Page 60 of Phantom Riders MC: Hawk

The gunfight didn’t last long. Once Dane was safely away the rest of his men made their way in the same direction, shooting as they went. “Let them go!” I yelled when the last of Dane’s men were out of sight. “Big John, Jumper, follow to make sure they all get on that fucking plane. I don’t want anyone left behind.”

“Hawk—”

Smoke lingered heavily in the air, the acrid smell stinging my nose and eyes, and the place was shot the fuck up. When it was over Keg and three of Winthrop’s men were on the floor. Nothing fucking mattered except for the woman throwing herself into my arms, her tiny body of curves sinking into mine. My arms closed around her awkwardly as an unfamiliar feeling surged through my blood. Fucking hell, what was happening to me?

This woman wasn’t just getting to me.

She had me!

“You’re safe now, babe.” I ran my hand up and down her back, as much for my comfort as hers.

“Thank you for coming for me,” she breathed against my chest. I wasn’t wearing a shirt beneath my cut and the feel of her warm breath across my flesh fucking scorched me. I felt my dick twitch because she’d spoken the words against my nipple. My hand went to the back of her head, clenching into the soft thickness of her hair. I crushed her against me.

A snicker from my brother’s brought harsh reality back. “We have work to do, brothers,” I growled, gently pushing Audra back. “Make sure the suits are dead and take their weapons.”

“What about Keg?” Ned asked.

“We take him with us. I don’t want to leave any signs that we were involved in this shit.” My gaze caught on a pair of bloody jeans on the floor. “Yours?” Audra nodded. “What the fuck happened?” I scowled, touching the gauze on her upper thigh.

“Keg shot me when I tried to run. It’s just a graze.” she said. We both looked down at him, and I wished the fucker were alive so I could kill him again. “This was Dane paying him back for delivering me.”

I’d already figured the man was untrustworthy. I reached for her jeans. “Think you can get these on?” I didn’t want her on the back of my bike without protection for her legs.

She nodded and took the jeans from me. “He wasn’t going to kill me, Hawk. Dane. He has a place in Canada.” Her comment drew my gaze to where she’d dropped down onto the couch. “He wants to take me there.”

I clenched my jaw. The bastard had plans to keep her a prisoner somewhere. I’d seen it happen with obsessed, controlling fucks before. Audra was still in danger, but it would be over my dead body that Dane Winthrop would get his hands on her again. Christ, I had to get her back to the club to look at those pictures. If she recognized Dominick as the man her ex had killed we could dump this shit in Covacks lap and end it once and for all. If by some fucking miracle Winthrop hadn’t murdered Dominick, then I’d go after the bastard myself.

Big John and Jumper came back into the house. “Bastards are gone, Prez.”

I acknowledged them with a chin lift. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.” I noticed Audra’s wince when she stood to do up her jeans. Before she could take a step, I scooped her up.

“I can walk.” She smiled.

“Yeah, but I can take four steps to your one.”

“I’m sorry about Keg, Hawk,” she said, surprising me.

She had nothing to feel sorry about. “Don’t be, he made his decisions.”

“I know, but if Dane hadn’t offered so much money to find me Keg wouldn’t have done what he did.”

I looked down at her. “Money is a powerful incentive, babe, makes people weak, but there’s an order in which we do shit. The club is a brotherhood, we don’t go against it. We stick together and have each other’s backs at all times. Keg let the dollar signs fuck up his thinking. If it hadn’t been this situation, it would have been something else later.”

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“You want me to blame you for this shit?” I asked, moving toward the trees where my bike was. She quieted and looked down, shielding those beautiful greens from me. “It’s done, Audra, and after today this shit with your ex ends, too, one way or another.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean he’s going to die.” I placed her on the back of my bike and mounted. I probably shouldn’t have said anything, but she deserved to know her trouble with Dane would be over permanently. “BK−” He turned my way. “You and a prospect bring a van back for Keg and his bike and make it fucking quick.” He nodded and kicked his bike to life.

The noise of our bikes revving up sounded like rumbling thunder as the rest of my brothers did the same. They held back until I moved into position in front of the line, and then we were off. Audra wrapped her arms around me tightly. I felt her hugging my body close. She was safe for now, and I intended to keep it that way. When the time came to turn her loose she wouldn’t have any worries. She’d be able to live the way she wanted, without looking over her shoulder.

It occurred to me that I could have turned her the fuck loose at any time. She wasn’t my responsibility, and never had been. The truth was that the minute she’d planted her sweetly rounded ass on my bike, I’d fucking wanted her. Sure, there’d been the possibility that she meant trouble for the club and we’d needed to find that out, there was always that. Anything that threatened the club had to be dealt with, but right then she meant more trouble for me, than for the club.

I had to turn her loose.

Before it was too late and I couldn’t.

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