Babe.
My body starts to tremble from the simple word. I don’t know why, no, that’s a lie. I know exactly why. Hawk. He always called me babe.
“Why you think I have a problem?” I whisper in a shaky voice.
His lips curve up into a kind smile and it’s then that I realize he must not be one of the bikers like Hawk is. Those guys only have kind smiles for their girls, nobody else, not ever.
Keaston shakes his head a couple of times, then wraps his hands around my waist and picks me up, setting me just inside of my door before he follows me inside and closes the front door behind him, locking it tight.
“You’re not a badass biker, are you?” I ask, my voice still slurring.
I shake my head and try to get my shit together, but I can’t. I’m still way too fucking drunk. There’s a moment of silence, then he chuckles. “What kind is that? Hmm?”
“Like a Savage Beast,” I whisper.
His eyes widen and he looks behind my shoulder before his gaze comes back to mine. “How do you know anything about them?” he demands.
My lips turn up into a grin. “I dated one once. My best friend is married to one and I stayed at their compound thingy for a few weeks in Arizona.”
“Babe,” he grunts.
I shrug a shoulder. “They were nice.”
“That’s not why I’m here, but bet your ass I’m going to be asking you some more questions about that, in-depth ones.”
Narrowing my gaze, I press my lips together. “So why are you here?” I demand. “I don’t know anything about you other than you’re cute and you’re my neighbor named Keaston.”
He chuckles. “You’re cute too, honey. I’m here because you got yourself a stalker and I don’t particularly like my sexy as fuck neighbor who works her ass off having some creep watching her every move and being… well, a fucking creep.”
I blink. Then I blink again, and then I blink a third time as my lips part.
“I do have a stalker, have you seen him?” I breathe.
His brows rise. “You know you do?” he asks.
“Ummm, yeah,” I snort. “He left me roses and creepy notes, and he found me alone at work yesterday and came up behind me. I never saw his face though.”
Saying the words aloud, talking about how this asshole has been basically terrorizing me, I try not to cry, but my eyes fill with unshed tears anyway. Lifting my hand, I motion for Keaston to come and sit on my tiny sofa.
The only things I kept from my old life were a few pieces of furniture, some clothes, and expensive jewelry that I figure I can sell someday if I get too hard up for cash. Everything else I liquidated.
Thankfully, I have some money tucked away in mutual funds, but I can’t really touch any of it.
I can’t believe I’m telling a virtual stranger my problems. I can’t believe I’m telling him all about my stalker, and I can’t believe that he watches me enough to know that I even have one. Pressing my lips together, I try not to think about what that could mean.
“You didn’t go to the police,” he points out as he sinks down on my sofa.
It’s not really a sofa, my apartment is too small for a full-size couch, it’s the love seat that matched my full sofa, which I sold. Seeing him on it, I realize how small the piece really is. Keaston isn’t a huge man, he’s a few inches shorter than Hawk and probably thirty pounds lighter.
“I didn’t. Why would I do that? I don’t know who it is, and I don’t know what they’re capable of. But I do know that the police won’t do shit.”
He presses his lips together, leaning forward and resting his forearms on his thighs. It’s hot, like him. I wonder what it would be like to be able to be free and fall for someone like a neighbor.
Technically, I’m free, but my heart and body just aren’t there yet, they still belong to Hawk who is another state away and probably fucking some clubwhore.
“I saw some asshole in a suit looking directly at your window last night, that same asshole was in the hallway yesterday morning, and two days ago I saw him sitting in a car right in front of the building, so you’re in trouble, babe. What are you going to do to get yourself out?”
“Nothing,” I whisper.
“Nothing?”
“There’s nothing I can do. Either he takes me and does unspeakable things to me, or he doesn’t and I just look over my shoulder. Nobody is going to do anything to save me, Keaston. And if someone crazy like that wants me bad enough, they’ll figure out a way to get me.”
“Babe.”
His single word says everything. He doesn’t agree with me, but that’s the thing, he doesn’t have to. I’m not wrong and he isn’t saying that I am.
I could run away, off to anywhere, but the only place I would even want to go is Arizona and how depressing would that be? Sure, I’d be with Trista, but then I’d have to see Hawk fucking other women and be close to him without touching him. Or worse yet, continuing to fuck him with nothing that will ever become of it but heartache.
“We’ll get you straightened out.”
HAWK
I press my lips together, staring at my phone and wondering why she didn’t call me back or text me. That’s not like her, although I haven’t called her in months, maybe she’s good and pissed off at me.
“Church in five,” Dragon announces as he walks into the bar.
Turning my head, I jerk my chin in his direction. He makes his way toward me, rapping his knuckles on the bar top. A beer appears and he wraps his fingers around the bottle, tipping it toward the prospect before he turns to me.
“Not a normal church, anything you want to discuss before we go inside?” I ask him.
He shrugs a shoulder, lifting the bottle to his lips and taking a pull. “Not particularly, but with you, I will since it pertains to you.”
“Does it now?” I ask, my eyes shifting back to my phone and wondering why the fuck she hasn’t called me back yet.
“Donkey Punchers. We need to figure that shit out and I’m ready to plan.”
“Plan?” I ask.
“They need to go down. What they did? Unacceptable.”
I snort. “No fucking shit, Dragon. I was ready to take them and their families out the second I found out they had my goddamn daughter,” I growl.
“Retaliation without a plan will fail, Hawk, and you of all people know that shit.”
Nodding my head, I agree with him, but I’m still fucking angry. I wanted to go in there and demolish all of their shit, including their personal lives and families as well.
They were going to sell my goddamn daughter to the highest bidder, they were going to rape and mutilate her, I don’t care that they didn’t get the chance, the fact is they were planning it and fucking took her.
“You got a plan, then?” I demand.
Dragon nods his head. “Not exactly, but we’ve done what we needed. Their contacts are gone, the men buying the girls are gone and dealt with, the time has come.”
Slipping off of the barstool, I jerk my chin toward the room where our brothers have started gathering. Walking into the room, I shove my phone in my cut pocket and sink down in the chair waiting to hear what Dragon has to say.
He doesn’t have much of a plan and that shit pisses me off. I want to go in there, kill them all and walk away. It would sure make me feel a helluva lot better. Pressing my lips together, I check my phone again, one last time, before church gets started.
With a growl, I decide I’m going to go and take a little drive across the border tomorrow if she doesn’t call me back. I don’t like being ignored, I sure as fuck don’t like it when it’s a woman ignoring me, my woman especially.
She may not think of herself as mine, but that’s exactly what she is.
The room fills and everyone focuses on Dragon as he walks around the room to the head of the table. He doesn’t lift his gavel, but that shit doesn’t matter, not today. I’m glad not to do all the regular meeting starters. I want to get to the meat of the sit
uation.
“Donkey Punchers,” Dragon announces.
Everyone is quiet, so goddamn quiet that you could hear a pin drop. My eyes stay glued to Dragon, just waiting for him to tell us exactly what his plans are.
“We need to be smart about this. I chose to wait too long last time. Almost got our women hurt. Jaguar is there and he says he’s in it to help us, whatever he needs but he’s got a situation on the inside that’s keeping him from walking away.”
“That sounds like bullshit,” Silver barks.
“It kind of does,” I admit on a grunt.
Dragon shakes his head. “He’s stayed in constant contact. He knows he was wrong with what he did to Eagle, but he also wants to face his punishment. Claims he still has loyalties for his brothers. Says he wants to be in good standing again.”
“Should skin him alive for what he did,” Wolfe grinds out.
“Doesn’t matter right now, all I know is we need to get those fuckers under thumb or we look weak and not to them, but to everyone. I don’t want some other club thinking that they can come in here and fuck around because we’ve somehow lost our edge.”
Standing, I place my fists on the table and lean over slightly. “I’ll skin them alive and let their bodies sway in the goddamn breeze, take video and upload that shit to the internet. I am not weak, the Beasts are not weak, and the Donkey Punchers will fucking pay for what they did.”
Chapter Six
AVAH
Keaston watches me from a barstool. I’m making breakfast. It’s an odd feeling, being domestic with a man. The only man that I have been remotely domestic with is Hawk, and even then, it wasn’t much. There were no shared meals in my kitchen. I wasn’t much of a cook and even months after being in this situation of a lifestyle change, I’m still not.
“You really can’t cook, can you?” he asks.
Pressing my lips together, I attempt to move the eggs around in the pan. Toast and scrambled eggs, those are the only two things that I can make taste edible. Turning my head, I look over my shoulder at him.
“I really can’t,” I admit.
He chuckles. “I’ll get some food, bring it over, cook for you tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow night?” I ask on a breath.
He winks in my direction, a smile curving on his lips. He hasn’t left since he informed me of my stalker. In fact, he forced me to go to bed, and he sat on the couch and watched television while I slept. When I woke up, I was starving, so even though it’s late afternoon, eggs and toast it is. Not that I could make anything else.
“You think I’m going to allow you to sit around alone while some fuck is stalking you?” he growls. “No way, babe.”
“So, you’re going to what? Stare at me day in and day out, don’t you have a life?” I ask as I plate my shitty eggs and toast for both of us.
Sliding the plate across the bar, I bite my bottom lip at the sight of my crappy eggs and toast. I’m unable to hide the pink in my cheeks as it rises and crawls over my entire face, I look down at the countertop, refusing to lift my gaze.
“I have a life, Avah,” he says, his voice softer than I imagined he could even muster. “But, I can’t have a woman as pretty as you be hurt, not the way I imagine some sick stalker fuck would hurt you.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Keaston. I’m not the gentle flower you’re painting me as,” I admit.
He clears his throat, his arm extending as his finger touches beneath my chin. Lifting my head, my eyes find his. He is smirking across from me, his lips twitching before he shrugs a shoulder.
“Babe, there’s a lot you don’t know about me either. Doesn’t fucking matter. You’re a woman living here alone. I’m not going to let some sick fuck do whatever sick fucks do and hurt you. Not when I can possibly stop it.”
“Keaston,” I rasp.
His thumb shifts and he pinches my chin before he releases it. Clearing his throat, I am unable to look away from him, his gaze has me completely arrested.
Sucking in a breath, I hold it as I continue to stare at him. He’s gorgeous and I wish that I could feel anything for him, anything at all, because this is a man that I should be falling for.
“Who is he?” he asks, his voice raspy and sexy.
“He, who?” I ask, knowing damn well what he’s asking me.
He lets out a chuckle, his hand falling from my chin. “The man you’re in love with, babe.”
“Why do you think there is someone?” I ask.
He watches me for a moment, then his brow lifts. “Been trying to get you to go out with me for months. I can tell you’re into me, but you never accept. You don’t go out with anyone else that I can see, so there’s something, someone, holding you back.”
“Hawk,” I answer immediately, without hesitation, and I slap my hand over my mouth instantly.
His eyes widen and he clears his throat. “Guessing he doesn’t know about any of this stalking shit?” he asks.
Shaking my head, I press my lips together as my hand falls down from my lips.
Keaston snorts. “Thought as much.”
“It wouldn’t matter if he knew,” I lie.
I know that it would matter., He would be here in a heartbeat, but if he was, then I would do what I want to do. I would beg him to come back into my bed—I would welcome him. Then, I would hate myself because I would fall farther.
“Woman, you are a shit liar.”
I gasp, my eyes opening wide as I feign shock and surprise. He chuckles, lifting a shoulder as his eyes continue to stay connected to mine. They are unwavering, unmoving, and it’s this moment that I, once again, wish I felt anything for him at all.
“Yeah,” I sigh. “I am. Doesn’t matter though, I can’t let him come back.”
“Because?”
Shaking my head, I press my lips together and roll them a few times. “Doesn’t matter,” I exhale.
“It does, babe. He can’t come back because he hurt you? If so, I’ll go and find him, Savage Beast or not.”
“He didn’t hurt me, Keaston,” I whisper. “Not really. Just my pride and my heart,” I murmur, admitting it aloud and wondering why it hurts more to actually say the damn words.
He hums. “I see,” he mutters.
“Do you?” I ask, stabbing the rest of my eggs and bringing them to my mouth.
He leans back, still not touching any of his food. Though I’m not even upset about that, because honestly, it’s fucking terrible.
I finish my meal, wondering why I can’t just let this guy go and move the hell on?
We weren’t even in a real relationship, we fucked—a lot. But I’ve fucked a lot of men, so why did being with Hawk feel so much different?
“I do,” he murmurs. “Had my pride busted more than once.”
Nodding my head, I look down at my empty plate and wonder if the sensation, the way it feels, if it ever goes away. I don’t think that it does, at least not anytime soon. Because right now, it feels like it’s going to be here forever, a place in my heart, mind, and soul that will always need exactly what he can give.
“Does it get better, easier?” I ask.
He grunts. “No, you just get numb.”
“Well, that blows,” I snort.
“No shit.”
HAWK
Reaching for the bottle, I lift it to my lips and suck down a long pull, hissing as it burns going down my throat. Pinkie laughs from somewhere in the room, but I can’t focus on her or anything else, my vision is too fucking blurred.
“You’re going to be too fucked up to work on the plans for the Punchers,” a voice says from beside me.
Swinging my head around, I tilt back to look into the face of the man standing next to me. Narrowing my gaze, I try to focus on who it is talking. I blink a few times, then snort at the sight of Taz standing next to me. I’m surprised that Trista isn’t attached to his side, but I don’t see her anywhere, not that I can really focus on much.
“I’m over fifty
, asshole, I can hold my own.”
Taz snorts before he leans forward. “I don’t give a fuck, Hawk. All I care about is that the Donkey Punchers pay for what they did to my woman. Don’t give a shit how much you drink, when, or where. You fuck this up and you’ll be lying next to those assholes though,” he growls.
I think about squaring up, about calling him out not only for being a dick, but for the way he’s talking to me right now, but I decide that shit would be worthless because I’m too drunk to take him down, and he’s too sober.
“Fuck off. I can and always have been able to handle myself,” I snort.
Taz shakes his head. “Brother,” he says, making a tsking sound. “You can’t handle shit. Run like a pussy at the first sign of trouble.”
“Walk away before you piss me off,” I growl.
He shakes his head, taking a step back. “If you’re not sober tomorrow morning, don’t fucking bother showing up. Clear heads only, Hawk.”
“Fuck off,” I shout.
I’ll do whatever the fuck I want and not even my son-in-law is going to stop me. I could give a fuck what he says or what he thinks. Lifting my bottle, I turn to face him, taking another pull as my eyes stay completely focused on his.
Taz watches me, his gaze never leaving my own. He smirks, then shrugs a shoulder. “How’s Avah doin’?” he asks in almost a sneer.
“Fuck. You,” I slur.
“Yeah, thought that was about it. Pussy.”
Without another word, he turns and walks away from me. I narrow my gaze on his back and wonder why my body isn’t moving and I’m not beating the absolute shit out of him. Tomorrow, I tell myself as I take another swig of booze.
Tomorrow.
Eventually, I stumble toward my bedroom, my bottle still in hand as I make my way toward the shower. Turning the water on hot, I strip out of my clothes and slip into the stall. The water is hot as it beats down on my back.
Lifting one of my arms, I rest my forearm against the warm tile and my forehead against my arm as I just stand there and let the water flow over me.
UnWreck Me (Savage Beast MC Book 7) Page 6