Page 30 of Phantom Riders MC: Hawk

I ignored everything this man did to me. I had to. It was the only way I’d survive. He was too primal, too raw, too appealing and dangerous to my libido. “You’re a pig!” I was angry at myself. My wanting Hawk the way that I did, so soon after leaving Dane, confused and frightened me. The sex between Dane had never made me want to lose control like this, had never left me feeling the consuming hunger that was even now claiming my senses.

“Is it?” He took a step forward as if to intimidate me, his expression never changing. “Answer my fucking question.”

“You can go to hell!” I swore, losing control because at that very second it seemed as if everything I’d been through since watching Dane commit murder was choking me and slowly squeezing the life out of me. The desperation I felt, the helplessness, it was just too much. I had nothing, not even the clothes on my back, and the man who had all the control was using my weakness for him against me.

“Maybe I’ll just find out for myself.” He reached for me.

“No!” I ducked, but he managed to grasp my arm. Without thinking I swung, slapping him across the face as hard as I could. The sound echoed through the room like a gun blast. As I struggled to get free, he easily dragged my arms behind my back and secured my wrists in one of his big hands.

“What are you afraid of?” he grated down at me between his teeth.

“Not you!” I fired back, aware that we were flush against one another. I could barely breathe against Hawk’s unyielding form, the man felt like a pillar of concrete. There was nothing I could do to hurt him, but my frustration level was at its highest and everything in me wanted to fight him. Our close proximity was making me feel things I should be too angry to notice.

“Prez—” We both stopped and swung our gazes to the door. The man I knew as Rock had opened the door and was standing in the threshold. “Sorry for interrupting,” he smirked. “Dirk just rolled in and he’s fucking pissed.”

“Alone?” Hawk snapped.

“Yep.”

“Fuck.” He looked down at me. “Take Audra to my room—”

“Wait,” I cut him off in a desperate tone. There was no way he was going to keep me prisoner somewhere. “You can’t lock me up in some room. It’s against the law.” A laugh burst from Rock at that. “I’ll, I’ll be good!” I cringed at the sound of those pitiful words leaving my lips. I was an adult, for Christ sakes! But something in me knew that I was in a situation beyond my control at the moment.

One menacing brow rose at my comment as Hawk’s eyes blazed down at me. He kept me trapped against his unyielding body, and while I was aware of every hard inch of him, including the throbbing bar between his legs, it occurred to me that if I was going to get any control that I was going to have to say and do things that I might not be otherwise be accepting of. I reminded myself that staying here under his protection was an unexpected benefit.

A gift.

A muscle twitched in his jaw as he weighed my words, and then he released a deep breath. “Rock—”

“I’m not a fuckin’ babysitter,” he growled, obviously anticipating what Hawk was about to say.

“He killed someone!” I blurted out, gaining both their attention. Hawk’s sharp gaze swung back to me, demanding that I explain my sudden outburst. “Dane. I saw him kill someone. That’s why he’s after me.”

“Fucking hell, woman.” He stared at me long and hard, digesting that news before turning back to Rock and warning, “Keep her with you while I deal with Dirk.”

Rock looked like pure evil on a stick, but I sensed that he wouldn’t hurt me. Hawk handed me off to him and then we were walking to where their club room was in the back. The same activities seemed to be going on as before, with the same people. Only this time there were a few more women present.

Hawk continued to where a tall, young biker was standing at the bar, drinking and chatting up one of the women. I noticed right away that he wasn’t wearing a Phantom Riders cut, his said “Blue Knights.” Rock directed me to the corner pool table with a firm hand at the small of my back, but I kept my gaze on Hawk. I noticed when he and the Blue Knights biker finally acknowledged each other that there wasn’t any man hug or fist bumps, which told me a lot.

“I don’t play pool.” I wasn’t sure why I said it, except that Rock had taken a pool cue from a rack on the wall. There were four other men already playing, and I had to suffer their leering appraisals.

“Didn’t ask you,” he responded gruffly.

“You’re such a nice man,” I said sweetly, receiving a round of chuckles from the others. Rock just glared at me and proceeded to line up for a shot.

I shrugged and sat down on one of the vacant stools, and it was then that I noticed that Hawk and the other man had disappeared.

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