Reclaimed (12 page)

I flinched, hating being called his ol’ lady. I didn’t want to be his ol’ lady. I wanted to be his wife. Not that I was going to tell him that. “You knew how much it meant to me to put myself through school, Hawk. I wanted to be able to do this on my own. My mother had to rely on my father for every penny she had. I didn’t want to follow in her footsteps.”

He jerked as if I’d actually hit him. “Is that how you see it? Is that how I make you feel? Are you comparing us to your damn parents?”

I shook my head. “Of course not. I just want to be able to do this on my own.”

“You are doing this on your own. You’re working your ass off for every dime you get. Baby, you’re an amazing woman and you will be a kick-ass lawyer. You’re doing it all on your own. Who the hell cares who is paying you to do it as long as you are earning it?” He sighed, as if exhausted. “But if you keep comparing everything that you do to everything that happened with your mom, and everything that we do to their relationship…” He shook his head. “What do I have to do to prove to you that I’m not him, Gracie?”

It was my turn to jerk. Was that what I was doing? I frowned down at Jenkins’ desk. Maybe I had been making comparisons without realizing what I was doing. In my need to not become the victim my mother had been, I was twisting myself into knots. I didn’t want to compare Hawk to Craig Morgan. They were as different as night and day. Hawk was a scary biker who hid what a great guy he was, whereas my father had been a nice-looking man who had hid what a monster he really was.

My chin trembling, I finally lifted my head to look at him once more. “You still lied to me.”

“Yeah, I did, and I’m sorry, baby. I knew that if I didn’t, you wouldn’t accept the money and I wasn’t about to let the woman I love kill herself working two jobs to achieve her dreams.” He gave me a tender smile. “Don’t let this come between us, Gracie. I won’t keep anything else from you if you will just put your pride aside and accept the life I can offer you.”

I grimaced, realizing that it had been my pride that had been hurt more than anything else. Bruised pride mixed with the return of the jealousy I’d been feeling the night before as I’d seen Hawk and Flick stare each other down had made the slice to my heart feel like I was hemorrhaging from the inside.

“I love you, Gracie.”

A knot clogged my throat and I had to swallow several times before I could speak. “I-I love you too, Hawk.”

Strong arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me against his hard body. I closed my eyes and drew in one deep breath after another as I let his touch heal all the broken parts of my heart. His scent filled my nose and I couldn’t help but shiver with a need that only this man could make me ache with. “When you get home tonight I’m locking us in our room,” he growled against my ear, making me shiver yet again. “Fuck, I thought I had lost you.”

I shook my head against his chest. “That wouldn’t have happened. Just because I was upset didn’t mean I would have left you.” Just the thought of ending things with him made me feel like I was being torn in half. I couldn’t live without him.

The rumbling of an engine by the window confused me. Hawk and I both lifted our heads to look for the source. I saw through the opened blinds the beat-up van roll past, and I frowned when I caught a glimpse of a man in a ski mask. It was hot out. What the heck did anyone need a ski mask for?

That question barely had time to flitter through my head when Hawk was pushing me behind the desk. Gunshots rang through the air and I felt a sharp pain in my right arm as Hawk grabbed my waist and threw us both on the ground, rolling until he was covering my entire body with his own. 

His face was twisted in pain, his breathing labored as he gazed down at me. “You okay? 

“I’m good,” I rushed to assure him. My arm hurt and I didn’t know if I’d been shot or if it was just a piece of glass that had caught me. Right then I wasn’t worried about myself. “You?”

He didn’t answer and his eyes started to droop, the pain twisting his face and making tears burn my eyes. He didn’t have to say it. I knew he’d been shot just from that look alone. The blood that was soaking through his shirt and into my own only confirmed it. 

“Hawk!” I cried when the heavy breathing in my ear didn’t sound so harsh. “Don’t close your eyes. Please. Stay with me. Don’t close your eyes.”

“Love you.” His voice was slurred.

My cry was drowned out by the sound of squealing tires outside the office window. Seconds later the entire building shook as the van plowed into the room through the window. It was like the whole room exploded from the force. More glass broke, bricks went flying like missiles and then the room was nothing but a dust storm, choking what little breath I still had from me.

Hawk was dead weight on top of me now and tears fell from my eyes like hot spears as I prayed that it was because he was just unconscious and not…dead. With his chest pressed against my own, I could barely feel his weak heartbeat and I only wanted to hold on to him as I prayed he wouldn’t die.

I heard a door open and the heavy feet running in our direction, but my fear was only for the man I loved. “Hawk,” I whispered, fighting back a sob in pure terror. “I love you. Please don’t leave me.”

Two pairs of feet stopped right by my head and I couldn’t contain my whimper as they rolled Hawk’s motionless body off of me. Two men in dark clothes and ski masks lifted me to my feet roughly. I struggled against their hold, fighting them with everything I had. But they must have been experts at taking people against their will because they handled me with confidence, making my attempts to break free look pathetic.

Knowing I was helpless, I tried to glance at Hawk again—wanting the last thing I saw to be the man I loved. A punch to the jaw had my head spinning. My teeth snapped together hard and I bit my tongue, causing blood to flood my mouth. The pain in my jaw was so intense that it made me dizzy and I was helpless as one of the masked men tossed me over his shoulder easily and dropped me onto the hard floor of the van.

The man who had picked me up jumped into the van, kicking my legs out of his way as he said something in what sounded like Italian to my dazed mind. My thigh throbbed where he’d kicked me and I thought I heard sirens in the distance but couldn’t be sure as the driver reversed so fast and hard that the smell of burned rubber choked me.

“Tie her up.” The driver spoke in heavily accented English this time. “Cover her eyes.”

I scooted backward, fear making my stomach heave as I tried to get away from the man who had kicked me. I barely got a foot away when he was punching me again. I saw stars for half a second before the darkness swallowed me whole.

Chapter Seven

Felicity

“
…SHE’S FINE.”

I was only half listening as Jet spoke to Ciro. We were standing in Willa and Spider’s kitchen while he spoke to my cousin, but I couldn’t seem to pay attention to much of what Jet was saying. My head was turned upside-down after the last twenty-four hours.

Just the day before, things had been crazy, but I’d been where I knew I was needed. Wanted. Today there was a new craziness fucking with my life, but I wasn’t needed, and after the welcome Hawk had given me I knew I wasn’t wanted there. I didn’t know what Jet was thinking bringing me back, but all I wanted was to be back on that stupid bus I’d called home all summer with Jagger and Mia and the rest of my newfound family.

“See you then.”

I lifted my head as Jet snapped one of his burner phones shut and turned to face me. “He’s coming himself?” I asked more to break the silence than the need to know. Of course Ciro was coming himself. Not only because I was family and this now affected me, but because the Santino family needed dealing with, and Ciro was good at dealing with this kind of shit.

Jet nodded his head once. “Should be here by tonight.”

“Good.” I wrapped my arms around myself and looked out the kitchen window again so I didn’t have to meet his gaze.

“Flick, if you’re having second thoughts about me going back to the Club, tell me now.”

At that my head snapped back around. His green eyes were dark with an emotion it had been too long for me to decipher in this man. Had I ever really been able to? I didn’t honestly know.

I didn’t know why he thought his being in the Club or not made a difference to me. It had never been the Club that had bothered me. It had been the other women and then his trying to make me into the one thing I’d always promised myself I would never be. My mother.

I’d fallen in love with all of Jet Hannigan. That included the big, badass, biker club president. I’d liked how alpha he was. How possessive he’d been of me once upon a time. Back then I’d been in no doubt of how much he had wanted me. But eventually even that had been an issue for us, because wanting me wasn’t loving me, and all I had ever truly wanted was his love. Sadly enough, I knew that if he had given me just that little bit of himself I would have put up with anything.

“I like you better in the Club,” I assured him after a small pause and then turned my head back to look out the window once more.

Behind me, I heard him blow out a long breath, but he didn’t speak. His phone started making noise—a different burner from the one he’d used just a few minutes ago. “Yeah?”

His sudden tension filled the kitchen. I didn’t need to hear the hoarseness of his voice to know something had happened.  “Is he alive?”

My heart stopped at those three words and I was beside him in the next instant. His face was set in stone but his eyes were wilder than I’d ever seen them. I grasped his free arm and he lowered his eyes, locking gazes with me and I knew—I knew—it was bad.

Whoever was on the other end was speaking and I could make out just enough to know that it was a male. His words were jumbled together in his rush to speak but Jet seemed to follow him well enough given the way his shoulders suddenly sagged in relief. “You did good, Jenkins. We’re on it.”

He closed the phone without another word to the man and scrubbed his now free hand over his face. “Hawk’s been shot.”

Everything inside of me froze. No. It was a lie. It had to be. Nothing could touch Hawk. He was too stubborn, too ornery. Too much a fucking Hannigan. His cool reception of me being home, the way he’d bounced barb after barb off me the night before and that morning didn’t matter at that moment. I’d always loved the hardheaded idiot like a brother and he’d been the only one I could turn to right after I’d lost my baby.

“Is he alive?”

“Two to the back. He’s lost a lot of blood but nothing important was hit. Jenkins said he’s in surgery right now. I have to tell the boys and get Raven over there.” His arms wrapped around my waist so suddenly that it surprised me. He buried his face in my neck for only a second, but it felt like he was trying to draw strength from me. I willingly gave it. “Stay with Willa and the kids. Don’t leave this house. I’ll send someone back to watch the house.”

“Wait!” I held on tighter when he started to pull away. “What about Jenkins? Is he okay? Is Gracie?”

Jet’s face tightened. “They took Gracie.”

Oh shit.

“The senator?”

“Fuck, babe. At this point I don’t know what the fuck is going on or why.” He brushed his lips over my forehead, making me want to hold on even harder for just a moment because it felt so much like the old days. After only a few seconds he pulled away, his face set in the hard lines that told me he was in Club mode. The look in his eyes was deadly and I shivered with a mixture of fear and a shot of white-hot lust. “Watch yourself until I get back. Willa has the numbers if you need me.”

I watched him go, already silently praying for my friend.

Hawk had to be okay. He had to. 

From the living room I heard Raven give a cry as Jet told her about Hawk. Seconds later the front door slammed as brother and sister left. I tried to pull myself together before I went into the living room to help Willa with the kids.

Lexa was playing on the floor in front of the television while Willa sat on the couch watching her. Max bounced on her lap, and she offered the baby a small smile as she seemed to fight back tears. I sat down beside her and reached for the baby who was growing grumpy from not getting the full attention he wanted.

“Well, welcome home,” Willa said with a sad excuse for a laugh. “I guess this is some home-coming, huh?”

I brushed a kiss over Max’s head, hiding my grimace in his hair. “Yeah.”

Her gaze went back to Lexa. “Is it natural to want to grab her and run as fast and as far away as possible from all this shit?”

“Yes,” I whispered.

She nodded and shifted so that her legs were tucked under her on the couch. “That’s what I want to do right now, but I know Spider will only drop everything and go with us. He’s needed here, so here I’ll stay.”

“I won’t say I’m surprised that you ended up with Spider. I’m just curious how you got him to marry you.” I lifted Max high and lowered him to my thighs, repeating it when he giggled, but keeping my attention on Willa. I’d known Spider my entire life. He’d never been into any one female so it was understandable that I was curious how he had gotten married in the time I’d been gone.

Her lips twitched upward and she finally gave in and let herself grin. “He’s crazy about me, I guess.”

“I’m pretty sure Rave gave you this speech before, but I’ll put my two cents in. You hurt him and I’ll kill you.” Spider was one of my closest friends and I wouldn’t hesitate to rip this chick’s heart out if she hurt him.

“Raven said about the same thing. You can cool your jets, though. I don’t plan on ever hurting or letting that man go. He’s stuck with me.” Her grin remained for a few more seconds before her gaze went right back to her niece.

The front door practically bounced open and we both jumped before we realized it was Spider. He must have run back because he was pouring with sweat, but he wasn’t breathing hard. “Pack a few things, Willa. We’re moving to the clubhouse until this shit is cleared up.”