Phantom Riders MC - Hawk (10 page)

I thought about the gruesome scene we’d come upon on our way home. Christ, if it turned out to be Covacks’ son there was going to be hell to pay. People would die. You didn’t take something from Covacks without starting a war. I’d made the call to him during church, telling him of our suspicions, and he’d taken the news with the deadly calm and cool indifference he was known for. There was nothing to do now but wait.

“So, what’s with the new chick? I heard she’s a looker.”

“She’s not here for the club.” The thought of her tight little pussy made me wish that she was. “Gonna be turned loose as soon as I know the club is safe from her old man.”

Snake’s brows rose. “She on the run?”

I nodded. “The man she’s running from wants her ass back, too. We’ve already had a run-in with a couple of his people.  Fox is looking into it now.”

“Oh, by the way, the naughty room is booked this weekend.”

The naughty room was easy money for the club, and the clients usually paid in cash because they didn’t want a record of the transaction. “What night?”

“All three, and by the same dude. His only request is he wants two girls every night and they’re to spend the whole night with him.”

I smirked. Not such an unusual request. Booking the special room was, though. The room and the services that were included cost a grand a night. The girls had to comply with everything the patron asked for, as long as it didn’t include physical contact or sex, unless the girls were okay with it. Most of the time they were, because it usually meant a huge tip for them at the end.

“Who booked it?”

Snake pulled out a ledger and flipped the pages before coming to one and stopping. He glanced up at me. “Percy Dubois, paid up front, too.”

The name didn’t mean anything to me. My cell vibrated in my back pocket and I reached for it, watching the group of people who were just walking into the place. They were dressed up and looked as if they were coming in from a celebration somewhere else. Glancing down, I noticed that the call was from Fox. I turned my back on them. “Yeah?”

“Got some news on Winthrop.”

“I’ll be right there.” The computer room was back in the club area next to our meeting room. I cut through the kitchen, came out where the brothers hung out, passed the restrooms and continued down a smelly hallway. I knocked only to let Fox know that I was there. “What have you got?” I asked, pushing his door closed behind me.

He nodded for me to come over to where he was sitting in front of his computer. “Take a look.”

I leaned over his shoulder and looked down at the screen. He’d pulled up an article, but my eyes were drawn to the pictures embedded in it.
No fucking way.
“Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?”

There was no hesitation in Fox’s response. “Yep. The article suggests these two are business partners.”

“This shit just keeps getting better and better,” I mumbled beneath my breath. I skimmed over the article. “What else have you got?”

Fox released a deep sigh. “Except for this little surprise, it appears that Dane Winthrop is an upstanding guy.  No arrests, no complaints, nothing to indicate that he’s on anyone’s radar. Owns a few casinos in Vegas, brings in a lot of revenue.” Fox glanced up at me. “Nothing to indicate he’s dirty.”

I thought for a minute, grinding my teeth at the possibility that Audra had played me for a fool. But then, the men Winthrop had sent after her hadn’t been playing around. “Anything on his girlfriend?”

Fox turned back to the computer. “Not much. Dude’s pretty private about his personal life, but there are pictures.” He was scrolling as he spoke. “Real looker.”

I leaned in to get a better look. There was a grouping of photos of Winthrop and Audra, both dressed to the nines and attending some charity function. Audra looked like a fucking princess in her sparkling evening gown, dripping in jewels, all that red hair piled up in a cluster of sexy curls on top of her head. I had to admit that they made a striking couple, and in the photos at least, they looked happy together. Winthrop’s arm was curled around her small waist, keeping her close to his side. For some reason the sight of his hand touching her made me want to break it.

I shook the thought away and squinted down at the name beneath the photo.
Audra Waters.
“Do some digging into the girlfriend and find the dirt on Winthrop. It’s there.” My gut told me the fucker was buried up to his neck in shit, he just hadn’t been caught yet.

“Sure thing, Prez.”

I left Fox with one thought on my mind.

To get some answers from Audra.

Chapter 12

Audra

I stared at myself in the mirror, taking in the borrowed clothes Joanne had brought me. Not bad. I was petite, mostly meaning that I was short, but there was nothing petite about my full curves. Joanne was close to my size, perhaps a little bustier. She apologized for the lack of underwear, explaining that she didn’t wear any. The cut-off jean shorts were not only too short, but there was a frayed spot that revealed a little too much cheek. There was nothing I could do about that. At least the tank she’d brought me covered everything.

I braided my thick hair and slipped into my boots. Not the perfect ensemble, but again, I didn’t have a choice. I’d made up my mind that I wasn’t going to let Hawk continue to order me around. I’d earned my independence and meant to keep it. Really, the man was just too much. He might be sexy as fuck, had given me some intense orgasms, but he wasn’t in control of me. As soon as I found a damn phone I was going to call Carol and end this craziness.

Instincts guided me back down to the first floor and from there I let my hearing take over. Noise meant people, and people meant phones. I opened several doors before finding my way to the room where we’d first entered. First glance revealed that there were more bikers now, all of them wearing the Phantom Riders cut, all of them pausing from what they were doing the second I entered the room. I halted in the doorway, wondering if my presence would be welcomed. At first I thought I was the only woman there, until I saw the woman who’d walked in on me and Hawk earlier. It was obvious she was still pissed over the incident.

“Well, hello, darlin’!” someone said enthusiastically. I followed the voice to a hairy, grizzled man sitting at a small bar. “You look lost.”

He looked a little too happy. I smiled because he was smiling. “I’m looking for a phone,” I said without hesitation. Surely someone had one I could borrow.

“What you need a phone for?” another man questioned in a serious, suspicious tone.

The speaker looked mean and unfriendly, and pinned his sharp blue eyes on me. I probably shouldn’t have, but I gave him a look that suggested I thought he was missing a few marbles. “To make a call?” There were a few laughs, but he clearly wasn’t amused.

“Who the fuck are you?” he snarled, leaving the stool he’d been sitting on.

I caught my breath at the fear he evoked, realizing I’d made a mistake in the way I’d handled the situation.

“Relax, Rock. Hawk dragged her sweet ass here.”

“And I’m not a prisoner,” I added with false sweetness. I gave Clay an appreciative smile, realizing Rock didn’t have a sense of humor. “All I want to do is call a friend and get out of here.”

Simple.

“Awe fuck, you’re not a new sweetbutt?” the hairy, grizzled biker said with disappointment. “You’re sure dressed like a sweetbutt.”

Maybe that’s because I was wearing the clothes of one, but I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t even sure what a sweetbutt was. I glanced at the other woman in the room, her attire inadequately covering her lady bits and making me feel overdressed. The scowls she was shooting my way were less than friendly. If she hadn’t been sitting on a biker’s lap I would have thought that she was jealous.

Clay was the only biker I knew in the room so I addressed myself to him, deciding to change the subject since the whole phone thing wasn’t working out. “Any place I can get a bite to eat around here?”

“Sure, come with me, sweetheart.”

Ignoring the eyes that I sensed were following me, I followed him through two other doors that brought us into what I considered to be a nightclub of sorts. The atmosphere was dim, the music loud, and the dance floor was crowded. Before a small, attentive audience, three naked girls were twirling around poles on separate platforms, the floor around their feet littered with money. Booths lined the walls while small, circular tables filled the center of the room.

Clay led me to a stool on the other side of the bar. “Order what you want.” He made eye contact with Joanne. “Treat her right, baby, she belongs to Hawk.”

My smile disappeared at his comment but I decided to remain silent, at least until I determined whether or not belonging to Hawk would benefit me or not.

“Sure thing, honey,” she responded with a wink.

“I got shit to see to,” Clay murmured into my ear. “You good here on your own?”

I nodded, smiling at Joanne, who’d walked up to stand on the other side of the bar from me. Clay left the same way we’d come in, seemingly satisfied with my non-verbal response. “Can I get a turkey sandwich?” I asked her.

Joanne nodded. “Lettuce and tomato?”

“Please, and a sweet iced-tea.”

She walked off and I relaxed a little. It occurred to me that this might finally be my chance to get to a phone without interference. I glanced up into the mirror opposite me, watching the activity going on behind me. It was busy, but there were some empty tables and booths. It’d been a long time since I’d been in a bar like this, where there weren’t bouncers around to keep order and drinks were cut off when the bartender felt that you’d had enough.

This place was casual, definitely down-scaled for a rowdier crowd. The fact that some couples were getting down and dirty right there on the dance floor told me this was where they came to have fun, and let their hair down, a place to pick up a one-night stand, or two. I had a feeling that sex in public wasn’t an uncommon accordance here.

“Here ya go, honey.”

“Thank you.” The sight of the sandwich made my stomach rumble. Joanne had been generous in piling on the turkey and I ate the first half with relish. I was just washing it down with the ice tea she brought me when a man came up next to me.

“Three beers, two white wines, and a whiskey,” he said to Joanne. Then he turned to me and smiled. “Hi.”

He looked harmless enough. “Hi.”

“You all alone here?” His smiling gaze moved over me quickly before settling on my eyes again.

There was nothing lewd about his inspection, so I didn’t take offense. “For the time being.”

“Why don’t you join our table?” he asked, nodding toward an area where three tables had been moved together to accommodate the large group he was in. “You’ll have a lot more fun,” he promised. The occupants were all around the same age, and dressed to party.

“Thank you, but—” Just as I was about to turn him down I thought about my dilemma. A glance at Joanne showed she was busy filling his order. “You wouldn’t happen to have a phone I could borrow, would you?”

“Sure.” He immediately dug it out of his back pocket, and then handed it to me. Just as I reached for it he yanked it out of my reach with a playful smile. “You’ll join me and my friends?”

I glanced back at his friends. They looked harmless enough, college-aged kids just out for a good time. Why not? After the few days I’d had I could use a little interaction with normal people. I smiled. “Sure, for a little while.”

I dialed Carol’s number, praying that she would answer. I didn’t want to leave her a voice mail because I didn’t have a phone she could call me back on. I tugged on my bottom lip at the fourth ring.
Pick up! Pick up!
I chanted to myself. Finally her voice came over the line.

“Hello?”

“Carol, it’s me!” I said in a rushed tone, turning my back away from the bar.

“Audra, oh, my God, I’ve been worried to death about you! You started to tell me something about Dane the other day. And who can’t know? Know what? What’s going on, honey?”

I couldn’t blame her for all the questions, considering that I’d cut our conversation off so abruptly the other day. “I’m so sorry. It’s better if you don’t know what’s going on.” I had so much to tell her but didn’t know where to begin. It was too much to say over the phone. How did I tell her that the man I thought loved me was a monster, a killer, and that he’d beat me? “Carol, please don’t ask me why, but I’m in trouble.” I blurted it out, hating the tears that filled my eyes. “You’re the only one I can trust.”

“What do you need?”

God bless her. She hadn’t even hesitated. “I’ve run away from Dane and I’m kind of in hiding. I can’t go into the details right now, but, he’s not the man I thought he was. I don’t think he remembers you, but if he contacts you please don’t tell him that you’ve heard from me. He’s dangerous, Carol.” She at least needed to know what. “He’s sent some people after me, people who—”I hesitated, unable to put into words that he’d sent people to find me and bring me back to him. That he might possibly want me dead.

“God, Audra, you’re scaring me.” I could hear the panic in her voice. “Where are you? I’ll come and get you.”

“No!” I couldn’t let that happen. “I’ll come to you and tell you everything when I get there—” I cut myself off abruptly, suddenly realizing that I couldn’t go to Carol. If Dane’s men tracked me down there they wouldn’t leave any witnesses.

Oh, God, why hadn’t I thought of this before? I was such a fool! I couldn’t live with myself if I caused anything to happen to the only friend I had. I was so eager to have that one connection, that one friend that I could count on, that I hadn’t thought things through. I suddenly felt sick. As the enormity of my plight crashed down around me I wanted to scream. I really did have no one. Thanks to my stupidity and Dane’s overbearing control I had no one I could turn to. Fuck. I was alone. Why hadn’t I seen how controlling he’d been? Was I so blinded by the lavish lifestyle he’d given me that I’d ignored what was right there in my face?

Apparently I had.

“Audra? Audra? Are you still there?”

Carol’s frantic tone finally got through to me. The breath I took turned into a sob. “Carol, I—” I turned back to the man whose phone I was using. My gaze moved past him to where Hawk had just come storming into the room. Our gazes met, and the look of his locked jaw and flaring nostrils told me that he was really pissed off about something, and because he was coming straight toward me it was a good guess that I was the object of his wrath.

“I’ll call you back,” I whispered into the phone, hanging up before Carol could say anything else. I held the phone out to the smiling man, who’d yet to notice Hawk. “Thank you.”

“I ordered you a white wine,” he said, taking up the tray Joanne had placed on the bar.

“She won’t be joining you.” Hawk swooped in like his namesake, wrapping a powerful hand around my upper arm and pulling me with him back toward the door he’d entered through.

“But—” the man started to say.

I glanced back at him mouthing silently, “I’m sorry.”

The second Hawk and I were on the other side of the door and out of sight he pushed me against the wall and released me. “Who were you talking to?” he snarled down into my face.

“The same friend that I was talking to back at the rest stop bathroom, Carol” I said, rubbing my arm where he’d grabbed me. “I was going to ask her to send me some money—”

With a sound of impatience Hawk grabbed me again and dragged me down the hallway. I barely had time to notice the MC logo etched on the door before he pushed it open and pulled me into the room, slamming the door behind us and blocking it with his huge bulk. He crossed his arms. “What do you know about Covacks?” His tone resembled a bear’s growl.

Covacks?
I shook my head slowly, trying to recall where I’d heard that name before, and then it hit me. “The first time I heard that name was on the road on the way here.” I couldn’t bring myself to talk about the horrific circumstances surrounding it.

His eyes glared his mistrust at me. “I don’t believe you.”

I shrugged. “That’s your problem, Hawk. You don’t trust women.”

“I just saw a picture of your boyfriend with Covacks.”

“So?” I really had no idea what he was getting at.

“They’re business partners. Are you going to tell me that you don’t know who his business partners are?”