Melissa takes another look over Felicia’s shoulder before she decides that her friend is right. Josh and Hawk may be quick to anger, but they’re not idiots. They both know where the limits are of what they can and can’t do, at least Melissa has to hope that they do.
“Why don’t we head into the bar and get you a drink. You look like you could use one.” Felicia leads Melissa gently towards the entrance of the bar. “And while we’re at it, let’s get rid of that.” She nods towards the notebook that Melissa is still clutching in her hand.
Melissa hesitates before she follows Felicia. “The way we rushed out of there must have stirred up some attention.” She leaves the rest implied. Melissa wants to know if there are going to be some angry Kings, looking for answers when she walks in.
Felicia waves away Melissa’s concern. “These guys are used to a little action. They won’t think anything of it.”
Melissa nods, knowing that Felicia wouldn’t lie to her about something like that, but she still can’t bring herself to go inside. She wants to know what’s going on between Hawk and Wes. “I think I’ll stay out here for a while.” She leans against the wall, waiting, still debating whether she should intervene.
“Suit yourself.” Felicia crosses her arms and leans against the wall, mimicking Melissa’s posture. Melissa throws her a questioning look. “What? If you’re staying, then so am I.” She shrugs. “There’s no point in beating yourself up, Melissa. After what that piece of crap wanted to put the club through and after everything he just said to you, I think he deserves a helluva lot more than just a broken nose.”
Melissa smiles at this protective side of Felicia that’s coming out. “So, what are we going to do about this?” She holds up the notebook.
Felicia reaches into her back pocket and pulls out a flip lighter. “Do you want to do the honors or shall I?”
Melissa had thought that when Felicia had suggested they get rid of the notebook that she’d meant shredding it. But there was something poetic about setting it on fire. Wes had always been proud of being old school. It seemed only fitting that it shouldn’t be a piece of technology that destroys his work, but something much more primal.
“I’ll do it.” She holds out her hand for Felicia’s lighter, flipping it open with a flick of her wrists. Before she has time to question, yet again, if she’s doing the right thing or not, she holds the lighter to the corner of Wes’s notebook and watches as it catches light. She throws the book on the floor, the flames engulfing it as she and Felicia stare at the fire, almost hypnotized by it. It’s a matter of only a few minutes before the book is completely destroyed. Felicia stomps on the embers for good measure, nodding in satisfaction.
Melissa’s head whips up at the sound of footsteps crunching against the gravel. She sees Josh appear first from around the side of the building, followed by a dejected looking Wes who is holding his right hand as if it were injured, and finally Hawk brings up the rear. His face had been a thundercloud when they’d disappeared, but now it was relaxed, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
The three men take a look at the ashes on the ground, and they all seem understand what they’re seeing. Wes gives Melissa a murderous stare, and she braces herself for the onslaught of insults that she’s expecting to flow from his mouth, but he doesn’t open his mouth. Instead, he looks between Hawk and Josh and then back down at the floor, cowed by whatever they’ve said to him.
“What happened?” Melissa’s eyes are trained on Wes’s injured hand, and the words are out of her mouth before she asks herself if she really wants to know or not.
“Wes decided that it would be in his best interest not to write the article after all.” Hawk shrugs his shoulders wearily, as if tonight were no different from any other night of the week.
“A decision that was made a whole lot easier when it became clear that he didn’t have any actual evidence to use to implicate the Kings in his little story.” Josh plants his hands on his hips, looking formidable. Melissa gulps in spite of herself.
She waits for Wes to speak up, to threaten them, to tell them that his family will have them all hung, drawn, and quartered. But he remains silent, looking at the floor, holding his hand to his chest as if it were a baby.
“Oh, by the way, Wes, you’re fired.” Josh throws the comment over his shoulder, and Wes’s head droops a little more. “And if I see you in my shop again, it’ll be more than just your hand that you’ll have to worry about.”
Wes nods quickly, his gaze never flicking up from the floor. Melissa is shocked beyond belief. Whatever Josh and Hawk had said to Wes, it must have put the fear of God into him—and then some.
“I think it’s time you left, don’t you, Wes?” Hawk’s fingers thrum over his folded arms.
For the first time, Wes looks up. “I can’t drive with this.” He motions towards his hand.
“Then you walk.” Hawk says the words slowly, as if he were speaking to an idiot. “I thought you were anti-technology, seems like walking would be right up your street.”
Wes stutters, struggling to get his words out. “But…but it’s miles to the hospital.” The panic causes his voice to rise. “What if…what if I faint from the pain? It’d be days before anyone would find me.”
Melissa rolls her eyes at the fact that even now, after everything, Wes is still playing the role of the drama queen.
“Faint from the pain?” Hawk is completely unmoved. “Your wrist isn’t even broken, you pussy, it’s sprained at the most. That’s what happens when you try to punch someone without knowing what the hell you’re doing.”
Melissa’s eyes widen at the image of Wes trying to fight Hawk. She should have known that he and Josh wouldn’t just break his wrist for fun. He’d provoked them, and he could have been walking away with something much worse than just a sprain and some wounded pride.
“Get lost, Wes. And remember what we said.” There’s no mistaking the threat in Hawk’s voice.
Wes ducks his head again, deferentially. Clearly, he wasn’t going to be forgetting whatever Josh and Hawk had drilled into him anytime soon. Slowly, he starts walking towards the open road, but he jumps as Hawk’s voice pierces the silence of the night.
“Wes! Aren’t you forgetting something?” Hawk looks at him meaningfully, the anger in his eyes more powerful than any punch most men could throw.
Wes’s eyes flick between Hawk and Melissa, seemingly weighing up his options. But it only takes a slight shift in Hawk’s position to make up his mind for him. “I’m sorry, Melissa. I didn’t mean any of the things I said about you.” The words come out grudgingly, and he doesn’t meet her eyes, but that doesn’t take any of the sweetness out of the knowledge that he’s been taken down a few pegs.
“And?” Hawk gestures with his arms that Wes should continue.
Melissa watches as Wes takes a deep breath and then looks at her directly. “And I’m an asshole.”
Hawk smiles broadly, giving the smaller man a patronizing slap on the back, which, judging from Wes’s expression is a little harder than it probably needs to be. “Good job, man. Good job.” His features turn serious again. “Now get the hell out of here and make sure I never see you again.”
Wes doesn’t wait to be told twice. Instead, he shuffles off towards the road. Melissa watches his retreating back, absently wondering if they’ve just made an enemy that one day might come back to bite them on the ass.
“It’s over, ‘Mel. Stop overthinking it.” Hawk’s hands runs up and down her arms, warming her through the way that his presence always does.
“What did you two say to him? Or do I not want to know?” Melissa gives Hawk a concerned look.
“Well, I sure as hell want to know, so spill. And don’t leave anything out!” Felicia pipes up from behind Melissa, looking between the two men, her expression telling them that she’s expecting all the gory details.
“Not much to tell, Felicia.” Josh shrugs, as if he intimidates people every day. “We just showed him the error of his ways.” His eyes twinkle at that, and he can’t seem to help but let a smile spread across his face.
“Bullshit.” Felicia crosses her arms, waiting for them to come up with something better.
“Ask Hawk; he did most of the talking. I was too busy trying to keep a straight face. The expression on that kid’s face was priceless. He didn’t know what hit him!” Josh looks like he’s about to double over with laughter.
Melissa raises a questioning eyebrow at Hawk. “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little curious about how you managed to brainwash him in less than fifteen minutes.”
The corner of Hawk’s mouth quirks up. “I just told him that if he published anything on the Caged Kings or any of us individually, ever, that I would find him and that we’d have a very different conversation.”
Melissa looks doubtfully at him, knowing that there was way more to the story that he was keeping under wraps. “And when did he try to hit you?”
“About the time that he started ranting about who his family was and what he was going to do to me.” Hawk shakes his head at the memory. “The guy can’t punch worth a damn.”
Melissa looks at him now, concerned. She knows exactly who Wes’s parents are and exactly how prominent they are in Portland. “How do you know he won’t go to the cops, Hawk? Or to his family? They’re not just empty threats.”
Hawk threads his fingers through her hair, looking calmer than Melissa thinks he has any reason to be. “We reached a little understanding. I told him if he said anything to anyone, then his little problem would go right on that world wide web that he hates so much.”
Melissa frowns, confused. “What problem?”
Hawk looks at her as if he thinks she’s joking. “You really didn’t know?” Melissa shakes her head, impatient for Hawk to drop the bombshell. “He’s a junkie.” The disdain in Hawk’s voice is clear.
“Wes?” Melissa shakes her head; it just wasn’t possible. “He’s got some problems, but he’s not a drug addict!”
“They don’t all come from the back-streets and pimp themselves out for their next fix, Melissa. Some of them come from rich families, too.” Felicia’s voice is full of reproach, and Melissa wonders if they’re ever going to get past that chip on her shoulder that’s the size of Oregon.
“That’s not what I meant.” Melissa focuses her attention back on Hawk.
“Honestly, I thought you already knew.” Hawk shakes his head, surprised by her naiveté. Melissa didn’t blame him; she was feeling pretty stupid about it now too. “You didn’t notice how edgy he always was, how he’d be constantly rubbing his nose, or how his pupils were the size of pinheads? He’s a cokehead, Melissa. That night he came to your house, when you’d broken up. He wasn’t drunk; he was high.”
It takes a few moments for the news to sink into Melissa’s brain. It wasn’t possible, surely if Wes, someone that she thought she knew, was into drugs she would have noticed. Surely there would have been some sign? But perhaps there had been. She starts thinking back over the months that they’d been together, the good times, the bad times, the times when he would get so angry he seemed like a different person, the night that he almost…She shudders, not wanting to go there again. Hawk’s arms wrap tighter around her, and she leans into his touch.
“It’s a lot to process.” He reads her mind yet again, hearing everything that she’s not saying.
She nods mutely, struggling to put her personal feelings aside and look at the bigger picture. It’s not hard to understanding now why Wes would have left so quietly, without making one of the scenes that he loves so much. “His parents are some of the biggest anti-drugs spokespeople in the state. His mom set up a foundation.” Melissa shakes her head. “He knew what the fallout would be for his family if his problem came out.”
Hawk shakes his head. “You can still see the good in him, even though he doesn’t deserve anything close.” Melissa looks askance at him. “I don’t think his change of heart had anything to do with not wanting to put his family through the scandal. That’s a little too altruistic for our Wes. I think he was more worried about what it would do for his career.”
Melissa nods in agreement. “That sounds like Wes.”
“Can we get back inside now? There’s a cold beer waiting for me with my name on it.” Josh nods towards the bar, not making any bones about his priorities. Melissa still can’t get over how normal he seems, as if this were just another day in the life of Josh. It was hard to reconcile the kind, almost fatherly like man, who’s only been kind to her with the ‘Nobody fucks with me or mine’ biker that she knows he must be.
“The beer’ll keep, Josh.” Felicia has been quiet for a time, and it’s clear that she has something on her mind. “What about The Tribune? Like you said, Melissa, dealing with Wes isn’t going to solve the whole problem. They’ll just send someone else.” Felicia looks between them all.
“Let ‘em try!” Hawk looks as if he’s ready to spit nails just at the thought.
Melissa puts a calming hand on his shoulder and takes a deep breath. It was a decision that she’d been mulling over for the past couple of days, but being with them tonight had made her mind up. “I’ve got a better idea. One that will get The Tribune off the Kings’ back for good.” They all look at her expectantly. “But I’m going to need you to trust me.”
Felicia raises her eyebrows, smiling. “I think we can do that.”
Josh claps her on the back so hard she almost falls over. “You don’t have to ask us to trust you, ‘Mel. You’ve proven we can over and over again.”
Melissa feels her eyes misting up at Josh’s words. Hawk pulls her into his arms and leans down close to her, their lips almost touching. “You’re family now, ‘Mel.” She feels her mouth spread into the goofiest of smiles, as he kisses her, and she wonders if life can get any better than this.