“Let’s fuckin’ go,” he barks.
Wordlessly, I nod my head and watch as he spins around and starts to march out of my apartment. I follow behind him, my heels clicking with each step that I take, the sound deafening.
HAWK
Waiting for Avah outside of the border patrol office is fucking humiliating. Not only am I waiting for her while she fucks someone else, but I’m driving her goddamn Beemer like I’m her fucking chauffeur and pimp.
Gripping the steering wheel, I can’t deny that I hate myself a little more with each passing moment. Leaning my head back, I close my eyes and try not to think about what she’s doing in there. Is she sucking his cock the way she did mine just yesterday morning?
Regret fills me, though it’s an emotion that I’m used to at this point. I can’t really expect anything else, I’m fucking up with a woman I give a shit about, yet again.
I wait and wait, then about two hours later, I watch as Avah walks out of the building and stops. There’s a man at her back, his eyes trained on me. He’s built, about ten years younger than me, and his sunglasses are focused directly on me.
My gaze stays focused on him, especially when he wraps his hand around the back of her neck and roughly tugs her toward him. I can’t look away, even when he slants his head to the side and plants his lips on hers.
My blood boils at the sight.
Mine.
Avah is mine and he’s touching her. My stomach roils as I imagine him fucking her from behind, her riding him, and coming on his cock. Gripping the steering wheel even tighter, I hear it make a noise beneath my hands.
It doesn’t take long for Avah to slip into the seat beside me. Reaching behind me, I grab ahold of the sweatshirt that I had in my grip not long ago in her living room.
“Put that on,” I growl.
I can smell him on her. The least she can do is attempt to mask it with my own fucking scent. Wordlessly, she slips the hoodie over her head as I shift the Beemer into drive and punch the gas.
Lifting my gaze to the rearview mirror, I notice the fuck is smiling as he gives me a two-fingered wave. Next chance I get, I’m coming back here to put a knife in that son of a bitch. I’m going to enjoy that shit too, immensely.
“You good?” I ask her.
She’s quiet, her head turned so that she can look out the passenger window. “Yeah,” she lies.
I think about how she told me when we were lying in bed at the clubhouse how she was done being an escort. She realized she wasn’t happy when she saw Taz and Trista, when she gathered that there could be more for her, something she hadn’t thought possible. She decided that she wanted more in life, she wanted an actual life.
Though escorting gave her the financial security she thought she always wanted, it didn’t give her even an ounce of actual happiness. She’d been living a lie and being with me, in my arms, being around the brothers and their Old Ladies, it made her see that.
“Babe?” I ask.
She turns to me, her eyes void and lifeless, fucking terrifying. “I’m fine,” she lies again.
We drive in silence the rest of the way back to her place. When we arrive, I see Dutch and Mountain waiting for us. Mountain is smiling, but when he takes in the fact that we aren’t pleased as punch, his smile fades.
Before I can even shift the car into park, Avah is out and headed toward her place. I follow behind her, my gaze unable to leave her body. Nobody says anything as we ride the elevator car and make our way up to her floor.
Once we’re inside of the apartment, I watch as she continues on and quietly closes her bedroom door behind her. Dutch shuts the apartment door, locking it, then I turn to my brothers.
“Thought she could do this and be good, thought that I could be good.”
“Shit,” Mountain hisses. “We would have figured out another way, we could have.”
I open my mouth, but it’s Avah who speaks. Spinning around, I see her in a pair of leggings and my sweatshirt, her hair pulled up in a high ponytail and her face makeup-free.
“There was no other way,” she whispers. “This was the only way. But this is the last time. Trista never belonged in this life. I pushed her into it, dangled all of the pretty pieces about it in front of her as a way to entice her. I brought her down to my level when she shouldn’t have ever been there, she’s so much better than I could ever be.”
“Avah,” I rasp.
She shakes her head. “No, what happened today. This is nothing less than I deserve, and I was happy to do it for your club. This club that has come to mean so much to me. But I can’t do it again, please don’t ask me to.”
“Never,” I growl. “Not fucking ever. Now, pack your shit and let’s go home,” I demand.
Avah smiles, her lips trembling. “I’m not going with you. I’m staying here, or maybe going somewhere else. I’ve given you all of Layne’s contacts. I’ve done what I promised. I need to just breathe for a while.”
I want to demand that she comes with me, but I don’t. My eyes search hers and I can tell that she means exactly what she’s saying. Forcing her to come with me right now, it would do more harm than anything else.
Instead of grabbing her and throwing her in the back of her car and driving toward Arizona, I make my way toward her.
Lifting my hand, I wrap my fingers around the back of her neck and tug her head forward. Resting my forehead against hers for a moment, I whisper to her.
“You take your time, babe. Heal.
