Page 45 of Savage Guardian

“That’s not a coincidence,” Hell Hound weighed in, speaking Hawk’s thoughts.

“It isn’t, because the woman there, on the screen, she wasn’t the one who sent the emails—the very intimate, detailed, worthy of eyeball bleach emails to Jasper.”

Hawk cursed. “So the perv was catfished.”

“Looks like.” AFK clicked on something else, then announced, “Jasper arrived at McCarren on Tuesday, checked into his motel two hours later, and there has been no activity on his credit cards sense.”

Hawk turned to Grimm. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“There’s a headless body in his motel room?” Grimm replied, his expression…grim.

“Yeah.”

Odin grunted, his big body tense as fuck. “I’ll call Benson, slip him the info about Jasper Dalton, see what he finds. It’s an official murder investigation, and while I’d like to go psycho hunting, we need to be careful how involved we get. It isn’t just the club we have to worry about, it’s also SP, and those two ladies. We need to make sure things stay clean, so when this psycho is caught, he’ll get his.”

He’llgethis? Fuck that. After what he did to Fae—and what Hawk believed the man was willing to do, the psycho fuck deserved club justice.

“In the meantime, we need to up the protection on Carrie and Fae,” Trouble declared, making Hawk stiffen, glaring at Trouble. It washisjob to post protection on the Aoibheal team. What the fuck was Trouble doing?

The VP, unfazed by Hawk’s visual vitriol, continued, “I know you got Hawk, Madden, and Jenkins on Carrie, but it feels like the guy knew Carrie wouldn’t be at the studio, that Fae would be there. If he is as vigilant as I suspect he is, he would’a known who’d be there simply by observin’ the comin’s and goin’s. It ain’t like the studio is in the middle of nowhere. He probably camped in his car along the street and watched the buildin’, waitin’ for the perfect time to drop his package and watch for the pickup and reaction from a close distance.”

“Fuck,” Hell Hound barked. “He was probably there watching the police roll up, and then our brothers.”

A sickness bubbled in Hawk’s belly, his chest tightening. The psycho fucker was watching, more than likely saw Hawk with Fae. And if the asshole’s attempt to get club info on Hawk was any sign, the fucker was focused on Hawk, too. Now Hawk had to wonder…had he put a target on Fae’s back, or was there already one there?

Hell, shit just got more complicated.

Should have kept your fucking hands off her, because now the bone-deep need to protect her had dug itself into his goddamn soul.

“She can stay here with me.” He didn’t know where the words came from, but as soon as Hawk spoke them, he knew they were the right ones. Because he needed her there with him, where he could keep his eyes on her, his arms around her. “Fae can stay here. She’s already familiar with the clubhouse, and the women can keep her company when she isn’t working.”

“What about Carrie? She’s the client, Hawk, or did you forget that?” Grimm responded, a warning in his voice, which told Hawk Grimm still didn’t like the answered he’d been given earlier that morning.

“No, I didn’t forget.” How to explain his desperate urge to be with the sister of the woman he’d been obsessing over for nearly two years? His brothers had given him shit about his adoration of the Celtic singer. What would they think if he suddenly showed favoritism to the sister?

Doesn’t matter what they think. Fae needs me.

So why had he left her alone in his bed after fucking her into exhaustion the night before?

Because he was an asshole, that’s why. An asshole who couldn’t figure out what the fuck he was doing, thinking, feeling….

“She’s already here. She can just stay here. We’ll put two more guys on Carrie, two outside the hotel room, and another two when she leaves the room. She’ll be protected on all sides at all times.”

“And Fae?” Odin prodded, his expression knowing. Fuck.

“She’ll be protected on the compound, and me, Preston, or Dragon will be with her whenever she needs to go back to the studio or run Carrie’s errands.”

After long minutes, Grimm turned to Odin, both men communicating with their eyes.

“Agreed,” Odin grunted. “Fang, go get the lady so we can inform her of her new living situation. Grimm, call your boys, tell them to bring the sister.”

Suddenly faced with the knowledge that he would see Fae, explaining to her about the psycho, their suspicions about being watched, and her new reality, Hawk’s blood turned to ice…even as his body burned.

She woke up alone, the bed cold beside her. Hawk hadn’t stayed the night, which she wanted to believe was him being courteous, giving her space to keep things from getting awkward, or him keeping up appearances of a professional bodyguard and his client’s sister. She wanted to believe that, that he hadn’t meant to hurt her by his absence, but hoping wasn’t reality. His absence stung. He’d sexed her up so good her lady parts were still throbbing, her body was still strung out, her mind was still reeling. But the morning after was a stark reminder that Hawk wasn’t hers. He’d fucked her and left while she was still asleep.

More than anything, the empty bed beside her had proved that his endearments spoken in the moment were empty. To him,mo chridhemeant nothing.

“You’re a one-night stand, Fae,” she whispered into the early morning light spilling into the room. “Get over it. He’s probably regretting the whole thing, anyway.” She’d never been a one-night stand before. Never had the balls to attempt it and never had a man interested enough to seduce her. Not that Hawk had to do all that much to get her into his bed. And once she was there….

---