“I have to give her the time and space I promised her. I will do the best I can on my end to help her along without getting too involved, but I am not sure there is much I can do for her right now. She hates me more than the rest of you and anything I do might just piss her off more. Of course, I am on Honey’s side. Always have been. I was just too young and foolish to realize it back then.” I sigh heavily as my answer to Gabe’s demands, rubbing at the headache forming in my right temple with the hand not clutching my beer.
“I refuse to be on the wrong side of history again. I told you guys from the beginning I wasn’t going to be a part of anything that could ever hurt our girl again. Over my dead body will I ever bend to the Order’s will again. I’m working on something on the side… It's a long slow process that I have had to go to great lengths to keep it on the down low and I’ll just leave it at that. I am doing my part; I have been for a long time now.” Hawk says next, being very vague but firm all at once. I already knew where he stood on things where it came to Honey. He had lost one of his only best friends aside from me when we did what we did.
Gabe’s eyes fall on Kass then and the guy shifts in the armchair then, looking embarrassed and uncomfortable as fuck. He lifts his bottle of beer up and chugs about half of it before he even seems to collect his thoughts enough for a reply to Gabe’s demands.
“I… um… I have a guy bartering with Frankie Newhouse to buy Honey’s dad’s car back. I want to fix it up for her…” He trails off, light caramel cheeks heating and turning a light shade of pink as he raises his rich brown eyes up to me. Surprise ripples through me at this right before an overwhelming swell of pride in Kass blooms inside my chest and I find myself grinning broadly at him. Hawk narrows his eyes at the two of us, flicking them between us suspiciously.
“How is fixing her dad’s car going to help her take the Order down?”
“It’s not. It’s… complicated. I’m hoping it’s going to help me gain her trust back a little, if not completely.” He says, his voice irritated with Hawk and full of embarrassment. He doesn't have any need to feel that way but I know if he explained his reasons to Gabe and Hawk, they would probably tease him about it, so I just glare at Hawk until he sits back in the armchair, still looking suspiciously at Kass.
What Kass was planning to do for Honey might be the best damn idea any of us have had so far when it comes to trying to earn her trust back. That car had been a treasured family vehicle, one her father had custom built for his whole family and it held great sentimental value to Honey that only Kass and I would ever understand. The fact that he was going to repair it with his own hands to give back to her had me in serious shock. It made me incredibly proud to call Kassim Daegden my friend and my brother.
“It’s settled then. We are all on Honey’s team from here on out. Nothing the Order says or does is going to change that. If we have any chance of winning her back, we can’t mess this up.” Gabe says then, a hint of warning to his voice and we all nod in agreement, the mood shifting in the room now.
The desperation, anger, and fear soon gets replaced by an overwhelming amount of determination and it strengthens my own feelings. The Reds were going to do whatever it took to win our girl back and destroy the people who took her from us in the first place.
“Honey is our Queen and we are just the pawns on her field. Let’s not forget that boys.” I say firmly and I couldn’t be prouder of the looks of steely determination that set on my brothers faces at that.
Honey was a Queen indeed and I couldn’t wait to be her King.
A handful of days pass after the epic failure of a break in at the town hall and I get suspicious when I am not confronted about it by any goons for hire from the Order. I was sure I had messed up at some point and they surely would have known about me meddling in their business again and decided to strike back against me, but they’ve been suspiciously quiet.
So have the Red boys.
Silas especially. I honestly thought he wouldn’t have heeded my request that he give me time and space and I find myself confused why I am irritated that he has followed my wishes on the following Thursday afternoon after the town hall break in. I shouldn’t give a damn that he is finally leaving me alone but for some reason I do. I figured that after he had gotten a little taste of the amazing sexual experiences we could share that he would be all up in my business but it was the exact opposite.
My frustration at Silas was how I found myself at Crimson Valley Fitness Center Thursday afternoon after my last lecture of the day, hands wrapped and pounding at a punching bag with all my pent-up sexual frustration and anger. Sweat drenched my skin as I put all my force into my punches, keeping my feet still as my ankle was still healing. People were giving me a wide berth as if they could sense the rage and danger simmering beneath my skin as I let loose on the heavy bag enough to have it swinging around at dizzying speeds.
I shouldn’t let Silas get to me the way he does. This was what I wanted. Him to leave me alone so I could try and get him out of my system but my silly heart didn’t care about my wants to distance myself from the dangerously captivating male. I hated to admit that a part of me, though little, had wanted Silas to pursue me with everything he had. This silence and distance almost made it seem like he didn’t want me as bad as I wanted him. That thought quickly left my mind though as the memory of the thorough tongue fucking he gave me nearly two weeks ago comes back to the forefront of my mind and I find myself sweating and panting for an entirely different reason.
“Wow. You wouldn’t be able to tell by the way you are hammering into that bag that you were angry about something.” A deep familiar voice drawls out behind me and a scream nearly rips out of my throat as I jerk forward and collide with the swinging bag as I attempt to spin to see who scared me half to death. “Also, you should be more aware of your surroundings. It’s easy to be caught off guard around here.”
Gabriel Finelli stands just a few feet away from me, dressed in a tiny pair of black men’s athletic shorts and a gray fitness tank top that had open under arms where you got a peep show of his impressive physique and rock-hard pectorals. Just like the other three Red boys, he was a sight to behold, especially in his element and covered in sweat as if he too just got done doing a hard workout. Sweat shimmered on his naturally bronzed skin underneath the artificial light of the gym.
Scowling, I level a death glare at him as I work to get my pounding heart back under control along with my breathing. “What are you doing here?” Stupid question, I know. I did my research on these guys before ever stepping foot back in this town. Gabe was a fitness trainer. It was what he had gone to CVU for after he graduated high school. He wasn’t out of place here. In fact, I was fairly sure the Finelli’s owned this fitness center.
“I have clients most days I train here. What are you doing here, Honey?” He raises a dark brow at me and his hazel eyes spark with something akin to amusement and that just rubs my skin the wrong way. Gabriel was usually a pretty passive person and the fact that he was showing this kind of emotion with me was enough to get me suspicious he had ulterior motives for this confrontation.
“There isn’t a gym inside Locke Manor as my parents were never regularly active people and I was usually a science nerd back in the day. I’ve had a rough week and haven’t hit the gym since leaving Tampa so I wanted to work through some… feelings of mine.” I add at the end. I wasn’t about to delve into all my life problems with Gabe right now, despite how openly emotional he was being with me right now and throwing me for a loop.
“Ah. That’s right. You are a certified badass now.” He lets out a small, lighthearted laugh that has me narrowing my eyes at him suspiciously. My breathing was pretty much back in control and I was starting to get my wits back and with it came my gut instincts. Gabe was not acting like his usual self and that could never be a good thing.
“I am.” I agree. “Something that had to be done after what you four did to me.” My voice is as sharp as glass and surp
rise flickers briefly through me when he flinches back at my crass words.
“You have a point.” He concedes, eyes flashing with a dozen different emotions in a few seconds flat that I wasn’t able to gauge what he was feeling aside from his flinch at my words. If it was a guilty flinch, I didn’t understand why. “Care to spar with me and show me what you got? I’ll be gentle. Promise.” He grins then and gives me a wink and my gut twists in suspicion. However, the warrior in me wanted to hand Gabriel Finelli his ass to knock his ego down a peg or two and I just couldn’t pass up this opportunity. I nod in agreement.
“Bare fists?” I ask as I follow after him when he turns. He leads me through the gym to the other side where there are several mats laid out on the ground in front of a massive state of the art boxing ring. He stops in front of the ring and turns to me, assessing my figure with a critical eye and I bristle when he shakes his head and replies.
“No. Gloves. I don’t want you to overexert yourself since you’ve been going pretty hard at the bag for the past hour.” He says as he hands me a pair of sleek black women’s boxing gloves and I realize then that he probably has been watching me the whole time I’ve been here and I am not sure how I feel about that. I take the gloves and he jumps up on the side of the ring to hold the ropes open for me to slip through before he follows, clutching his own pair of gloves.
“Don’t go easy on me, Finelli. I’m not some weak little girl anymore.” I warn him and he shakes his head as we both slip our gloves on; he has to wrap his hands first though. After a few minutes as I wait for him to finish, he meets me in the middle of the ring and we touch gloves before moving back in similar fighting stances to circle one another.
“I doubt Silas would be super thrilled if I gave you everything I had. I imagine he would break me in half if I did.” Gabe comments dryly and I scowl. Instead of answering him right away, I use his distraction as he talks to me to my advantage. Using my small form to my advantage, I dart in and jab two parroting punches, one to his right side and the other to his left shoulder and I manage to twist out of the way before he can react. His return punch barely misses me and I see then that he wasn’t trying nearly as hard as I knew he was capable of.
“This session won't be worth my time if you don’t participate, Gabe.” I say through gritted teeth as we go back to circling one another. “Silas has nothing to do with this. If you are able to land a punch on me, you better do it. I am not some fucking china doll; nothing is off limits.” I knew it wouldn’t feel good if he actually got in a hit with intent, but I didn’t care. I wanted to feel the pain and I didn’t want to feel like a weakling because he was too afraid of Silas to give me his all.
His answering smirk riled me up. Something shifted in me then and this became more than an ordinary sparring match. He began bouncing lightly and getting ready to attack. I breathed in slowly and took note of his form and posture. His left side was weaker than the right. Maybe an old injury that he still favored. He moved in closer, I suspected, for a jab with his right hand. I sidestepped to my left and kicked the back of his right knee, effectively making him drop and scramble to get back up. He chuckled, “I guess you really meant nothing was off limits then, eh?” I smirked, “Just like the night the four of you beat me. I told you; I learned my lesson.” He looked like he wanted to say something, his guard dropped and I took my chance. Moving quickly to my right I ducked and delivered two quick jabs, one to his left kidney and one directly into his ribs. I saw the flinch. That was Gabriel Finelli’s weak spot.
I heard his groan at the hit and laughed darkly. “What’s the matter, Gabe? Did I hit a sensitive spot?” He turned to face me and shook his head. Ignoring me, he sidestepped and threw another jab that I blocked and countered with another direct jab to his ribs, making him wince and let out a sharp breath. “Fuck, Honey. Give a man a break.” I chuckled, “Oh, Gabe. Didn’t anyone tell you to watch where you step?” At his look of utter confusion, I stole my moment. I dropped down and swept my right leg into his, effectively knocking him to the ground. He landed with a grunt as I rose back up. I offered him my hand and helped him back to his feet. Regaining his breath, “You know, speaking of watching where you step, maybe you should tell that to whoever decided to break into town hall last night.”
Fuck.. Fuck.. How did he know!? “Oh, someone broke in. Was anything broken or stolen?” I tried to maintain aloof and concerned so he wouldn’t suspect it was me. “No, nothing like that. The silent alarm was tripped and someone proceeded to get into the main record database. It doesn’t look like there was any evidence to be collected, so we have no suspect.” He looked around for a minute at the people in the gym, making sure no one was close enough to us before continuing. “Someone might be trying to take down the Order. If that were the case and if I were a betting man, I’d inform that person that they would need inside help. You know?” He shrugged and moved back into a fighting stance and quickly shot a combo of jabs in my direction, one landing against my ribs as I was off my guard at what he had just confessed.
Jumping back and blocking the last punch, I countered. “What does it matter to you, son of the Order?” I could feel my anger rising. Or my failure at being caught. He scoffed and moved in closer, grabbing me by my wrist and I felt panic seeping into my blood. “Because, Honey Locke, last living heir of the Locke family, I despise what the Order stands for today. Because I want them to pay for all the pain they have caused my brothers and my sister.” The look he gave me as he spoke was soul piercing. “Whoever broke in was looking for something. She should be extremely glad that I was the one who receives the alarm notifications directly on my tablet. She should also be incredibly grateful that I remote accessed the computer and unlocked it for her.” He released his grip from me and smirked.
Anger and shame that I didn’t completely succeed on my own filled me completely. I let out a frustrated groan and threw a powerful three hit combo. All three hits met their targets but I didn’t stop advancing until I had him backed up against the rings. We were both breathing hard and I could tell I had over done it today. My ankle, although it was mostly healed, was throbbing. Gabe was doubled over and holding his ribs and gasping softly.
I took these few moments to really think about what he said. He knew it was me, that was for sure. I probably should thank him, but my pride was to hurt at the moment to outright say it. I backed away instead. “Maybe you did those things for her because you feel guilty for the past. Maybe you think it will redeem you for your past mistakes.” I moved in closer and took advantage of his weakened stance and grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind him and held it against the middle of his back and whispered in a deadly voice, “You’re wrong. She has not forgiven any of you.” I released him and let him fall to his knee, now cradling his sore wrist. I walked away, confidant that my message was clear.
I grabbed my bag and headed outside to my car. Sitting down, I gripped the steering wheel tightly. Fuck.. I don’t know what to do now. I felt so lost. What was my next plan of attack? I needed to find the Order’s weak spot, just like I found Gabe’s. Sighing, I loosened my grip and relaxed and closed my eyes. Think, Honey, think. My eyes flashed open and I knew what to do.
Time to take a trip to the Lake.
The following Monday morning as I am bending to slip my heels on, I regret how hard I pushed myself during my sparring session with Gabe a few days before. I curse and groan my way through my morning routine getting ready for my long day of lectures. I barely got any sleep last night, but it wasn’t because I was sore from battling it out with Gabe.
Fall break starts the following Monday morning for CVU and four weeks after, the Thanksgiving Festival was planned and I have gotten nowhere with finding and exposing the mole inside CVU’s science department. Granted, I’ve had a lot going on right now to put much effort into it, but I needed to get on it over the break and do some digging if I was going to keep Rebecca off my back long enough for me to expose the Order for the vile snakes they reall
y were.
Part of that was my newfound plan to take a miniature vacation up to my parents’ private cabin on Crimson Valley Lake, the property that wasn’t listed in our family file, and figure out exactly why it had been left out in the first place. Knowing my genius of a dad, he had the place loaded with juicy information that would surely help me put the Order in their own early graves. The Order didn’t have it listed because they didn’t know about it and I had a feeling that it had been purposefully hidden for a big reason.
Coming into the kitchen after I threw together a quick outfit I would be comfortable in with my sore muscles, I am rubbing at my eyes to clear the crusties from my lids when I stop dead in the middle of the doorway as an irritatingly familiar laugh rings out around the space.
“I better be seeing things, Sam. Please tell me Hawk Rhodes isn’t sitting at my kitchen island eating my food served by my staff?” Sam turns a bright shade of red as I turn my glower from him to the man in question who just grins broadly at me, four pieces of bacon in his hand as if he were about to stuff them in his mouth before I had come in.
“Morning, Honey! Don’t worry. I saved you some.” Hawk indicates with his fist full of bacon to the half-eaten plates of eggs, bacon, toast, and pancakes. He stuffs more bacon into his mouth and my glower deepens as my eyes flick back to the plate of bacon.
Whiskey & Honey: Crimes of Crimson Valley: Book One Page 14