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I relax—if only slightly—relief like nothing I’ve ever felt before flowing through me, and I nearly dropped the bottle of beer. “Well thank fuck for that,” I mutter.
“Those fuckers still need to be taught a lesson. And the girl with the camera … Flick do you know who she was?”
“Yeah,” Felicity bites out with disgust. “It was her roommate. Janice is in my Psychology class on Tuesdays. She is a real piece of work, that one.”
“I want her dealt with,” Bash tells her in a tone that leaves no room for argument. Felicity only nods. “We can’t have these idiots running around this town. How many do you need?”
Felicity clenches her jaw. “I’m sure that Raven and I can handle her on our own. But if we can’t, I’ll ask my mother.”
“Take Colt with you when you do it.”
Raven enters the kitchen, her eyes were wild and her hands shaking ever so slightly as she moves toward the sink to wash her hands. Slowly, she turns to face me. “Other than some pretty ugly bruises, she’s physically alright. Mentally...” she shakes her head “...well that’s another story.”
My jaw aches I clench it so hard. All I can do is nod. Raven touches my arm, soothing me marginally. “She’s asking for you, Hawk.”
That startles me into looking down at my sister. “What?”
“She’s terrified of every little noise right now. You rescued her. In her mind you are the only thing that is safe. Go to her, Hawk.”
I’m not made to be soft. I’m conditioned to be gentle. After being raised by a biker with an entire club behind him to teach me all the things men aren’t supposed to feel, I’m not sure that I can offer that girl anything she needs right now …
But isn’t that what I’d been doing that from the moment I heard her scream? A voice growls in the back of my mind. Something had shifted inside of me and I took care of Gracie even more tenderly than I would have Raven or Felicity. So maybe I can be what she needed right then.
Gracie
I wake up feeling disoriented.
I’m not in my room back at my apartment near school. I realize I’m not even in my own clothes as I shift and feel the soft fabric of the sleep pants my new friend had offered me the night before. With the memories of Raven Hannigan, come the other memories that have haunted me for most of the night, and I bite my lip to keep it from trembling.
My throat aches. I must have really strained it last night with all of that screaming. I’m not much of a crier, but it seems like I cried an ocean full in the last twelve hours. Swallowing my tears, I shift on the comfortable bed …
A groan from behind me makes me freeze, and I slowly turn my head until I see the sleeping face of my avenging angel. I had learned that his name was Hawk Hannigan, and he had saved me without even questioning it. I owe him my life, my very sanity.
The memories of Hawk carrying me upstairs and placing me in his bed float back to me, pushing away the dreadful memories of Brayden and Janice and that blonde guy. He had taken care of me without a single complaint. When I woke in the middle of the night, screaming nearly as loudly as I had when being attacked, he was there soothing me with gentle hands that were so at odds with their size and the noticeable strength behind them.
I had fallen back to sleep with his arms holding me. I can’t remember ever feeling safer in my entire life.
Logic says that I shouldn’t feel so safe with such a man that exudes danger from every pore. After the night before, I should be frightened out of my head of everything male and everything … human, considering that it had been my roommate that set it up. But with Hawk I instinctively know that nothing bad will happen to me.
As if sensing my eyes on him, his eyes snap open. They are an unusual olive-jade color that see into my very soul. The fierce look on his face relaxes and he offers me the smallest of smiles. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay …” My voice is hoarse from the screaming I’d done the night before. “I don’t think I said this last night, but I really wanted to thank you. If you hadn’t been there I … Well I’m sure things would have ended a lot differently.” And that thought will always make me grateful for this man.
“Don’t.” He lifts his hand and traces his fingers over my cheek so tenderly
that I feel fresh tears prick my eyes. “Don’t think about last night. It isn’t worth it. And any decent man would have done the same thing I did.”
“Then I was lucky such a good one was at that party.”
He seems almost embarrassed by my gratitude. I don’t want that so I changed the subject. “I need to get back to my apartment. I should find a hotel to stay in until I can talk to the housing authority on Monday about getting a new room.” There’s no way I’m sleeping under the same roof as Janice ever again. I have some extra money, enough to cover a hotel for a night or two, but I’m going to have to find a job soon to help with my living expenses. My tuition covers my meals on campus, but there are other everyday things that I’ll need to pay for and what’s left over from my inheritance is running out faster than I expected.
“There’s no need for that. You can stay here as long as you need to. Flick and Raven will get everything you need. As for Janice … once they finish with her, you won’t ever have to worry about that sick cow again.”
I frown. “What do you mean? What are they going to do?” Are they going to talk to her? Talking to her isn’t going to make her any less of the demented bitch she is soul deep.
“Don’t worry about it, Gracie. Just give Raven your key and they will get your things.” He sits up, causing the comforter to fall to his waist and showing me that he slept in his jeans all night. Why that disappoints me, I’m not sure. The possibilities are enough to make me blush and shame fills me. I’d nearly been sexually abused the night before and here I am hoping to catch a glance at this blond avenging angel’s man bits?
There’s a brief hard knock on the door before it opens, and in walks a slightly younger version of the man still sitting in bed beside me. “Bash said he wants to know what you plan to do with the frat house. We riding today, or what?’
