by Sam Crescent
He burst out laughing.
“What?”
“Some of the women can top that.”
“Oh, my God, I can’t believe you just went there.” She laughed. “You’re going to have to watch your language around this one. Pretty soon, she’d be shocking you with her words.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.” He stroked Bethany’s cheek. She looked up at him and smiled. She was growing up so fast.
“You really do love her?” she asked.
“She’s my first kid. My only kid. Don’t ask me to talk about her mother. I never will. Bethany deserved better than that traitor, got me?”
Jasmine held her hands up. “I won’t say a word. When you look at her, I can see your love for her. It’s nice.”
“Regardless of where she came from, she’s my flesh and blood. I’ll do anything for her.” He reached out and placed a hand near her shoulder. Jasmine jerked back just a touch.
“Sorry, I thought you were going to touch it.”
“You protected my daughter yesterday rather than your own life. For that, I’ll be permanently in your debt. I don’t want anything to happen to her.”
“Hawk, I know what it’s like to lose a child. You’re not in my debt. I hope if I ever have a child one day, then there’ll be someone out there who’d protect my child just the same.”
“Do you stay in touch with your husband?”
“No. I know he’s moved on, and I accept that. To be honest, we probably shouldn’t have even tried for a baby together.”
“Why not?”
“We weren’t in the best place. We’d spoken of divorce a couple of times, and then I found out I was pregnant. For a short time, it was fun. We had the baby to prepare for. To take care of. Our problems seemed to evaporate.”
“Then you lost the baby.”
“Then I lost the baby and nothing was the same again. I mean, in the beginning of our marriage, I loved him. Of course I did, but we both wanted different things. He didn’t want to be a dad, you see. He didn’t suggest I get rid of it or anything. He knew it was what I wanted, and we figured seeing as we were going to be parents, we may as well give our marriage another shot.” She shrugged.
She didn’t look sad about it ending.
“I’ve never been married.”
“You haven’t?”
“Never needed to. Women have come and gone all my life. I imagine it takes a special kind of woman to make a guy do something like that.”
She chuckled. “Are you flirting with me?”
“Haven’t you noticed?”
“I think I may have just figured you out.”
He loved seeing her smile.
“Boss, we have something,” Bear said, coming outside.
Jasmine seemed to wake up, their little bubble being interrupted. Damn it. He liked seeing her smile and relax, listening to her talk. It was so rare for him to have a few moments like this.
“I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Hawk?”
“I’ll be there!” He growled out each word. Bethany started to whimper, and the moment truly was gone.
Jasmine moved behind his daughter, offering her some comfort.
Bear left, but the damage was done.
“I’ll be back,” Hawk said.
“Hawk,” Jasmine said. “Don’t get yourself hurt because of what happened. I’m fine with it. Well, I’m not, but I’m doing okay. I think I’m doing okay.”
She didn’t want him to be hurt.
“I won’t get hurt. I promise.” He nodded at her and at his little girl before heading inside.
Bear was waiting in his office with Red.
“Next time I’m out with her or my daughter, you fucking wait, do you understand?”
“You asked us to come and get you when there’s been a development. There’s been a development.”
“I don’t give a fuck. Don’t ever interrupt me again.”
“Is she your old lady, Prez?” Red asked.
He stared at his two men. He trusted the two of them with his life. They’d been by his side for the last decade, each one showing their loyalty to him and to the club. To claim an old lady added protection to her within the club.
The reason he didn’t care about those women and kids in the parking lot was that he had this place so fucking secure they could do whatever they wanted.
When it came to Jasmine and Bethany, he couldn’t fucking think straight.
“Yeah, she’s my old lady.”
There was no backing out now. Declaring her as such gave him a time limit. She’d have to know what he just declared.
“Make sure all the boys know who she is and that they have to give her respect no matter what. I want her protected.”
“Got it, Boss,” Red said. “Now, to business. We know who ordered the hit on you. It wasn’t Stones’s as we first thought.”
Hawk moved toward the pictures that Red and Bear were looking over.
Things were about to get bloody.
****
Two days later
Bethany was down for the count for an afternoon nap. Jasmine’s shoulder wasn’t hurting her anymore. She was able to use it without much pain, so she made her way down to the kitchen. It had been nearly five days since she made anything. Takeout was starting to all taste the same, and the need to bake something was driving her crazy.
She wanted some fresh cookies, or maybe even a pie. It would all depend on how her arm was with lifting and carrying.
She passed several of the club whores, who avoided her.
Offering them a smile as she passed, she tried not to feel hurt when they completely ignored her.
It wasn’t her problem why they did what they did.
Brushing off their rejection, she went straight into the kitchen to see it bare. Hawk had warned her that no one liked to cook or to clean it up. That as a space within the clubhouse it had been vacant and wasted for a long time.
She saw her machine, and when all this lockdown nonsense was over, she was totally taking it home and having some fun with it.
“Hello, baby.” She laughed as she spoke to her new mixer. “We’re going to have a lot of fun together.”
She made sure it was plugged in and all set up as she made her way toward the fridge. Checking inside, she started to rummage around, looking at all the ingredients. There were a couple of rotting tomatoes, and she pulled some chicken out and saw it was green.
“Ew.”
“Not in the best state, is it?”
She turned to see a brunette standing in the doorway.
“No. I was hoping to do something for dinner, but it looks bad.”
“They did go shopping. You’re just going to have to go through the good and the bad. They don’t believe in chucking anything away. Here, let me help you. I’m Renee,” the brunette said.
“Jasmine.”
“Ah, you’re Hawk’s old lady.”
This made Jasmine pause and frown. “No, I’m not his old lady.”
“It’s okay. I’m not Bear’s old lady either, but whenever something like this goes down, he seems to like bringing me along. It’s exhausting, really.”
Jasmine stared at the beautiful brunette, somewhat taken aback.
“I’m sorry, I don’t quite follow.”
“Bear and I went on one date together. It was great, but he decided this life and me wouldn’t mix. I was fine with that. It was a fun date, no funny business. I was happy for us to not take things further, but he wasn’t willing to let me move on, so that’s why I’m here now and he’s off doing whatever it is he’s doing.”
“I’ve not seen you around here for the past couple of days,” Jasmine said. “Wait, hold on. So, he doesn’t want you, but he doesn’t want another man to have you?”
“Got it, honey. Yep, that’s the way we roll. When I heard the club whores talking about you, I knew I had to come and see you, and to answer your other question, I’ve been protesting in his bedroom. He’s n
ot allowed in, and I don’t come out.” She shrugged. “I’m being a bitch, but he keeps interrupting all of my dates and I’m tired of it. I’m fighting back.”
“I’m not Hawk’s old lady.”
“That’s not what everyone is saying, and if the whores are talking, then it means it’s true.”
“They’re gossiping. I’m his nanny.”
Renee started to laugh. “Yeah, that’s just so original. He’s totally got a thing for you, honey. Hawk wants a piece of you.”
Jasmine started to go through the fridge. She needed to clear her mind. There’s no way that Hawk would consider her old lady material. She took care of his little girl. Glancing over at the baby monitor, she saw that Bethany was still sleeping.
Emptying out all of the bad food, she trashed it. With the fresh food, she piled it up onto the table, washed out the fridge with Renee’s help, and then organized everything.
“You have an OCD thing going on?” Renee asked.
“No. I just … I need to think.”
“Hawk’s a good guy.”
“He’s a biker. An MC person. I can’t … that’s not happening.”
“I’d be with Bear if he wasn’t such an ass.” Renee shrugged. “He’s the one that gets to make all the decisions. News flash, I know my own mind. I can handle this life. What I can’t handle is thinking of him with one of those skanks upstairs.”
“Do you really need to call them that?” Jasmine asked. Whores and skanks, she felt bad for them.
“They’d fuck anything with a leather cut and a dick. Believe me, they’re not worth it.”
“I don’t know, some of them seem nice.”
“Since finding out that Hawk claimed you, they’ve done nothing but be bitchy about you. Believe me, they’ve got no intention of being nice to you.”
“If it was true, why would they hate me?”
“Because Hawk is like a king in this place. All of them want a piece of him. Any woman that is his old lady, I mean, she’s instantly protected. Taken care of. Men know that they can look but they can’t touch, and in truth, they shouldn’t look at you either. It’s a pretty important place to be.”
As she stared down at the large package of chicken breasts, her mind whirled with what this could mean.
“You’re worried.”
“I’m only his nanny. The company I work for has a clause, and I don’t want to lose my position and place there. I don’t … we met at the grocery store before I even knew that he was the person I would be working for. Then this.” She pointed at her shoulder. “Now I can’t make sense of anything.”
“Maybe it’s nothing to make sense of. It happened.”
“I don’t want to lose my job.”
“If I was you, I’d talk to him. But then, what do I know? Bear doesn’t even give me a chance to talk anymore. If I don’t do as he says, he just puts me over his shoulder and carries me to where he needs to be.”
Jasmine saw the smile on the woman’s face. “You like that?”
“A little bit. It’s kind of cool to watch him. He has something about him that makes it impossible for me to stay mad at him for anything longer than a few hours. The things we do for men. Are you wanting to cook them all dinner?”
“Yeah, or us. I don’t know. Would it be silly to make, like, a big casserole or something like that?”
“I don’t think so. You may even get some of the guys to fall in love with you. Most of them don’t end up going home. Too much trouble with the old lady, if you know what I mean.”
She had a feeling she did but didn’t comment.
With Renee’s help, she got all of the ingredients prepped and ready. Using several large casserole pots, she assembled six pots and made a note to cook up some biscuits or something to put on the side so everyone had plenty.
She left Renee to put everything in the oven as Bethany woke up. It was a struggle to take care of Bethany with a wound in her shoulder but not impossible. Once she brought the little girl downstairs, she saw Renee was already making the crust for the pecan pie she intended to make.
“She’s a little angel,” Renee said.
Jasmine put her in the high chair. “She’s so wonderful to take care of.”
“I can’t believe he’s got a kid. It’s kind of funny though that he got a girl. It’s like karma has come to bite him in the ass.” Renee laughed. “I was thinking you and I could hang out sometime. Just the two of us. Away from the club.”
“After the lockdown?”
“Yeah. You and me, a possible spa day or a girls’ night. What do you think?”
“You’re not going to get her into trouble,” Hawk said.
She hadn’t even heard him return.
Bethany gave a squeal as he lifted her up, and Jasmine watched his daughter snuggle in against him. It wasn’t that long ago she was screaming to get away.
Pushing some hair out of her eyes, Jasmine saw he was looking a little tired.
“Your girl needs some fun. Are you going to ink that?” Renee asked.
“Ink what?”
“Your scar. I know a great place that will give you killer ink.”
She looked at her bandaged shoulder and gave a little shrug. “I hadn’t really thought that far ahead, you know.” Could she have a tattoo? “I’m scared of needles.” She hated them and would do everything to avoid them.
Renee chuckled. “Hawk’s got plenty of tattoos. He can talk you through it.”
She stared at Hawk. “We need to talk.”
“That sounds serious,” Bear said.
Bear walked into the kitchen, pulling Renee into a hug. “How are you doing, babe?”
“I’m not talking to you.”
“You just did.”
“You mind watching Bethany for me?” Hawk asked. “It looks like I’m about to get a piece of her mind.”
Chapter Six
It was only a matter of time before Jasmine found out the truth. Hawk watched as she paced the length of his bedroom. She sucked her bottom lip in. He knew what she wanted to talk about.
The brothers had warned him there had been a lot of talk. He’d have stayed at the clubhouse today, but he wanted to check out the MC that thought they could take him out. They were ten miles out of town, in a shitty, run-down old garage. They had a metal fence, and dogs that they kept on fucking leashes. Women came and went. They looked a lot better entering the MC than they did leaving it.
He’d paid a couple of the women for information.
The setup looked sloppy, but he wasn’t willing to risk his men without knowing everything first. This was one of the reasons he was damn good at what he did. He only took the necessary risks and rarely did any of his men suffer.
Being out today meant Jasmine was alone with all the potential rumors.
“I’m not your old lady,” she said, stopping in front of him.
He didn’t say a word, watching her as she ran fingers through her hair.
“Why do they think I’m your old lady? Renee told me that some of the other … women hate me because you’ve made this declaration of some kind. I don’t understand it.”
“It’s simple. You’re my old lady.”
“No, Hawk. I’m your nanny. That’s it.”
“It’s more than that.” He wasn’t going to sit and listen to her try to make out that there was nothing going on between them.
The first day they met, he felt something.
If it hadn’t been for Bethany or the fact he was interviewing for a nanny, he’d have taken her out on a date or at least done something. Instead, what he’d done was let her go. When she entered his clubhouse, he’d known his chance was over with. The company he’d been using had told him their views on relationships between clients.
Fucking the nanny wasn’t going to be an option.
He’d kept his distance.
It had only been a month, but that was more than enough time for him to know what he wanted and who he wanted.
He stoo
d up.
Jasmine took a step back.
With each step he took, she moved back until she hit the wall.
Slamming his hands against the wall, he saw her jump.
“What are you doing?”
He saw her eyes dilate.
He glanced down her body, and the shirt she wore was like a second skin over her tits, her hard nipples pressing against the front.
“You feel this, Jasmine. I won’t listen to you say otherwise. I know you do. I can see that you do.” He cupped her cheek, tilting her head back.
“I love my job. I don’t want to lose it.”
“They won’t find out. Not right now.”
“They do checks, Hawk. I love my job.”
“Your job right now is to take care of Bethany and me.”
“I’m not your nanny.”
He saw her fighting this. “Okay, we’ll play this your way for a time, but I will warn you, I don’t play fair.”
Before she could say anything else, he slammed his lips down on hers, silencing her.
She released a moan. Her hands gripped his hips, and she was running them up his chest.
Cupping her hip, he caressed down to her thigh, lifting it high on his hip so that he could rock his cock against her core.
She gasped, and he plundered into her mouth, tasting her.
Breaking from her lips, he kissed down her neck, sucking on her tender flesh. She was so fucking tasty. His cock was rock-hard. He wanted inside her, fucking her hard. Instead, he held off, waiting, listening, and then he heard that groan, the one that told him she was hungry and desperate for more.
“Please.”
That was all he was waiting for.
Pulling away, he gave her a smile.
“Then maybe you should make a decision as to whether you want to be my old lady or not.”
He let her go, and without waiting for her to say anything else, he followed the sound of Bethany’s cries.
Humming to himself, he didn’t linger. Picking up his baby girl, he carried her outside into the warm, fresh air.
She giggled while still holding the rattle.
Putting her down on the ground beneath a tree, he sat down and watched as she crawled around. Every now and then, she’d stop and push her fist into her mouth, looking so cute as she did.