Page 9

8

HAWK

We’re sitting on our bikes outside of Sadie’s house preparing to leave when Ethan pulls up. He turns off his bike and nods toward the house. “Where’s Sadie?”

“Gone. And she left everything Hawk could use to track her here.” Jake says, his icy glare cutting to me. Ethan follows his line of sight and shucks his chin at me.

Ethan nods, taking us both in. I’m checking my phone to see if there’s anything else in her system that will tell me where she went or how she left, zooming in on the tables and counters to see if there are any visible notes or just anything that will give me a clue. But of course, there’s nothing I can see.

“So, what actually happened here last night? Because what I saw when you two showed up at the clubhouse, something more than a conversation took place. You had that look in your eyes and Sadie looked nervous as all hell when I walked up. There was a whole lot of tension between the two of you.” Jake asks suspiciously. I don’t answer barely looking up from my phone as I look through Loretta’s tracking history over the last few days, but again nothing looks out of the ordinary.

“There’s always tension between them.” Ethan scoffs. “Maybe she was feeling guilty, worried about walking into the clubhouse and getting caught.”

I glance up and see Jake glaring at me. Sometimes it sucks to have someone who knows me so well. We’ve been best friends since we were small boys raising hell and stirring up shit from the beginning. He was there at my side when Nate beat the hell out of me, and I stuck by his side when he blamed himself for Avery’s alleged passing. We know each other better than brothers I’d say.

“Bullshit.” Jake says bluntly. “I’ve known Sadie her whole life. Hell, I helped raise her. She’s always had a thing for Hawk and as much as he hates for anyone to know, he wants her too. But he’s never acted on it for some bullshit reason, and she suddenly shifted her attention to pissing him off rather than pining for him … until this morning.” I feel his eyes on me. He’s not going to let this go.

“Care to explain, brother? I saw you two holding hands and the way she was looking at you.”

“Was it the usual murderous glare?” Ethan teases, trying to lighten the mood. I tuck my phone into my pocket and lean back on my bike with my arms crossed, keeping my expression neutral.

Jake shakes his head slowly. “Nope. It was the way Avery looks at me.” I flinch slightly because I know what he saw. I felt it. We were on the same page and things were going to be changing. I was excited to tell my brothers I had claimed her, but then my phone chimed, and I saw the video of her betrayal, and it was like a switch flipped inside me.

“It was the first time I’ve seen her look at him that way in front of him. She usually tamps it down and only stares at him with that longing look in her eyes when he’s completely oblivious. She’s not good at hiding it from the rest of us, but she never lets Hawk see her true feelings for him because she knows he’ll reject her.”

“And it wasn’t hiding it this morning?” Ethan looks between the two of us. I know the look he’s talking about. She may think I don’t notice, but I do. I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything about it. She’s so young and as much as she hates to be seen as a club princess, it doesn’t change the fact she is one. Mack has said on a number of occasions how he wants something better than club life for Sadie. For her to go off and see the world and find something of her own, for herself - to make her own way. Ther’s no way he would accept my wanting to claim Sadie.

Didn’t stop you last night.

“What changed?” Ethan’s question is aimed at me.

“That’s what I’d like to know.” Jake raises a quizzical brow in my direction.

“I told you. She was upset, so I followed her here and we talked by the fire.”

“Talked about what? Why was she upset?” Ethan joins in on the game of twenty questions.

“I don’t know exactly.” Jake stares, expectantly. I shrug. “I saw her talking to Vincenzo and his fucking minion. After they left, Sadie looked upset. I watched her hug Sky and then I tracked her car to the house. When I got here, she was out by the fire talking on her phone, but she hung up when she saw me.”

“Who was she talking to?”

“I don’t know, Jake. It sounded like the Italian fucker.”

“Which one? There’s three.” Ethan snickers.

I glare at him, not at all amused. “If I had to choose, I’d say her fuck buddy boyfriend, Matteo.”

“Sadie’s fucking Matteo? What? Since when?” Ethan looks genuinely pissed at the idea.

“Sadie’s not fucking Matteo.” Jake grits. “He’s her business partner.”

“What?” How the hell does Jake know this tidbit and I didn’t? “Did she tell you that herself?”

“No. Avery let it slip. Matteo and Parisi invested in her little business project.”

“At what cost? What did they ask for in return, because we all know Parisi is a sneaky fucker. He doesn’t make deals unless there’s something hefty in it for himself.” Ethan is on the same wavelength I am. There’s got to be a hidden agenda, some kind of fine print that will no doubt have Sadie in deep shit before she pays back the investment. “Does Pres know?”

“I’m not sure, to be honest. Avery didn’t say anything else.”

“How long ago did she tell you? That’s not something you should be keeping to yourself!” I yell. Jake knows that anything involving Parisi needs to go to Pres. That slick fucker has his hands in everything and so far, everything he’s touched lately has somehow been intermingled with the club.

“Why the fuck wouldn’t she tell me this last night? Is he the one making her leave town?” I’m talking more to myself than anyone else. “Was that the decisions she was wrestling with? This fucker and whatever it is she now owes him? If she would’ve told me … if I had known about … then there’s fucking Thomas. I never would’ve …” I throw my head back and shout to the sky, “ Fuck!”

I feel Jake’s icy glare on me. “What else happened last night? She was upset. You talked by the fire. Then what?” Jake pushes. “There’s more you’re not telling us, so what the fuck is it, Hawk?”

I scrub both hands down my face, and frustratedly blurt, “I claimed her last night, all right? Happy now?”

Ethan lets out a low whistle, while Jake stands their unmoving except for the slight twitch of his lips.

“Before or after you knew about her going down to see Nate?” Ethan asks cautiously. I shoot him a glare.

“Obviously it was before, asshole. I wouldn’t have claimed her if I knew she was a fucking traitor.”

“Hey!” Jake barks.

“But it doesn’t matter. When I saw the video, I was so pissed, I told her…” my words trail off, thinking about the hurt in her eyes when I said all those things back at the clubhouse. “Shit!”

“Told her, what?” Jake leans forward on his handlebars assessing me. “What the fuck did you say to her?”

“I basically told her it was all a mistake, that she couldn’t be my ol’ lady. That it would never work because I can never trust her to be honest or do what’s best for us or the club.”

“You stupid fucking bastard.” Jake growls. “You know none of that’s true. Sadie would bleed for this club.”

“I should’ve locked her ass in the basement.”

“Jesus fucking Christ.” Ethan grumbles. But it’s Jake’s suddenly, eerily calm demeanor that has my hackles raised.

“You told her to leave. You fucking let her go.” Jake practically whispers, nodding his head, and before I know what’s happening his right fist meets my jaw rocking me hard and damn near knocking me and my bike over. I set the kickstand and hop off easy for a fight. Ethan does the same and starts stalking toward me. Ethan follows suit, and I’m not sure if he’s planning on helping Jake or if he’s merely looking to be the referee.

We don’t interfere if two brothers have beef with each other. We let them throw hands and settle it like men. So long as no one pulls a weapon, anything else goes.

Jake comes at me and takes another swing. I dodge his punch and land one to his face in return. “You fucking knew she did this shit and instead of talking to her and holding her at the clubhouse you just let her fucking go!” Jake roars landing a swift jab to my ribs.

“I didn’t trust myself. I didn’t want to hurt her!”

“She was scared and probably has the answers we need from that asshole, and your dumbass sent her the fuck away! You gave her permission to leave! Why?” He tosses back.

“I was pissed, and I didn’t think she would…”

“That right there.” Jake says pointing at me. “You didn’t fucking think! This is Sadie for shit’s sake. If she was already thinking about leaving and then you went and lost your shit on her, of course she’s going to fucking run as far away as possible. And you gave her permission to do it!”

“Not to mention, you probably broke her heart.” Ethan adds from the sideline. “She’s been in love with you for years, and you finally gave her what she’s always wanted then snatched it away and told her it was a fucking mistake.”

I’m stunned by the truth in Ethan’s words and that’s the moment Jake uses to offload three more punches. One to the face and two to the body. The pain barely registers. Another punch to the gut and Jake keeps going. “What if Thomas forced her to do it? Did you even give her a chance to explain, or did you just dismiss her? What if it was Parisi who set her up? She couldn’t tell you before but as your ol’ lady she would’ve been protected!” Another gut shot. I stagger back but can’t bring myself to fire back because he’s right.

“She would’ve been protected anyway because she’s Gabe’s niece.” Ethan adds, playing devil’s advocate and helping no one.

“She betrayed the club!” I shout back. “Even if she was my ol’ lady, a traitor won’t be spared.”

“And if she did it because someone put a gun to her head?” Jake practically roars. “We don’t know because you scared her off you dumb fuck!”

We’re both panting. My face is starting to swell, and my ribs are sore, as I bend over trying to slow my breathing. Jake has a point. I did send her away before she told me the whole story. I didn’t give her a chance. I kept shutting her down.

You gave her the permission she needed to get the hell out of town.

“Did she tell you where she was thinking of going last night?” Jake asks, standing with his fists on his hips taking deep breaths.

“No.” I stand back up, running my hands through my hair, stretching my chest to get a deeper breath myself.

“All right. What do your stalker senses tell you? Where would she go?” Ethan asks, amusement alight in his eyes. He’s enjoying watching us go at each other.

“If I had to guess,” I look to Jake. “I’d say we need to ask Vincenzo.” He nods his agreement. “But first, we need to tell Pres.”

We mount our bikes and get ready to roll, when Ethan calls my name with a shit-eating grin splitting his face. When I tip my chin for him to go ahead, he hollers, “Don’t think I’m not going to tell Kieran how you got your ass beat. You should expect his call because you looked like shit out there.” I flip him the bird and follow him out of the drive.