Page 67 of Taming Hawke

I watch as everyone enters the room. Tracker nods at me when he sees me, and then Trigger, Gunner, Bear, and the others. They must know something’s up.

Quill slams the gavel and announces, “Brothers, we’re all here this morning because Hawke has something he needs to say.”

All eyes are on me and I inhale deeply. “Last night at the wedding, I received a call from Santana.”

“Santana!” Quill growls. “You left without telling me he called? Are you fucking crazy?”

I stare at Quill. “Calm the fuck down, and let me explain before everyone here goes apeshit on my ass.”

“Spit it, Hawke!” Quill shouts, and I can see he’s breathing heavily with his rage.

I focus my gaze around the room of men. “Most of you know that I’ve been engaged before.” I hear a few grunts, and some whispering. My eyes lock with Trigger’s and he lifts his chin in understanding.

“Quiet!” Quill shouts and all voices mute.

“Like I was sayin’, I was engaged before. To keep a long story short, she cheated on me, so I cancelled the wedding. When we were at Black Panthers last week, for Prez’s bachelor party, Josie was up there on stage.”

“Shit, man, your ex is a stripper?” Gunner jokes.

My hands wrap around my mug, trying to hold back my anger. I narrow my eyes at Gunner. “Shut the fuck up, I’m trying to explain here. When I knew her she was a fucking PA, working for a design company.”

“Sorry, man,” Gunner apologizes. “I was only having a dig at ya.”

“Don’t have time, Gunner, we’ve got bigger problems then my ex being a stripper.”

“Go on, Hawke,” Quill says, leaning back in his chair with his fists resting on the table.

“Anyway, she’s gotten herself into trouble, on drugs and shit. She reckons she started when I left her. But the reason for her doing the drugs is not the issue here, it’s the person supplying the drugs to her. He was the one that sent us the warning.”

“Santana,” Quill says on a low breath.

I look over at him and nod. “That’s right.”

“Wait a minute,” Blaze says. “He’s the one that sent a brick through my old lady’s shop?”

I link my fingers and tap my thumbs together. “That’s right, it was him.”

“What the fuck! What does he want with my old lady?”

“It wasn’t a hit against Tess, Blaze, it was a warning to our club.” I look over to Quill and focus on his eyes. “He knows you killed your old man, now he wants us to take his place as distributor.”

Quills face turns to stone, and I can see his jaw tensing with anger at what I just revealed. “What. The. Fuck! And you kept this from me?” Quill yells as he bangs his fists against the wooden table.

I jolt back in my seat in shock. “Just listen to me,” I say needing to explain everything.

“You better start talking, brother,” he says with a snarl.

I continue. “Santana kidnapped Josie and threatened me with her life, unless I went to meet with him right away. He also said that if I wanted her to stay safe, to not mention our meeting to anyone. So I did as he said. We all know that Santana is a man of his word. So I did everything he asked of me.”

“What exactly did he say?”

“He wanted me to try and convince you to take over from your old man, as distributor.”

“And if you can’t convince me?”

“Then Josie will lose her life, and we will be in a motherfucking war with the Colombians.”

“Grrrrr! When is this going to fucking end?” Quill growls loudly again as he gets up from his seat, kicks his chair, and begins to pace the room.

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