Page 71 of Hawk

I used the time to look around, hoping Laura was already gone.

“She’s not here.” He grinned too wide for his words to be true as he slowly got to his feet.

“Probably not anymore.”

Understanding flashed in his eyes, and he got in my face. “Move.”

“Make me, shit stain.” I smiled and stood to my full height, which gave me a few inches on him. He shouldered me out of the way, and I followed him into the lone bedroom and the tiny closet in the corner. Then he nodded his head at it. I opened the door and stepped back.

“Where is she?” His voice was filled with disbelief as he stared into the empty closet.

“Who? The woman you didn’t kidnap and weren’t holding here against her will?”

“Don’t fucking get cute with me.” He charged forward, to do what I don’t know, seeing as his hands were bound and he probably was on the way to having a hell of a headache. A smarter man might have moved, but I stood my ground as each step brought him closer and closer. When he was close enough, I lifted my left arm and brought it up to land on his jaw and stop his forward momentum.

Detective Owens collapsed to the floor instantly, unconscious and unmoving.

A perfect knockout.

I checked his pulse to be sure I’d not killed him and rushed outside to make sure my brothers had gotten Laura to safety. I barely made it a few steps before I spotted her blonde hair blowing in the wind, her face buried in the chest of my president. “Laura!”

She spun around and watched me run towards her with wide eyes. “Hawk!”

I wrapped her in my arms and held her close, inhaling her scent as she cried and trembled against my body. “You’re okay. You’re safe now.”

“Thank you,” she sobbed. Her tears soaked my shirt, and her hands clutched me tight. “You came for me, Hawk.”

I kissed the top of her head. “I’ll always come for you. No matter what.”

She pulled back and her gray eyes were red-rimmed and filled with sorrow. “I’m sorry. I should have realized he was a dirty cop, I should have—” she began, when I cut her off.

“Sweetheart, he had everyone fooled. I know you found evidence that he’d faked the date on one of the photos. Kristy told me when she called.”

“I trust you Hawk, you’ve shown me what a good man you are. I don’t care what you do, because I know you’ve got a good moral compass. I trust that you’ll keep us safe, that’s if there’s going to be an us after all this? I mean, if my life is no longer in danger, then we don’t have to pretend to be a couple anymore.”

I smiled at her and kissed her again. Hearing the words from her mouth, knowing that she trusts me, made me happier than I realized. “My little firecracker, of course there’s gonna be an us,” I laughed, and kissed her softly. Slowly. “I love you so fucking much.”

She gasped in shock. “You do?”

“Fuck yeah, I do. I knew I had feelings for you, but it was only when I thought I’d almost lost you, I realized what a hole you would leave in my life. In my heart.” I hated this mushy shit, but I knew Laura needed to hear me.

“Hawk.” She put her hand to the side of my face and smiled. “I love you too. I didn’t want to. I didn’t plan to, either. But you’re pretty hard not to love.”

“I am, aren’t I?”

She laughed. “I’m sorry for not believing you at first,” she said in a more sober tone. “You’ve shown me in so many ways who you are. The man who stepped in to protect me when no one else would. Who looks out for an old man who has no one else in the world. You were there when I found out about Kristy being in the hospital and every damn time, you were there. My shoulder to cry on, a hug when I needed one.” She let out a shaky laugh. “You were the best damn gift I never knew to ask for, Hawk.”

Sirens sounded in the distance, and I knew Diesel had called Sheriff Cross.

“Should we get out of here?” Laura’s brows dipped with concern.

“Hell yeah. We can talk to the sheriff later. Much, much later.” I pulled her close and guided her to my bike where we—literally and figuratively—rode off into the fucking sunset.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Laura

“Are you sure there’s nothing else you want to tell me?” Sheriff Hudson Cross stared at me across the metal interrogation table with a serious expression on his face. He wasn’t a man who tolerated bullshit and it was easy to see how he’d formed an alliance, however tenuous, with the Steel Demons. “It doesn’t matter how small, anything helps.”

---