Page 17 of Taming Hawke

“Cool it, Blaze,” Quill demands. “We will handle this.”

Blaze looks up at Quill and nods his head, then growls, “We better fucking do something, my woman could have been hurt last night, and I’m not taking the risk of that happening.”

“You just keep her safe and we’ll handle the rest,” Quill replies. “Tracker, go back to Ink Me and check the surveillance cameras out front. See if they picked up anything.”

“Got it, Prez,” Tracker replies.

“Hawke?”

“Yeah, Prez?”

“You go with Tracker, from now on we travel with company. I want no one on their own, we don’t know who these fuckers are, and what they want. And I want no mention to Jasmine about this. You got it?” Quill asks, looking at me.

“She ain’t gonna find out from me, man,” I reply, raising my palms to him.

Quill nods, then focuses on everyone in the room. He turns to Blaze. “Blaze, man. Get the shop fixed, and tell Tess we’ll have a member of this club watching the shop till we find out what’s going on.” He taps Blaze on the shoulder, adding, “I promise, brother. I won’t let harm come to her.”

Blaze nods at him, then looks over to me. I nod, letting him know I’ve got him. Tess is like family to us. She’s been coming to this club for a while now, ever since she caught Blaze’s eye, the day he went into her tattoo parlor to get his ink done. I was there that day, able to confirm Blaze was a goner as soon as he set his sights on Tess. He’d played it down, though, acting all smooth, having Tess check out his other ink just so he could show off his muscles to her. And Tess, well, she’s beautiful. Olive skin, dark hair and green eyes, tattoos trailing down her arms. Blaze pretty much fell for her that first day, and it wasn’t long till he made her his old lady.

When Tess was having trouble keeping up with the rent on Ink Me, the Blood Brothers stepped in and took over the rental payments. So you could say it’s our business, but Tess is the one that runs it. She’s fucking amazing at what she does and we wouldn’t want to take it away from her. She does all the club’s tatts, including mine. We all have the Blood Brothers emblem on our backs, and anything else we want.

I’m brought back to the present when I hear the gavel slam down on the wooden table, announcing church is out. One by one we exit the room, and Quill holds me back, pulling on my shoulder. I turn back to face him. “Got a minute?” he says.

I nod, then shut the door when all the brothers have left.

“What’s up?”

Quill rubs his jaw, then looks at me. “Just making sure you’re cool with what went down last night. I mean, with Josie and all?”

I sigh, and take a seat at a nearby chair, resting my head against the back of it. “She’s fucked up, man,” I admit. “She’s taking drugs and dancing at a fucking strip club. The Josie I knew was smart, successful, and full of life. I know I shouldn’t care but… I’m worried about her, brother. She says me leaving turned her to drugs, and I fucking hate that I could be the reason she’s like this.”

Quill kicks my foot as I look up at him. “What the fuck was that for?”

Quill gets up in my face, growling, “You listen here, Hawke. This isn’t on you. You got me?”

I scratch at the hairs on my cheek, thinking about his words.

“Don’t you dare fucking blame yourself, she had it coming. The bitch fucked another man when you were going to marry the woman. Don’t you dare blame yourself. You need to end all ties with her. You got me?”

I tighten my jaw and jump out of my chair, stepping into Quill’s space. “I know she fucked another man, you don’t need to remind me of that, brother,” I say, growling back.

I take a deep breath, trying to control the anger seizing me. I don’t know what the fuck’s up with me. Ever since I saw Josie last night, watching her hurt herself… it’s fucked me up.

“Hey, man. Calm the fuck down. I’m just worried about you, brother,” Quill admits, squeezing my shoulder.

“I know, man. I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m letting it get to me. I mean, she fucked another man. I shouldn’t care what she’s up to these days.”

“You’re a good man, that’s why,” Quill says.

I smirk. “Why do we sound like we’ve grown pussies all of a sudden?”

Quill laughs out loud, and I follow along. “Women….” I shake my head.

“You’re damn straight,” Quill replies, and his face turns serious. “You need to tell Luisa about her. She deserves to know about this. Don’t fuck up what you have with her. Learn from me, brother.”

I nod in agreement. I will, I’ll do it tonight.

“Good man. Now let’s get out of here, I’ve got a few calls to make.”

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