by Cole, Cassie
I was still coming down from my climax as Hawk stood. He stripped his boxer-briefs, revealing the steel manhood within. Beautiful and long and thick with potential. The sight of him made me tremble, and I ran my fingers along the v-grooves of his hips as he knelt between my legs.
“I’ve wanted this every day,” he rumbled like an avalanche. One that was going to cover me completely. “Every fucking day out there picking up trash and mending fences. I’ve craved you, Peaches.”
“You have me,” I breathed. “I’m yours.”
He sank into me, head and shaft and then his soft hair tickling with mine. My pulse leaped as he filled me, stretched me, widened me, and I accepted every throbbing inch. His eyes locked onto mine and widened, mouth opening in awe.
There was nothing more beautiful than the way a man looked in that moment.
I wrapped my thighs around him and held him inside me, clenching my core around his manhood in a sexual hug. My inner walls rippled around his thickness as we moaned and savored finally giving in, feeling what I knew we’d both been dreaming.
“Fuck, you’re so tight,” he groaned into my neck. “I don’t know how I didn’t come already, Peaches.”
I took his head in both my hands and kissed him. “It’s because you’re so big.”
“Little bit of both.” He grinned lustily. “Jesus fuck, I can’t stand it…”
He rolled his hips against me, and I relaxed my vice-like thighs. Inch by inch he pulled back, leaving emptiness in his wake, and just when his tip was about to leave me he crashed back into my sex. My entire body trembled with pleasure, and I made a noise deep in my throat that I’d never made before.
We might be totally screwed if the Copperheads found out. But for now, it didn’t matter.
Tonight we had each other.
We moved faster and faster together, his manhood swelling inside me as he groaned and gripped my butt with one hand and held on for dear life. Hawk’s chiseled body moved above me like a machine, muscles flexing and contracting beautifully. His strokes were long and passionate, driving himself so deep inside me that the room blurred and shuddered with every thrust.
“Peaches,” he said, voice cracking with concentration. “Charlotte…”
“Hawk,” I moaned back. I could feel the fire building within me again, a tingling warning that I was about to come again.
“Come with me,” he demanded.
“Yes.”
“Come while I fuck you. While I make that pussy mine.”
I screamed as the climax pulsed through my body, shattering waves of pleasure crashing on my shore with each thrust. Hawk’s lips seared into mine as he moaned too, pressing his entire body against mine, crushing me into the bed with his passionate love.
24
Charlotte
There was something perfect about the quiet moment after sex.
When the world was silent and both people were vulnerable. No clothes, no walls, no personality facades they put up to pretend like they were more interesting people than they really were. Just two people, exhausted and spent, after exploring each other in a new way.
I breathed deeply, inhaling Hawk’s scent. His normal oil and smoke smell, with the lingering dust of the barn underneath. It felt like a cozy vacation. A place I could rest my head and pass the time without worrying about the troubles of the real world.
“Talk to me,” I said.
His hand moved up my back and into my hair, caressing as he went. “Peaches,” he said in his subtle drawl, “you’re gonna have to be more specific than that.”
Laying across his nude, warm body, I traced a finger along his ribs. Up his pec, around a nipple, and then back down another length of rib muscle.
“I don’t know. Tell me about the Copperheads.”
“What do you want to know?” he asked, his voice a deep whisper. It vibrated up his chest and into mine.
“Why’d you join them?”
“Because I was bored,” he said.
“That’s it? You joined a drug-dealing biker gang out of boredom? You know, there are a lot of other hobbies you could have tried first. Like tennis.”
“I got laid off from my other job,” he went on. “A factory outside of town. You might’ve seen it on your drive in. I didn’t have much else to do. Friends from work moved out of town. I was lonely, restless. So I joined up with some bikers to pass the time.”
“Was that before they were moving drugs?”
“Naw,” he said sadly. “They were doing it then, too. They were quiet about it since I was a newcomer, but lookin’ back on it I should’ve known. I chose not to see. Willful ignorance.”
A lot of men might’ve pretended like they were totally innocent. Covered themselves with the excuse that they had no idea something like that was going on. My respect for Hawk notched up another degree at his willingness to admit it.
“Why’d you quit?”
He shrugged awkwardly. “Sid was smart about things, at first. He was quiet and didn’t ruffle too many feathers. But over time, as he got more addicted to the shit he moves, he got more violent. Started carrying around that crowbar of his. Using it, whether he needed to or not.” He shivered. “Eventually it got to the point where I couldn’t stop pretending like I didn’t know what was going on. So I quit.”
“What kind of drugs do they move?”
“Meth. It’s produced inland and collected in Atlanta, then moved to the coast. From there it goes up to the military bases in the Carolinas, and down to Florida. But Sid’s crew only transports it to Savannah before handing it off. Sid’s got enough power that nobody messes with him. It’s easy work. Riding a motorcycle through the night and back.”
“Help me understand,” I said. “If it’s such an open secret, why doesn’t anyone stop them?”
Hawk’s laugh was bitter. “Who would? The sheriff and his deputy? Sid’s got 50 men here in Eastland, but he controls closer to 300 between here and Macon. State police could try and take them out, but it’d be a bloodbath. There’s not a police captain in the country who wants that on their hands. Better to ignore them and hope nobody gets hurt.”
The way he said the last part implied that people did get hurt. I could feel the ghost of his sister hanging over us in bed. It made my chest ache for Hawk.
“What about the feds? The FBI or something?”
Hawk ran his fingers through my hair. “That’s the thing, Peaches. The Copperheads are too small. 300 bikers may seem like a lot, but it’s just small enough to avoid attracting the big agencies in Washington. They’re too busy worrying about cocaine and heroin flowing across the border with Mexico, or opioids spreading across the north-east. They don’t have time for a few million worth of methamphetamines moving up and down I-95. Too much risk for too little reward.”
“That sucks,” I said.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “It sucks.”
The words hung in the air between us. Souring the mood.
“I’m sorry about your sister,” I said, tackling the subject head-on. “About Theresa. I can’t imagine what you’ve dealt with.”
“It’s revenge,” he suddenly said.
“What?”
“A few days ago you asked why I don’t just ride out of town, get as far away from Eastland and Sid as I can. It’s because I want revenge.” He sighed with his whole body, like a muscular balloon deflating. “Sid’s careful. He keeps men around him at all times, and he doesn’t take risks. But deep down, part of me still hopes I can get revenge. A moment where he’s alone and he lets his guard down, when I can strike. When I can get revenge for what they did to Theresa. That’s why I’m still here, Peaches. Because as soon as I leave, that opportunity goes out the window. And I’m more afraid of missing that opportunity than I am of Sid killing me.”
I rolled over and rested my chin on his belly, looking up at his bearded face. “Have you had chances? Where you thought about… doing it?”
“I have,” he admitted, but said no more.
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The look in his eyes, like a storm rolling in from the coast, told me everything I needed to know. Hawk would do whatever he could to make Sid pay. He cared about that more than his own life.
Which meant I couldn’t care about him, because he could die at any moment. He would throw his own life away if it meant taking Sid down with him.
I opened my mouth to tell him no, that he couldn’t do it, that he had to live for something. But the words died on my tongue. Any argument I thought up sounded too weak. Too petty compared to the death of his sister.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated.
“Me too, Peaches.” He leaned down and kissed my hair, then rolled out of bed. “And now it’s time to get to work.”
I watched him walk across the room, a beautiful marble statue come to life by magic, every nook and cranny of his body chiseled by an artist. I pulled the sheets over my own nude body and rested my head on my hand. “Work?”
“Fixing the Jesse mess,” he said, retrieving his phone and staring at the screen. “It’s all your fault, you know.”
“My fault?” I said. I couldn’t tell if he was being serious, or joking.
He glanced over at me, stone-faced. “If you weren’t so sexy, Jesse wouldn’t have tried to extort you.”
I grinned in spite of myself. “Yeah, but that just means he would’ve gone straight to Sid instead.”
Hawk stretched his arms over his head, flexing his butt muscles in the process. The dimples in his hips caved, then flexed back out. “Yeah, but if you were ugly I wouldn’t have kissed you in the cemetery. So we wouldn’t be in this mess at all.”
I made an offended sound and grabbed my shoe off the ground, then hurled it in his direction. It missed by several feet and bounced across the hardwood floors of the barn.
“But you are sexy,” he said, coming back to kiss me on the forehead. “So we have to deal with that, now.”
“Sorry for being such an inconvenience.”
He walked around the room nude while talking on the phone, giving me a nice show while I relaxed in bed. The first phone call was about transporting a package down to Jacksonville, which I assumed was code for something else. Then he called someone named Brick and asked about Copperhead movements tonight. He mentioned Jesse’s name, asking if he was on the schedule. Then Hawk nodded with what looked like relief.
“Things are looking good so far,” he told me when he was done. He pulled his boxer-briefs on, then his jeans. While buckling his belt he added, “We may get out of this mess, Peaches.”
“Don’t jinx it!”
He put on his shirt, then went into the closet. I heard him rummaging around, and then he emerged with a duffel bag and a rain jacket.
I patted the bed. “You don’t have to leave so soon, do you? Come back to bed. I’m not done with you yet.”
“If we are gonna get out of this mess, I have to clean things up at Flop’s.”
I knew he was right, but I was having fun tempting him. I gave him a lusty look and said, “I’ll make it worth your while.”
A pained look came to his handsome face. “You’re killin’ me, Peaches.” He bent down to give me a long, passionate kiss. It went on so long that I thought he might stay, but then he finally pulled away. He caressed my cheek with his thumb.
“Hold down the fort while I’m gone. Don’t get into any trouble.”
“I promise only to snoop around a little bit.”
He gave me a warning glare, which turned into a silly grin, then went out into the stormy night.
25
Hawk
Leaving a beautiful woman in bed felt like leaving a full glass of whiskey at the bar. It was a terrible thing to waste.
I would’ve given anything to stay with her a little longer. To feel the smoothness of her skin against mine, the curve of her hip like a rolling hill on my bed. But there was still plenty to be done before I was safe.
Before Charlotte was safe.
I’ll be back in a few, I thought as I walked out into the rain. I flipped the hood of my jacket up and tossed my duffel bag of supplies into the passenger seat of my truck. I would have rather had the speed and maneuverability of my bike tonight, in case I had to outrun the Copperheads, but the rain made that too dangerous. The truck would have to do.
Plus, the bag of supplies would’ve been a pain in the ass to haul on my bike. Trash bags and duct tape, two pistols, an extra shotgun, a box of flashbang grenades I’d stolen when I was a Copperhead, and enough ammunition to fight off an army. Hopefully we wouldn’t have to.
I drove down my driveway through the rain, and I felt more alive than I had in a long time. And it had nothing to do with the scrap with Jesse.
Giving in to what I wanted had never felt so good. Charlotte quenched a thirst that I hadn’t realized was inside of me. I felt like a changed man, somehow. Like I was someone different now than I was two hours ago.
Granted, now her life was in danger. But it was in danger before. As long as nobody discovered what we’d done, everything would be alright.
I don’t want tonight to be a one-time thing.
Now that I’d had a taste of Charlotte, now that we’d fucked like there was no tomorrow, I couldn’t go back to text messages and community service. And I doubted she could either. We had chemistry, and it wasn’t something we could ignore. I felt like we were two pieces of metal that had been welded together. We couldn’t break them apart without a lot of effort.
That’s a problem for tomorrow, I thought as I turned down main street. I had bigger problems tonight.
I slowed as I neared Flop’s bar. My biggest fear was that a dozen bikes would be parked outside, reinforcements to help Jesse. But it was as quiet as I’d left it, and Flop had even turned off the neon Budweiser sign to signal they were closed. Still, I parked my truck and approached the door cautiously in case there was some sort of ambush. It was locked, so I knocked three times and then walked backwards to my truck and waited behind my open door as a shield, aiming my pistol in the rain in case it wasn’t Flop who answered.
Thankfully, when the door opened it was Flop who peered out into the rain with his M16 rifle held at the ready. As soon as he waved me in I grabbed my duffel bag and rushed inside. Flop flipped four locks behind me. Everything was quiet inside. The muscles in my neck relaxed a fraction.
“Talked to my buddy,” I told him. “He can be here with his UHaul in an hour.”
“How much does he charge?” Flop asked.
“Don’t worry about it. This one’s on me.”
Flop pulled out his phone and thumbed a contact. “Shit, Hawk. You ain’t have to do that.”
“My mess, my cleanup,” I said.
Flop talked to the person on the other end of the phone without any greeting or small talk. He told him we would have the package delivered to Jacksonville by morning. Flop listened for a few moments then hung up.
“He says don’t take I-95. Back roads only.”
I nodded. That would cost extra for my contact, but it was worth it to avoid any cops. Or any of the Copperheads if they suddenly got wind of what was happening.
I looked at the time on my phone. “Now what?”
“Now we hunker down and hope the Copperheads don’t realize Jesse’s gone missing. Hey honey?” he called louder. His ex-wife emerged from the kitchen with a shotgun in her hand. “Everything dandy with our guest?”
She snorted. “Jesse’s sniveling like he’d got a cold, but he ain’t fighting back. Think he’s got the itch.”
“Alright then. Hawk, you watch the window by the door. Should have a view of the road from the south there. I’ll take the window by the kitchen door. And she’ll watch Jesse some more.”
His wife pumped her shotgun. “You heard the man. Get to it.” She smacked her ex-husband on the ass and disappeared into the kitchen. Flop looked chagrined, then followed.
Laughing at their weird relationship, I pulled up a chair to the window by the door and set to watching the ro
ad for any Copperheads.
26
Charlotte
I stretched out on Hawk’s bed and listened to the rain pelting the roof of the barn, completely content with the world.
Completely happy.
I felt more secure than I’d felt in over a month. It was a paradoxical feeling since my life was potentially in danger from a meth-transporting biker gang led by a maniac, but that was the effect of Hawk. Sleeping with him, and having him go back out in the rain to take care of the man who had attacked me at Flop’s, made me feel safe.
There was something ridiculously hot about a man coming to a woman’s defense at a bar. The way he’d appeared in the doorway with the shotgun, and ordered Jesse to leave me alone, had turned me on in a way that still shocked me. I tried to imagine how Scott would have reacted to Jesse bothering me in the bar. He probably would’ve wet his pants.
I rolled over, stretched my arms over my head, and sighed. I could still smell Hawk on the pillow and the sheets. I could still taste him on my lips. He was the opposite of the kind of guy I normally went for. Tattoos and a bike and sudden, effortless violence. Momma would freak out if I took him home. Dad wouldn’t say it out loud, but I’d be able to see his judgement on his silent face. They would ask why I couldn’t date someone a little more polished, with a degree and a steady job and a pair of jeans that didn’t have holes in the knees. And they would be right.
But I didn’t care.
There was something about Hawk I couldn’t shake. He was more than just a rebound, I now realized. He was filling the hole in my chest left by Scott, but not as a replacement. As something better. Something that fit the way it was supposed to.
Now I just have to finish my community service and get out of this town alive.
I finally got out of bed and went to the bathroom to pee. I wondered how many hours of community service Hawk still had. He’d never actually told me. Probably a lot. And all of this was assuming the corrupt sheriff didn’t pin another random crime on him and stick him with even more community service.