If all goes to plan, Snake will be outside to confront us. As we walk through the restaurant, I spot Alessia coming around the outside of the building, heading toward the front doors. Even better. Hawk holds the front door open for me, and it’s my time to shine.
“Thank you so much for tonight.” I stumble more than I need to and grab ahold of his hand. She will be standing there. I go for the gold, putting on a spectacular performance. “I really should not have drunk so much.”
He chuckles and shakes his head, leading me to his bike. Grabbing the helmet off his bike, he places it on my head. I pull him toward me and plant a quick kiss to his lips. He gives me a playful smack to the side of my hip. “Behave yourself.” He glides his large frame onto his bike and I take advantage.
I slide in as close as I can. “Don’t worry, I’ll hang on tight.”
* * *
Hawk
What the fuck have I done?
Alessia’s broken face is all I see as soon as I sit down on my bike. Thinking back to the last few moments, I realize I am caught. The panic in my mind holds me captive. My lies have buried me and my future. I’m trapped in when Ashley slides in behind me and whispers into my ear. Her hands have been obsessively all over me since we walked out here.
My hands would shake if they weren’t holding on to the handlebars. Alessia’s brown hair whips around in the wind from the storm that is brewing. The worst part is we are at an impasse. I want to reach out to her, but how? After all I have done, I stop myself. The shame takes over.
My world shatters right here, at this moment, especially when Alessia doesn’t fight for us. She takes several steps, backing away, bumping into people on the sidewalk. She turns, then bolts away from us. Ashley never saw her, and I will keep it that way.
Snapping out of it, it is a race against the clock. The more time she is left to herself, the worst this will be. My feet are planted to the pavement, and my bike roars to life. I race through traffic and drive toward Ashley’s house.
The games are all over, and as soon as I pull into her driveway, she steps off my bike. I back out without a word. She stands there, with my helmet in hand. I could give a fuck. I would bet the little cunt is happy with herself. It’s no one else’s fault but my own.
Taking sharp, quick turns, my stomach drops when I see Snake in my driveway and not her. Setting my bike on the stand, I jump off. The rage and regret catch up with me as I charge forward. “Where the fuck is she!”
Snake drops his smoke from his hand and comes straight for me. Fists fly in each other’s direction. I’m pissed at him for outing me. My nose explodes with Snake’s right hook to my face. The blood is running into my mouth and down the back of my throat, causing me to cough. My body is hurled forward when his left is jabbed into my gut, gagging on the pain and the blood. The final blow comes when his elbow strikes my back, and I fall to one knee.
It’s where I belong, but the stubborn fool I am, I cannot admit my defeat.
“She’s not here,” Snake calmly states and picks up the smoke he tossed next to his bike. He takes a drag and blows out a long cloud of smoke. “Should’ve thought of that before you stuffed your dick in that slut.”
“You’re one to talk, asshole.” Slowly, after I catch my breath, I stand, wiping the blood away with my forearm.
“I’m not fucking married, and all the girls are told it’s a one-off. They’re lucky if it happens a second time.”
“You didn’t have to tell her. You just hurt her by telling her.”
Snake maniacally laughs out loud. “It’s been a long time coming to an end. You knew it. No one will hear about this. My sister deserves her privacy. She sure as fuck deserves honesty.”
“You can’t keep me from her. I’ll get her back.” I sound braver and stronger than I actually am. Really, I want to beg her for forgiveness.
Snake’s evil gleam stares me down. “You can try. She’s made of tougher shit than you are—brother.”
Every emotion I’ve held in explodes inside like a bomb. I destroyed the life I had within just a few weeks.
Chapter 10
Hawk
Snake and Fuego have hidden Alessia from me. She hasn’t gone back to work. She’s been a ghost. No one will tell me where she is. Her friends ignore every call to their phones. When they do open a door, it is immediately slammed in my face. I made an appointment with Jazz under a different name for her to talk to me.
I can barely sit here in the hair shop while she finishes up her last client. She hasn’t noticed me yet. I hunch forward and rest my elbows on my knees. My hands dive into my overgrown hair. The strands are entwined with my fingers, and I pull, the tension mimicking what I feel inside.
In a split second, I can see my life flash before my eyes. The reckless kid I was to the man I have become. Living life in the fast lane. I haven’t grown up much. Evidence is there in how I treated her. My wife, Alessia, is gone. I see it all. The day we
