Final Ride (Lords of Mayhem 4)

“I think he does,” Karla said.

“Why?” Ariel asked.

“It’s in the way he looks at you. He’s softer, more approachable when you’re around,” Karla said.

I hope she’s right.

“We’ll be finding out soon enough,” she said thinking of how fast things would come to a head.

* * * * *

“You had us all worried about you last night,” Tiny said to Hawk as he sat beside him in a chair.

“Me too,” Hawk said sarcastically.

“Your girl did real good,” Tiny said.

“Yeah?” Hawk asked.

“She stepped in, calmed you down, and stayed with you through the night. I’m not sure what I expected from her. You two seem to be getting close.”

“We are. I want to claim her. You going to give me your blessing?”

“You think she can handle it, brother? You’ve got a secret you been keeping from her. Might want to see how she’ll react to that before you go asking for a lifetime commitment.”

Hawk shifted in the bed and winced as his sore arm protested the movement. “I can’t see her caring.”

“Then you don’t know women. It’ll make her wonder what else you’d lie about.”

“It’s club business. You trying to tell me you’d tell Boston?”

“If it involved her like this, yeah I would,” Tiny said.

Hawk rested his head back against the wall. Mayhem found the list of clients who had paid for sexual services. It included everyone from dignitaries to mafia. Once they fed the information to those in power, they would take care of Emmit and Linden. The whole legal process had been to keep the cops away. Last thing Mayhem needed was to be under investigation for murder.

“How long do you think we have until they meet with an unfortunate incident?” Hawk asked, eager to go on with his life.

“Not sure, Specs and Gadget were supposed to leak the information yesterday, so anytime now. I’m serious; think about telling her. Don’t let her be blindsided by someone else. I think she’s earned her place here. But only if you can keep her under control.”

Hawk laughed. “I think I got it under control.”

“What the hell did you do to her to change her attitude? She did a one–eighty.”

He shook his head. Before, he would have bragged about how he’d fucked the attitude out of a woman. This time was different. He wanted the things they shared to remain between the two of them. “We understand each other now. It changed everything.”

“I can see that. I’m shocked she’s not here to be honest.”

“She went to check up on the girls in the cabin.”

“See that devotion and loyalty is why I think she’d make a good addition and be the perfect old lady for a vice president. She gets that family is more than blood.”

“She was willing to die for those girls,” Hawk said.

“What did your mom think? I know Feather didn’t bite her tongue.”

Hawk snorted. “I don’t think she has the ability. She likes her.”

Tiny laughed. “Probably relieved to see one of you is going to settle down and start up a new generation.”