Hawk
The weekend party had been a success on many fronts. Janie had been accepted by my peers and the old ladies who’d camped with us, the close-knit family style of club we used to enjoy appeared to be restored, and Digger had tattooed a dozen new members into the club.
I hadn’t seen Jonny smile so much since we were youngsters, new to the club. He hadn’t taken any whores into his tent that I’d seen, but he’d been relaxed by the end of the weekend, seemingly back to his old self.
Gliders packed the club all that week, stopping in for the old triple Bs: beer, burgers, and blowjobs. The music cranked. Brothers laughed and slapped backs, and I couldn’t help but think that Janie had something to do with it all.
She’d been the one to pull me from my depressed slump. It’d been my idea to party like we had in the old days. Hell, even Jonny had thanked her for giving us both a shot of life.
My missing link. The image tattooed over my heart with her name in cursive beneath. Branded and owned, and I couldn’t ask for anything more.
Saturday night, the club fucking rocked. A live, local band dominated the scene, having set up stage in the club’s corner. Loud-ass drums, whining guitars—an eighties rock cover band. I danced with Janie, her curves pressed against me.
She tore it up with a couple other women, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off her ass in the jeans she’d all but painted on her body. A tight, white tank top, tits pert and bouncing … goddamn, she was too fine.
I lounged at the bar beside Jonny, toothpick between my teeth and sweating bottle of beer in my hand.
A couple new women had been welcomed in, and one clung to Jonny like a leech, her painted lips leaving smears of red and hickies on his neck. He seemed to be enjoying himself for a change.
Janie caught my gaze, her eyes flashing in the strobe lights the band had set up. Swaying her hips, arms overhead, she captured me like a siren, and I found myself shoving through the crowd to get to her, toothpick and beer left behind on the bar.
One hand on the swell of her hip, the other tangling in her hair, I yanked her against me and devoured her mouth. She rubbed against me in time with my thrusting tongue. Her breath, sweet with a hint of hops invaded my senses, making me lightheaded. Hard.
I slid my lips along her jawline to her ear. “I want to fuck you,” I half-hollered and pressed my cock against her stomach.
She sagged against me, her hands grasping at the back of my colors. Peering up at me through her eyelashes, a smirk on her lips, she nodded.
I grabbed her hand and pushed my way back through the crowd, intent on the front door.
Jonny lifted his shot glass in cheers, and I dipped my head before pushing out the door. A blast of cool air licked at my skin. Fuck trying to get home. My truck would suffice.
Janie pulled up short halfway across the parking lot. “Oh fuck,” she whispered with such fear, the hairs on my neck stood on end.
I glanced over my shoulder to find her focus across the street at the liquor store.
Three trucks sat side by side facing us. The doors to all three double cabs opened, and men spilled out. Men in leathers. Big, badass motherfuckers.
I recognized the tallest biker striding out front. The one who’d given Janie a ride in Sturgis. Don Taylor, his president, walked beside him, hands fisted.
“The fuck…” My words stalled out as they crossed the road. As one, they paused on the sidewalk.
“Janie!” Taylor called. “You all right?”
She pressed up against me, and I pulled her close as thoughts crashed around in my brain.
The Silent Demons’ president drew himself up and glared at me when Janie didn’t answer him. “Get your fucking hands off my daughter.”
Goddamn, motherfucking shit. My suspicions were right. “Janie.”
“I’m sorry, Hawk,” she said, her voice tear-filled as she clung to me, but I didn’t take my eyes off the line of men. “I should have told you the truth from the start. I shouldn’t have—”
“Your father is the leader of the fucking Demons.” Tension hung between Taylor’s men and me. A car horn honked in the distance. The club door squeaked open behind me, letting out the blasting music and laughter, and slammed shut again.
“I’m so sorry.” Janie started to move away, but I held her against me. “You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You knew what would happen once the truth came out,” I said without looking at her, keeping my voice low while the battle of the stares between her father and I went on.
“I got a call that you’d kidnapped my daughter.”
I jerked toward Taylor. “Who the fuck called you?”
He glanced at the club behind me, and a shiver rippled down my spine. Someone inside? Demon under cover? Traitorous Glider? My blood fucking simmered, clenching my fists.
“I’m not looking for trouble,” Taylor said, although his and the Demons’ body language stated otherwise. At least they kept their hands where I could see them.
“He didn’t take me, Dad,” Janie said, her voice high-pitched and shaky. “I went with him willingly when he asked me to, just like I told you a few weeks ago. I swear to God, he didn’t know who I was until just now.”
The club door opened again, but no music blared.
A few of the Demons on the sidewalk shifted as footsteps sounded behind me.
Jonny pulled up on my left, Digger on my right, and dozens of other Gliders fanned out alongside us. If the Demons had shown up the previous week, the number of brothers standing beside me would have been outnumbered by our rivals. We wouldn’t have stood a chance.
“We don’t want trouble, Jonny, not here, not now,” Taylor said, his gaze moving to my best friend. “I’m just here to get my daughter.”
“Daughter.” I felt Jonny’s gaze slide over me and land on Janie. “Fuck,” he whispered harshly in the heavy quiet.
Even worse, someone had contacted Taylor and had lied about the situation. A problem for another time…
“I’m so sorry.” Janie started to pull away again, and although every cell in my body screamed to keep her close, I let her loose. “I shouldn’t have kept the truth from you. Both of you.” Tears laced her words. “I’m sorry, Jonny, but even knowing Hawk was a rival club member, I couldn’t stay away from him. Couldn’t—can’t—control my need for him.”
Her father stared at me rather than her. While I hated the fact she’d lied to me, I couldn’t let her leave.
“You don’t have to go,” I told her before Jonny could reply, tearing my attention from Janie’s father and his men.
Tears pooled in her eyes and her lips trembled. She wrapped her arms around herself as though wanting to sink into the ground and disappear. “We were doomed from the start, Hawk.”
“No.”
She nodded as the tears slid down her cheeks.
“Modern day Romeo and Juliet,” Digger muttered under his breath.
“A Demon’s daughter and a Glider,” Janie added, her voice small.
“She’s got problems,” Taylor said, his voice loud and clear, pulling my attention back to him.
I grit my teeth, fingernails digging into my palms. “Everyone has problems, Taylor. Your daughter has found a way to live with hers. She’s strong. Resilient. I’ve never met a more life-filled, joyous woman in my life.”
A sob sounded, breaking my fucking heart.
“You haven’t seen her depressive episode I’m guessing.”
“She crashed less than a week after we met.”
Taylor glanced at Janie, and she nodded, still hugging herself tight less than two strides away from me. It felt like a mile.
“I love her, Taylor,” I told her father, unclenching and fisting my hands again. “She belongs with me, and I’ll stop anyone who tries to take her away from me.”
More shifting on both sides. Tension thickened over the streetlight-lit parking lot, sending another rush of adrenaline through my blood.
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” I said, unmoving and ready to roll if need be.
Taylor held his own, I’ll give him that. A staring match for the books between protective father and lover, our brothers standing beside us, ready for violence.
“Whatever it takes?” Taylor finally echoed my words.
I dipped my head in a single nod.
“If you love her, she comes first.”
Without hesitation, I pulled off my vest and tossed it to the ground. “Always.”
Digger swore beside me.
“Don’t do this, Hawk,” Jonny said, low enough his voice wouldn’t travel.
“Gotta. Janie means everything to me.” I met her gaze, the love pouring from her wet eyes slamming me in the chest. “Everything.”
She swiped at the tears on her cheeks, retrieved my colors, and handed them to me. “Put it back on. Now,” she said, her voice steadying. I hesitated, and she slapped the vest to my chest, all trace of sorrow gone from her beautiful face. “Now, Hawk.” Fire glinted in her eyes, same as when she’d told off the club whore, Shelly.
Biting back a smirk, I took my vest from her, and she spun toward her father, hands on her hips. “How dare you ask that of him?” she all but spit the words out. “This man has been nothing but kind to me. Loving. He’s helped keep me grounded over the past couple of weeks, and I’ve never experienced such a normal before.”
“He only took you to get back at the Demons for—”
“Oh, give me a break, Dad. Someone fed you that kidnapping lie, plain and simple.”
“Janie—”
“If you pursue any type of charges against him, I’ll spill it all, Dad. Everything you keep in that bottom drawer of your desk. Every dirty little secret.”
He stilled, eyes narrowing as he studied her face. By the set of her shoulders, I expected he found determination in her eyes. Not a threat, but a promise as her voice had indicated. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh, I would. All the sick shit you’re into? You deserve to be in jail, along with the rest of your brothers.” She glanced back at me, the smile I’d heard in her voice lifting her lips. “Put the vest back on, Hawk.” Once more, she turned toward her father while I did as she’d said. “If you love me, you’ll let me go. I’m more than able to make my own choices. Allow me to be an adult finally. Let him love me.”
Still, her father hesitated.
“If you’re going to force his hand,” Janie continued, “force me to choose, it’ll be Hawk, Dad. Every day for the rest of my life, I want him. Even if it means sending every last Demon to jail.”
I stepped forward and grasped her hand before Taylor could think to react, hoping like hell Jonny realized what Janie’s words meant to our club.
She turned into me, pressing her face against my chest as I wrapped my arms around her. My fucking eyes burned. “She’s mine,” I said, glaring at her father again. “Mine to hold. Mine to protect.” Even though I wanted to plant my fist into his nose, I hoped he heard the promise behind my words.
Silence hovered, the threat of violence still heavy in the air. “And to cherish?” her father finally asked, his shoulders lowering the slightest bit.
“Every fucking day.” I didn’t hesitate to answer.
Taylor lifted his chin as though trying to stare me down over his nose. “I hear a whisper of you mistreating her, I’ll come back here and burn you all down.”
I wanted to snort, tell him I’d love to see him try—especially with whatever Janie held over him—but for her sake, I nodded.
Lips pursed, he, too, nodded and turned. “Let’s go, boys.”
A handful of them grumbled.
“The fuck, Taylor?” one of the men threw his way.
“Shut the fuck up and let’s go!” Taylor shouted back, sweeping his arm toward the vehicles behind them.
“Fuck,” Digger muttered from beside me, cracking his knuckles. “I was hoping to lay a few of those fuckers flat.”
“They ever show up here again to try to take Janie,” I said, keeping my voice low, “lay them all flat.”
“Gladly.”
“Hawk?”
I glanced over at Jonny. “We’ve got some shit to discuss, but not tonight.”
“Tomorrow,” Jonny said. “First thing.” He turned his gaze on Janie and dipped his head, his acknowledgement of her letting me know he, too, recognized her loyalty to the club.
Arm around Janie, I strode toward my truck without another word, adrenaline flooding my bloodstream. My hand shook as I opened the passenger door and pulled it open for her. “Get in.”
She scurried into the cab, and I slammed the door, stalking around the front of my truck, gaze on the Demons as they climbed into theirs.
A slew of emotions pulsed through me. Anger. Pride. Lust. I turned the key, my truck roaring to life. We pulled away first, and I kept her dad’s entourage in my rearview as they disappeared in the opposite direction. “When we get home, we’re going to have one long fucking talk,” I said, barely able to keep my voice in check. “After I redden your ass for the danger you put us all in.”
“I’m so sorry, Hawk.”
“Sorry isn’t what I need to hear right now, little butterfly.”
Silence fell over the cab for the next ten minutes as I mulled over the fact someone had called Taylor. Lied. That bothered me more than the fact Janie had been keeping the truth from me. She hadn’t trusted me to stick by her side.
Jonny needed to know about the snitch. Tomorrow, I reminded myself, glancing over at Janie. She chewed on her inner lip, arms around her waist, staring out the window.
I pulled into the driveway, cut the engine, and returned my hand to the steering wheel in a death grip. “I’m going to sit here for a few minutes to calm the fuck down. I want you kneeling over the bed, butt naked when I come in.”
Janie’s breath caught, and she didn’t waste time hurrying out of the truck.
Every curse word I knew flew from my lips. While I didn’t take well to someone lying to me—it’d given dozens of men a close-up meeting with my fists over the years—I understood why Janie had done it. But even if I had known she was Don Taylor’s daughter, I still would have gone after her in Sturgis. Would have insisted she come home with me. Would have given up my colors in order to keep her.
She fucking belonged to me, but she needed to learn lies came with consequences. We’d gotten off damn easy. No bloodshed, no lives lost, when it could have been a fucking disaster in the club’s parking lot.
One wrong word, one unexpected move could have brought hell crashing down.
I blew a long, slow breath between my lips and finally released my grip on the steering wheel. Damn lucky we got away so easy.
Handing in my colors wouldn’t have hurt half as much as Janie thinking she couldn’t trust me with the truth. We could have figured it out together.
Goddamn you, little butterfly.
The need to unleash my pent-up energy, the thought of her backside bared and waiting for my hand…
I climbed out of the truck and adjusted my swelling cock. Time to dish out Janie’s punishment and teach her a lesson or two.