Page 9 of Hawk (Road Rebels MC 1)
I slowly shifted Emery off me, then sat up on the couch. She curled into the cushion, pulling the blanket up onto her body while she continued to sleep. I bent down and kissed her, smoothing her hair out from her face as I smiled at her freckles. She didn’t have as many as me, but they were all congregated around her nose and cheeks. I memorized what she looked like in that very moment, curled up in a blanket that smelled of her father while she slept with a smile on her face.
I wanted to memorize every part of her innocence before she ultimately found out why we were house-hopping.
Why we had come to stay with Hawk.
Who Hawk really was to her.
I felt tears crest my eyes as I raised up from her. I tucked her in and ventured into the kitchen, cleaning up my mess from that morning. I was beyond conflicted. I wanted to shelter her from this life. Whisk her away to Northern California or Washington State. I wanted to use my two-year degree to get a job that would pay for us to live wonderfully, just like she deserved. I wanted to see her off to school and cook homemade meals she could devour at night. I wanted to decorate her room any way she wished and raise her in one home for the rest of her life.
I wanted to host sleepovers and be the ‘cool mom’ and have my house be a refuge for all her friends to come when their parents weren’t being as cool as I was.
But I missed the open road. I missed the wind in my hair. I missed the taste of sand and falling asleep underneath the stars. I missed having a big family, with lots of people to lean on at different times. I missed the fierce protection that came with the motorcycle lifestyle.
I missed having friends and owning my own bike. I missed the shared camaraderie and the rally we all went to.
But most of all, I missed Hawk.
I missed that man more than I could stand.
“Where are you?” I whispered it to myself as tears streamed down my face. I emptied the rest of the coffee pot into my freshly-cleaned mug as I tried to gather my mind. The last thing I needed to be was an unhinged mess when Hawk finally came through that door.
But the one thing I’d forgotten was how quiet he could be when he walked.
“Syd?” he asked as I gasped and whirled around.
“What’s wrong?”
Chapter 7
Hawk
I knew I had to lose this fucker, no matter what it took. I didn’t know if they were following Sydney or if someone had latched onto what we were doing, but I knew I needed to take drastic measures. I kicked my bike into gear and sped out of the gas station, wrapping around the back of it as I looked in my rearview mirror. I saw the black sedan pulling out the parking lot, but they got hung up at the light. I wrapped my way around the gas station and sped down a one-way gravel lot before I crept up onto a bike path and sped through the woods.
I was dodging cyclists and mothers with their children. I checked to make sure the groceries were okay before I crossed the gravel road. There was a back way that went for miles before it dumped me out onto an exit ramp, and I had every intention of riding it all the way to the highway.
I sped through the woods and dodged little animals as the concrete turned to dirt. I hung on tight, trying to not rattle the groceries badly as I finally heard the traffic whizzing by my left ear. I took a sharp turn and jumped from the woods, sailing over a steep hill as cars honked at my intrusion. My bike hit with a thud onto the ramp of the highway, and I settled myself into traffic as I looked around.
There was no black sedan, no police cars chasing me, and no mysterious vehicles trying to catch up.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I made a u-turn in the middle of the highway. I needed to get going in the right direction so I could get back to Sydney and Emery. The last thing they needed to be was alone right now, especially since I knew someone was following me. What I needed to know was if someone was following them. Was it just me they were clocking, or were they watching my daughter, too.
Because if someone was keeping tabs on those two women, they were in for a very serious discussion.
I took the exit ramp and headed for my house as my head continued to dart around. Even as I drove down the main road that led to my house, I didn’t see a black sedan anywhere. I pulled my bike up beside the house and parked it in the shade, waiting around to see if anyone would come creeping up the road. I sat there, perched behind my bike as I kept staring around the corner of the house.
But when no one came creeping down the road, I grabbed the groceries and went on inside.
I took a deep breath as I closed the door silently behind me. I figured Emery would be napping somewhere, and I didn’t want to wake her, but the sound that hit my ears soon after I shut the door prickled the hairs on the back of my neck.
Sydney was in the kitchen crying.
I slowly walked around with the groceries in my hand as her body came into view. She was hunched over the sink, her hand holding her head as her tears dripped against the stainless steel metal. I stood there for a second, simply watching her. I listened out for anyone else that could be in the house. Anyone that might have come in here to try and harm her.
But when I was satisfied no one else was in the house, I lifted the bags and set them on the table.
She jumped and whirled around, her snotty nose and puffy eyes coming into view. She put her finger to her lips before she pointed over to the couch, trying to tell me Emery was asleep.
“Syd?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Not here,” she said, whispering. “Not here.”
I put away the cold stuff quickly and left the rest of the shit out on the counter. I took her hand and slowly led her up the steps, not thinking about the fact that I was still wearing my Road Rebels leather jacket. Her sobs were stifled by her hands, the sound crushing my heart as we made our way into my room.
I sat her on the edge of my bed before I dipped into the bathroom.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
Without a word, I started drawing her a bath. She was shaking up a storm, and I had to get her to calm down. I was worried someone had come by to talk with her. Had found her at my house and attempted to intimidate her back into the group. Maybe some other people in another black sedan or some shit had come snooping around and scared her. Or maybe someone looking for her had found her.
I poured some hand soap into the bath, trying to get her some bubbles that might soothe her before I went back into my bedroom. Her crying had stopped, and she was trying to clean up her nose, but her body was still shaking up a storm.
“Did someone come by the house?” I asked.
“No,” she said breathlessly.
“Would you tell me if someone had?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said, nodding.
“Let’s get you in a bath.”
I watched her stand, but her hands were shaking so bad she couldn’t grab her clothes. I walked over to her and slowly peeled her robe off her shoulders, letting it fall to the ground. She was still in my shirt, which meant she hadn’t attempted to clean herself up. There was only one time in my life I’d ever seen Sydney not take care of herself.
And it was when I tried to get her to shower the night her father died.
“Hey, hey, hey. Look at me.”
She took a deep breath and raised her beautiful blue eyes up to greet mine. I ran my knuckles over her cheek, wiping away her tears while she tried to breathe through her nose. I wrapped my other hand into my white shirt and held it to her nose, nodding for her to blow as she dumped her face full of snot into the fabric of my clothes.
“It’s gonna be all right. No one’s gonna find you here. Not The Road Rebels. Not the DEA. Not the Iron Souls, okay?”
She nodded, but I could tell she still didn’t believe me. I shrugged my leather jacket off and tossed it onto the bed behind her while the tub continued to fill. I pulled my white shirt off and tossed it into the hamper, and immediately I felt her hands rush to my chest. She was so cold, her hands still shaking as her fingertips danced along the ridges of my muscles.
That was one thing that was definitely different about my body from the last time I’d seen her all those years ago.
“There’s no need to panic,” I said as I cupped her face. “Look at me.”
Her breathing finally evened out as my hands smoothed down her neck. My rough pads graced her stomach, as I pushed my shirt up off over her arms. Her hands fell to her sides as the fabric slipped from her body, revealing to me every since crevice I wanted to stick my tongue into.
“I just spiraled,” she said as her chest heaved.
“About what?” I asked as I guided her into the bathroom.
“My father. It just… hit me like a ton of bricks. That night. The blood. It was just… in my lap all of a sudden.”
