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16

HAWK

It’s after two in the morning when we get back to the clubhouse. Pres is still fuming over the conversation with Parisi. I don’t blame him. I haven’t been able to shake my temper off either. Especially after Vincenzo all but admitted he knows where Sadie is. The fact she’s locked into some kind of deal with him only makes things worse.

I’m headed toward my room, when Candi approaches. My hand shooting out causes her to slow her advances but apparently isn’t enough to fully stop her. She grabs my hand, and I snatch it away. Her touch feels wrong and is unwanted. Her eyes flare with anger. She starts to open her mouth, and I shake my head. “Don’t. I’m not in the mood to listen to your shit right now.”

She huffs, leaning into me. This time her hand rests on my shoulder. I go rigid at her touch and roughly toss her hand off. Cash grips her by the shoulder and puts himself between us. The look he gives me over his shoulder tells says calm the fuck down, but I have zero fucks left in me at the moment and some whiny whore who thought she had rights to lay claim on me is not something I have the wherewithal to handle. I’m not usually the mean one when it comes to the women who hang around the club. I’m the fun-loving, peace maker in the crowd. The crazy asshole with no limits or restrictions.

Not tonight.

Tonight, I’m full of rage and frustration at both myself and Parisi, and most of all fucking Sadie. I’ve been her protector for years. Some may call it stalking, but I don’t fucking care. I watched her. Followed her every move online and covered her tracks wherever I could when she got herself up to shit, she knew better than to be involved in. Runing up some rich assholes credits and emptying his accounts into some bullshit charity because he pissed her off for example. If the police traced that shit back to her, she’d have gone to jail.

I moved the money five more times into offshore accounts and shell companies sending anyone trying to track her on a wild goose chase then inevitably led back to the bastard’s closest friend. Making him look like the culprit responsible. Did I care the kid was fucking innocent? Hell no. He was the hype man for the asshole who pissed of Sadie. They could both get fucked for all I cared.

But now, here she is in trouble again, only this time she covered her tracks and tied herself to the fucking mafia to do it!

“ Move, Cash . I just want to talk to Hawk.” Candi hisses, shoving at Cash’s arm to move him out from between us. Cash doesn’t budge, only shakes his head.

“You’re not the brightest crayon in the box are you, darlin’?” Cash says though his voice is not teasing this time. He’s serious. “You can’t go around here touching a man that doesn’t belong to you. I told you before he has an ol’ lady, and that means you need to leave him the fuck alone.”

Candi leans back, hands on her hip. “Oh yeah. And where the fuck is this ol’ lady, huh? He’s clearly upset. Has been for weeks. Where the fuck is she when he needs her?” She spits the words with so much venom I don’t know what to think. She’s clearly delusional if she thought sucking my dick and having drunk sex gave her claim over me.

“She’s out doing fuck all while I’m here. I’m the one he comes to when he’s drunk and upset. I’m the one who he lets crawl in his bed at night to sooth his bad mood. Where the fuck is she? Sadie has been gone for days. Rarely comes to club functions unless she has to and does nothing but disrespect every fucking one of you at every turn. How did she get to be anyone’s ol’ lady? Let alone, Nathaniel’s?”

That’s it.

I shove past Cash to get to the bitch. Candi registers the rage staring back at her and starts backing up a few steps to create distance. Once her ass stumbles back into a table, she has to grip the edge with her hands to stay upright, and I’m there. In her face. Nose to fucking nose, my hand wrapped around her throat squeezing. It’s not hard enough to bruise or hurt, just tight enough to get her attention and keep her focus on me so she hears everything I have to say.

Cash has his hand on my right shoulder, gripping tight but not pulling me off. He knows she crossed a line and needs to be dealt with. She needs to be put back in her place.

“You think because you warmed my bed a few times and gave decent head that that means I want you? You’ve fucked every brother in here just about and that includes all of Mountain Heights. I don’t care who you want to spend your time with or who you open your fucking legs for, but don’t get it twisted, sweetheart. If anyone in this clubhouse isn’t ol’ lady material, it’s you. ” I growl. Her eyes narrow but she doesn’t try to speak while I’ve still got her in my grip.

“Sadie may give us all hell, but she’s only giving as good as she gets, but she’s family. She has the right to speak her piece and drive us all batshit fucking insane because she’s a King, by blood. She’s one of the most loyal, good hearted, strong-willed, independent, fucking insanely smart women I’ve ever met in my life. She lives, breathes, and bleeds for this fucking club. You only fuck it. You see the difference?”

“I may have called you to my bed to relieve stress and get me off when I was in a bad way, but that’s just because I had my head too far up my own ass to see what was right in front of me. But I’ve got a clear view now.”

Even as I’m saying the words, I know it’s true. I know what Sadie did makes her a traitor in the eyes of the club, but we’ll deal with that another day. I’ll deal with her. She’s mine. Any punishments she accrues will be dealt out by me.

That thought fills me with both satisfaction and desire. I’ll fuck her little attitude right out of her and keep her tied to my bed if she can’t keep her ass out of trouble. It would be no hardship on my part.

“Don’t touch me again. Sadie is , in fact my ol’ lady and you will respect her as such if you want to continue to keep this roof over your head. Stick to the single brothers, or you’ll be out on the streets. And Candi,” her eyes are wide, tears streaking down her cheeks. Her face is red with anger. I know because I’m not hurting her physically. I know my strength and would never harm a woman who didn’t deserve it. “Do not ever use my first name again. Got me?”

She nods as much as my grip on her throat will allow. I cut her loose and watch as she scurries off to her room.

“So that’s all it takes, huh?” Cash teases. I turn to look him in the eye not sure what the hell he’s babbling on about now.

“What are you talking about?”

“You go visit some crazy-ass mob boss dickhead and suddenly your head’s been removed from your ass and you’re seeing everything crystal fucking clear.” Cash laughs.

“Fuck you.”

“Nah, man. I got my fill at the Pearl while you and Gabe were fucking off with Parisi in the office. But thanks anyway.” The corners of my mouth tip up. The bastard. He sobers quickly and asks, “Now, what are we going to do about finding your woman so you can make good on all those mushy words you just spewed to the completely wrong female.”

I scrub my hand down my face and consider what he’s said. He’s right. I should’ve told Sadie how I feel before letting my temper coax it out of me to anyone else, but that’s a problem for another day.

“I don’t know yet. But I’ll figure something out.” We give each other a brotherly-half hug and head for our rooms. It’s late as fuck, but I need to do some digging so I make a detour to the kitchen and make myself a strong cup of coffee. What I really want is whiskey, but I need to keep a level head while I do this shit.

Once I’m in my room, I toss my button-up shirt on top of the pile of dirty laundry and release my jeans, dropping them into the pile too. I put on a pair of workout shorts and pop my ass in my chair and fire up my computer.

The Garrison Security screen pops up. I put in my access codes and an email message from MPM933580 pops up on the screen. The subject of the email says, “Figure it out fuckhead” and I immediately know who sent it.

Maybe it’s not going to be so hard to find her afterall.

I open the message. There’s an encrypted file attached with a message that reads;

If you get caught, you’re on your own. Be smart about it and watch your ass. They’re coming for YOU specifically. Keep your promise. Take care of our family.

S

I get to work on breaking the encryption, meanwhile running a trace on the email address

to locate my woman. I already know she’s with Matteo. It only makes sense after the way Vincenzo spoke about them. Now, I need to know where they are and what the hell kind of trouble Sadie’s gotten herself involved in so I can figure out a loophole to get her out of her deal with Parisi.

It makes sense for him to make a deal with Sadie. Her computer skills are fucking brilliant, and it gives him a way to keep his eyes on her and keep his word to Thomas about keeping her safe. It she’s holed up somewhere in one of his many homes, it would mean she’s safe from his enemies at least. But knowing that Thomas has played both sides this whole time, I don’t’ trust him not to flip on Parisi if the right deal presents itself leaving Sadie high and dry and Parisi’s contract null and void.

By locking Sadie into an agreement, Parisi guarantees if Thomas fails, Vincenzo will still have his hold on Sadie. What I can’t figure out is what Parisi offered Sadie to get her to agree to a deal with him? She has money. Her little start up business seems to be doing all right. She still has most of the initial investment check Matteo gave her.

Asshole.

To say I’m bitter about her going to him to be her business partner instead of me or the club is an understatement. I understand what she’s trying to do. I understand the tech far better than Matteo of that I’m certain. And our security services and clientele base with Garrison could open several opportunities for marketing and endorsements. Why the fuck would she choose to go with the mafia instead of the club?

She doesn’t want you to be a part of it. She doesn’t trust you.

Well to fucking bad. She’s going to have to get over it.

Like you did?

I push those thoughts away. I’ll figure out how to make her see reason after I figure out what she’s doing and where she’s been hiding.

It doesn’t take long to crack the encryption. As soon as the files open, my jar fucking drops.

“What the hell are you doing breaking into the federal system, Sadie Jay? I swear to Christ I’m going to whip your ass when I get my hands on you.” I growl at the monitor as I start sorting through the information in front of me.

There are files upon files of information. Stuff on the DO and the transition homes in the foster care system. Nate. Cusenza. Parisi. The Kings. I sift through, looking to see if there’s anything specific, she’s trying to show me and that’s when I come across the evidence file on the three dead Devils and Drea.

“Son of a bitch.” I drop my elbows on my desk and cradle my head in my hands. How the hell do they have one of my guns? Better yet, how the hell did my gun show up at a homicide scene? Everything Vincenzo said at the Pearl is beginning to make sense.

“I’m sure an opportunity will present itself.” His words taunt me.

“Yeah, you bastard. You knew I was going to have to convince an agent to go after Cusenza while my own fate lays in her hands. Fucking fantastic.” Now the next question is how did Vincenzo know about this supposed opportunity? Did he plant my shit, so we’d have to help him out?

First Trident. Then Sadie and Thomas. Now Parisi.

“Fuck me.” I mumble to myself as I text Pres to let him know we need to call church ASAP. I’m not looking forward to revealing any of this shit to him or the others.

As soon as the text is sent, I get to work on locating Sadie’s whereabouts. I’ll deal with this other shit with the Feds tomorrow when my brothers are there to help sort through the information. Right now, I’m on a different kind of mission … to find my woman and bring her ass back home where she belongs.