Thankfully, I have some money tucked away in mutual funds, but I can’t really touch any of it.
I can’t believe I’m telling a virtual stranger my problems. I can’t believe I’m telling him all about my stalker, and I can’t believe that he watches me enough to know that I even have one. Pressing my lips together, I try not to think about what that could mean.
“You didn’t go to the police,” he points out as he sinks down on my sofa.
It’s not really a sofa, my apartment is too small for a full-size couch, it’s the love seat that matched my full sofa, which I sold. Seeing him on it, I realize how small the piece really is. Keaston isn’t a huge man, he’s a few inches shorter than Hawk and probably thirty pounds lighter.
“I didn’t. Why would I do that? I don’t know who it is, and I don’t know what they’re capable of. But I do know that the police won’t do shit.”
He presses his lips together, leaning forward and resting his forearms on his thighs. It’s hot, like him. I wonder what it would be like to be able to be free and fall for someone like a neighbor.
Technically, I’m free, but my heart and body just aren’t there yet, they still belong to Hawk who is another state away and probably fucking some clubwhore.
“I saw some asshole in a suit looking directly at your window last night, that same asshole was in the hallway yesterday morning, and two days ago I saw him sitting in a car right in front of the building, so you’re in trouble, babe. What are you going to do to get yourself out?”
“Nothing,” I whisper.
“Nothing?”
“There’s nothing I can do. Either he takes me and does unspeakable things to me, or he doesn’t and I just look over my shoulder. Nobody is going to do anything to save me, Keaston. And if someone crazy like that wants me bad enough, they’ll figure out a way to get me.”
“Babe.”
His single word says everything. He doesn’t agree with me, but that’s the thing, he doesn’t have to. I’m not wrong and he isn’t saying that I am.
I could run away, off to anywhere, but the only place I would even want to go is Arizona and how depressing would that be? Sure, I’d be with Trista, but then I’d have to see Hawk fucking other women and be close to him without touching him. Or worse yet, continuing to fuck him with nothing that will ever become of it but heartache.
“We’ll get you straightened out.”
HAWK
I press my lips together, staring at my phone and wondering why she didn’t call me back or text me. That’s not like her, although I haven’t called her in months, maybe she’s good and pissed off at me.
“Church in five,” Dragon announces as he walks into the bar.
Turning my head, I jerk my chin in his direction. He makes his way toward me, rapping his knuckles on the bar top. A beer appears and he wraps his fingers around the bottle, tipping it toward the prospect before he turns to me.
“Not a normal church, anything you want to discuss before we go inside?” I ask him.
He shrugs a shoulder, lifting the bottle to his lips and taking a pull. “Not particularly, but with you, I will since it pertains to you.”
“Does it now?” I ask, my eyes shifting back to my phone and wondering why the fuck she hasn’t called me back yet.
“Donkey Punchers. We need to figure that shit out and I’m ready to plan.”
“Plan?” I ask.
“They need to go down. What they did? Unacceptable.”
I snort. “No fucking shit, Dragon. I was ready to take them and their families out the second I found out they had my goddamn daughter,” I growl.
“Retaliation without a plan will fail, Hawk, and you of all people know that shit.”
Nodding my head, I agree with him, but I’m still fucking angry. I wanted to go in there and demolish all of their shit, including their personal lives and families as well.
They were going to sell my goddamn daughter to the highest bidder, they were going to rape and mutilate her, I don’t care that they didn’t get the chance, the fact is they were planning it and fucking took her.
“You got a plan, then?” I demand.
Dragon nods his head. “Not exactly, but we’ve done what we needed. Their contacts are gone, the men buying the girls are gone and dealt with, the time has come.”
Slipping off of the barstool, I jerk my chin toward the room where our brothers have started gathering. Walking into the room, I shove my phone in my cut pocket and sink down in the chair waiting to hear what Dragon has to say.
He doesn’t have much of a plan and that shit pisses me off. I want to go in there, kill them all and walk away. It would sure make me feel a helluva lot better. Pressing my lips together, I check my phone again, one last time, before church gets started.
With a growl, I decide I’m going to go and take a little drive across the border tomorrow if she doesn’t call me back. I don’t like being ignored, I sure as fuck don’t like it when it’s a woman ignoring me, my woman especially.
She may not think of herself as mine, but that’s exactly what she is.
The room fills and everyone focuses on Dragon as he walks around the room to the head of the table. He doesn’t lift his gavel, but that shit doesn’t matter, not today. I’m glad not to do all the regular meeting starters. I want to get to the meat of the situation.
“Donkey Punchers,” Dragon announces.
Everyone is quiet, so goddamn quiet that you could hear a pin drop. My eyes stay glued to Dragon, just waiting for him to tell us exactly what his plans are.
“We need to be smart about
