Page 18 of Phantom Riders MC: Hawk

Keg shrugged. “I only saw two.”

“Why would anyone have a barbeque way out here?”

Audra’s naive question received snorts from Keg and Clay. I grinned. She didn’t want to know, but I had a feeling she was about to find out. “Okay, let’s go.”

We slowed down as we rode up to the fire, which wasn’t very far off the road. There was no denying what the Blue Knights had been burning. The charred remains of a body were clearly evident in the flames. Stupid fucks. They had a lot to learn. Fire didn’t destroy everything, and they’d left plenty of fucking DNA behind.

I felt Audra tense behind me. “Ohmygod!” She shuddered violently. “Who—what—what kind of monster—”

“Don’t look.” I knew it was too late, but I said it anyway. The movement I felt afterwards told me that she’d turned her face away. I could feel her cheek rub against my shoulder and the trembling in her arms.

“They better hope the bastard doesn’t have dental records,” Clay remarked as we came to a stop. The fire had burned away the lips and enough flesh surrounding the mouth to show a full set of perfect teeth. “Wonder who the poor fucker was.”

“Wait a minute.” Keg got off his bike and moved close to the fire. He kicked at something on the ground, and then bent to pick it up. “Holy fuck,” he growled in an ominous tone.

“What is it, brother?” I narrowed my gaze at the shiny object in his hands. He walked back to me holding his hand out, and dropped a heavy gold ring in my palm. It was a man’s, large and expensive, with the initials DC. Finding something so obvious told me a lot. “They wanted the body identified.”

Clay leaned in to take a look. “Fuck, they offed Covacks’ son, Dominick?”

“They’re either dumb as dirt or they have a fucking death wish.”

Keg was right, on both counts. Covacks was wealthy and powerful and had a small army of mercenaries on his payroll. He owned as many illegal conglomerates as he did legal, one of which was the underground fighting in Last Hope, New Hampshire. It was one of the very few neutral grounds for all biker clubs, the irony being that they went there to fight. Covacks kept tight control, though. Fighting was kept in the ring.

I’d gone a round with his personal fighters after hearing how lethal they were. I’d wanted to see for myself just how good they were before sending any of my brothers into the ring with them. It was one thing to set brother upon brother to let off a little steam and win some money for their club, but everyone knew that Covacks’ fighters were trained to fucking kill or he lost a lot of his own green. Well, they hadn’t fucking killed me, and the club was a little richer for it.

I pocketed the bulky ring and then took out my phone and snapped a few pictures of what appeared to be the smoking remains of Covacks’ only son. The Blue Knights were fucked if it really turned out to be Dominick, and he wouldn’t just go after the killer, he’d go after their whole fucking club. For a new MC with little resources and even less smarts they wouldn’t stand a chance.

“The smell…can we please go?”

Yeah, it was fucking bad. The combination of copper, sulfur, and something sickly sweet was enough to turn the strongest stomach. There wasn’t another smell like that of burning flesh, and it was something you never forgot. If you were really unlucky the smell could stay inside your sinuses for days. I couldn’t blame Audra for wanting to get the fuck out of there.

Before long we’d put a mile behind us, and then another and another, until we were nearing the end of the day. I’d hoped to find an abandoned house to spend the night in, but by the time we stopped there were none in sight. That was fucking okay with me and my brothers, and nothing new when we were traveling. I fucking preferred sleeping out in the open anyway. It agreed with our free way of life philosophy.

We pulled off the small, narrow road into a field, parking our bikes under a cluster of trees. “We have a short ride tomorrow,” I said to Audra, helping her off.

She stretched with a moan before running her hands down her backside. “Thank, God.” Her tone revealed that she was achy and tired. “Then what? Will you report that murder?”

I glared at her long and hard, knowing that she could see my eyes in spite of the fucking darkness. “No.” I dismounted. “If I was gonna do that I would have called it in.” I walked away from her to the nearest tree to take a piss.

“But, that’s insane, Hawk. Someone died in that fire. Those other bikers—” Audra was right behind me and it was obvious that she was getting worked up.

“Look,” I swung on her with a snarl. “Let me give you a brief history of our life, baby.” Her shoulders were small beneath my hands as I grabbed them and pushed her up against that same tree. “We don’t call cops, for the same reason that we took care of those men back at Juicy Lucy’s we take care of our own problems and have our own set of laws. We’re not weekend warriors pretending to be hard-core bikers after the nine-to-five-job is done for the week. We eat, breath, and die for this life.” She was struggling against my hold, a rush of angry breath leaving her mouth. “And that reminds me.” I lowered my face close to hers. “While you’re on the back of my bike, you don’t question me, ever. You don’t challenge me. When a biker puts a woman on the back of his bike he’s committing himself to protecting her. She belongs to him.”

I could tell that she didn’t like that, not one little bit. Her mouth opened and closed like a goldfish out of water, gasping for air. It might have been funny if I hadn’t had to pee so fucking bad. I released her and stepped behind the tree, unzipping my pants. As I emptied my bladder the relief was instant. Audra was still standing where I’d left her when I stepped back out from behind the tree, zipping up my jeans. Our eyes clashed.

“Belong to you?” Her expression revealed that she thought I was crazy, the hands on her hips said she was eager for a fight. “One blowjob doesn’t give you the right—”

“Blowjob! You got lucky, Prez?” Clay snorted, drawing our attention.

A sharp sound of outrage escaped Audra. I crossed my arms and smirked down at her. Her embarrassment at forgetting that we weren’t alone was obvious. I could just imagine the green of her eyes shooting sparks of fire. It would have been better if she hadn’t reminded me of the mind-blowing orgasm she’d given me the other night, because now my cock was hard and wanted attention.

“You giving away blowjobs, pretty lady?” A cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth, Keg shook out his bedroll.

“You wish!” Audra snapped, and then rolled her eyes. “God, I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore. I’m involved with a bunch of horny, filthy-mouthed bikers!”

Keg and Clay both broke out in laughter, while I just stared down at her, visualizing her mouth wrapped around my dick. Just the thought made my dick jerk, the movement drawing her attention to the front of my pants. I didn’t even try to cover up my predicament. Why should I?

Her gaze flew back up to mine. “Horny, filthy—”

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