Phantom Riders MC - Hawk

by Tory Richards

  He looked a little too happy. I smiled because he was smiling. “I’m looking for a phone,” I said without hesitation. Surely someone had one I could borrow.

  “What you need a phone for?” another man questioned in a serious, suspicious tone.

  The speaker looked mean and unfriendly, and pinned his sharp blue eyes on me. I probably shouldn’t have, but I gave him a look that suggested I thought he was missing a few marbles. “To make a call?” There were a few laughs, but he clearly wasn’t amused.

  “Who the fuck are you?” he snarled, leaving the stool he’d been sitting on.

  I caught my breath at the fear he evoked, realizing I’d made a mistake in the way I’d handled the situation.

  “Relax, Rock. Hawk dragged her sweet ass here.”

  “And I’m not a prisoner,” I added with false sweetness. I gave Clay an appreciative smile, realizing Rock didn’t have a sense of humor. “All I want to do is call a friend and get out of here.”

  Simple.

  “Awe fuck, you’re not a new sweetbutt?” the hairy, grizzled biker said with disappointment. “You’re sure dressed like a sweetbutt.”

  Maybe that’s because I was wearing the clothes of one, but I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t even sure what a sweetbutt was. I glanced at the other woman in the room, her attire inadequately covering her lady bits and making me feel overdressed. The scowls she was shooting my way were less than friendly. If she hadn’t been sitting on a biker’s lap I would have thought that she was jealous.

  Clay was the only biker I knew in the room so I addressed myself to him, deciding to change the subject since the whole phone thing wasn’t working out. “Any place I can get a bite to eat around here?”

  “Sure, come with me, sweetheart.”

  Ignoring the eyes that I sensed were following me, I followed him through two other doors that brought us into what I considered to be a nightclub of sorts. The atmosphere was dim, the music loud, and the dance floor was crowded. Before a small, attentive audience, three naked girls were twirling around poles on separate platforms, the floor around their feet littered with money. Booths lined the walls while small, circular tables filled the center of the room.

  Clay led me to a stool on the other side of the bar. “Order what you want.” He made eye contact with Joanne. “Treat her right, baby, she belongs to Hawk.”

  My smile disappeared at his comment but I decided to remain silent, at least until I determined whether or not belonging to Hawk would benefit me or not.

  “Sure thing, honey,” she responded with a wink.

  “I got shit to see to,” Clay murmured into my ear. “You good here on your own?”

  I nodded, smiling at Joanne, who’d walked up to stand on the other side of the bar from me. Clay left the same way we’d come in, seemingly satisfied with my non-verbal response. “Can I get a turkey sandwich?” I asked her.

  Joanne nodded. “Lettuce and tomato?”

  “Please, and a sweet iced-tea.”

  She walked off and I relaxed a little. It occurred to me that this might finally be my chance to get to a phone without interference. I glanced up into the mirror opposite me, watching the activity going on behind me. It was busy, but there were some empty tables and booths. It’d been a long time since I’d been in a bar like this, where there weren’t bouncers around to keep order and drinks were cut off when the bartender felt that you’d had enough.

  This place was casual, definitely down-scaled for a rowdier crowd. The fact that some couples were getting down and dirty right there on the dance floor told me this was where they came to have fun, and let their hair down, a place to pick up a one-night stand, or two. I had a feeling that sex in public wasn’t an uncommon accordance here.

  “Here ya go, honey.”

  “Thank you.” The sight of the sandwich made my stomach rumble. Joanne had been generous in piling on the turkey and I ate the first half with relish. I was just washing it down with the ice tea she brought me when a man came up next to me.

  “Three beers, two white wines, and a whiskey,” he said to Joanne. Then he turned to me and smiled. “Hi.”

  He looked harmless enough. “Hi.”

  “You all alone here?” His smiling gaze moved over me quickly before settling on my eyes again.

  There was nothing lewd about his inspection, so I didn’t take offense. “For the time being.”

  “Why don’t you join our table?” he asked, nodding toward an area where three tables had been moved together to accommodate the large group he was in. “You’ll have a lot more fun,” he promised. The occupants were all around the same age, and dressed to party.

  “Thank you, but—” Just as I was about to turn him down I thought about my dilemma. A glance at Joanne showed she was busy filling his order. “You wouldn’t happen to have a phone I could borrow, would you?”

  “Sure.” He immediately dug it out of his back pocket, and then handed it to me. Just as I reached for it he yanked it out of my reach with a playful smile. “You’ll join me and my friends?”

  I glanced back at his friends. They looked harmless enough, college-aged kids just out for a good time. Why not? After the few days I’d had I could use a little interaction with normal people. I smiled. “Sure, for a little while.”

  I dialed Carol’s number, praying that she would answer. I didn’t want to leave her a voice mail because I didn’t have a phone she could call me back on. I tugged on my bottom lip at the fourth ring. Pick up! Pick up! I chanted to myself. Finally her voice came over the line.

  “Hello?”

  “Carol, it’s me!” I said in a rushed tone, turning my back away from the bar.

  “Audra, oh, my God, I’ve been worried to death about you! You started to tell me something about Dane the other day. And who can’t know? Know what? What’s going on, honey?”

  I couldn’t blame her for all the questions, considering that I’d cut our conversation off so abruptly the other day. “I’m so sorry. It’s better if you don’t know what’s going on.” I had so much to tell her but didn’t know where to begin. It was too much to say over the phone. How did I tell her that the man I thought loved me was a monster, a killer, and that he’d beat me? “Carol, please don’t ask me why, but I’m in trouble.” I blurted it out, hating the tears that filled my eyes. “You’re the only one I can trust.”

  “What do you need?”

  God bless her. She hadn’t even hesitated. “I’ve run away from Dane and I’m kind of in hiding. I can’t go into the details right now, but, he’s not the man I thought he was. I don’t think he remembers you, but if he contacts you please don’t tell him that you’ve heard from me. He’s dangerous, Carol.” She at least needed to know what. “He’s sent some people after me, people who—”I hesitated, unable to put into words that he’d sent people to find me and bring me back to him. That he might possibly want me dead.

  “God, Audra, you’re scaring me.” I could hear the panic in her voice. “Where are you? I’ll come and get you.”

  “No!” I couldn’t let that happen. “I’ll come to you and tell you everything when I get there—” I cut myself off abruptly, suddenly realizing that I couldn’t go to Carol. If Dane’s men tracked me down there they wouldn’t leave any witnesses.

  Oh, God, why hadn’t I thought of this before? I was such a fool! I couldn’t live with myself if I caused anything to happen to the only friend I had. I was so eager to have that one connection, that one friend that I could count on, that I hadn’t thought things through. I suddenly felt sick. As the enormity of my plight crashed down around me I wanted to scream. I really did have no one. Thanks to my stupidity and Dane’s overbearing control I had no one I could turn to. Fuck. I was alone. Why hadn’t I seen how controlling he’d been? Was I so blinded by the lavish lifestyle he’d given me that I’d ignored what was right there in my face?

  Apparently I had.

  “Audra? Audra? Are you still there?”

  Carol’s franti
c tone finally got through to me. The breath I took turned into a sob. “Carol, I—” I turned back to the man whose phone I was using. My gaze moved past him to where Hawk had just come storming into the room. Our gazes met, and the look of his locked jaw and flaring nostrils told me that he was really pissed off about something, and because he was coming straight toward me it was a good guess that I was the object of his wrath.

  “I’ll call you back,” I whispered into the phone, hanging up before Carol could say anything else. I held the phone out to the smiling man, who’d yet to notice Hawk. “Thank you.”

  “I ordered you a white wine,” he said, taking up the tray Joanne had placed on the bar.

  “She won’t be joining you.” Hawk swooped in like his namesake, wrapping a powerful hand around my upper arm and pulling me with him back toward the door he’d entered through.

  “But—” the man started to say.

  I glanced back at him mouthing silently, “I’m sorry.”

  The second Hawk and I were on the other side of the door and out of sight he pushed me against the wall and released me. “Who were you talking to?” he snarled down into my face.

  “The same friend that I was talking to back at the rest stop bathroom, Carol” I said, rubbing my arm where he’d grabbed me. “I was going to ask her to send me some money—”

  With a sound of impatience Hawk grabbed me again and dragged me down the hallway. I barely had time to notice the MC logo etched on the door before he pushed it open and pulled me into the room, slamming the door behind us and blocking it with his huge bulk. He crossed his arms. “What do you know about Covacks?” His tone resembled a bear’s growl.

  Covacks? I shook my head slowly, trying to recall where I’d heard that name before, and then it hit me. “The first time I heard that name was on the road on the way here.” I couldn’t bring myself to talk about the horrific circumstances surrounding it.

  His eyes glared his mistrust at me. “I don’t believe you.”

  I shrugged. “That’s your problem, Hawk. You don’t trust women.”

  “I just saw a picture of your boyfriend with Covacks.”

  “So?” I really had no idea what he was getting at.

  “They’re business partners. Are you going to tell me that you don’t know who his business partners are?”

  “Dane liked to keep his business out of our personal life,” I explained, holding my ground when Hawk stepped away from the door. I didn’t know what his intentions were, but I didn’t think he would hurt me. “We attended a lot of social events, and if his business associates were there, he didn’t introduce them to me.” I thought about the country estate we’d visited recently. Even then Dane had kept me in the dark.

  “So he just kept you around for fucking?” He stopped so close to me that I had to tilt my head to meet his eyes.

  His words were meant to hurt, and maybe they would have once, back in a time when I’d thought I meant more to Dane. His secrets and lies, the fact that he beat me after witnessing a murder, had diminished my importance in his life, and now I had to wonder. Had I just been a fuck toy for him, someone to dress up his arm when he was portraying the wealthy, successful casino owner to the public? He’d never confessed his love for me, yet he’d seemed to care for me.

  I wanted to slap Hawk for putting that thought in my head. I ignored the heat coming off his body, denying my insane attraction to his bad boy appeal. If he thought his intimidation was going to crush me he was in for a surprise. The last few days had proven to me that I was made of stronger stuff. I remained silent beneath his quiet scrutiny.

  He took in a deep breath and released it slowly. “One, you’re right, I don’t trust any woman. So you’re going to remain my guest until I sort this shit out to my satisfaction. Two, no more calls, to anyone, unless I’m with you.” I opened my mouth to protest, but he kept going. “Three, if I find out that you’re a plant—,” A plant! “For Winthrop or Covacks, I’ll kill you myself.”

  I swallowed hard, believing him, while trying not to imagine how he would do it. Those big hands of his could snap my neck easily. “Why would I be a plant?”

  “Information,” he said simply, and then added, “to be used as leverage against us. A lot of people would like to have control over Phantom Riders, to do their dirty work. Some want to see us gone, as in dead or in prison.”

  “Well, I’m not a plant,” I insisted. “I told you why I was running and it’s the truth. I have nothing to hide.” Except that I did. I hadn’t told him why Dane had beaten me. It suddenly occurred to me that Hawk’s keeping me there, even if it was against my will, was the answer to my prayers. I would be safe there without putting Carol at risk.

  “We have dealings with Covacks, and you conveniently show up on my bike outside of Last Hope.”

  “A coincidence.”

  “You have a GPS tracking device on you.”

  I was beginning to understand why he was so suspicious. “I didn’t know about it.”

  His dark gaze dropped down my body in a lazy sweep. “You fucked me.”

  The age old ploy used by women to obtain information from men. Well, I wouldn’t let Hawk use it against me when it wasn’t true. “You fucked me.”

  His jaw hardened, if that were possible, and his lips pulled back in a sneer. “Had any dental work done recently, any minor surgeries?”

  What? “Are you talking about tracking chips?” It sounded like something out of a syfy movie, yet I knew that could be a possibility. I tried to pull away but the bite of his fingers kept me right where he wanted me. “No! Nothing! I don’t want to be found, Hawk!” I reminded him with a hiss.

  “A good cover story, but there’s something you’re not telling me.”

  I stopped my struggling and glared up at him. “Who was she, Hawk? Who was the woman who made you so distrusting? The one who turned you into a cold, selfish bastard? She must have been someone important if whatever she did affected you this strongly.”

  “Don’t make this about me, lady,” he sneered, lightning flashing in his eyes. He looked like he was about to explode.

  I was too stupid not to pay attention to the warning signs that I might be pushing him too far. “What did she do to make you—?”

  “Quiet!” he snarled, shaking me like a rag doll. “I want to know what you’re hiding!”

  I finally jerked free and stepped back, slamming my hands on my hips, tired of his caveman tactics. We were both wound up and breathing heavily. “You know you don’t own me, Hawk. You’ve got to stop ordering me around and man handling me—”

  “Your pussy filled with my cum says that I own you.”

  He would remind me that he hadn’t used a condom the second time. My eyes grew bigger with every word out of his mouth, my jaw dropped. I’d never had a man talk so filthy to me before, and while it shocked the shit out of me, I couldn’t deny that his words also turned me on. My body responded as if it had a mind of its own, flushing with arousal. Wet warmth seeped from between my legs, and I knew that it was my arousal mixed with his semen. I should have showered and washed the evidence and memory away.

  “I bet it’s leaking out of you right now.”

  I ignored everything this man did to me. I had to. It was the only way I’d survive. He was too primal, too raw, too appealing and dangerous to my libido. “You’re a pig!” I was angry at myself. My wanting Hawk the way that I did, so soon after leaving Dane, confused and frightened me. The sex between Dane had never made me want to lose control like this, had never left me feeling the consuming hunger that was even now claiming my senses.

  “Is it?” He took a step forward as if to intimidate me, his expression never changing. “Answer my fucking question.”

  “You can go to hell!” I swore, losing control because at that very second it seemed as if everything I’d been through since watching Dane commit murder was choking me and slowly squeezing the life out of me. The desperation I felt, the helplessness, it was just too much. I
had nothing, not even the clothes on my back, and the man who had all the control was using my weakness for him against me.

  “Maybe I’ll just find out for myself.” He reached for me.

  “No!” I ducked, but he managed to grasp my arm. Without thinking I swung, slapping him across the face as hard as I could. The sound echoed through the room like a gun blast. As I struggled to get free, he easily dragged my arms behind my back and secured my wrists in one of his big hands.

  “What are you afraid of?” he grated down at me between his teeth.

  “Not you!” I fired back, aware that we were flush against one another. I could barely breathe against Hawk’s unyielding form, the man felt like a pillar of concrete. There was nothing I could do to hurt him, but my frustration level was at its highest and everything in me wanted to fight him. Our close proximity was making me feel things I should be too angry to notice.