Page 30 of Wife Number One

Hawk snorted in amusement but quickly covered it with a scowl.

The officer continued to stare me down. “Is this what we have here, Chaos? A resurgence of violence on these streets that have been real fucking peaceful since you moved away?”

I hadn’t moved anywhere. I was just off their radar. And this was why I kept such a low profile, hanging out in Simon’s diner or staying home. Because the minute I poked my head out, my past came back to slap me in the face.

The cop’s gaze shifted to Hawk. “War know you’re in here fighting with the Sinners?” he asked, referring to the Slayers’ president, War Maynard.

Hawk gave the officer his most charming grin. One I was surprised he could even muster. “Don’t know what you’re talking about, sir. The Sinners and the Slayers are the best of friends.”

“Gag me with a fucking spoon,” I muttered.

Hawk moved in closer to me and whispered back, “I’d really love to, but not in front of the po-po. Now smile like we’re best fucking friends so we can get out of here.” He slung an arm around my shoulder like we were posing for a tourist photo. “Nothing to see here, Officer. Isn’t that right, Chaos?” Hawk asked, saying my gang name like the slur it was. “There was a bit of fisticuffs with some drunken fools who wandered over after the hockey game and tried to feel up a waitress, but that’s all. We kicked them out, and I was just checking to see if Chaos needed any medical attention.”

I shrugged his arm off my shoulders. “I think I’d rather die in a pool of my own blood if it’s all the same to you.”

“That’s not what you were saying last time I saved your life,” Hawk threw back with a smug smirk. “Pretty sure you begged me to help you.”

I stared at him. “I was fucking unconscious. And then you kept me prisoner in your basement.”

Hawk wandered over to the officer and crossed his arms over his chest, mimicking the cop’s posture. “I do think he protests too much. Don’t you?”

The cop’s gaze bounced between us like he was at a tennis game. “He what? He kept you…” Eventually, he sighed and took out a pair of handcuffs. “You’re both under arrest.”

Hawk dropped the mocking stance immediately. “What the fuck for?”

I cleared my throat and motioned at my black, swelling eye. “Uh, hello? On the floor fucking injured. And I’m under arrest? He’s the one with a gun.”

The cops eyes widened, and suddenly his friend pounced, one of them tackling Hawk to the floor while another patted him down, removing the gun that had been pointed at my head just minutes earlier.

“Concealed weapon.” The cop twisted Hawk’s arm up behind him as he dug a knee into his back. “You don’t think you should have disclosed that when we first arrived, son?”

“I prefer to go by Daddy rather than son,” Hawk bit back, his voice kind of muffled from the officers on top of him. But didn’t resist the arrest. His smart-assed mouth earned him another sharp knee to the back though.

I smiled smugly, enjoying watching Hawk get his perfect face smushed into the dirty linoleum floor.

He groaned. “Can you ease up with that? I never said I wanted you to call me Daddy. Fuck. Unless you’re hiding a sweet set of tits and a pussy that tastes like maple syrup beneath that uniform, you aren’t my type. Try pretty boy over there if you want to get your dick sucked.” He jerked his head in my direction.

Hawk calling me pretty was fucking hilarious when he looked more like the love child of movie stars than the trailer trash, MC kid he actually was.

Ignoring Hawk, the cop moved in behind me and slapped cold metal around one of my wrists. It had been a while since I’d felt the grating bracelets, and I couldn’t say I’d missed them. The cop pulled them tighter, his voice low in my ear. “That true, Chaos? You like to suck dick? You a fucking faggot?”

“Why?” I asked him sweetly. “You want to be my boyfriend?”

It was like I hadn’t been out at all.

I’d stepped straight back into that twenty-something asshole who ran his mouth and got himself in trouble all the fucking time.

When I found myself in the back of a cop car with Hawk on the other side of the bench seat, I didn’t even know why I was surprised.

10

HAWK

Nothing ever changed at the Providence Police Department. Not the scuffed-up concrete floors. Not the bustle of cops moving around the space, acting like they were the kings of the world. Not the smell of unwashed bodies and shit because the holding cells never got cleaned properly.

I shuddered at the sight of the metal toilet in the corner of the processing room Chaos and I had been locked in.

“That’s so fucking unsanitary,” I complained, screwing up my face. “I can’t even think about how many fucking germs are crawling all over this place.” I itched to wash my hands, but they were cuffed behind my back so the best I could do was wipe them on the back of my jeans.

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