HAWK: MC ROMANCE (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 5) (4 page)

Hawk. His name rattled around her head like an echo. He bent forward and rested his elbows on his knees and brought his fingers in a peak up to his chin. As her eyes took him in again, she could see the edge of a winged tattoo peeking out from the neckline of his t-shirt.

Maybe she had got him wrong… Maybe he was just like all the others.

“What do you mean, look after me?” she asked, feeling brave.

“I mean I’m here to make sure none of the members of this charter who are out for your blood come down here and rip you to shreds,” he said with a snort of amusement. “You have a lot of enemies here…” he leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, “But as I said before, you also have a few friends left.”

“Why have I been brought here?” she asked. “If it’s not to kill me… what is the reason?”

“Pay back,” he said matter of factly. “The Iron Riders have really fucked us over… And now it’s our turn to shake things up their end… Get under their skin… Make them suffer…” he trailed off and looked past Destiny as if he was thinking of something in particular.

“Well I hate to disappoint you,” she said. “But I don’t think taking me away is going to have the desired effect.”

“Aren’t you Lev’s woman?” Hawk asked with confusion.

“I suppose you could call it that,” Destiny rolled her eyes and lay back against the mattress. Just the mention of his name was bringing her migraine back, and she really didn’t want to talk about him.

“Elaborate,” Hawk said as he pulled the chair forward, closer to her. It screeched across the floor and the sound made her wince.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” she whispered. “But the whole thing… the accident at Red X… me being there in the first place… all of it was
them
. I didn’t want to do any of it…”

“Go on…” Hawk raised his eyebrows.

She didn’t know even where to begin without it just sounding as if she was trying to offload an excuse. How could she explain how she had been broken down by the men of Ironhill and scared into acting as their puppet… Hawk, being as strong as he clearly was, surely couldn’t and wouldn’t understand what it was like being a woman in this kind of situation.

“I met Lev when I arrived in Ironhill,” she said as she looked across at him. “I thought he was great at first… but it wasn’t long after he managed to convince me to move into their clubhouse that he started to change.”

Hawk snorted as if he knew the scenario all too well. He nodded and urged her to continue.

“He treated me like a slave, and then so did the others… I was like a maid to them all… but then things started to get worse.”

She swallowed and blinked back tears as the memories came flooding back.

“He kept me there like a prisoner… And he knew how to scare me… I haven’t had a life of my own since I met Levitt… I’ve become a ghost of the person I used to be.”

She felt the tears roll down her cheek and she noticed that Hawk was looking at her sympathetically.

“But you still did their dirty work?” he asked.

“All I did was what they forced me to do,” Destiny said with a shrug. “They told me I had to apply for the job at the club, make sure I got it, and then feed back any information that may be of an advantage.”

Hawk snorted and clicked his teeth. He clearly didn’t like that admission.

“But,” she continued. “I never did… I never did tell them anything… I knew deep down that I’m not that person. I was so afraid of them, but I made friends here in Slate Springs… I cared about the girls at the club… Hell I even cared about Marv. I had no idea what the Iron Riders wanted to know, but I was sure I wasn’t going to tell them…”

“But you told them Tanner was going to be at Red X with Marv on the night he was killed?” Hawk said with a snarl.

Destiny shook her head.

“No,” she said. “I didn’t.”

She watched him for a moment, letting it sink in to him that she was as lost in all of this as he was.

“I didn’t know the Iron Riders were coming that night… and I certainly didn’t know Tanner was going to be there.”

“So you didn’t pass back any information?” Hawk asked sternly.

“Not one thing,” she admitted. “All I did was work there and give them lame pieces of info about how pervy Marv was and about how he didn’t have much clue about running a business.”

“So how did they get in?” he asked.

Destiny looked down at the floor and sighed.

“I left the back door unlocked by accident… But I swear, I didn’t do it on any orders and I didn’t do it as a betrayal… I had no idea what the Iron Riders wanted me there for, and I sure as hell didn’t know anyone was going to end up dead. I’ve gotten myself mixed up in all of this somehow and all I want is to get out…”

“And what happened afterwards?” he was on his feet and pacing up and down the basement.

“I knew I couldn’t come back here,” she said. “I knew I couldn’t run to anyone in Slate Springs… I didn’t know any of the Forsaken Riders well enough, and Candy had just disappeared… She was the only person I felt like I could trust, but she was nowhere to be found.”

Hawk nodded and studied her from his vantage point. She could tell that he was listening to her and considering everything she was telling him. She just hoped to God that he believed her.

“And Lev?” he asked.

“He’s brutal,” she shook her head and shuddered. “He’s been beating on me and keeping me isolated for months now. My life hasn’t been my own.”

“How come you were out today wandering around town if that’s the case?” he looked proud of himself, as if he had just found a huge flaw in her story.

“He passed out drunk and I made a run for it… Like I said, I have nowhere else to go… If I could have come and sought refuge here, I would have done it. But I knew that no one would believe me and that the people of this town wanted me dead.”

She started to cry and she pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her head between them. She couldn’t bear to look at him. Going back over all of this was too painful and raw, even after six long months.

“Okay,” Hawk said with a hint of compassion. “Don’t get upset.”

Destiny wiped her eyes, but she was still shaking. All of this was too much for her to stand.

“Try to stay calm,” he said. “I’m here to listen to what you have to say… And I do believe you.”

“You do?” she looked up at him, just hoping he was telling the truth.

“Yes,” he said. “I do… Because I know what the men of Ironhill are like… and I know what can happen when you get caught up with men like Levitt Cleveland.”

Destiny nodded in agreement. Hawk really had no idea how evil Lev could be.

“I’m going to get you some warm clothes,” he said as he turned to face her and backed towards the door. “I don’t think it’s fair you be down here freezing like this… It’s not exactly the nicest of places.” 

She didn’t know what to say. This certainly hadn’t been the welcome she had been expecting from one of the Forsaken Riders. She smiled and nodded her head, and then he started to climb the staircase that led towards the main body of the house.

When the door opened and he stepped up and out she could feel a blast of warm air filter down behind him and the scent of cooking. She must have been near the kitchen and her stomach started to churn with hunger. She dug her hands into her sides and willed herself to forget about things such as food, and instead reached for the bottle of water and took another long sip.

She couldn’t tell exactly how long Hawk was gone for, but she estimated at around twenty minutes, when suddenly the door opened and a stretch of light appeared down the stairs. She held her breath, hoping that it was him and not someone else, and she sighed with relief when she saw the scuffed bottom of his jeans and his muscular frame come into view.

“Here,” he said. “It’s not exactly ideal, but these will have to do for now…”

He handed her a big oversized sweater that she guessed had to be one of his own. She pulled it close to her and put it on over her head. The inside was cozy and warm and she smiled at him and thanked him.

“Honestly, you have no idea how good this feels,” she said as she nuzzled into it, the heat slowly returning back to her frozen limbs. She breathed the scent of the sweater in deeply. It was a mix of cologne and bike oil.

Hawk bent down and handed her a big pair of socks and some sweat pants. Destiny slipped her skinny legs into them and pulled them up to her hips. They were massive on her and he laughed as she stood there with them hanging low.

“Wow,” he joked. “Looks good.”

Destiny felt herself blushing. She had no idea why he was being so nice to her… she certainly wasn’t used to men, especially bikers, treating her with any kind of care and respect. It was almost overwhelming.

She sat back down on the mattress and fiddled with her hands. The silence between them was overbearing and although she wanted to ask him a million questions and get to know him better, she was aware that this was not a regular situation…

She was his prisoner.

He was holding her captive.

When she put it in perspective like that she felt a rush of excitement flood through her. Even though she had been kidnapped, this felt nothing like it had when she was being bossed around and dominated by Lev… Being holed up with Hawk in the damp, dark basement was turning her on. She felt her desire for him growing with each passing second and knew that there was a connection between them that had been instantaneous. She had felt it the second she had seen him, and she was starting to think that he had felt it too.

“King and Steel hate me,” she whispered.

“They’re just misinformed,” Hawk said. “But they’re slowly coming round.”

Destiny felt the lump in her throat slowly start to evaporate. Maybe everything would be okay after all? Maybe she would be forgiven and they would listen to her side… Maybe Slate Springs could be her home…

There was a noise from the top of the stairs and she jumped backwards against the wall. The handle turned slowly and Hawk looked up to see who was entering the basement.

Footsteps started slowly down the stairs and Destiny didn’t dare breathe… Who was she going to be confronted with? And would they be as understanding as Hawk?

The clip, clip of heels filtered down into the basement and Destiny waited with baited breath. She was shaking, terrified of who could be coming to meet her and unsure as to whether this would mean that her stay at the Forsaken Riders’ clubhouse was about to take an unwelcome turn.

The sparkling glitter of heels came into sight and Destiny felt her whole body relax. She would recognize those shoes anywhere.

It was Candy.

As Candy stepped down the last step and stood in front of her, Destiny wanted nothing more than to run across to her long lost friend, wrap her arms around her and hug her tight… But from the scowl on Candy’s face, she knew that she couldn’t.

“Destiny,” she whispered as she stepped even closer. “I can’t believe it’s actually you.”

“C… Candy…” she stammered, but Candy held her hand up to silence her.

“No,” she said. “Don’t speak…”

She looked down at Destiny with what looked like spite and sadness and she could see the tears pooling at the corners of her eyes.

“Why?” she finally managed to croak. “Why did you do that to us… why did you do that to me?”

“I didn’t…” Destiny started to cry. “Honestly you have to believe me… I didn’t feed any information back to the Iron Riders, even though my life depended on it… I’ve always been loyal to you, I promise…” Destiny felt defeated and she slumped down into the mattress. Her headaches were starting to rage again, and even though she felt like she had just offloaded six months’ worth of frustration and pain, she was still nowhere near being healed.

“It’s okay,” Candy whispered. “I do believe you…”

Destiny looked up and their eyes met. Candy had been like a sister to her all that time ago, and they had formed a close bond, even if it was based on stripping and working late nights and knocking back shots of vodka. Destiny had always held Candy in high regard.

“When everything happened,” Candy began, “I told Steel from the beginning that it can’t have been true that you would have screwed us over like that… I knew that there must have been something going on, something deeper… I was afraid for you.”

Destiny blinked and two fat tears rolled down her cheeks.

“So, I arranged to have someone surveilling you and the Iron Riders for the past few months…we had to see what was happening over there… and it turns out my hunch was correct…”

Destiny couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“I saw how they all treated you… Especially
him
…” Candy’s lip curled into a sneer. “He’s vile… I knew I had to get you out of there.”

Hawk got to his feet and stood beside Candy, his arms folded across his chest.

“The girl I saw back in Ironhill, she wasn’t the Destiny I worked with at Red X… she was broken… bruised and flat…” Candy soothed. “I begged Steel to go and get you and he said for me, just this once, he would try to put things right.”

“Thank you,” Destiny cried. She had no idea what to say other than that… How could she ever repay Candy for saving her like this?

“I knew something wasn’t right… I knew you couldn’t screw us all over like that. I’m a good judge of character, and the second everyone tried to pin this on you, I knew they were wrong.”

“I didn’t betray you Candy, I promise,” Destiny sobbed.

“I know,” she smiled. “And that’s why I got you away from all that.”

“But,” Destiny continued, “They tied me up, they put a bag over my head… why?”

Candy shrugged with a smile.

“Old habits die hard I guess,” she laughed. “I think they wanted to make sure I had it right… These men are pretty suspicious as you can probably tell…”

“You’re not kidding,” Destiny sighed.

She looked up at them both in front of her and didn’t know what to say to either of them. She had started her morning being afraid for her life and living with a man she hated, and now she had been saved by the exact people she had been scared of. It was such a bizarre turn of events, it almost felt as if it couldn’t possibly be real.

“Come on,” Hawk said as he held out his hand to help her to her feet. “We need to get you upstairs, cleaned up and fed.”

Destiny scrambled for his hand and was pulled into the safety of his arms.

“Thank you,” she said as she breathed him in.

They made their way towards the staircase, the sweat pants that Hawk had given her dragged lamely along the ground and she hitched them up at the waist, trying to keep herself from tripping over them.

Candy tottered up the stairs and as she neared the top and reached for the door handle, Destiny couldn’t believe what was about to happen. All she had longed and hoped for was about to be given to her, she was about to be welcomed into the fold of the Forsaken Riders. She just hoped it wasn’t some cruel joke…

Destiny opened the door and the light flooded in. Even though she could have only been down in the basement for around an hour or two, Destiny shielded her eyes and winced as the light washed over her. Hawk steadied her, helping her up into the hallway and wrapping a protective arm around her as they made their way into the main body of the clubhouse.

She was about to meet the other members of the Forsaken and her heart was pounding hard in her chest… Could she handle it, or would they all shun her like she had always feared?

Candy rounded the corner to another door and opened it slowly.

“Come on in,” she smiled as she stood back to reveal the large, open kitchen that lay beyond, and the group of around ten men waiting for her arrival.

She nervously stepped inside and looked at the floor. All of the sets of eyes that were fixed on her was unnerving and she was aware that surely some of these men were still not exactly happy with her after what had happened.

“Guys,” Candy said loudly. “I want you to all meet Destiny properly… Now I know there have been some mixed opinions floating around here… But the truth is this… Destiny is just as much a victim of the Iron Riders as we all are, and we’ve brought her here to keep her safe.”

There was a mumble from some of the older members towards the back of the congregation, but then silence took over once more.

“She hadn’t betrayed us in any way,” Hawk stepped in. “She’s been manipulated and abused by the Iron Riders… And we have to make sure that they don’t get away with anything like that ever again.”

“Didn’t she work undercover for them at Red X?” one of the men barked from the back.

“No,” Candy said sternly. “I worked side by side with Destiny for almost the entire time she was there and not once did I see her do anything to compromise our position. She was put there as a pair of eyes, but she didn’t ever see or relay anything that could have been in anyway detrimental to our position… And it certainly had nothing to do with the night that Marv and Tanner were killed.”

At the mention of Tanner’s name, the atmosphere in the room intensified and Destiny could feel the malice. These men were still angry for their fallen brother and they were more than eager to avenge him.

“Lev Cleveland has had his claws in her for the past year,” Hawk said as he tried to hush the group of men. “I’ve watched him control her and set her up in dangerous situations when she’s had no idea what’s going on around her. She doesn’t even know how deep, or why our feud even exists. She’s an innocent in all of this, and I demand that she be respected whilst she’s here. She needs us now,” he said sternly. “And we will not turn our back on someone who is an enemy of our enemy…”

“How does the saying go?” Candy smiled at Hawk.

“An enemy of my enemy is a friend of mine,” he nodded.

Some of the men around the room shifted on the spot and then they began to nod and agree.

“Well alright then,” Steel said as he stood forward and wrapped an arm around Candy. “I guess that settles it… Destiny’s in… She’s a member of this house now and a sister to us all.”

Destiny felt the joy rising within her, she almost couldn’t believe what was happening.

“Hawk,” King said as he stepped forward. “Can you take Destiny up to the top floor and prep her room? She’ll be safest up there.”

Hawk nodded and made his way to the door of the kitchen before he turned back and looked at her with a smile.

Destiny stood there dumbfounded, unsure of what to do, but then she realized she was supposed to be going with him.

“Thank you,” she managed to croak out to everyone in the room. “You have no idea how much this means to me…”

She followed Hawk out of the kitchen and into the hallway. The wooden floorboards beneath her feet creaked as they stepped across them and made their way to the big ornate staircase that ran up the center of the house.

“You’ll be happy here,” Hawk said. “This place is like a family.”

Destiny smiled. She could tell that every word he was saying was true. She could feel the warmness coming from him and from Candy. Even King and Steel seemed to have forgiven her and changed their opinion. Candy really had saved her, and from what she had said, Hawk had helped.

They made their way to the very top of the house and Hawk stopped outside a closed doorway.

“This one will be yours,” he said quietly. “We respect the others, a lot of people sleep at this time of day.”

Destiny nodded.  She couldn’t believe how different everything was there than to the clubhouse in Ironhill. Back there no one cared what time it was, day or night, they made as much noise as they wanted and didn’t give a flying fuck if they disturbed anyone.

Hawk opened the door and let Destiny go inside. The room was bright and open, and in the center of it was a big double bed which was covered in plush, soft, blankets.

“Wow,” she smiled. “That looks incredible.”

“After what you’ve been through, we thought you deserved it.”

Destiny turned to look at him. Had this man really been watching her for the past few months…

“You were the one who was watching me?” she asked.

Hawk nodded shyly as if he had been caught out.

“Candy knew something wasn’t right and she wanted proof so that no more trouble came your way,” he began. “When we saw what was happening, how controlled you were and how clearly unhappy… we knew we had to step in. Candy loves you, she cares for you like a sister… there was no way she was going to let a man like Levitt Cleveland hurt you like that.” His eyes were welling with passion for the situation and Destiny could tell that whatever Hawk had seen whilst he was watching her in Ironhill had troubled him deeply.

“I can’t thank you enough,” she smiled. “I really can’t.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” Hawk said. “It’s my duty as a member of the Forsaken Riders to make sure no one affiliated with us in anyway comes to any harm.”

“You’re a good man,” she said.

Hawk looked almost embarrassed at the compliment and he stepped back toward the doorway.

“I’m going to leave you to rest,” he smiled. “Candy will bring some clothes up for you later on, but help yourself to anything in here and the bathroom is just there to the left.”

He nodded as he left and closed the door behind him.

Destiny flopped back onto the bed and felt as if she was walking on clouds. She really had been saved… Her life could only go up from here…