Page 69 of Savage Guardian

Her usually bright whisky eyes were dull but wide in shock at his sudden and forceful appearance. Her skin was pale, and there were dark circles under her eyes. The freckles he loved to count as she lay beside him stood out, a glaring sign of visual sorrow.

Her hair was in a loose topknot, her clothes were baggy and formless, and her feet were bare.

“Hawk!” she squawked. “What the hell are you doing here?” Her voice was hoarse, raspy—because she’d been abusing it, trying to get the album done so Carrie and Jimmy could exploit it.

Shit. Shit. Shit! Now all her anger and venom at Carrie the night before made hideous sense. It wasFaethat put in all the long hours, pouring her heart and soul, and blood, sweat, and tears into the album, but it was Carrie and Jimmy who planned to take the music on tour…withoutthe one who’d made it all possible.

If he hadn’t felt like a giant piece of shit before, he certainly did now.

Words tumbled from his mouth before he could stop them.

“It’s you—you’reAoibheal,” he cried, gripping the back of his neck in his trembling hands. He sucked in a breath and willed his heart to stop racing. In the sound booth, Teddy was glaring at him, his beady eyes filling with hatred.

Well, he hated himself, too.

Fae shook her head frantically. “N-no, you’re wrong. C-Carrie is Aoibheal—y-you know that,” she bleated, terror in her eyes.

Why was she so scared for him to know the truth?

“Come on, Fae, you don’t have to lie to me,” he pleaded. “I fucking heard you singing…aboutme.”

The paleness of her face exploded into pinks and reds, her eyes now glittering.

“So, not only am I Aoibheal, but I’m also writing songs about you, the asshole of all assholes. Why would I do that, huh? After what you did, you think you deserve a song written about you?”

Ah, Lord, she was getting sassy now. Annnnnd, she had givenherselfaway.

He fought the chuckle working its way up his tight throat.

Her feistiness, that Scottish fire, was much better than the sadness that had been cloaking her when he’d first busted into the room.

At his smirk—one he couldn’t hide even if he was trying—she crossed her arms and huffed angrily, like the adorable little fairy he now knew her to be.

God…Fae is Aoibheal….And why did it feel like he’d known it all along? From that first moment he’d met her, even until he’d walked into the studio, he’d felt the rightness of her. And the wrongness of Carrie. But he’d been so blind, willingly so, because he’d been caught up in Carrie’s obvious, in your face, beauty, that he hadn’t first seen Fae’s inner beauty…and how is shined through to the whole of her.

Stalking toward her, he gave in to the desperate need to pull her into his arms, reaching out to grasp her and tug her toward him.

Something from the corner of his eye flashed, making him tense, dragging Fae’s smaller body into his. But before he could turn to see what had triggered his instincts, blinding pain slammed through the back of his head. Fae’s terrified screams echoed through his ears…following him into darkness.

Hawk came awake with a grunt and a roar. Rolling from his back to his side, he peered up through the blur in his eyes at a familiar kutte.

“Trouble?” he ground out, his thoughts foggy.

“Come on, man, lemme help you,” Trouble said, helping Hawk stumble to his feet. “Sit. You’ve been out a while.”

Hawk dropped into a chair and winced at the pain in the back of his head.

What the fuck happened?

“Fuck. Why does my head feel like Hell Hound was playing Skynyrd with my head as the snare?”

“Fuck you, I wouldn’t play Skynyrd, I’d play CCR…lots more top drum.”

Hawk tried to snort, but the pain in his head made bile collect in his mouth.

“What the hell happened?” he finally asked, blinking away the blurry vision to glare up at his VP. Beside Trouble was Hell Hound and Grimm. Both looking pale as fuck despite the dark humor of the last few moments.

Grimm answered, “When Madden hadn’t seen you for over twenty minutes, he got suspicious and sent in Jenkins, staying with Carrie in the truck. Jenkins found the front door locked, but went around to the back. The back door was open. Found you inside, unconscious, head bleeding.”

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