I've never met Dominic before. He was away at school when Hawk and I got together, but I can tell they're brothers, they look so much alike. However, Dominic could pass for a full white man like his father. He doesn't have much color to his skin, although he does have a tan. He's handsome, too. If he's anything like Roman, he knows it.
Roman, I've met before, of course. He's Taylor's older sisters son, her only son. His father, like Hawk and Dominic's, is white. Roman's skin tone is much like Hawk's, beautifully tanned, but where Hawk's hair is wavy, Roman's is straight like Dominic's. Although, Dominic seems to be the only one with short hair out of the three of them.
From what Hawk told me, Roman, Hawk, and Dominic are the only grandson's. Roman has a younger sister, but no brothers. Leroy and Emelda, their grandparents, have four children, two sons, and two daughters. Both sons have only daughters, quite a few. So, of course, Roman, Hawk, and Dominic have been spoiled a lot. It seems it's now Gabriel's turn as he is the only great-grandson.
He isn't their only great-grandchild, however. They have fifteen of those all together now, all girls apart from my baby boy. How crazy is that?
“I was actually talking about this little man.” Emelda coos at Gabriel, even though he's still fast asleep.
She walks away from us just as Roman kisses my cheek. I hear Leroy in the kitchen, his Jamaican accent as he booms how beautiful his great-grandson is. It makes me smile.
“Not gonna introduce me, Hawk?”
I try to suppress a grin. Dominic is looking at me in a way he shouldn't be, not that I believe he means it seriously, and I can feel the anger rolling off my man. Should it make me smile inside that he's jealous?
Hawk wraps a protective around my waist in a possessive manner. “This is Brooke. Brooke, this is my jerk baby brother, Wrench.”
Wrench? Why would he have a road name, he's not a biker.
“The idiot decided to ditch his degree and become a biker after all. He's a prospect with the club.”
“I'll be patched in before you know it.” Dominic winks at me.
I like him already; he's charming. He's also built like an Adonis. Not as big as Hawk but it's undeniable that he works out a lot. I can also tell he's a ladies man. I bet he's with a different woman every night, even two some nights.
I wonder why they call him Wrench?
I know how Hawk got his name. Hawk told me once how he was fantastic at archery. He even showed me once how good he was. He never missed a target. He told me how when he was a kid; Roman used to call him Hawk-boy
Stryker told me how Hawk always said if he could do one thing it would be to fly like a Hawk in the sky, so free. However, he grew out of that as he got a little older.
BlackJack then explained over dinner one night how Dante became Hawk when he was seventeen. He has a keen eye, keeps both open when he fires his arrows, shoots to kill, never misses. Swoops in like a Hawk and ends his prey, and like a Hawk, he pulls them apart piece by piece.
I was so shocked my whole body went cold, and I had to leave the room to get some air. Okay, back then I hadn't realized just how bad bikers were. I always thought my father was just saying that stuff to scare me.
Hawk talked to me, made me see that he's never killed an innocent person and he hasn't killed hundreds of people, even though that's how his father made it seem to me. He'd actually at that point only killed a handful of people. A handful too many, in my opinion.
However, Hawk, like his biker family, kill only to protect their family or the innocent around them. Women, children, the elderly, etcetera.
He didn't lie when I asked him questions. He told me about the protection rackets they run, but he couldn't tell me anything else other than they don't push drugs or prostitution. They own strip clubs, but the girls aren't forced to work there, but they are forced to abide by the rules, no sex with customers, no drugs or they lose their jobs.
In all honesty, it made things a little easier to take. I should have been afraid of it all, but I wasn't. I'd seen terrible things living with my father and brothers. Surely the MC couldn't be all that bad?
Hawk held me close to him when I told him nothing in this world would make me leave him. Nothing but my father, but I didn't say that to him, he was worried enough that I wanted to end things now I knew what he was capable of.
After the greetings are over, and Hawk and I are settled into the room we'll be staying in for the next few days, his grandmother calls us down for dinner, and I'm feeling a little off. I'm feeling a little feverish.
However, I push it aside and eat as much of the roast lamb his grandmother lovingly made, while listening to Roman, Wrench, and Hawk telling stories of when they were younger.
Roman is twelve years older than Hawk, fifteen years older than Wrench, and at the age of thirty-seven, he is a God among men. He's more like a big brother to Hawk and Wrench, and he loves my little boy, I saw it in his eyes when he held Gabriel. I really do like him.
“Remember when this one stole BlackJack's bike?”
My ears prick up.
Hawk laughs while nodding in Roman's direction. “He was only fourteen.”
“Hey, I only took it for a little spin. Wanted to get a feel for it, that way I'd know what it would feel like when I got my own bike.”
I
laugh at Wrench. He's so witty, funny, and charming. He's going to be a good friend, a wonderful uncle.
“Your mother almost killed you.”
“Would'a been his own fault if my little girl beat him down for what he did.”
“Lucky for him, Pops, Aunt Taylor never laid a hand on him in his life.”
“Hey, I'm the baby of the family.”
“What's that got to do with anythin'?” Hawk laughs.
“Mom wouldn't beat on her baby.”
“No, but we would.” I can't help the laughter that escapes me as Roman wraps his big arm around Wrench's head and pulls him from his seat, yelling how he's going to beat his tail.
Hawk joins in the playful fighting, and their grandparents just sit laughing to themselves. Leroy rolls his eyes like he's seen it all before, and I need to use the bathroom.
I smile to myself the whole time. This break is going to be just what I need to relax and try to forget all about Hank Webster.
For now, at least.
Chapter Seven
Hawk
How's fatherhood treating you?”
“I've had a couple of days to get used to the idea, Roman. It was kinda dropped on me.”
Roman, Wrench and I are sitting on my grandparent's porch drinking beer. Not that I'll have more than two, I promised Brooke I'd listen out for Gabe. I could tell at dinner that she wasn't feeling too good. I think everything that's happened over the past couple of days has finally caught up to her. She needs sleep; she'll feel better then. I hope. She didn't have enough insulin in her system after having Gabe and was given injections to help. I think she's still feeling the effects of that. However, the doctor at the hospital did say that breastfeeding Gabe can help.
“Can't believe you knocked someone up.” My brother laughs behind his beer bottle.
“Can't believe you haven't.” I counter back.
Roman laughs and slaps Wrench on the back. “You walked into that, little brother.” Roman isn't our brother, he's our cousin, but we've always referred to each other as brothers. Same with Stryker. However, that has more to do with the fact that my parents brought him into our home when he was nineteen, and the fact his son calls my parents grandma and grandpa.