Page 65 of Falcon

“Who the fuck is Joe? I’m not here for money. I said stand up,” I growled as I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him to his feet.

I let go of him and stepped back, taking him in. “You Chad?”

He sneered at me. “Who the fuck is asking?”

I swung my arm around, connecting the butt of the gun to his cheekbone. He fell to the bed, moaning briefly, then came back up with the bottle. I blocked it, grabbed his arm and twisted upward until something snapped and he screamed like a little bitch. He crumpled to the floor, wobbling on his knees.

“Please, stop! Joe has the money!”

I grabbed his head and pulled his face down to my knee as it came up. There was a crunching sound as he connected. Looking down, I saw some blood on my jeans. “I told you, I don’t know Joe. But I do know a woman. And you hurt her. Put her in a really bad spot.”

He looked up, covering his nose, but the blood dripped from his chin. “Who the fuck are you, man?”

I leaned down and grabbed his hair. “I’m your worst fucking nightmare. You say anything about this to the cops, I’ll kill you after my brothers get through with you.”

The sobs were almost comical. “P–p–please. I won’t. I don’t even know what the fuck I did!”

“Look at me, bitch.” When he opened his eyes, I leaned in close. The smell of stale beer wafted off of him as I said, “I’m Daisy’s old man now. And if you ever even have a wet dream about her again, I’ll find out and it’ll be you trying to run, looking over your shoulder. Trust me when I say, it won’t take long for me to find you. Oh, and stay the fuck away from her mom.”

One more blow to his temple and he fell to the floor. He wasn’t dead, but he’d be unconscious for a while. I didn’t think he was the one who attacked her mom, but just in case, I wanted to throw that in. Saying I was her old man, though? That felt good. I had already made up my mind but saying it out loud only made me want it more. Now I just had to talk to Hawk and vote on it.

There was more of Chad’s blood splattered on my shirt and hands, so I washed up in the sink. I also wiped my cut down with the paper towel I’d used before I walked back outside and casually climbed into the truck. I had a change of clothes, but we needed to get to the next stop. It wasn’t too bad, so I could wait until we got a hotel for the night.

Daisy looked me over with wide eyes when I shut the door. “Fuck, why is there blood all over you?” she squealed.

She felt around, pulling my cut open so I popped a kiss to her head and reached around her to start the truck. “It’s not mine, darlin’. Everything’s fine.” I pulled from the driveway and once we got to the end of the street, I took a look at the map for the next stop. “One more stop then we can hit the road for a while and get a hotel.”

She blew out a heavy sigh but gripped my arm and rested her head on my shoulder. I grabbed her thigh with my right hand and drove with my left to the next stop. My chest puffed as I let the words old lady run through my mind over and over. I’d be saying them to her soon enough.

Chapter 39

Daisy

Questions swirled in my mind, but I knew better than to ask some of them. Like why Falcon went to some random house then came back out less than ten minutes later with blood splattered on him. In reality, it wasn’t a lot, but any blood randomly showing up was odd. I wondered if that stop and the one we were about to make were why he decided to make this trip. Was I on a run with him?

I didn’t really know what they did on runs, but considering what little I knew about the club, it was reasonable to assume they would have random occurrences to handle. I just didn’t know they made runs to Ohio. But if they made runs from Georgia to Jersey, I supposed a place like Ohio wouldn’t be out of the question. I did wonder why it was okay for me to be on this trip, but not the others. He made it sound like it wasn’t safe for me to be with him on runs and it was all super-secret. I already knew I wasn’t going with him on the next one that took them up near Jersey again. So why now?

I was jerked hard from my racing thoughts about the reason for the trip when we turned down a familiar street. My body tensed and I sucked in a breath, holding it.

“Breathe, Daisy,” Falcon purred as he rubbed my thigh.

Looking around at the neighborhood I once called home, I finally forced out the air in my lungs. “What are we doing here?”

This neighborhood wasn’t much different from the last, except this one was familiar and held so many memories. I often dug deep for a good one and came up empty. My body tensed even more as he pulled into the driveway that I hadn’t set foot on since I was eighteen. It had been almost six years, but I could still see the inside of the tiny white house that appeared. I could almost smell the Marlboro Red 100s that Mom chain-smoked, staining the walls tan.

He put the truck in park and turned the engine off. “I won’t force you to go inside. But we’re here now, and I didn’t want it to eat at you later if you didn’t get the chance to do this.”

I glanced at the tiny house and noticed the blinds being held open, but not wide enough to see who was peeking through them. “We haven’t spoken in so long.” I turned to him, looking for something—maybe guidance? “It was my fault, I think. I’d be so mad if I was her.”

He shook his head. “You didn’t attack her. And if she blames you, fuck her. But you’ll never know if you don’t go check in. I want you to go home with a clear conscience, Daisy.”

“Will you come with me?” I did want to be sure she was okay. It never occurred to me that something could happen to her; I only considered what would happen to me if I had stayed. But remembering some of our last conversations and the vitriol she had for me, I wanted to be sure I had my safe space. He’s my safe space. She never was. She made sure I had food and clothes when I was younger, but as soon as she saw me as some kind of competition, whatever sliver of connection we had died. The only reason she tried to keep her boyfriends away from me was because she was jealous. Of a teenage girl. She wasn’t protecting me; she was fighting me.

Falcon grabbed my hand and pressed his lips to my knuckles. “Always, darlin’. Let’s go.” He climbed from the truck and stuck his hand out for me to come through the driver’s side.

My boots hit the gravel and I squeezed his hand and squinted at the porch. Now the sun wanted to peek out of the clouds. The blinds had someone peeking through again before they fell back into place. As we walked closer, the door opened and I drew in another breath, but Falcon’s gentle squeeze on my hand reminded me to blow it out.

She was dressed in leggings and an oversized t-shirt. Her dark hair was pulled into a short ponytail, and she didn’t seem to have any makeup on. Her arms crossed over her chest. “What are you doing here?” she asked, more curious than accusatory.

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