped away from the window until a dark movement caught my eye. I looked down the road that Hawk had just traveled, squinting as I tried to figure out what was happening. There was something slowly creeping up the road, rolling down the pathway. I thought someone might be out of gas, or their car might have stalled, and I thought about checking the garage for something I could use to help them with. I was no stranger to car troubles with the rickety mom-van Hawk let me park in his garage, and most of my fondest memories of my father surrounded him teaching me all he knew about mechanics.
The great thing about me owning a shit car was the fact that I knew how to fix everything in it.
But as the vehicle slowly approached, I felt that same bubble of dread waft up my throat. I felt Emery hug my leg, her tired face buried into my side as I ran my fingers through her hair. I allowed the curtain to flutter back over the window, leaving only a sliver I could look through as the looming vehicle slowly rolled up the road.
That damn black sedan was back.
Only this time, it parked itself right outside the house.
Chapter 9
Hawk
Tonight was a very important night. Even though the shipment wasn’t due for another week and a half, I had to go to the warehouse to finalize everything with the truckers. I needed to make sure they were getting paid, I needed to check the schedule and make sure the drivers for the night before the shipment were the ones I requested, and I needed to iron out any kinks that might be happening in the plan. The shipment was never the issue because we always prepared so far in advance, but making sure that preparation paid off was a massive deal.
And it was one that was always tasked to me.
I rode up to the warehouse and was promptly met by the manager. He came over and greeted me with a handshake before he ushered me into his office. I needed to take a look at things: schematics, shipment number, crate numbers, schedules. He had everything laid out for me to make it easier, so I sat down and took my time looking over everything.
I double-checked crate numbers with what I had in my files and triple-checked all the payment records. It was important to us that those involved in helping us got paid their due. It’s how you created long-term relationships when working these types of ventures.
But I had to admit, that black sedan was still on my mind.
I hadn’t seen it while I was driving out of the neighborhood this evening, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t hiding around somewhere. I cursed not leaving my cell number with Syd, just in case she needed to call. I needed to remember to leave something on the fridge for her to see.
It was important that she could contact me in case of some sort of emergency.
“Everything looks good on this end,” I said. “Payment dropped into your account last night, right?” I asked.
“Yep. Asked all the workers, and they all got paid. They were all really happy, too. It was more than we were expecting,” he said.
“Well, we’ve got some discrepancies in our inventory. Nothing to do with you guys, it’s why we’re trying this type of route again. The extra money is to… incentivize the guys to keep their fingers off our things.”
“Understood,” he said. “I’ll pass the word on.”
“I would actually prefer it if you didn’t. I have a feeling the sticky fingers are actually within our ranks, and not coming from the outsiders helping us. I’m heading up this inventory count this time, so if we get all the stuff in and it’s all counted, and here, I can quickly rule out the outside workers without anyone knowing what I’m doing,” I said.
“Make sense. Sorry, you
’re having troubles.”
“It happens. I figured the boost in pay would help to incentivize a job well done in a week and a half,” I said.
“It most certainly will. Thank you for your confidence.”
“Not a problem. If this goes well, would you and the guys be open to negotiating some sort of…?”
“Most definitely,” the man said, grinning.
“Perfect. I’ll leave you to it, then. I’ll come back through a couple days before everything’s supposed to go down. Make sure you guys don’t need anything.”
“We’ll look out for ya,” he said.
“Oh, and one last thing,” I said. “There’s a worker here, goes by the name of Concrete?”
“Oh, yeah. Works just about every day, thank fuck. He’s a massive hulk of granite, hence the nickname.”
“He’s been hired by us for quite some time to look out for anything that might seem suspicious. Usually, we don’t say shit about this, but you seem like a guy I can trust.”
“You most certainly can, sir,” he said.
“If he reports anything weird back to me, your pay won’t be yanked. We don’t play that game. But he does have the authority to reroute as necessary, and let’s say his… muscles do a great deal of talking when people get in his way.”
I saw the man swallow hard and I knew I had his attention. I wanted to plant as many seeds as I could. Weeding out sticky fingers with outsiders required dropping seeds of information that even a toddler could piece together. We didn’t always work with the brightest of individuals, and if we got the entire shipment with everything intact after all I’d told this guy, I knew Talon, and I had to look towards our own club to figure out how the three boxes of ‘oil’ went missing.
“I understand completely,” he said.
“Good. I’ll be back in about a week,” I said. “There’s gonna be a truck that pulls up. The driver’s name is ‘Oceana.' Our merchandise needs to be loaded onto that truck as quickly as possible. The driver will take it from there. That’s all you guys need to do.”
“Got it. Keep an eye out for anything weird, unload the delivery truck, load up your truck, and send off Oceana.”
“If the driver gives you any other name, load him up with something else. Anything else. I don’t care what it fucking is. If the person driving that truck does not tell you his name is ‘Oceana,' do not give him our shit.”
“You know the driver’s a man? What if a woman tells us her name is ‘Oceana?” he asked.
“Good. I like a man that pays attention,” I said, grinning. “No. It’s a male driver. If it’s a woman, I don’t care if she gives you the right name. The driver has to be male, and the driver’s name has to be ‘Oceana.'”
“Got it,” the man said.
“Perfect.”
I walked down the warehouse and simply took a look around. I spotted Concrete, who did nothing to acknowledge the fact that he knew me. That gave me a bit of a worry. There was always something from Concrete. A nod. A salute. A cheeky little grin. He didn’t give you much, but he always acknowledged you if he knew you.
It was how I knew we were all on board.
But when he didn’t acknowledge me, I saw him staring off into the distance. I followed his line of sight and realized he was staring out towards the remote warehouse. I looked back at him, only to find him staring out at the road, and that’s when I knew what was happening.
He was trying to tell me something.
I put my sunglasses on and simply took a leisurely stroll. I kicked a few things around and slowly meandered by everyone, who gave me blank stares. A few nodded, a few grunted, but most just kept on with their work.
But all of them eventually flickered their gaze over to that damn warehouse.
I found my way down to the remote warehouse. It had been abandoned for the longest time until the place refurbished it and started using it as storage for the containers that never got picked up. Some companies would pick up their empty metal containers and reuse them, but some companies would simply abandon them. It used to clog up the warehouse, but now some millennial geniuses or whatever were taking these massive empty metal containers and turning them into affordable, livable homes.
I didn’t understand any of that bullshit. All I knew was that opening this warehouse meant containers stored in it were assumed to be abandoned.
Which made it easier to stash the types of goods we were pedaling if a shipment came in earlier than expected.
I looked around the abandoned warehouse, not really sure what I was looking for. I had my hand on my gun, ready to draw it at a moment’s notice. Whatever it was, all the warehouse workers we’d paid wanted me to know something was over here.
Which made me think something over here affected the work they were about to do for us.
I checked in every container and listened out for every sound. I checked in every corner and even shone a flashlight up into the rafters of this massive fucking building. I saw absolutely nothing that would give me any indication that this deal was going south. I saw no cameras, no wires. I didn’t find any bugs planted in any of the containers nor did I find even a person crouched down trying to hide from my presence.
What I did hear eventually, however, was the engine of a car strike up.
I cut my flashlight off and slowly made my way towards a crack in the building. The closer I inched to the sound, the more nervous I became. I scooted along the dark wall of the warehouse, hoping my shadow wouldn’t off anyone who might’ve been outside canvassing this exact spot.
But I didn’t have to get much closer to see the car making that noise.
It was that fucking black sedan again.
I cursed myself as I held my breath. With my footsteps light as silk, I strode out of the warehouse. The sedan didn’t move like it had seen me, which meant I had the upper hand. I knew it was there, but the driver of the car didn’t know I had seen them.
Which meant I could follow their asses and figure out what the fuck was going on once and for all.
I gave a small nod to each person as I passed. They did fucking good, and if I had anything to say about it, we’d be using them again soon. The manager looked at me with a worried stare as he stood beside Concrete, their faces turned towards me as I rounded for my motorcycle. I saluted them both, silently thanking him for doing exactly what we paid him to do.
To fucking watch over our shit when we couldn’t.
I kicked up the stand of my bike and ran it back around to the warehouse. I didn’t start it up, and I didn’t get on it. I only walked it into one of the containers. I waited, watching the shadow of the sedan as it slowly started to creep by, then I allowed the metal of the containers to bounce the sound of my motorcycle around, disorienting the driver of the sedan as I simply sat there.
I watched the car cruise back and forth, trying desperately to figure out where the hell the sound was coming from. I wanted to follow them. I wanted to figure out who the fuck was driving that car. If it was one of the Iron Souls, I needed to have a very long, intimate talk with them.
If it was the DEA, I needed to start informing The Road Rebels of what I’d taken on and the trouble it had brought our way.
We’d been careful. The sedan wasn’t for us. The Road Rebels took painstaking measures to make sure our shit was under control. But the Iron Souls shit was all over the news. Every time another person was caught and detained, there was some breaking news bullshit that scrolled across the television.
If the DEA really did know about Sydney, she was in a great deal of trouble. And I knew the DEA wouldn’t stop until they’d finally collected her.
Finally, I heard the sedan drive off. I waited for a few seconds before I slowly came inching out of the warehouse, sliding out behind them onto the main road. I kept a few car lengths behind, wanting the sound of blaring radios and car horns to mask my sound. I was going to follow them wherever they took me, no matter how long it put me on the road tonight.
; The more information I could work with, the better I could protect Syd and Emery.
If the driver of the sedan knew I was there, they didn’t seem to be phased by it. They drove the speed limit, they didn’t try any weird maneuvers to get away from me, nor did they try to stop themselves in the middle of the highway to get to me. I trailed along behind them, riding for twenty minutes up the highway before they finally exited. I rode up one more exit and wrapped around, trying not to look too conspicuous as I finally caught up with the sedan again.
I rode three cars behind it into a small town. The Nevada dust was kicking up with the wind that night, and I knew if they didn’t pull over I’d have to cut on my light soon. The single light shining on them would give away the fact that a motorcycle was behind their car, and the last thing I wanted was anything else giving me away.
Luckily, they pulled off and parked in the parking lot of a diner.
I crossed the road and cut off my bike. I walked it to the edge of an abandoned building, sitting myself there in the shadows. My black bike and my black leather jacket concealed me from being seen in the dark, and I sat for a little while and simply watched. They were parked, but they didn’t get out, and for a split second I thought maybe they knew I was there. They were waiting for me to make the first move or some shit, and a slight shiver slithered up my spine.
That was until they finally got out of the sedan, the two agents laughing with one another as they walked in.
I recognized them instantly. Those were definitely DEA agents. With their nice suits and clean-cut looks, there was no way they were a part of the Iron Souls. They were laughing and shooting the shit while I sat there and watched them, and I clocked the government license plate, memorizing the letters and numbers.
The next thing I needed to figure out was if there were multiple black sedans running around our Nevada town. I needed to know if the sedan I was looking at now was the same one stalking my house. If it were, then it would be easy to distract. Sydney would just have to lay low for awhile and not go anywhere. One black sedan meant the DEA wasn’t sure if she was here. It just meant they were merely scoping out places she could’ve eventually fled to.
Talon Page 45
