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“Yeah, I would be going just as crazy if it was Raven.” Bash leaned back against the wall and popped his neck restlessly. “What are we gonna do with his body when we’re done? Bury, burn, cut it up?”
Harley made a choking sound, but didn’t so much as utter a word as Matt and Tanner threw out suggestions about what we should do with his remains. From outside I heard a cage pull up with at least fifteen motorcycles behind it. I opened the door and leaned my head out to see who it was.
Hawk and Jack got out of Harley’s truck and every one of our club brothers were there to greet them. I was glad for the high number in attendance. When I’d made the calls to the others I’d told them to only show if they were going to vote yes to Harley’s death. Since Harley was a brother, and our brotherhood was a sacred bond it took a lot for one brother to vote for another to meet the angel of death. Looked like everyone was in agreement tonight. I hadn’t been doubtful, though. After the whole tragic thing with Westcliffe and the mess he’d left Felicity in, everyone was even more cautious when a brother went rogue like this.
Some might argue that Harley hadn’t really done anything that bad. He hadn’t killed anyone, hadn’t molested anyone. He was a brother, family. Sometimes even family needed taking care of. In my book he’d done more than enough to get my death sentence. He kidnapped an innocent girl, hurt her, and could have killed her with the injury he’d caused to her head. Who knows what he would have done to her if we hadn’t shown up when we had. He could have been planning anything. Who was to say that he hadn’t been about to rape her? Kill her?
I didn’t honestly know, didn’t want to know. What I did know was that I wasn’t going to let him just walk away from this so that he might do it all over again down the road. I didn’t want what he could possibly do to Gracie or some other girl on my conscience because we had let this motherfucker off so lightly.
Trigger hurried out to meet the others. I stood in the doorway watching as he grabbed hold of Uncle Jack and pulled him away from the others. It was still dark out there; the only light was coming from a single street pole closer to the warehouse, so I couldn’t see them clearly. From the way Trigger was tossing his hands up agitatedly I could tell it was serious.
When Uncle Jack reared back and punched Trigger in the face I realized that something big had just gone down. What the fuck? Uncle Jack rarely let his emotions overtake him to the point that he started throwing punches. That he was throwing them at Trigger was even worse. He’d always had a soft spot for Trigger, treated him just like family.
I wasn’t the only one interested in the heated conversation still going on. Hawk
was front and center of the men outside who were watching the confrontation in pure fascination. He was closer to them, could probably make out more of what was being said compared to the nothing I heard.
Whatever he heard didn’t make him move to help out either man. I doubted that they would have wanted anyone to, though. Trigger wasn’t backing down from Uncle Jack, but he wasn’t trying to defend himself either.
“What’s going on out there?” Bash asked from behind me. “What… well, that could get ugly.” Muttering a curse he moved around me and sprinted across the parking lot to jump between the two bikers. His voice was booming as he ordered them both to take a step back. “This isn’t something that should happen tonight. We have to get this done before Uncle Jack decides what to do about you and his daughter, Trigger. ”
“I didn’t know until I saw her, Jack.” Trigger’s voice was louder and I could hear him clearly now.
Uncle Jack scrubbed both his hands over his weathered face. His voice carried to me and I had to admit I was intrigued. “You didn’t think to check to see if Shannon had left with your kid in her belly? What the fuck, man? Are you the reason she left in the first place?”
“I came home on leave and things happened between us. I left here thinking that I would ask her to marry me when I got home at the end of my tour.” Even from where I was standing I could see the torment on Trigger’s face. “When I got back, a year later than expected, Shannon was long gone. You said she was married to some moneyed jackass and was happy. When you mentioned a granddaughter I had no idea she could have been mine. I thought she was younger. And you never mentioned what her name was.”
“What the fuck does her name have to do with all of this?” Hawk spoke up for the first time.
Trigger took a few steps closer to Hawk. “Gracie was my grandmother’s name, and I always told Shannon if I had a daughter I would have wanted to name her after the old woman.”
“That doesn’t mean she’s your daughter.”
“No. But the math will. When’s her birthday? What’s her blood type? I have a rare blood type. If she has it then she’s mine.”
“I don’t know her fucking blood type,” Hawk raged. “Her birthday is January the twelfth.”
“Then the chances of her being mine just went up,” Trigger told him. “As Gracie’s father, I trump both you and Jack. I get to end Harley.”
“No,” Hawk shook his head. “As the man that is going to marry her, I trump every-fucking-body. You can cut him up and do what you want with the rest of him, but I end him. I’m the angel of death tonight, not you. Not Uncle Jack. Me.”
Chapter 10
Gracie
Nurses woke me up every two hours and by morning I was feeling considerably better. Even if I did want to punch the nursing staff in the face for continuing to wake me up.
Some teenager in a pink-striped outfit brought in my breakfast, waking me up yet again. I gave her a small smile as she left the room and turned to look for Hawk. The smile vanished when all I found was Raven sleeping soundly in a recliner close to the window.
A glance at the clock hanging beside the small television on the wall told me it was just past eight o’clock. I didn’t remember much after the nurse had given me the painkillers down in the ER the night before. Even the CT scan was a vague memory. Other than the outline of the nurses that had woken me up briefly every two hours throughout the night I couldn’t tell you much about the staff that had been treating me during that time.
When had Hawk left? Where had he gone?
My heart started racing and I wondered if he had left to take care of Harley. Had he…killed him? Would Hawk actually murder someone? My heart wanted to say no, but my brain said something completely different. The man who owned my heart was still a completely mystery to me. I knew nothing about his past—really, I barely knew him at all.
I found the buttons that controlled the bed and pushed the one that would lift my head. Sighing, I reached for the tray on the rolling table that the pink-stripe girl had left me. My throat felt like it was as dry as a desert and there was a small cup of orange juice on my tray.
I’d just picked up the cup and started lifting the lid when the door opened and Hawk walked in with two delicious-smelling cups of coffee. His olive-jade green eyes went around the room before landing on me. The frown that he had been wearing eased and his lips lifted in a relieved smile.
