by V. Theia
Breaking the silence, he let the bottle thunk to the ground. “You good?” He asked in a rough tenor.
Hawk turned his head reluctantly as if his eyes had a hard time pulling themselves away from the sight in front of him. A frown marred his forehead. “Why wouldn’t I be?” He added a second later, smirking now. “Because you still wanna yank my liver out?”
Rider snorted slouching in his chair, legs spread, fingers tapping his jean covered thigh.
His VP had been at his side for more than ten years now as VP but longer still as buddies. Shit, it was going on more than twenty years now that he thought about it, long fucking time. Hawk got Rider’s way of thinking and since they understood each other so well they could still sit side by side with the simmering discord between them this week.
Up until now Rider thought he’d known Hawk.
The Gia secret was … something else.
His second in command and his baby sister, it was unnatural, it went against all laws of decency and still his sister looked happier than he’d ever seen her and Hawk … that crazy fucker was … changed, like he’d been waiting all this time barely holding himself together until the day Gia came along.
Now he’d had a week to get used to it. He still wasn’t, but from the way his sister was enjoying herself in the yard with the pup, he could clearly see she was happy.
“I’m chill tonight, you get to live.”
“Good for me then.” Hawk returned to staring at the two women laughing. Legs outstretched before him, hands resting on his belly, to anyone else Hawk would look like a normal, relaxed guy. Only his pale eyes gave him away to his true self.
Shrewd. Shady. Alarming. And those eyes directed solely on Rider’s sister. He supposed he should worry with such intensity. But somehow… Rider wasn’t.
Every few minutes Gia would look over. And though Hawk didn’t smile back, didn’t move at all, she blushed and dipped her head.
It was like being witness to a weird as fuck mating dance in their own secret language.
He’d never had a clue all these years Hawk had wanted Gia. Maybe if he’d known? Nah, it’ll still be weird. He was about to stride across the yard and yank Zara into his body and distract himself for an hour, so he didn’t have to think about what kind of shit the VP did with his sibling.
The silence bounced between them.
He could discuss the Russian’s still clinging to his city like genital warts. They’d picked off six of Grigori’s generals already. Grigori as expected, called yelling up a shitstorm last night, accusing Rider and his club of the disappearances. Prove it, he’d told the underboss and hung up on him.
Rider might be in limbo with this new relationship status of Hawk’s, but he trusted his VP’s meticulous skill and detailing of how to make someone disappear. He had no complaints about his work with Lawless.
Squeals from his baby daughter cradled in her mom’s arms made Rider’s lip curl at the edges.
“So, how’s life?”
Hawk chuffed air, the look he sent Rider was short-lived. “Really?”
Two friends for years, divided in their opinion.
Rider fucking shrugged. This shit had to stop feeling perverse sometime. He’d prefer sooner rather than later.
“Sure,” Have a conversation with him his Icy told him. “Why not?”
Hawk switched his gaze back to Gia as she smiled back at him in that open affectionate way of hers.
The longing waves coming off Hawk were no longer disguised. Because Rider recognized that stare as visual fucking he pretended he was blind.
Then Hawk answered in that thunder voice of his.
“My life? She’s good.”
Air stung with recognition filled Rider’s chest so fast. Motherfuck.
He’d always known Hawk was different. He operated on a level of dispassionate detachment. Rider had been in his own fucking teen ego when he met Hawk and helped the kid out. Despite their obvious differences they formed a brotherhood and then added the rest of the boys around them. They shared a history of being less than in their parent’s eyes.
But to call Hawk normal was a stretch and that’s what he’d struggled with this week. Having seen Hawk’s proclivities how he’d used women in the past, it was something he didn’t want for his sister. But seeing how the pair looked at each other like no fucker else existed it was more than obvious to Rider that however Hawk was in the past, it was just that; the past. He looked at Gia like she was the world.
It was how Rider felt for his own old lady.
Some closed off bastards could change their spots it seemed.
Maybe he wouldn’t kill him.
Hawk was loyal. And he’d go to war for those he cared for.
What better man could he ask for to protect Gia, especially in these sensitive times. No one was getting through Hawk if he were the one to stand in front of Gia. He accepted that realization and a thump of relief had Rider relaxing.
Zara interrupted the silence, Rider’s dirty eyes ate her up as she swayed hips across the yard, her smile only for him. He was already leaning forward when she dipped down to kiss him and to kiss their sleeping daughter. “I’m gonna put this noise maker to bed and hope she stays there until morning. You boys having fun?” Rider hummed making her laugh. She kissed him again. “I love you, biker-man.”
“Love you too.”
When she’d disappeared inside, Rider laced his fingers together, relaxation seeping into his tired frame. “Zara’s pregnant again.”
He laughed at his friend’s stupefied look.
“Then why the hell you smiling?”
“Meant it to happen. We tried often enough.”
“Isn’t the first one still a new-born?”
“Four months now.”
“Shit, Rider, you sure you’re not the one with a screw loose?”
Rider grinned slightly. He was fucking deliriously happy about their new pregnancy. He might be sleep deprived but they both wanted a big family and if Icy was happy he’d keep putting babies in her. As many as she wanted. Maybe she’d finally agree to marry him too.
“You remember the day I brought the girl back to you, and you wanted to do all the sappy gratitude.” Rider’s blue eyes narrowed at the switch in conversation. Of fucking course, he remembered the day he almost lost Zara. When Hawk arrived just before Hades could drag Zara away, he’d stabbed Hades and brought Zara back to him. Rider’s brows dropped, his eyes flat, lips thinned. Hawk went on. “And you told me There will be a day I can repay it, you name it, it’s yours. I mean it.”
A long pause.
But Rider didn’t need silence to know what was coming next.
That sneaky dipshit.
He almost grinned.
Using his ace in the hole at the right time. He’d meant it then and he meant it now, even if it was handing over the pain in the ass sister he adored. From what he’d seen of them together, though they didn’t touch much, Hawk was completely under Gia’s thumb. So, he waited for Hawk to finish.
“This is it that day. I want Gia. And I want you to stop giving her a hard time about it.”
“I’m the big brother, it’s in my job description to give her a hard time.” They both watched the woman in question cuddling with her dog. Rider smiled. His sister had grown up into a lovely woman without him realizing. Maybe he should feel sorry for Hawk trying to manage her exuberance. “You know she’s a handful.”
Hawk snorted. “I had to drag her drunk ass out of a bar in Texas.”
“What?” Gia? Drunk? This he had to hear.
“Dancing on the fucking bar, skirt up to there, assholes watching her.” Before Rider could chime in with a laugh Hawk added. “Had to stab a shithead so I could get her out of there over my shoulder.”
“You stabbed someone?”
“Just in his hand. He got off lightly.”
Twisting his neck, he eyeballed his best friend. “You know I’ll kill you if you’re not serious about this. If you hurt
her.”
Maybe the threat of death relaxed Hawk, but that bastard smiled and rubbed a hand over his head, his outstretched legs mirrored Rider’s. “I’m awake, Ri. I’m not walking through sludge anymore, for the first time I’m awake and I’m fucking terrified about it, but it’s all her. Only her. Always been her. So, you know then I’d cut out my own lungs if I hurt her.”
“Your ink. I never heard you call her little bit until recently. You got the ink for her years ago?”
Hawk only grunted with a nod.
Some of it wouldn’t ever make sense to him, but he was starting to get it. Rider was no better than Hawk. Both cut from the same cloth. He couldn’t deny Hawk’s happiness while he himself was a pig in shit happy with his old lady and daughter.
“You love her?”
“She’s my goddamn breath, Ri. You got no idea what I’d do for her. She’s my only concern, my one priority.”
“Good,” he nodded and clapped a hand to his VP’s shoulder. Some shit this was. Twenty some years ago, he met this man, the one he trusted above all others, and here he was giving his sister to him for safe keeping. More than that, for Hawk to love her.
Fuck. Maybe he’d keep that shit out of his brain and consider him a moody bastard bodyguard. “Go get your girl, and your mutt, brother. Let’s head in for a drink.”
“You still own that house over on Brunswick?”
Grabbing up empty bottles and food platters, Rider arched his brow. “Yeah, got tenants in it now.” Properties were easy, legal money.
“How long is their lease?”
“Another six month, why?”
“I want to buy it.”
“You’ve never wanted your own place.” He saw where this was going and wanted to know Hawk’s intentions.
“It’s for Gia,” he informed.
“And you? You’re gonna live there too?”
Hawk rolled a shoulder, did his own grabbing of debris shit around the yard, filling his arms before they headed up onto the deck and into the house, he caught his VP’s eyes. “If she wants me there, yeah. I want her to have a place of her own. So, make sure you kick them out in six months.”
Shit. His mouth jerked at the corner. In his hard world stranger things have happened, he supposed than his sister falling for the worst kinda biker, who would kill anyone who looked at her wrong.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
“Secrets between lovers … that’s never been a good combination.” - Gia
“I want to confess something...”
Their more serious talks happened during the night when the world was peaceful, and Hawk was more receptive to Gia’s wishes after she’d relaxed him with a good, hard riding. She was warm, slightly buzzed from the fun night at her brother’s house with too many cocktails Ruby made and she was still coming down from some epic sex, so she was relaxed enough with Hawk’s fingertips trailing up and down her spine to bring out the secrets.
“Hmm?” Those same fingers made their way up to her nape, circling, stroking, riling her body into waking with fresh desire.
She shivered, smiling against his throat.
“I hate exercising.” She blurted as if confessing to brutal murder.
She gave him a dramatic pause for effect.
Oh, she hated that she hated exercise, and tried so many classes in hopes to find the one sweaty activity she could love but none interested her.
She’d spent the majority of Zumba just shuffling her feet while Grace Kelly danced like she was backing up Madonna. Same for the torturous spin class and don’t get her started on the epic fail of boxercise, she was not coordinated enough to punch and bounce at the same time.
“I know you’re a workout junkie … you run and lift weights and shadow box, not to mention you spar fight...” All sounding more exhausting than the last but this body of his … she purred into his neck. He was sculpted to perfection. Not too big, hard slabs of man meat in the right places. At any given time when Hawk was shirtless she had the compulsion to nibble on his six pack, one chunk at a time.
A hand stole down through the sheets redirecting Gia’s attention when Hawk sneaked beneath the hem of her sleep tank and placed his palm on her belly. She sucked it in instinctively but after a minute had to let it all hang out or risk death.
His hand didn’t do anything else other than just exist on her belly.
Big, calloused and yummy.
“I know a workout you’d enjoy...”
“Oh?” Her pulse spiked. Please be sex. Please be sex.
“Yeah. It’d exert your full body.” Oh, Jesus. “And you’d feel it for days.”
“Really?”
Hawk’s face impassive.
Ever since they’d left the party he’d appeared lighter again after sitting with Rider for a few hours, she’d sneakily watched the two men in hopes they’d kiss and make up. Slightly worried over the feeling Hawk wasn’t telling her something, but for right now in her bed she was content to tease him into a smile.
Gia wriggled a little in hopes of encouraging his hand to explore.
It didn’t.
She pouted.
“Yeah,” his husky tones stroked through her the same way a flamethrower would melt ice cream in seconds. “From the top of your head down to your toes, no muscle will be left out. You’ll ache, Gia.”
Oh, god. It was sex. He meant sex.
An excited bubble began in her belly. Nipples hard. Mouth wanting.
“What...” she cleared the frog from her throat. “What is this magical exercise, baby?”
A beat of silence.
And another.
He moved down like he was going to kiss her. She readied by lifting her chin.
She loved his eyes this close, so cool and bottomless in color.
“Pilates.” He whispered against her lips and Gia’s eyes narrowed before she popped the noiselessly laughing joker on his shoulder.
She flopped onto her side, giving him the coldest of shoulders. Her body whining that it didn’t get what it was promised. What a fucking clit-tease. “I hate you so much!”
Hands stroked her all over.
She could hear the amusement laced through his voice. “No, you don’t.”
“I do! I feel it passionately and strongly in my belly.”
Without warning Hawk rolled on top of her, caging her in, restarting her heart in that thumping rhythm that never truly calmed when he was around.
“Is that right?”
Using his lower half, he nestled into the space he made for himself between her legs. She felt everything pressing to her core and held back her hungry purr.
Her voice unsteady. “You shouldn’t tease me like that.”
“Why, because you’ll hate me so much, little bit?”
“Yes.”
In bed late at night, he was not only open with things he said to her, but his demeanor became soft, playful. Love drunk was a real thing.
“Is all the hate still in here?” He bumped her with his hips, slick hardness stroking her up and down.
It wasn’t certain if Gia replied, what with her head exploding glitter everywhere and her greedy, clutching hands gripping his waist to further bring him down on top of her.
He hummed against her neck. Descending her body. “I’ll make it better, little bit.”
“Yes. Please, make it better,”
And he did with kisses around her navel. So many more as he moved lower, encouraging her legs to part by using his two palms to spread them. And when his head sloped in to the valley of space he made for himself Gia pushed her head back into the pillows and exhaled.
Scrupulous attention followed.
Lick after slow lick he made all her fake hate disappear.
Replaced with hungry, eating noises as she came with a startled cry.
******
Three blissful days blended into three more. Unfortunately, those last three she didn’t see much of Hawk. He’d gone out of town on a ride for the club. Hush-hush, thou
gh she didn’t ask him for details, the less she knew about the biker activities the better she thought.
On the nights he returned to her house he was somewhat distance and the first night he got a call his face turned to thunder, and he’d told her he’d be back.
He didn’t come back.
The second time it happened she followed him out to the curb in time to see him swing his leg over his bike. “Hawk. Talk to me. What’s going on with you lately? Something’s bothering you.”
“Nothing. Go inside, Gia. I’ll be back.”
He didn’t kiss her. Barely looked at her. And he didn’t come back that night either.
Now Gia wasn’t one for burying her head in the sand. She wasn’t about fixing other people’s love lives and ignoring the glaring, obvious disturbance in her own.
They’d gone from the honeymoon stage of a brand-new love affair to coldness of the Hawk she’d always known in a matter of a few days and she had no clue why.
Not that he wasn’t affectionate to her.
He still loved on her to the point she thought he was possessed some days in the beautiful ways he fucked her.
But just when she’d thought he was becoming unlocked with his emotions he clamped shut and it had something to do with whoever kept calling him.
It happened again earlier, she’d gone to the MC to visit with Zara on her lunch break, the two women ate club sandwiches in the cabin office, Harper cuddled with Gia happily sucking on her pacifier when Zara took a call.
“Colton?”
Hearing Hawk’s given name alerted Gia. No one called him Colton other than her.
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Zara told the caller. A woman caller. “He’s not around right now, can I take a message?”
“Give me the phone.” Gia said and though Zara arched her brow she handed it over. “Hello? Who is this?”
The voice on the other end sounded husky, somewhat sleepy. Possibly drunk. “I wanna talk to Colton. He ain’t picking up. I need to talk to him.”
The wary clutching inside Gia’s stomach became worse. Who was this woman looking for Hawk? Was it the same person he’d been ignoring?