“I need to stop asking,” I commented, clenching my jaw.
She waved her hand in the air. “Expecting less than nothing from him has become the norm now. So, when he delivers exactly that, I can just laugh it off because I never expected anything more, and I’m not disappointed.”
“I expect a man to act like a father for his daughter.”
“Then your expectations are too high.”
“The scar, how have I never seen that before?” I questioned as she stepped outside the garage and into the sunlight. The way it fucking lit her up was like a goddamn angel. Something I’d spent years telling myself didn’t exist, and yet here one was standing in front of me.
“I discovered the joy of concealer and high-waisted clothing.” She grinned, the wind whipping through her hair as she spun around to face me. “When I go on stage, I always opted for something that came up a little higher. Eventually, that kinda became my thing.” The smile on her face was so bright, so full of fucking life that I couldn’t imagine how anyone walked away from her—her parents, her ex, just any fucking guy walking down the street. A better man would’ve walked away, realizing this fucking woman deserved so much more.
There was a strength in her that I couldn’t describe.
That up until this point, I didn’t even know existed.
She’d been fighting for so long with no one there to have her back. Until now.
Because thankfully, I wasn’t a better man.
And I wasn’t walking away.
“Is it safe?” Scoop called from the doorway, hiding his eyes.
“Yes, asshole,” I yelled back, flipping him off as I followed Missy out into the hot fucking sun. “You coming in? Or was your plan all along just to come by and use me for my body, then leave?”
She held her hands up, still backing away from me toward the road. “When I make a decision, I like it made quickly before I have the chance to overthink it too much and talk myself out of it.”
“Yeah?” I smirked, wondering how long she was going to play this before I caught her and dragged her back inside. “And what decision needs your urgent attention?”
“I’m meant to be picking Kadey up from Mrs. Dawson in an hour,” she answered, coming to a stop at the tall wire fencing surrounding the compound. “I figured that gave me and Gem enough time to swing by and see Mitchell and tell him in more ways than one where he can shove his job.”
She turned to run, but I caught her around the waist, pulling her back against me as she giggled.
“You girls are gonna take the barmaid jobs?”
“You always gonna act like a damn caveman?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll work on it,” she teased as a car pulled up at the curb, Gem grinning and waving from the driver’s seat. “I gotta go.”
I finally let her slip from my grasp, realizing that was the whole reason she’d come out here, to tell me she wanted the job and probably grab the contracts. But we’d quickly got distracted, and after having my hands and mouth on that fucking body, I knew it was going to become a regular fucking thing.
When you know.
13
MISSY
“So, I’ll see you Monday for work!” Gemma called, her excited laughter still filling the air as she pulled off down the street.
We’d worked our last shift at The Rush.
Apparently, the contracts we’d signed said we had to give a week’s notice, and because neither Gem nor I could be bothered with the shit Mitchell would start if we didn’t follow through, we worked our time out until the end.
Though, I shouldn’t have been surprised when he only made us work behind the bar and not get on the stage.
I think that part, in particular, may have had a little outside persuasion.
I considered protesting simply because it came as second nature to fight back when people tried to interfere in my life and the choices I made, but this time around, I had to admit I appreciated seeing Mitchell squirm, knowing Hawk had my back on this one.
Tugging my jacket tight around my shoulders, I scanned my keycard at the apartment doors and slipped through them, jogging up the stairs rather than waiting for the elevator. I wanted to get a couple of hours of sleep before Kadey got home, and it was currently 3:09 a.m.
Throwing my apartment door open, I went through the motions.
Closing all the locks.
Kicking off my shoes.
Hanging up my bag.
Tossing my jacket over the back of the sofa.
Then, it was time to take this face full of makeup off.
I caught the movement out of the corner of my eye before I saw the body. He was dressed entirely in black—shoes, pants, and a long-sleeved turtleneck he had pulled up over his mouth and nose, his icy blue eyes and the short blond hair on his head the only two identifying characteristics.
My heart stopped for a second, my entire body freezing as he slipped out from the bathroom. Our apartment was tiny. Both the bedrooms and bathroom came directly off one side of the living room, so we were suddenly standing in the same space.
A strange man.
In my apartment.
“Where is she?”
“Who—” He launched forward, and I jerked back, my back hitting the wall hard and knocking the air from my lungs but also halting my escape. He grabbed a chunk of my hair in his fist and pulled my head forward before slamming it back against the wall.
I felt the plasterboard crack, and a painful jolt shot down my spine like I’d been hit by lightning. Squeezing my eyes closed, I tried to fight past the throbbing pain while he moved away again. Doors opened and slammed closed again. “Where is she!”
Fighting the urge to vomit, I forced my eyes open again, watching him destroy my house through my hazy vision. Keeping my mouth shut, I slowly inched along the wall, using it for support as my body shook. My flight or fight instincts were battling against one another.
I’d just flicked over four locks on my front door. There was no way I could get them undone before he caught me. So essentially, flight was now off the cards.
Inhaling deeply, I tried to slow things down a little.
I needed to be smart.
He was bigger than me.
If he got hold of me, he’d have the upper hand for sure.
I had to put something significant in between the two of us, so if he came at me, there would at least be something to slow him down, and I would have time to react. “Where is who?” I finally questioned, taking another step backward, determined to make it into the kitchen. Our table was pressed into the corner of the room and backing myself into that would only give him the upper hand.
So, the plan? Put the kitchen island between us and find something fucking sharp.
“The girl,” he answered, coming out of her room and focusing his narrowed glare on me once again. I couldn’t stop the shudder that rushed up the back of my neck, his robotic voice like something I imagined hearing in a serial-killer movie, completely devoid of any emotion. “The little girl.”
Kadey?
He wanted Kadey?
My hand gripped the kitchen counter, and I used it to steady myself as my legs began to shake.
He wanted my baby.
It was like a shot of adrenaline straight into my veins. It was hard to explain that mama-bear feeling to a person who’d never experienced it. For me, it was feeling more comfortable having Kadey in the house with me rather than when I was alone. The reason being that I knew, without a doubt, I’d do far more to protect my daughter than I would for myself.
If someone came for me, I was going to fight.
If someone came for her…
… I was going to kill.
“Why do you want my daughter?” I questioned, finally making it to the edge of the kitchen island. I purposely leaned into the hard surface, trying to make myself look less intimidating and more vulnerable. “She’s just a little girl. She hasn’t done anything.”
“Not yet,
” he answered, finally taking a step toward me. “But she’s going to do something great.” There was something deep and dark within his stare. It didn’t falter for a second, glued to me as I crept slowly, the kitchen counter now firmly between us. It was almost like he knew I wasn’t going to escape.
That was why he’d let me lock the doors and hang up my bag with my cell inside before he let me know he was here.
He wanted to make sure there was no escape.
No one to call.
This entire situation was calculated.
“What the hell are you talking about? Who are you?” I demanded, my voice cracking despite trying to keep my tone steady and calm like I wasn’t fucking petrified.
In my mind, I was trying to list the items in the house, things I could use as a weapon and could do enough damage to at least slow him down.
“She’s the chosen one.”
“Chosen for what?” My hand settled on the drawer handle, and I slowly edged it out, gritting my teeth as I reached inside. The cool metal handle of a butcher knife felt like heaven against my skin, but I didn’t risk rattling everything else inside to grab it.
He took another step toward me, and my stomach twisted.
I wanted to puke.
Or pass out.
Or both.
Fight.
You have to fucking fight because if he kills you, he’s going to leave here and go looking for Kadey.
If you don’t get out of this alive, you can’t protect her.
“Where. Is. She!” he finally snapped, stepping up to the other side of the island and slamming his hands down on the counter. “I’ll find her, one way or another.”
“Fuck you. You’ll never find her.”
That did it.
He leaped straight up onto the counter and rushed forward.
I jammed my hand in the drawer, wrapping my fingers around the knife and pulling it out just as his fist connected with my cheek. The force threw me to the right, and I slammed into the refrigerator, the sharp blade slipping through fingers before clattering to the linoleum floor. I dropped to my knees, blinking through the tears, my hand searching for that cold metal.
“Tell me,” he ordered, the floor beneath me shaking as he jumped down from the counter.
The knife!
It kept slipping from my grip, something slick coating my hand.
I was too focused on his footsteps as they came up behind me, holding my breath and fighting the urge to run.
“I’ll find her,” he whispered, grabbing my hair and jerking my head back so I was looking up at him. “With or without you.”
“Over my dead body.”
It only took a split second.
With one swift movement, I jammed the six-inch blade straight into the center of his stomach, burying it to the hilt with a warrior-like scream that I wasn’t expecting to come out.
He released me, stumbling backward. His eyes grew wide, the exposed whites glistening in the light while his mouth opened in closed like a fish out of water. I guess that’s kind of what he was. This man was trained to hurt people, trained to use his strength to get what he wanted from them. He wasn’t used to things going this way. He was a man who obviously never lost.
Until now.
The shocked look on his usually emotionless face was a little satisfying, though it changed quickly. Before I could get to my feet, he was rushing at me again, only now it was more of a desperate stumble.
The only thing near me was the fridge.
I opened it hard, and he hit it with a heavy thud.
The half-empty wine bottle in the door screamed at me, and I grabbed it by the neck, using the door to help me get to my feet, though my head was spinning and the room was tilting, making me feel like I was on some kind of ship.
“How dare…” He heaved, his words no longer sharp or strong. He clung to the counter, one hand wrapped around the knife handle like he was trying to decide whether or not to rip it out. His chest was rising and falling heavily, each breath looking like it was harder than the last. “They’ll come…” His legs slipped out from under him, his head connecting with the countertop on the way down.
The sound he made when he hit the floor was like nothing I’d ever heard before.
The thud of his lifeless body.
The squeak of the linoleum as his shoes slipped through the blood.
I held the wine bottle like a weapon, slowly stepping back toward the door, watching him carefully, though I was fairly sure at this point I could no longer see his chest moving. I didn’t put my weapon down, though. I kept it at the ready until I got to my handbag and reached inside. My phone was hard to grab, and when I finally managed to pull it out, I realized just how much blood was on my hands, though I really had no idea whose it was.
His or mine.
“Dammit!” I cursed, struggling to get the screen to work but finally managing to pull up his name.
The second I even saw it on the screen, I sucked in a sharp breath, tears breaking free.
They will come.
The man’s words resonated in my head, but I knew one thing for sure.
Hawk would fix this.
He’d come and fix this.
He would keep Kadey safe.
I put the phone to my ear, counting the rings and trying to hold my breath, so when he finally answered, I could actually speak.
“Hey, baby.”
A sob escaped my mouth that I couldn’t stop. “I killed someone.”
His response was instant.
“I’m coming.”
14
HAWK
I killed someone.
It wasn’t the statement but her broken voice that resonated in my head as I broke every fucking speed limit and traffic violation humanly possible to get to her apartment.
My boys rode behind me, six Harleys roaring through the streets of Detroit and two blacked-out SUVs carrying weapons and other essentials that I thought we may need, given the fucking state of Missy over the phone.
She couldn’t talk, couldn’t say anything other than I need you and I need to find Kadey.
The fact that it was the dead of the night meant we would be getting there in possibly half the time we would have if we’d been contending with traffic. The guys pulled up onto the curb behind me, Bishop, Scoop, Cain, Blue, and Drew lining up their rides with mine, directly in front of the apartment doors, while Ian and Bounty pulled the vehicles into the handicapped parks at the curb.
Thankfully, the apartment building had keycards, but residents could also buzz the door from upstairs.
I threw open the back of one of the SUVs and grabbed hold of the shotgun I’d tossed in, my brothers following suit. If there was anyone in this fucking apartment with her, they were coming out in pieces.
In one swoop, I dragged the heavy weapon from the trunk and let it hang by my side as I pulled out my cell and hit call.
It barely rang once before she answered. “Hi.”
“Let us in, baby.”
The door buzzed before I could even finish, and I kept the call open, taking two stairs at a time to the second floor. The pounding of boots coming up behind me echoed loudly against the walls like a fucking army going in to battle, which wasn’t far from the truth.
Missy and I weren’t officially anything, yet my brothers were coming up behind me armed and ready to do whatever the fuck they had to do to protect her.
It could be because they knew how much she had begun to mean to me. Or maybe because of how much she’d begun to mean to them.
And then there was Kadey.
The kid had these men wrapped around her sassy little finger.
Missy’s door was already cracked when we reached her apartment, her face just peeking through the gap.
I tucked my phone back in my pocket and pressed my hand to the door. “Baby…” It slowly swung back, the light from the hallway illuminating her face. “Motherfucker,” I cursed, seeing the darkening bruise across her ch
eek and the swelling around her eye. There was a split in the corner of her mouth, and her hair was a mess, matted and sticking up all over the place.
But it was the blood that had me standing taller.
“Your blood or theirs?” I ground out through my teeth.
“Both, I think.” She lifted one of her hands, and it was completely stained red. I reached out, pulling it closer and instantly noticing the deep slice in the side of her pointer finger.
“Cain, call doc, tell him to meet us at the clubhouse,” Bishop ordered, assessing the wound over my shoulder. “That’s gonna need stitches, Miss.”
Her eyes fluttered down to where I was still holding her hand, and she huffed. “I honestly didn’t even notice.” She was fighting it, trying to keep her chin high, trying to keep her shit together, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before the rush was gone, and the crash came.
And when it hit, it was going to hit hard.
“Well, you’re gonna notice very soon when that adrenaline wears off,” I answered, slowly directing her backward into the apartment so we could get out of the hall. The last thing I needed right now was for someone to see us armed and call the fucking cops. “How’d you cut this?”
She frowned, tilting her head to the side as she studied the wound. She was dazed and in shock. I wanted to wrap her up and promise her it would be okay, but first, I needed to make sure the situation was sorted, so I knew she was safe. “Probably when I grabbed the knife from the drawer.”
Fuck me.
“Okay, where’s the knife now?”
She pointed to the kitchen, and at first, I couldn’t see what she was trying to show me, so I finally let her hand go and stepped carefully around her and into the kitchen, trying my best to avoid the blood that was smeared across the 1990s linoleum, so it wouldn’t get on my boots.
“Fucking hell,” Blue muttered, shaking his head as he walked in from the other side of the counter, both of us seeing him at the same time.
Twisted Steel: An MC Anthology: Second Edition Page 49
