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Chapter 4
Hawk
“I c-care about you, Hawk.”
Gracie’s tear-filled voice came back to haunt me as I tossed a dirty bar rag into the sink. “I care about you, Hawk.” It was like a mantra in my head, bouncing off the walls of my brain and vibrating throughout my body like an electrical shock. Over and over again. I’d had no peace from it all night.
“I care about you,” her voice whispered through me this time and I froze. Clenching the edges of the bar top and lowering my head as I closed my eyes and waited for my heart to stop racing, my body to stop throbbing.
It had been hours since I’d dropped Gracie off at the house, hours since she had told me that she cared about me, but that she knew I didn’t feel the same. That she knew I just wanted to be friends…
A snort left me without my even realizing it. ‘Friends’ my ass. I wanted more than just friendship from that sweet little redhead. I wanted so much more that it was all I could do to go home every night and just hold her. It was an act of God that I was able to restrain myself, keeping my hands from touching her the way I really wanted to touch her. Keeping my lips from tasting every single inch of her incredible body.
I wanted Gracie Morgan more than I had ever wanted anything in my life. I could tell you that I wanted her more than I wanted air to breathe, but air was in abundance. It wasn’t something I worried about, because it was something I knew I would always have. No, I wanted her more than air. I wanted Gracie more than I wanted my bike to start each day so that I could feel the wind on my face as I did the one thing that had ever truly made me happy—feel the wind on my face and the power of my hog between my legs.
I wanted her. So. Damn. Much.
Yet it was more than the wanting. It was this need to protect and cherish her. Gracie was special. Not because of her sweetness, or her beauty, or even that huge-ass brain of hers. It was because she touched something inside of me by doing nothing more than existing. I’d never felt this way in my life. She brought out a part of me that had lain dormant for twenty-nine years.
If I were being honest I would just admit to myself that I loved that girl. While I was at it I should probably confess the same to her. But to put myself out there like that, to expose myself in such a way... it was new territory for me. I’d never been so vulnerable in my life and I wasn’t going to embrace the experience anytime soon.
I had to do something, though. Had to show her that she meant more to me than what she thought. She had her head hard set on leaving me, and once she was out of my house—out of my bed—she would start putting even more distance between us until she completely forgot about me. Those feelings that she had for me right now, her caring about me? That would all fade with time until I was nothing but a memory to her.
A growl left my throat, making Colt jerk back from where he was placing clean glasses on their racks beside of me. “Chill out, brother. I’m just doing my shit before heading home.”
I scrubbed a hand across my face. “Yeah, sorry.”
My little brother put the last glass in place. “So, how did Gracie’s first day of work go?”
I clenched my jaw and didn’t answer him. My lack of answer had him chuckling. “No wonder you’re growling like a caged beast. Guess she’s ready to leave the nest. You poor fucker.”
“Shut up,” I grumbled as I turned off the water in the sink and started to rinse it out to get rid of the scent of the stale beer I’d poured into it just a few minutes ago.
Colt laughed again, which caught Raider’s attention. He placed the case of beer on the floor and crouched down to stock the fridge for tomorrow’s shift. “What are you two idiots doing now?”
“Hawk is suffering from empty nest syndrome,” Colt informed him. “Gracie is moving on.”
“Smart girl,” Raider said with a grin as he emptied the box. “She could do a shitload better than our black-hearted brother.”
I knew he was just trying to get a reaction out of me. Nothing had ever made me respond to bait from my dumbass brothers in the past. But when it came to Gracie, I was almost helpless not to react. I fucking hated it, but there was nothing I could do to change it. That damn female had me all kinds of twisted up. I cut off the water and turned around so fast Raider didn’t have time to move before I kicked his feet out from under him and he landed on his knees. Hard.
“Fuck,” he bit out and pushed to his feet. “Break my kneecaps, why don’t you?”
/> “Next time I will,” I promised. Pulling my keys from my pocket, I headed for the door. “I’m out of here. See you idiots at home.”
The warm summer air hit me as soon as I stepped outside. The parking lot was empty except my brothers’ bikes and the man leaning against his own hog beside mine. I bit back a curse, knowing that I wasn’t going to get to go straight home, as I had wanted to.
Bash straightened as I neared. He was probably the biggest fucker I’d ever seen in my entire life. When he was the Angel’s Halo enforcer he’d made grown men piss themselves from a simple glare. He’d kept us all in line when he’d been the enforcer. Now that he was our club president he made the new guys and prospects shake in their boots.
“What now?” I demanded when I reached him.
Bash gave me a grim smile. “Got some intel on Samson,” the man I considered my brother-in-law informed me. Just the mention of that motherfucker’s name made rage boil in my veins. “I wanted to confirm it before I brought it to you, brother.”
“And?”
“That fight at Paradise City last weekend?” I nodded, remembering that there had been talk about a brawl breaking out at Bash and Spider’s strip club over the weekend. The fight hadn’t been that big of a deal. That shit happened all the damn time when you had a bunch of drunks grouped together. Add in naked girls and you got yourself a bloodbath when fights broke out. No, the real surprise had been when someone had tried to rape one of the girls while everyone else was distracted.
There were things that my club was known for. We did some not-so-nice things. You name it, we might or might not have our toes dipped into it. It was safe to say that we weren’t very nice people. However, when it came to the abuse of women and kids, we would kill before we let that kind of shit happen. Bash and Spider were notorious for how they handled the mistreatment of their employees at Paradise City. That someone had the balls to even attempt to hurt one of their girls like that told me loud and clear that that prick was either not from the area or had a death wish.
