And…it hadn’t satisfied him as he’d hope. Even after all the apprehension, excitement, and finally culmination of over a year of wondering and waiting, he’d been left…wanting.
And he didn’t understand why.
Hawk slapped his large hand against the table and grunted. Situated in the back of the packed bar, the table was reserved for MC members, which meant it was always manned by one of the brothers on Friday and Saturday nights to help make sure no one trashed the place.
Up to No Good was one of the most popular Strip adjacent bars. Located on a city street that practically pulsed every night, the bar was snug between a male revue club, Down ‘n’ Dirty, and a burlesque-style showroom, Dangerous Curves. When the nakedness ended for the night, the bar flooded with people looking to extend their evenings, blow off some steam, or drink themselves into a stupor to forget their woes until Monday rolled around again.
Tonight, the bar was jammed with post show rabble looking to score after all that naked flesh put them in the mood for fucking.
He wasn’t blind, he saw the way the ladies eyed him and his brothers in their kuttes. He could crook his finger and get any one of them to blow him in the bathroom, but he didn’t want that. Fuck if he knew what he wanted, which was why he’d tossed back Grimm’s pretentious whisky and slammed his ass into a seat between Fang and Grimm, who was still pouting like a fucking Irish babe, still in his nappies.
“What’s got you in a funk, asshole?” Grimm asked, raising his arm to get their waitresses attention. More than likely, he’d stick with the cheap whisky while Hawk was there. “I thought you were so happy with your new assignment, rainbows were flyin’ out of your arse.”
“You two fight like an old married couple,” grumbled a voice from behind him. Hawk didn’t even bother turning to look, flipping the bird over his shoulder instead. “I see you’ve matured since becoming Sergeant-at-Arms. And here I was going to buy you the next round of drinks at a way to say ‘congratulations’.”
Hawk grunted, finally turning to greet the newcomer. “In that case, motherfucker, get me a Macallan. I want to taste the pretentious while I have to look at your pretty fuckboy face.”
Tall, ripped, and tatted from knuckle to neck to feet, Dog Gentry, a private security associate with Gentry Elite, a pretty respectable rival in the biz, grinned before heading to the bar to grab the drinks. In no time at all, the fucker was back, his gleaming white teeth making Hawk all kinds of irritable.
“Anyone tell you you’re much too pretty to be a bodyguard?” Hawk griped, grabbing his tumbler and throwing back the whisky like it was ice water.
“Can you even taste it like that? Might as well be drinking puddle water,” Dog remarked, derision twisting his face.
“Yeah, why are you a bodyguard?” Grimm asked, suddenly staring at the waitress across the bar, not really caring for their conversation.
“My wife. Then again, she knew me back when I was a stripper, so she appreciates that I don’t get groped by horny women all night.”
Grimm snickered, the waitress out of sight, so he refocused on Dog. “That’s right. Ye were a cock swingin’ come tosser over at the shyte house down the way.”
“Down ‘n’ Dirty, yeah. Haven’t been through those doors in more than two years, though. Not since taking my dad up on his offer to work for him.”
“Ah, nepotism at its finest,” Hawk drawled wryly.
Dog snorted. “As much as my old man loves me, he wouldn’t hire me to handle a gun if I wasn’t capable of doing it. Marine, brother.”
Hawk, unlike many of his club brothers, never served in the military. He learned all his skills in the school of hard knocks. Brawls in the streets mostly, and once he patched in, the self-proclaimed club gun whore, Dragon, dragged him to the range for months until he was able to shoot a 12 x 18 target at 100 feet with his eyes closed. Now that Skathi was Odin’s old lady, they had another sharpshooter in their ranks—because that woman was scary as hell with a gun in her hand.
Once he was confident he could be of use, he shifted his club duties from runner to bouncer at Up to No Good. Months later, Odin hired him on as a bodyguard for Savage Protection.
“So, arsehole, what’s got you stealin’ the good whisky and draggin’ a gray cloud over my evenin’. I was hopin’ to score a little pussy, but with your ugly mug scarin’ away the ladies, I’ll be as hard up for sex as you are.” Grimm was officially Hawk’s least favorite person. It didn’t help that the overgrown leprechaun had a hard on for him because Hawk’s father was Scottish—apparently, there was some kind of ancient feud between Grimm’s family and the Scots. But Hawk was too tired, too confused, and too frustrated to deal with Grimm’s shit tonight.
“You know what? I’ll tell you,” Hawk exclaimed, making both Grimm and Dog lean in, their faces rapt and waiting. “I had a client meeting tonight with someone I was very much looking forward to meeting. And….” How could he explain just how disappointed and yet interested he was in their newest charge?
“And what?” Dog asked.
“And…she wasn’t what I was expecting.”
Grimm scoffed. “That’s what’s got your panties in a twist? Life is full of disappointments, brother. Was she ugly? Fat? A seethin’ bitch?”
“No, she was gorgeous—long blonde hair, sexy as fuck body, a face that could make angels weep.”
“So what’s the problem? Don’t like blondes?” The confused look on Dog’s face was probably one Hawk shared.
He liked blondes just fine. He was an equal opportunity manwhore. When he’d first spotted the woman her manager revealed to be Aoibheal, Hawk had been stunned by her beauty, the elegance in the way she moved. His tongue seemed to swell in his mouth because he was lost for words. It took him a moment to return her greeting, and once he had, they fell into easy conversation. The woman was smart, funny, beautiful…but there was something about her that didn’t fit. He knew he was being an idiot, thinking she would be exactly as he’d dreamed she would. No one could ever meet another’s expectations, especially when they’d never before. But Aoibheal—or Carrie, as he’d learned—was physically arousing, making his cock take notice instantly, but there was something missing. A connection.
But what did that matter? He wasn’t hired to be her boyfriend, he was hired to be her bodyguard…no matter how desperately he’d yearned for something more.
The End
