by V. Theia
Every time that pretty chick came to town for a visit he always wanted to, since he had feelings for her, but he never got around to it, for want of a better word he’d always been pussy-deep somewhere else. Bad timing.
Now she was home for good, there was no time like the present to stake a claim and take himself off the meat market.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“He danced me into my new chapter.” - Gia
So, this was it.
She was leaving. It was really happening today.
Emotion stung Gia’s throat.
Standing in the middle of the living room, she looked to the wall she’d hammered a nail to hang the very first picture years ago when she’d moved in. She’d been so proud to be a homeowner. She’d gotten white-girl wasted that night on cheap boxed red wine.
Now the wall was ready for the next people to make their own memories, to listen to their happy times, the sad times, to keep all their secrets.
Oh, wow. She didn’t think she’d feel this sensitive.
“Gia?” The gruff voice said from behind her. She turned her head to see Hawk framed in the door looking at her curiously.
She smiled and felt her heart soar.
Her man.
Oh, they weren’t anything official yet, he hadn’t given what they were a title, but the way he watched her, and tended to her needs, anticipating her wants in the quiet way he did, not to mention how much care he gave to Gia, she was calling him her man.
He’d just have to like it or lump it.
A Marinos never shied from a challenge and this was going to test her limits.
“I’m just having a moment.” She replied as he stepped in through the doorway to fill the bare room with his size. His footsteps echoed and when he was near her skin hummed because she’d become accustomed now to wearing his intense, overpowering stare like a crown on top of her head.
When his eyes were on her she treated it like a precious gift.
A necklace around her neck.
She waited for it now, a junkie needing a fix of Hawk attention and when it came, as it always did, it became a connection of sorts. And one she was unwilling to let go of any time soon.
An idea struck.
Something she wanted to check off her Hawk Bucket List before they departed. She fished in her pocket and scrolled through her phone music. A song started to play. Strings of Only You swelled as she placed the phone on the window-sill and approached Hawk with her pulse throbbing under the echoed room.
“Dance with me?”
His eyebrows did their weird twisty thing making her giggle. He really did need teaching how to go with being romantic. “Please?” She followed offering her hand to him.
Hawk inhaled, yet no rejection came. She could see his hesitancy. The fast rejection about to follow when she placed her hands on his chest and ran them up.
He liked being touched by her. It was powerful to know.
He was a great cat for her affection, almost approaching it like a weary feline would but unable to resist at the same time so he allowed her the freedom.
A moment later he had her tucked into his chest even as he growled something inaudible.
She fit perfectly.
Every inch of her sighed contently.
His fingers flexed holding hers.
And they moved together.
There were no words as they shuffled in sync, finding a rhythm between the music and their aligned bodies.
The music played, bringing memories of her prom and just how much she’d wished it had been Hawk dancing with her that night. She’d graduated years ahead of her peers and attending college two years at that point, but somehow her mom had wrangled it with the principal for her to go to the prom seeing as how she didn’t get one at fifteen. She couldn’t tear her gaze from his, wondered if he even remembered that night. Of how she’d been in her golden dress, hair curled professionally from a salon in town and her makeup flawlessly beautiful and all she could think about was she wished it was Hawk picking her up on his bike and not her teen date, Deacon.
Five minutes before the high-school boy was due to show up in the limo, she’d hidden upstairs in the bathroom and called the number for Hawk she’d stolen from Rider’s phone.
“Hello?”
“Hey … Hi, Hawk. It’s Gia.” She almost said Rider’s sister. Could she sound any lamer? She talked to boys on the phone all the time. But this was different. Hawk was a fully-grown man and the object of all her fantasies. “So, eh, what are you up to?”
“Why you calling me?” He didn’t sound angry. Maybe a hint of curiosity? She looked at her reflection and felt her belly muscles clench.
“It’s my prom. It’s lame really, I know…But I was wondering if you’d take me…”
Dead air was the only reply and for a second, she thought he’d hung up on her.
“You need a ride? Why aren’t you asking your brother?”
Oh, boy.
“No. I…” Her reflection was as red as her mom’s homemade cherry pie as she stumbled over her words. The face looking back at her mocked for her stupid impulse calling him. This conversation went so much smoother in her head. Why couldn’t men stick to the script! “I mean, do you want to go with me?” Please say yes. Please say yes. “As my date.” She added on.
“Are you shitting me with this?” Now he was angry. Streaks of nerves made her fingers shake. She placed a hand on her fluttering belly. “Don’t you have a date? You’re a kid. I’m a grown man, little girl. Stick to boys your own age, yeah?” And then he hung up. Leaving her heartbroken and shamed.
Back in the room she smiled up at him. “This was how I wanted to dance with you at my prom.” She told him. His reply was a grunt and his hand tightening on her waist. It was the most perfect moment stopped in time dancing with the man of her heart and when the music finally came to a silent waning she was ready to leave.
Before she drew away, Hawk’s hand moved to the base of her back and he dropped his head and pressed their lips together. “I wished I’d been the one to take you to your prom, too.”
Her smile beamed.
He retrieved her phone, handing it over. “Time to go, little bit.”
Hawk held out his hand and she clasped it quickly, looked back, they locked up for the final time.
Colorado bound, and Gia couldn’t wait to get there, her things should be arriving any time now, and then she wanted to hold her niece for at least a month and kiss those chubby cheeks.
Good things came to those who wait, was the saying. As she climbed into the cab, with her hand still held by Hawk she side-eyed him and smiled.
Ten years was a hell of a long time to wait to begin her romantic life.
She hoped to god he was worth it.
******
It was a strange delight finding new things out about Hawk. Gia filed them away like a pop quiz could spring on her at any moment.
Things like; he refused the inflight meal but took two packages of pretzels and hers when she said she didn’t want them.
When the flight attendant brought their drinks, he sent his back because the cap was opened on his water and asked for a fresh one, sealed this time. He also made sure Gia had everything she needed and when her eyes grew heavy he simply shifted his big body to the side and brought her into his chest, arm around her so she could catch a nap. She hadn’t realized he would have to leave his bike behind in Austin when she insisted he fly out with her. Only now she knew Juicy, who was driving her moving truck across country, also had Hawk’s Harley strapped securely in that truck too. For a biker trusting someone else with their wheels was a big deal. She felt special for it.
Arriving in Armado Springs didn’t go quite as she’d wanted it to. As a born romantic at heart, she’d figured her, and Hawk would turn up at Rider’s house, announce they were together, her big brother would look at his best friend and then at his sister and see she was deliriously happy for the first time ever and accept their relation
ship. The end.
Nope. How it went was; They pulled up in a cab, Hawk helped her out by holding her hand, but then he quickly dumped her cases on the front porch as Zara bound out of the house squealing she grabbed Gia in a hug all the while she noticed Hawk do the manly bro handshake and shoulder bump with Rider who had followed behind his girl.
And before she could extract herself from the octopus hug and return to Hawk’s side, Rider was taking her into his arms, telling her how much she was missed, and he was glad she was home. And right on the tail of that she watched Hawk stride down the walk way. Her heart seized but before she could call out to him, her brother did. “Yo, VP, you’re not comin’ in?” Hawk’s lidded pale eyes stroked over her briefly before returning to Rider. “Nah, bro. I gotta see Lawless. Did he drop her keys off?”
Rider’s brow rode low. “Yeah, yesterday. Gia’s stuff arrived with Juicy earlier.”
She couldn’t look away from Hawk. Was this goodbye? Was he lying to her this whole time, problem handed over to his boss?
No, it wasn’t that. They’d agreed. He cared for her just as much as she did for him.
So, why was her heart banging loudly? Why was dread crashing through her belly making her feel nauseous at the thought he was walking away from her again?
“Zara’s made food enough for an army. Get in here.” Rider ordered.
As if he’d timed it perfectly the sound of bike pipes came up the street. Two bikers climbed off and one tossed keys to Hawk.
They’d brought his bike.
Again, Hawk’s gaze came at Gia. A hot sweep of secrets and want before he masked it. She felt the loss and ached to bound down the steps, throw herself into his arms and check he was still feeling her.
Uncertainty was a bitch, especially since they’d spent the entire flight and then cab right cozied up together. And the moment he dropped her hand when they pulled up outside grief like nothing else set in her chest.
She didn’t know what to do. Did he want her to claim him in front of his president? She hadn’t expected Hawk to flaunt their new … what? Understanding? That fit, she supposed. Until he called them a relationship. But to not acknowledge her at all, now she was confused and unsure.
“Nah. Maybe later.” He paused once he got his bike purring. “Good to see you, Prez.” Then he looked at Gia and as Rider turned to go inside Hawk winked at her.
Relief bubbled her blood.
Her heart soared.
Everything was okay.
Whipping out her cell she pointed to him. He raised a brow, but he must have heard his text alert because he grabbed his phone too.
Gia: Will I see you later?
Maybe he didn’t smile, but his face did become softer as he cast his darkened look her way, his eyes crackled and burned like a backdraft of iced over fire, and he nodded once. His eyes whispered secrets his tongue wouldn’t say. How they raked over her from head to toe, making him look like he didn’t want to leave after all but was doing it for her.
She smiled and hoped he knew she’d miss him.
The tension lifted from her shoulders and with another chin lift he rode off. She stayed on the porch until his huge black bike was out of sight.
“Yo, squirt.” Called her brother from inside. “Getcha ass in here.”
Gia’s homecoming went as well as she’d wanted it to. After spending hours with her family, Rider dropped her off at her new place and she spent the next half a day sorting through her boxes.
Only when it was time for bed, when her bones were weary, and she was unable to keep her eyes open did she realize … Hawk didn’t come by after all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“I always thought my place was in this club. Now I know it’s with her.” - Hawk
It was an odd sensation stirring in his sternum when Hawk climbed off his motorcycle, leaving it in his usual spot near the main entrance but not so close some drunk idiot might fall into it and he stepped over the threshold into his clubhouse for only the first time that year. It’d been a brief visit late last summer for the fiftieth anniversary bash, but it was coming up close to a long year and a half since he’d been home.
Knees creaked with each heavy stride, tension lifted from his shoulder blades as men began to recognize who’d walked through those hallowed doors.
“Heard you were back,” proclaimed a booming voice that could only belong to Tag. His aquatic colored eyes and cheerful grin greeted Hawk along with the stretched-out fist to bump.
“Hey, VP. How’s it going? You back for good?”
“All good, man. Yeah, I’m around again.” He answered Tag holding his fist out for Capone to knock when he ambled over holding a bottle in one hand and a joint in the other. The number of brothers soon doubled with Preacher and his boy Grinder joined at the hip as always came over.
His skin itched being the center of attention.
He liked these men he’d worked closely with for years. As much as he could like anyone. When he’d been away he’d longed to get right back here for the familiar sounds, smells and people. So, he supposed he did have an attachment to them in some form or other.
“What the fuck is this?” Smirked Preacher, the chain on his wallet hanging low on his hips clanking as he took measured steps circling Hawk like he was a goddamn shark in the sea.
He wore a silver band on his left hand. He’d forgotten Preach got himself hitched while Hawk was away. Same for Grinder. Fuck, shit changed fast.
“You had a shear, brother. Fuck me! You might be half-way human now, holy fuck, I don’t think I can cope with all that attractive on display.” He joked and didn’t that big asshole wink at him.
“Maybe he fell into a weed whacker face first.” Offered Arson strolling over with a half-eaten pizza in his brawny hand. His shoulder length hair was pulled back in a messy knot and as usual he was shirtless with just his cut. The asshat needed someone to dress him properly.
“Nah it’s too neat.” Interrupted the Butcher gesturing with the hand holding a cup of coffee. “You have a face, Hawk. When did this happen?”
The ribbing went on and on and it was unusual because Hawk could feel his face heat under their joking scrutiny.
Look at the shit Gia had gotten him into by cutting his damn hair.
She had a lot to answer for when he saw her.
His brows fell over his slit eyes. “I will punch each one of you if you don’t get outta my damn face,” he hissed through his teeth and he only half meant it.
“Ahhhh there he is!” laughed Preacher clapping his big palms together, “for a second we thought a runway fucking model strode in.”
And just when the shit died down. The rusty voice of his brother in murderous arms sounded from behind him. “You boys are missing the point, dazzled in his pretty face,” announced Lawless. Hawk turned to see the smirk.
He didn’t pick up on body language often, but he’d seen it too many times on Lawless’ sharp face not to recognize he was about to dig deep into the soup of Hawk’s guts. That asshole. “The glaring question is what made the Instagram star turn himself from a frog into a prince…” A knowing glint in his eyes, Hawk scowled and flipped him the finger.
“You bitches have too much time on your hands if the topic of the moment is my damn beard. What the fuck you all been doing while I was away besides suckling on each other’s tits?”
In the mix stood a tall Snake with his hair slicked back on top and shaved around the sides, he rubbed a tattooed hand over his grinning mouth and added. “Been waiting for you to get home, brother. We were useless without you. And now we see you had a makeover, we can’t fucking cope.”
Inwardly Hawk grinned. So, nothing changed much here then. His boys were just as he’d left them.
“If you’re looking for the Prez he’s at home,” offered Texas in his clever toned voice. The boy was from the right sides of the tracks, anyone could see that, but he fit in with their nefarious lot. The money man smiled and bumped Hawk’s fist and welcomed
him home.
“I know. I was just there.”
“You dropped his baby sister off then?” Asked Lawless. That same knowing look in his eyes made ice cubes gather in his stomach somehow. But that was weird ‘cause Lawless would have no idea about his feelings for Gia. Not like he’d sat around pining and gossiping about her.
Hawk nodded slipping out of the crowd of brothers he helped himself to a can of soda, cracking it open, half was gone in one gulp.
“So, she’s home for good, might even stop by the club I reckon.” He gave another grunt of agreement. “New haircut and doing good deeds by babysitting. I think you’re going for humanitarian of the year VP. Or maybe it’s another reason…” Went on Lawless and something in his tone made Hawk pierce him with a warning stare, found Lawless grinning. He looked completely ridiculous with a black headed kitten poking out of his jacket pocket. Those shrewd eyes alerted Hawk like the other man knew everything going on in Hawk’s crazy mind.
Steeling his voice into a calmer tone he said. “Following Rider’s orders. Not even I would hand over a woman to Grigori.”
The boys spat out curses and put in their two cents worth about the Russian underboss.
“We’ll make sure he doesn’t get near Gia again.” Snarled Tag, bringing Hawk’s head around so fast he got a concussion with enough possessive force stuck in his throat it was a wonder he didn’t choke on it.
Gia was his to take care of and protect.
With a will he didn’t know he possessed he reined it in until the instinct to kill had passed through his brain. Hawk punching a brother for possessive ownership he had no rights to was just gonna make him look like a bigger dickhead. He was a sap for his little bit of a thing, didn’t mean he wanted his boys to know how far he’d fallen too.
And before he got into more fights when they started talking about inviting Gia to the next cook-out this weekend he slinked off down the long hallway towards his room.