Page 3

Hank

The night sprawls out in front of me as I try to make sense of what’s happening.

A missing girl, a rival gang, and my buddy’s kid sister on the back of my bike…

holding my waist, leaned against my back.

I think the missing girl should be the most shocking, but it’s Abby’s tiny hands wrapped around my waist that have me most unnerved.

I’ve thought about moments like this for years, but I never thought I’d ever be this close to her.

God damn, I need to get my priorities straight.

We pull into the bike shop tucked between pines at the top of the mountain. It’s a huge place with four stalls for bike repairs in the front and a house in the back. We had it custom-built a few months back to give us all a place to work and crash while we’re here.

“I hear people talking about this place,” Abby says, landing her hands on top of my shoulders to pivot off the bike. “People were confused about why you bought all the way up here.” Damn, she smells good. Like berries or flowers… something sweet.

I don’t answer her because the truth isn’t worth lying about. I’d never lie to Abby. “We need to get you inside and calm you down. You’ve had a hell of a day. I got a text back from Ghost. He’s gonna update me as soon as he hears anything about Maci.”

A raccoon scatters away from the trash bin by the garage door as I unlock the front door to the attached house in the back of the shop.

Usually, I’d go right through the garage, but for some reason, I’m trying to make a good impression.

I tell myself it’s because I don’t have anyone else to show the shop off too, but I know deep down it’s more about Abby liking me than I want it to be.

I need to get a fucking grip.

“I don’t know what happened.” She holds her hands around her waist, shaking.

“She was right there telling me about her dreams and her goals. She wants to be a journalist, so she was trying to listen to what the guys were talking about, but then I got scared because… I’m scared of everything.

I went to the truck to leave, look back, and she’s gone. How could she just disappear?”

Possibilities of why the girl could’ve disappeared rattle through my head as I push the front door open, but I’m distracted by the fucking mess of this place before I get very far.

Why do I even care that the place is a mess? This isn’t about impressing a woman I have no business impressing. It’s about finding the missing girl.

That said, I start cleaning. “Sorry. This place is a disaster. Keep talking, I’m just gonna clean up quick. Can I get you a drink or anything?”

She shakes her head and moves around the house with me, picking up beer bottles and random bags of half-eaten chips that the guys didn’t bother with before they left for the bar. Truth be told, I think she’s holding my beer bottle.

Fuck, I didn’t realize how messy we were.

“What are we going to do about Maci, Hank? I’m scared.” She sets the bottles by the sink and leans against the counter, her breath picking up as she talks. “I know Duke knows all kinds of bad people. What if they hurt Maci?”

I toss the bags of chips on the counter and turn toward Abby. “Is there a chance she left on her own?”

“No. Her car was still in the parking lot. They took her! Are you even listening to me?”

“I’m listening. Just trying to get all the facts.”

“I know the facts. My brother is involved with some kind of crime and the guys he worked with are after him. They took Maci as ransom or something.”

“But why would they do that? Maci has no tie to your brother. He can’t—”

She drags in a deep breath and screams deep in her chest, before burying her face in her hands. “What if that were me? What if I’d been taken? We need to treat this the same way you would if it were me… or would you default to cleaning your house then, too?”

“Abby! Stop. I called the guys. They’re looking into it. Besides, there’s still a chance she took off on her own. She is an adult.”

Her brows narrow as though I’ve said the wrong thing. “You really do have a way with words.”

“I’m just saying… it’s highly unlikely these bikers were targeting her. They’d have no reason.”

Abby turns and leans against the counter, slightly exposing the small of her back as her short T-shirt stretches with her arms.

Jesus Christ. I’ve never had my cock twitch from the sight of a back before, but here I am, mouth watering over the inch of bare skin above her waist. That, or maybe it’s the tiny skirt she’s wearing.

What the hell is wrong with me? She’s scared and grieving, and I’m getting a fucking erection.

Shaking my head at my own stupidity, I land my hand on her back and tell myself the action is for comfort, though I doubt you’d notice how smooth someone’s skin was if comfort were on the top of your mind. Also, why did I rub beneath the shirt? I could’ve stayed above the fabric.

Fucking hell. I’m a mess.

The tiniest sigh leaves her lips. “That feels good. Thank you.”

I’m not sure if the thank you means stop, or keep going, but I keep going. “You’re stressed. I can feel the knots in your back.”

“I know.” She sighs. “My friend was out celebrating my birthday, and I left her there like a bitch.”

“You’re not a bitch. We’ll find her.” I squeeze the base of her back as I continue to rub.

“And why do you hate celebrating your birthday all the sudden? You used to love it. I remember you making these huge lists, and your brother would spend all this time getting your party together. It was a thing. Remember that one party you had… I think it was your twentieth. It was a total rager, and my leather jacket disappeared. I still miss that thing.”

“Oh,” she shifts against my touch, “that sucks. I, ugh, I don’t know why I don’t celebrate anymore. It just seemed weird after the accident, ya know? Duke was a different guy. He was angrier.”

I massage into her muscles deeper with the pad of my thumb, attempting to untie the knot at the base of her neck without breaking her delicate frame. “The accident was a rough time for both of you. He should’ve been more present.”

She laughs under her breath and turns toward me, cutting the touch off at a second’s notice. “I know we were both doing the best we could. I… just wish I hadn’t lost him that day, too.”

I land my hand on her shoulder. Apparently, I’m taking liberties with how easily I touch her now. That escalated quickly. “If it’s any consolation, I know he misses you.”

Her eyes roll to the side and back again.

“If he missed me, he’d stop killing people and go back to full time ranching.

It wasn’t great pay, but it was respectable work.

What you guys do now is,” her gaze meets mine with pain, “it’s sick.

I’m not sure I’ve even wrapped my head around you being a part of it. ”

I drag in a deep breath and let it out slowly. I knew this conversation was coming, but I never got around to preparing for it. “We don’t kill people. We put down animals. There’s a difference.”

“Oh my God!” Her eyes widen, and her arms cross over her chest. “You sound just like him. You don’t get to decide who should live and who should die, Hank. That’s not up to you guys. That’s what courts and God are for.”

“Look, I struggled with this for a long time. It wasn’t my first choice of careers, but then I saw what we were doing for people.”

“You need to stop!” She gasps and shakes her head as she turns toward the fridge, grabbing out a beer of her own. “You’re delusional.”

“We kill bad people.” I scrub my hand down over my beard and stare toward her, desperate for her to understand that I’m not the terrible guy she thinks I am.

“I used to think this was awful. I… I didn’t want to do it.

I took one job with Duke because the money was good. One week of work paid off my house.”

“Then what? You got addicted to killing, so you kept going? Money isn’t everything, Hank.”

“It’s not about the money. It’s about what we give people.

The last kill we did out in Texas was for a mother who’d lost her child to a human trafficker.

The man had taken at least ten kids and sold them on the black market.

He was evading the police, but we don’t have the restrictions the law has. Those are the jobs we take.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Abby pops the cap off the beer and takes a long swig. I’ve never seen her drink before. She always orders a diet coke no matter what.

“Look, I know you can’t see the good in what we do, and I don’t expect you to, but I think you should at least talk to Duke. He’s—”

“I didn’t even know he’d be here. I thought I’d move to the mountains, frolic in the wildflowers, get a small-town job to meet some people, and fall in love with a big, giant mountain man. If I’d have known Texas was following me here, I’d have looked for my mountain man on a different mountain.”

I hate the idea of her falling in love with anyone but me, but I know that’s not realistic. “You knew I was coming.”

A visible lump slides down her throat, and she glances away as she takes a sip of beer. “I did. I thought it made sense to have someone around that I knew, but that was before I learned what you did.”

“So, I’m a bad guy now?”

“You’re not a good guy. ”

I’m pretty sure I’d give anything to have Abby look at me like I was a good person, but I’m not sure that’s possible now.

“You remember helping Duke and I out at the shop when you were younger?”

She huffs out a sigh and rolls her eyes. “I wasn’t that much younger. That was only five years ago. I was twenty.”

“Well… you were eager to learn. The shop was swamped, and you were all about helping. Duke was outside talking to the parts guy, and I was teaching you how to unlock a stuck bolt.”

She bites back a grin, then hides the remnants behind the amber bottle as she takes another sip. “You told me to use more leverage, then grabbed the wrench from my hand, and got your filthy, grease smudged hands on mine. I learned all about that orange pumice lotion that day.”

I remember that moment so clearly because it was the first time we touched.

It was just a brush, but I was so close to her body I could smell the scent of her shampoo, the muffin she’d had for breakfast, the leather on her boots.

We weren’t doing anything wrong. I was just showing her how to leverage the stubborn bolt.

But still, my heart slammed against my chest like I was out in the field, about to take a shot.

It’s the one and only time that’s ever happened to me.

“I remember.” Our eyes meet, and for a solid second, my body lights on fire with a need that I worry is getting out of control. Maybe it was wrong to bring her back here. Maybe it was wrong to trust myself. How could it not be wrong when every fantasy I have has her in it?

The front door swings open, halting any feelings I have in their tracks. Thankfully, it’s not Duke. It’s Ghost, and he looks like he might have some answers.