Phantom Riders MC - Hawk (16 page)

“Hawk! Baby!” Before I had a chance to turn around I felt arms come around me from behind. “I thought that was your big sexy ass! It’s me, Dizzy.”

I reached down, peeled her hands apart, turned, and crossed my arms. Most people would have taken that to mean you “leave me the fuck alone”. The face was only slightly familiar to me, her name sure as hell wasn’t. If I’d fucked around with her she hadn’t made an impression. My expression must have revealed that I couldn’t place her because her bottom lip came out in a pout that I’m sure she thought was sexy. The chick even bat her long, fake eyelashes.

“You don’t remember me?” She put her hand on my arm. “Two Saturday nights ago at the club, during open house?”

Open house only occurred four times a year, once a quarter. It was when we opened our clubhouse in the back to a few select girls to party with us. A lot of fucked-up shit happened during open house. Booze, weed, and free pussy were in abundance. I raised my brows. “Sorry.”

Her gaze ran over me, as if sizing me up. “Maybe you need a refresher, baby. And this time fuck me while facing me.” She laughed, and I knew that she was lying. She might have given me a blowjob, but I hadn’t fucked her. She’d probably been too drunk, high, or
both
, to remember.

“Must have been another brother,” I said with finality. Audra was the first woman I’d fucked in a long time. I glanced at her where she was thumbing through clothes and pretending that she couldn’t hear us talking. She already had a couple of things draped over her arm.

Dizzy noticed where I was looking, and like most bitches, wanting to keep a man’s attention, she did what she had to get it back. She purposely stepped between me and Audra, breaking my direct line of contact to look down at her.

“Oh, that’s right. Now I remember,” she gushed, realizing she’d been caught. “I only sucked you off.”

I lost patience. “Are you stupid?”

She blinked several times, her expression confused. “Excuse me?”

“Are you stupid? Because you can clearly see that I’m here with someone. The kind of shit coming out of your fucking mouth is the trouble making kind.”

Her jaw dropped and her face turned red. “I— I thought she was just one of the club girls.” She stepped back. “I didn’t know you had an old lady, Hawk.” I didn’t bother correcting her. “I’m sorry!”

“You got anything else stupid you want to say?” She shook her head. “Then get the fuck away from me.”

I heard Audra’s snicker as Dizzy dashed off. “You’re so mean, Hawk. Especially to someone who sucked you off.” She pulled a pair of jeans off a hanger and added them to the clothes hanging over her arm, turning to me with humor dancing in her eyes. “Was she good?”

I ignored her question. “You gonna try those on?”

“They’re my size. No underwear, though. I draw the line at wearing someone’s hand-me-downs.”

“You don’t need underwear.” Something caught my eye, something that wasn’t t-shirt or jean material. I reached for it. The silky fabric slid easily from Audra’s pile. It was a little black dress made out of the same slinky shit the club girls wore. It looked small but I knew spandex stretched, outlining a woman’s every curve. “Planning on going to a party?”

Audra shrugged. “You never know. I might get tired of jeans and t-shirts.”

“I think you should try it on first.” I wanted to be the first one to see her in it. She opened her mouth to protest, I could tell, and then closed it again, after thinking better of it.

She threw the stack in her arms toward me and ripped the dress out of my hands. “Fine.”

I watched her ass swing back and forth as she made her way to the changing room. After a few minutes I heard, “Maybe I better forego the dress.”

“Let me see it.”

“Um, I don’t think so.”

“Audra—”

“Jed—” she mimicked, pissing me off for using my real name.

With an irritated sigh I took the doorknob in my hands. It was locked, but it was cheap and a sharp twist later I was opening the door. My gaze took in the woman before me, the sexiest fucking thing I’d seen in a long time. The dress looked like it was poured over her curves, outlining every mouth-watering morsel, so fucking tight that it outlined her flat nipples and the indentation of her belly button, and short enough to promise a peak of pussy and ass if she moved the wrong way. I liked the rounded neckline, which was low enough to show off plenty of cleavage and tits. With her wild red hair and bright green eyes she looked like a fucking goddess.

My dick instantly got hard. “Get it,” I ordered. “I’ll meet you at the register.”

I was going to fuck her raw in that dress the first chance I got.

Ten minutes later we were on my bike and on our way back to the club.

Chapter 18

Audra

I held on tight to Hawk enjoying the wind against me as we raced out of town. The look on his chiseled face when he’d seen me in that dress for the first time would stay with me for a long time. It was more than a man showing his approval. His eyes had been worshiping, making me feel wanted, and that was something for Hawk, who fought to keep his feelings in check. For a brief minute, as he’d just stared at me,
he’d
wanted me.

And not just for sex.

I wasn’t sure why I felt giddy. It wasn’t as if we had a chance for a future together. My future looked grim anyway. Dane would never give up looking for me, and even if he did, I’d never know it, because I knew that I was going to live out the rest of my life hiding in fear. Unless this wild and dangerous thing between Hawk and me turned into something more. Was I foolish for even thinking it? Probably. Hawk definitely had demons inside, and I feared that he’d been living with them for so long that he was lost.

“Hold on!”

What? I was holding on, but when the bike shot forward at an unbelievable rush of speed I felt a second of panic when my body jolted backwards. I instantly tightened my arms around Hawk with a curse.
What the hell?

“We’re being followed!” he yelled above the noise of the bike, taking a turn in the road at a sharp angle that had my heart racing.

When we straightened I looked back. We were being followed by a black SUV, and they were accelerating to catch up to us. My eyes rounded with disbelief when I realized that if they continued at the speed that they were going, they were going to hit us. I swallowed my instinct to scream and buried my face against Hawk’s shoulder, waiting for contact. Just as I prepared for impact the motorcycle shot forward at an incredible speed.

I screamed when a shot rang out and hit the motorcycle somewhere in the front of Hawk. He cursed and fought to control his bike as it wobbled back and forth violently. I was sure that we were going to tumble, but he gained control and managed to stay on the road. The layout of the winding road wasn’t conducive to high speeds, yet Hawk gunned his engine and we shot forward once again. I clung to him, waiting in fear for the next sound of gun shots. As we took a particularly sharp turn, I glanced behind us to see that the SUV was still following.

Surely we’d reach his clubhouse, and help, soon? It had taken me hours to reach town the day before, but I hadn’t thought it was this far. We passed the intersection I’d come across and kept going in a different direction. That’s when I realized that Hawk wouldn’t bring trouble to his club. I couldn’t blame him for that, even while it left us in a dangerous situation. As we crested a hill, hope came when I saw several bikers waiting for us at the bottom. Familiar faces that, as we got closer, confirmed they were Hawk’s men. The hand gesture he gave them sent his men into instant action.

Several shots rang out in rapid succession. I expected to feel the bite of a bullet at any second, surprised when Hawk dropped his speed. My heart was racing as I buried my face against his shoulder, closing my eyes and praying that we made it through this, whatever
this
was. I willed myself somewhere else, but the sound of more gunfire and a crashing vehicle kept me in the present.

Then there was utter chaos.

I was afraid to look, afraid to release my death grip on Hawk. I felt him go through the motions of shutting his bike off and kicking down the stand, afraid of what that would mean. Before I was ready I felt Hawk pull away as he dismounted. Forced to face the situation, I reluctantly glanced at the activity going on, terrified of what I would see, of what the outcome would be, because I knew it wasn’t going to end well.

The SUV had crashed through a fence and into a tree. I saw Big John waving his gun, screaming at the driver to get out of the vehicle. The man appeared stunned, and there was blood running down the side of his face. Hawk’s men had closed in around the SUV with their weapons drawn, looking eager to kill. I was mesmerized by the speed in which Hawk moved toward the van. He didn’t wait for the driver to get out. He ripped the door open and reached inside for him. In the same heartbeat he curled his hand in the guy’s shirt, and punched him in the face several times as he dragged him out to the ground.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Another man exited the SUV from the passenger side, throwing down a gun before raising his arms up in surrender. “Hold up there, man! Let’s work this out! We have no problems with Phantom Riders.” Keg, Painter, and Clay closed in on the guy, keeping their guns on him.

“I have a fucking problem with someone who tries to run me down,” Hawk snarled, hitting the driver one more time before letting his limp body hit the ground. He then turned and headed toward the second man with a murderous look in his eyes. “I have a problem when someone takes a fucking shot at me!”

“An accident,” the passenger explained quickly. “The driver got a little carried away.”

“Bullshit!” Hawk backed the guy, who was still holding his hands in the air, against the SUV. “You’ve been on my tail since I left town. Who do you work for so I’ll know who to notify after I fucking kill you?”

The man’s eyes bugged out. “No one I swear! My business card is in my top pocket.”

Hawk dug it out, read it over, and then threw it in the man’s face. “Fucking bounty hunters,” he sneered, getting in the man’s face. I caught my breath at what that could mean. “Who’s paying you?”

“Some big spender in Vegas.” He motioned toward me with a nod. “He wants her, man, we’re not here to kill anyone.”

Dane. My heart sank. I met Hawk’s gaze, wondering if my time was running out. Surely he’d get tired of having to deal with a bad situation that’s not of his making.

“You should have remembered that before you started shooting.” Hawk put his arm across the man’s neck and applied pressure until his face turned red. The driver began moaning, and Hawk shot Big John a look that spoke volumes, before turning back. “How did you find her?” His question went unanswered. “Fucking tell me,” he gritted into the man’s face.

He opened his mouth as if to speak. Hawk eased up a little so he could draw in air. What he didn’t see was the man’s hand slowly moving to something beneath his jacket. “A mutual friend saw her with you.”

Hawk’s brows furrowed, as if considering whom that could be, and I could tell the second that he figured it out. Grim resignation was evident in his expression and in the way his jaw clenched and his mouth tightened.

Movement brought my gaze back to the man’s hand, which was slowly sliding out from beneath his coat. I opened my mouth to warn Hawk about the knife but never got the chance. In a move faster than the blink of an eye, Hawk wrapped his hand around the man’s wrist and brought his arm up, causing him to bury the knife in his own gut.

I gasped loudly. Several heads swung my way before returning to the wounded man. His expression was one of surprise and shock, his eyes bulging. Hawk stepped back, allowing him to slowly slink to the ground. It didn’t take long for blood to start pooling on the ground, a valuable life-source we all needed to survive. As I watched the color drain from his face, I knew that I was watching his life slip away.

I said a silent prayer. Not for the man. No. For the fact that we were on a quiet country road. It was an insane thought. It was an insane situation. How had my world of peace and normalcy been twisted into this nightmare so easily? Oh yeah, my normal life had also included murder.

Only in this case it felt more like self-defense.

Hawk locked eyes on Big John. “Take care of the fucking clean-up. I’m taking Audra to my house and will meet you back at the club later.” Big John acknowledged him with a nod, and holstered his gun.

He turned and began walking my way. I got the impression that Hawk was looking me over carefully and deciding for himself how I was holding up. I thought I wasn’t doing half bad, considering I wanted to throw up.

“So, they, ah, didn’t mean to kill me?”

He didn’t even try to sugarcoat it. “Baby, they might have been paid to bring you back alive, but the way they were going about it, you would have been lucky to leave this road alive.” He mounted his bike easily and within seconds it was rumbling beneath us.

“Do you know who the mutual friend is?” I wrapped my arms around him.

He turned his head slightly so I could hear him. “I have an idea.”

“The man—”

“We’ll talk when we get to my house.” With that Hawk took off, leaving behind the madness.

I didn’t want to know what ‘clean-up’ meant, although I had a pretty good idea. They couldn’t afford to leave the SUV and those men behind for just anyone to find. An investigation could lead right back to them. That was obvious. I wondered how much money Dane was offering for me. The fact that people were putting their own lives at risk told me that it was probably a lot.

I wasn’t sure why I felt tears fill my eyes. Maybe because I’d thought that my future was all mapped out, that Dane and I would have married some day and had children. I’d felt secure in our relationship, but it was clear as more time went on that love, true love, had not been a part of it. We’d grown too familiar with one another, too comfortable. When people got comfortable in their lives the last thing they wanted was change. If Dane had truly loved me he wouldn’t have reacted to my seeing him kill someone like he had. He might have been less physical and tried to persuade me with patience.

Hawk brought a whole new element to my life. He wasn’t the kind of man I would have ever thought I’d get involved with. Dark, moody, extremely dangerous and so filled with anger that my heart went out to him. I knew that was going to be my downfall, because Hawk didn’t express emotion. He liked action, without thinking, without feeling. Even when we fucked he held something back, much more than kissing.

The intense passion between us had come fast, almost in the instant that we’d looked into each other’s eyes. I shouldn’t have given in to it so soon, but nothing could have stopped me. Physical attraction and submission wasn’t always about what you felt in your heart. You could love someone and still want another. Giving myself to Hawk would never be a mistake.

He made me feel alive.

Protected.

I didn’t know where his home was, didn’t even know he had one, but we’d long ago left the paved road for a dirt one, and a one-way at that. Not until we reached a fairly small cabin did I realize that we’d really been on his driveway. The log home was built within a cluster of tall pine trees, next to a rocky stream, small and intimate, and the epitome of peace and isolation. The air even seemed crisper and cleaner there. Once Hawk turned off his bike we were surrounded by the sounds of nature.

“This is your home?” I dismounted with his help.

“Yep.” I followed him up the porch steps. “It’s not much, but it’s enough for me.”

“I love it,” I said softly, taking in the interior as I walked through the doorway. It suited Hawk. Manly, open floor plan, furnished with just the necessities, nothing on the rough log walls. “You don’t spend much time here.” It was a little dusty.

“No reason to,” he said, walking to a window at the back wall and pulling the heavy drapes open. “You’ll be safe here.” He turned back to me.

“You’re going to leave me here?”

“It’s for the best, baby. You won’t be alone. One of the prospects will be here at all times.”

“Why are you doing this? I’m nothing to you but trouble. I should just leave so you can get back to whatever it is that you and your club do.”

Hawk actually grinned at that. “Our club protects those who need it, especially women and children. The second you put your ass on my bike you became my business.”

“I’m putting your club in danger,” I insisted. He shrugged. “But you don’t even like me, Hawk.”

He stepped forward. “Baby, I want you, I don’t have to like you.” God, they shouldn’t have, but his words made me weak in the knees. Hawk’s kind of want was hot and all-consuming. “You saw your ex off someone. The knowledge of who he killed will give us leverage.”