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Hawk left the next morning after setting up a meeting with Blackie. I stayed in the cabin alone, waiting with Pearl and trying not to bite my nails to the quick. I had attempted to eat breakfast, but I was so nervous that it proved impossible.
Pearl stayed close to me the whole day, sensing my anxiety and fear. I knew what I was doing was risky. By telling Hawk our family secret, there was no doubt my father would know I had given them the information. The only people who knew were me, my mother and my father. And they would have never told anyone else.
We had stayed up all night talking about it, discussing how my father might react to a stranger knowing his dark secret. Hawk still wouldn’t tell me who Blackie was, but I figured at this point, it was probably better that I didn’t know. I was pretty sure my father would never get the police involved but if he did, the less I knew the better.
I didn’t feel bad, though. Whatever my father had done to piss off Blackie, whoever he was, he probably deserved it. And a few million dollars, or whatever the ransom was - Hawk said he didn’t know when I asked - would just be a small drop in the bucket for my father. If there was a risk it would sabotage his election, he would take whatever steps necessary to make sure that didn’t happen.
Apparently, his youngest daughter perishing in a hostile kidnapping didn’t seem to hold that risk for him. But if that didn’t move him to action, I was sure the revelation I had confessed to Hawk would.
By the time Hawk returned the day was almost over. I was lounging on the front porch, drinking one of his cold beers when I heard his bike rumbling in the distance. I watched it approach, first as a small speck on the horizon and then as he rode up the long driveway, his long hair falling out of the bottom of his helmet and flapping in the breeze.
Hawk had been amazing. I wasn’t mad at him in the least. In fact, I was grateful that if I was going to be kidnapped, that it was by him. It could have been so much worse, and as I watched him turn off his bike and walk over to me, I realized my body was still singing from his expertly mind-blowing skills under the sheets. In fact, I couldn’t wait to get the business of the day over so we could get right back under them.
I absolutely could not get enough of this man.
And how could I hold it against him anyway? He was just doing his job. It wasn’t personal. I didn’t know Blackie, and Blackie didn’t know me. Hawk was just the middle person, who was hired to protect me.
I preferred to think of him as a bodyguard.
“Hi.” He stood over me, unzipping his leather jacket and removing his helmet.
Speechless, I stared up at him before he took my hand and lifted me to my feet.
He put his arms around me, holding me close before kissing me gently.
I kissed him back, then pulled him into my body for a hug, all of my senses coming alive at his presence. His eyes were shining brightly and his smile lit up my heart from the inside out.
Inhaling him in deeply, the familiar scent of leather filled my nostrils…but there was something else there. Something familiar and distant. A trace of lilac? Something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on at first. I wasn’t sure, but I kept sniffing, and then it dawned on me. There was only one thing in the world that smelled like that.
Genevieve!
I pulled away quickly, taking him in, still hesitating to believe what my mind was telling me.
“Where have you been?”
“What do you mean? You know where I went. I went to talk to Blackie.”
“Blackie? Right…” None of this was making sense. What the fuck did Genevieve have to do with this?
“And what did Blackie say?” I asked him cautiously.
“Blackie said no, Vanessa. I passed on all the information you gave me, but it’s just too risky. Blackie said that after meeting with your father the first time, there’s just no way anyone believes he would give up the ransom just for some family dirt if he wouldn’t do it to get you back.”
“Why are you lying to me, Hawk?”
“Lying? I’m not lying.”
“Who the fuck is Blackie, Hawk?”
My mind was spinning, trying to put this all together, but none of it made sense. How did Genevieve fit into this? Slowly, it began to come together.
Hawk had found me on a date that Genevieve had sent me on. As far as I knew, nobody had been looking for me, and the first person Drake would have called would have been Genevieve.
But Genevieve had tons of money, and she was my friend, she cared about me. Why in the world would she set me up like this?
“I told you, Vanessa. I can’t tell you.”
“How do you know Genevieve?”
“What?” The color drained from his face as I said her name.
“Genevieve Marchand. My boss. My friend.”
“Why are you asking me that, Vanessa?” He looked completely uncomfortable. Clearly, I had hit upon a nerve.
“Nobody in the world smells like Genevieve. She has her perfume custom made and shipped from France. You smell like Genevieve, Hawk.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah. Fuck. Now tell me again, how do you know Genevieve?”
“Vanessa, listen, it’s best if you don’t know all this.”
“Tell me!” My voice rose in anger, and tears sprang to my eyes. Genevieve and the girls were my only friends in this entire world, until I met Hawk, and now I wasn’t sure I had any friends at all.
“Fuck!” Hawk looked torn, his eyes flashing with anger and frustration.
“TELL ME!” My voice echoed toward the sky, scaring Pearl awake at my feet.
“Genevieve is…was…my step-mother. She was married to my father, the founder of the Devil’s Horsemen.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? That can’t be.”
“I’m sorry, Vanessa. I couldn’t tell you. I didn’t know how to tell you. It’s all so complicated.”
“I don’t understand. She’s from France.” I was shocked, frozen in place, my heart racing, my mind clouded with confusion.
“Alright, fuck,” he sat down on the porch steps, his head in his hands. “I’ll tell you everything. But you aren’t going to like it.”
“Go on.”
“Genevieve was my pop’s old lady. He met her in France and brought her over to the States and married her. They ran the club together for ten years before Pop died in an accident on the highway. I took over the club, and Genevieve moved on. Unfortunately, when she has business that she can’t handle herself she calls me. Usually, it’s the dirty part of her business. She’s self-sufficient, for the most part.”
“What does this have to do with me? I still don’t understand. How does she know my father?”
“She doesn’t,” he replied.
“I don’t understand? So who the fuck is Blackie?”
“Blackie is Genevieve, Vanessa. It’s an old nickname. Genevieve knows how wealthy your family is, and she saw how unfairly your father treated you, so she came up with a plan to kidnap you and take his money. I guess she’s tired of working.”
“Working?! She doesn’t work! Me and the girls do all the work, for fuck’s sake.”
I felt sick. She was supposed to be my friend. No wonder nobody was looking for me. Were the girls in on this, too?
“So you knew all along that I was being betrayed?”
“Yes.”
“I thought I was being kidnapped because of politics.”
“I know.”
“How could you let me think that all along? You lied to me.”
“No, I didn’t, Vanessa!” He looked hurt, and how dare he! I was the one hurt here. In fact, I was the only one hurt in this situation.
This entire time, I had been thinking I would do one of two things. Either go back to my normal life after this was over, and go home to Genevieve and the girls and pick up where I left off. Or, build some sort of life with Hawk.
But now, neither of those were an option. And the possibility of returning to my family had died long ago. Now, I had nothing.
I looked at Hawk standing in front of me, perfect in every way. Except one.
He was just doing his job all along. But his job was personal. Even if there was some chance of us being together, I could never face Genevieve again. And she was a part of his life. How could I ever be a part of his life if he was close to someone that betrayed me so deeply?
“Vanessa, listen. It was just business. I never meant to get so involved with you.”
His words were like a slap to the face. And they were just what I needed to hear.
“So I see.” My voice was cold and steely and every wall I possessed slammed down between us.
“So what happens now?” I asked, deliberately avoiding the pained expression in his eyes.
“I guess nothing happens. It’s over, I’m supposed to take you home.”
“I see. I’ll get my things.” I turned to walk into his house, his voice trailing behind me as I ignored him.
“Vanessa, please…let’s talk about this.”
I turned back to him quickly, trying to hold my tongue, but the words poured out in uncontrollable anger.
“What’s to talk about, Hawk? You told me you had a ‘client’, that it wasn’t personal. You failed to tell me that it was my best friend you were working for and that she just happened to be your step-mother! For god’s sake, what do you expect me to feel? I fucked you! Repeatedly! I was taken in by your kindness, I thought you cared about me! All you wanted was to use me while you baby-sat me. I’m sure you were going to be paid handsomely, weren’t you? And that wasn’t enough, was it? You needed to have my body and my heart, as well. Well, fuck that! And fuck you! And fuck Genevieve!”
I quickly collected my things and continued to fight back tears. I had never felt so betrayed, so lost. I grabbed my purse, my dress, my stupid heels, and all of Pearl’s things before scooping her up and walking outside.
“Let’s go.” The thought of riding in the truck with Hawk for the next two hours was excruciating. He opened my door and I threw my things in and placed Pearl on the seat between us.
He walked around to the driver’s side and slid behind the wheel. The engine roared to life as he turned the ignition on and turned to look at me.
“Listen, I have some things I need to say to you, but since I just returned from that long trip here on my bike, I need to go inside and pee before I start the trip back again. Wait for me, I’ll be right back.”
“There’s nothing to say. It’s just business, remember?” I said sarcastically.
He sighed a huge sigh of exasperation before opening his door and sliding out of the truck to go inside.
My eyes locked on the keys hanging from the ignition and then I watched him go inside, the tight muscles of his perfect ass dancing in his jeans as I watched him walk away one last time.
With tears clouding my vision, and my hands shaking, I picked up Pearl, moved her over and slid across the seat, quickly putting on my seatbelt and putting the truck in reverse.