Willow

The room dark and unfamiliar, I wiped my bleary eyes. I wasn't sure how long I'd slept, but I felt better for it. Surprise fluttered through my mind when I realised how rested I felt, a miracle considering the last twenty-four hours or so.

Guilt remained heavy in my mind. I needed to seek out someone else's help—a bodyguard, anyone who could deal with it professionally without causing their family hardship. I had to find someone I could trust. A detective, maybe? There was always a risk they could be in with the dick-muncher who bought me and his evil plan, but I had to take that risk to get my overflowing crap from the Hawks' doorstep.

Stretching my sore body, I pushed the sheet back and shifted my legs to the side to sit. Looking down at my bandaged feet, I moved them up and down, side to side. They still ached, but the real test was if I could stand on them. Carefully, I touched them to the grey carpeted floor. They were tender, but not too bad. Standing, the ache in them doubled. Still, it was something I could handle for small periods.

Brushing my hair from my face, I made my way to the door and slowly opened it. The room I'd been in was just about in the middle of the hall. What I guessed was the kitchen, at the end, held a lot of voices. My heart beat double-time. Too nervous to walk in there, I went in the other direction to the living room, hoping I'd find Josie.

She wasn't there, so I had a choice to either wait out the people in the kitchen or go in and see what was going on.

Just when the thought to hide in the room again crossed my mind, there was an assertive knock on the front door. With the noise going on in the kitchen, I knew no one would have heard it. I bit my bottom lip, contemplating whether to answer it or not. It wasn't my place to answer the door. I should've gone and got someone, but another knock came, that one louder and impatient.

Nothing bad could happen with opening the door...right?

Walking to it, I reached out and unlocked the deadbolt with a shaky hand. Then slowly, I opened it a little. My eyes widened, a scream came out of me before I could catch it and I quickly slammed the door closed again, resting my back against it, my chest heaving.

There was a man.

A good-looking man.

But the scowl upon his face could cut anyone down, and I didn't want to be in the path of it. I shouldn't have opened the door.

Footsteps pounded down the hall. Dodge was first. I saw no one else but him and the panicked look upon his face. His eyes grazed over me before he asked, "Willow?"

"T-t-there's—"

"Dodge, open the motherfuckin' door, right the fuck now," the scary man bellowed from outside.

"Honey, language," was snapped by a female voice seconds later.

Dodge smirked. He actually smirked and then it turned into a wide grin and then...then he laughed, while others joined in with him. Josie came to me first, her arm wound around my waist. She moved me from the front door to the couch while Dodge went to the door with a smile lighting his face and opened it wide. That sexy smile—one I’d hopefully have a naughty dream about—reassured me everything was okay. The scary man didn’t mean harm.

"Yo, boss, looks like you not only scare us, but the females, as well." Dodge stepped aside and the scowling man stepped in, followed by a beautiful pregnant woman with warm eyes, a wide smile and a head full of wild, dark hair.

My eyes quickly went back to the man Dodge called boss. He glared and growled, "I ain't gonna hurt you."

"I promise he won't. He's a big teddy bear under all that." The pregnant woman gestured with her hand over the man's body.

"Kitten," he growled to the woman.

"Oh, quit it." She came forward, her hand outstretched. I slowly took it. "Hi, I'm Zara and that's Talon, the president of all of the Hawks charters."

He...yes, I could understand why he was president.

"W-Willow," I uttered.

Zara smiled, winked then turned to Josie. "Sister, give me some loving." She stood tall, arms wide and Josie, with a sweet, kind smile, stood up from next to me and embraced her...sister?

Josie pulled back, her hand resting on Zara's belly, and then asked, "Where are my nieces and nephews?"

Zara smiled sadly. "With Mum." They sighed together. "We popped in because Talon wanted to talk to Memphis and Dodge."

I looked around her to see Dodge had disappeared with Talon.

"There's my baby!" was yelled. I jumped, stood, took a few steps back when I saw a man in his late thirties run across the floor only to stop at Zara, who rolled her eyes. He fell to his knees in front of her. His hands went to her melon belly. "How's my little pea? Nice and warm in there? Your daddy is just here, sweet'ums, no need to worry."

What. The. Hedge?

Daddy?

He was the daddy?

And scary man let that happen to his woman?

A new man appeared who looked similar to Zara. He came up, laid a hand on the man's shoulder who was still on his knees, and said to me, "Hi, I'm Matthew, Zara's brother. And the crazy one is Julian, my—"

"Fiancé," Julian supplied and then bounded up and over to me. "Aren't you just golly-gosh-gorgeous. I love the relaxed look in Dodge's clothes, like you just got out of bed. Looks good on you."

"Julian—" Josie started.

"Are you Dodge's woman?" He laughed. "Oh, I guess you are, being in his clothes and all. Don't worry about us, we'll head off soon so you can get back to your man...hey, why are your feet like—"

"Julian," Josie snapped.

"H-how are you still alive?" I stupidly asked without thinking.

His head jerked back. "What do you mean?"

"You...and Zara, a baby... How has that man not killed you?"

Everyone burst out laughing.

Had I woken up in a different universe?

"No, sugarplum, he won't kill me. I'm too handsome for that." Julian smiled.

"There's also the fact that Matthew is my brother, making Julian my brother-in-law. And if Talon tried anything, he would be sleeping on the couch for the rest of his life," Zara said.

Rubbing my hand against my forehead, I uttered, "This is all so strange."

"The best way a family should be," Julian said.

"Willow," Josie said to catch my attention. I looked to her. "Come sit down and I'll explain a few things." I did just that, thinking maybe more information would help my brain from exploding. "Zara and Matthew are biological brother and sister. I was adopted by Mum and Dad," —a small wince when she'd said Dad made me believe something had happened to him—"after my situation. Zara is having a baby for Matthew and Julian. It was their gift to them when they got engaged. Our family is...a little different to most. It's big and includes all members from the Hawks Motorcycle Club. That's how I met Eli and Caden, as well. We have a lot of love and a lot of desire to help each other out in any way we can. Since you became Hawks—"

"Oh, has Dodge claimed her?" Zara asked.

Josie shook her head. "Well, not in that way. Willow has had some trouble, and the men have taken it on. She's now under the protection of Hawks."

"What happened?" Zara demanded.

"Kitten," Talon barked when he appeared out of nowhere... Okay, he walked from the hallway with the other men following him. His deep gaze stopped on me. I held my breath when he said, "Dodge has told me of your situation. You stay here. You think of going to anyone, we'll bring you right back. We will fuckin' help with what's goin' down in our own goddamn backyard. No one is gonna deal with it like we can."

"B-but, I could, um, I could find, like a detective or something, who isn't under the thumb of my owner—"

"Owner?" Julian gasped.

"No," Talon growled. "Besides, we have one in our fold." He thumbed to the guy behind him who offered a charming smile.

"So, I could go with you?" I asked

"Not fuckin' happenin'," Dodge bit out.

Getting up the nerve, I stood and crossed my arms over my chest. I couldn't and wouldn't bring the nice people into it when I had a detective who could help me and keep me away from any trouble, even the troubles that could harm my heart. Lifting my chin, I said, "I appreciate the help so far, but I'm going with..."

"Lan," the detective supplied.

"Lan." I nodded. "I've brought enough trouble and I don't want any of this to sink into your lives."

Dodge took a step forward, glared down at me and said, "No. You stay here."

Leaning forward, I glowered and snapped, "I go with him."

"Low," Talon said with humour in his voice. I looked to him. It was the first time a smile—well, more like smirk—appeared on his face. "Dodge is right. You stay here. Lan has his own crap to deal with and can't keep an eye on you all the time."

"I'm a pain." I sighed and then said in a snippety tone, "No matter what, I'm a pain and I don't want to be. I'm tired of it, so if I can find another way to get out of your lives...lives that were just starting to look up, then I will."

Holy fudgetruck. I just said that to the scary dude.

Thank God, he was still smiling at my outburst. "Ain't happenin', girl, so get the fuck over it and let us help you. Look, we're in this no matter what anyway 'cause we have our own shit to handle with the Venom MC. So this is nothin' extra really, and it's a situation we can handle. So don't sweat it."

The whole event was so frustrating, I wanted to growl to the room, stomp my foot and leap at Lan, to cry and beg him to carry me out of there.

"Let's get back to the owner part," Zara said.

"Kitten," Talon warned.

"Do I need to call my posse in?"

Posse? She had a posse? Wow.

"You call your muffkateers and we're gonna have words." His hands went to his waist.

Muffkateers...now that was laughable; however, I didn't. I guessed not many people laughed at Talon and lived to tell the tale.

"Oh, we'll have words no matter what, Talon Marcus."

I think I had a girl crush. Zara was...amazing!

"Babe." Talon groaned and looked to the ceiling, as if he were trying to stop himself from strangling her. "Dodge is handling it."

"Yes, why is Dodge handling it?" she demanded.

"Zara," Josie put in then shook her head. I could have kissed that woman again because she didn't want to embarrass me over my obvious obsession with Dodge and him keeping me safe. But Dodge came with Josie and her men, and she didn't need any more trouble.

Stuff it. From the determined look in Dodge's eyes earlier, I knew I had no choice but to play along. They wanted to protect me? Fine. It didn't mean I couldn't help with the protection part, and my help would be in the way of keeping who I could safe.

I was strong. I had balls when I had to. I just happened to be dazed, confused and very scared yesterday. No longer, though.

"He's the new president of this charter," Talon announced to the room.

"Oh, yay!" Julian cried.

Wow, again. Dodge...Mr Sinful himself, was the president of an MC.

"Okay, well, okay," Zara said. Talon smirked at her. "Keep that smile off your face. If he can't deal with the protection Willow obviously needs...if I'm getting this right, from her owner," she snarled, and a look of disgust had her nose scrunching up. "Then I'm calling in the girls and we'll come back here to help deal with keeping her safe."

A sniff sounded in the room.

I realised it came from me when all eyes landed on me.

"A woman's crying, I'm outta here," a large mountain man hissed.

"Dallas," Dodge growled.

"Hell no, brother. I'll call in later. Tonight, I'll take care of the cameras in the garage," he said then quickly walked out the front door like his pants were on fire.

Besides, I wasn't exactly crying. Only a few tears rolled down my cheeks.

"Dumpling," Julian cooed at me like a little child, which would usually annoy me, but coming from Julian it didn’t. So instead of punching him in the throat, I let him wrap his arms around me. "Don't cry about it. You'll see, once you get into this club, you'll want to stay forever. Our group is awesome and now you're in it so...I officially welcome you to the pussy posse."

Numbly, I nodded. Never had I felt so much love and friendship in my life.

"Kitten," Talon growled, which he seemed to do a lot. "We better get back to the kids."

Zara rolled her eyes at him. She turned and stepped towards me, taking me in her arms for a long hug. "We'll talk soon. I'll call you and I'll call Josie for all the information I need to know about what in the heck is going on."

"Zara," Talon warned, again.

She ignored him, smiled and added, "You're in good hands. It's Dive you need to stay away from."

"Hey!" Dive yelled.

"Though, Dodge has been known to have—"

"Wildcat," Dodge snapped.

Wildcat...I liked that for Zara.

"Anyway, I'll be in touch, and one day you so have to come to Ballarat to meet everyone." She hugged me again, then hugged Josie, Julian, Matthew, Dodge, Pick, Billy, Dive, Lan, Memphis and a young man whose name I didn't know.

"Kitten," Talon groaned.

"Coming," she sang then walked to her man, who placed his arm around her shoulders. He sent a chin lift to the room, which seemed to be normal for these men, and walked out the front door.

"Right," Memphis started. "Church tomorrow, announce the changes, see if that'll scare any snitch out of hiding. For now, I'm out." He turned to the youngest in the room. "You coming, kid?"

"Yep," was his reply. He shook Dodge's hand then gave him a manly hug and loud pat to the back, which Dodge replicated, and left after Memphis.

"Going to get gone, as well," Lan said. He walked up to me, leaning in.

"Lan," Dodge said with a tone of warning.

Lan kissed my cheek, causing me to blush. He then handed me a card. "If you ever need anything, even time away from this guy, I'll make it happen."

"Goddammit, brother."

"Catch ya." He smiled. Before I could get my brain to fire, he turned, stalked to the door in his tight jeans, and patted Dodge on the arm. Dodge just glared back. "Talk soon," were his parting words.

Dodge slammed the door closed and turned to me scowling. My eyes widened for a second and then I met his scowl with my own, placing my hands on my hips. Maybe the fire under my belt, which had me standing up to the scary bikers, was the fact that...I felt safe. In fact, I felt very safe for the first time in my life. I also felt as though I could be myself, which was a wonderful feeling. So even though I was glaring at Mr Sin, I fought the smile of glee wanting to spread across my face.

"This is all so exciting," Julian chimed in.

"Ah, you guys staying for dinner?" Josie asked.

"No, sorry, we should get back home," Mattie replied.

"But it's just getting good. I can see the storm brewing. How long have those two known each other?"

Was Julian talking about me and Dodge?

"Just about twenty-four hours," Pick said.

Julian snorted. "No joke. Wow, I can see the sexual—"

"Julian, we're going," Matthew snapped.

"Poppet, you ruin my fun, but I still love you."

They broke mine and Dodge's staring competition by hugging me goodbye. All of a sudden, I wanted to cry again. I'd never been hugged so much; it was like I was already a part of their family.

Once they left, Josie announced, "I'm going to get dinner started and then my guys and I will leave."

"I'll help," I said and followed her to the hallway.

Halfway down, I heard Dive say, "Hell, I'm staying for the show."

"You eat, you leave, fucker," Dodge growled.

Yikes. Alone with Dodge was a recipe for disaster.