Hawke: A Bad Boy Fighter Romance (With bonus book Sons of Flame MC) by Ashley Rhodes Page A
Authors: Ashley Rhodes
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he staggered back, shaking his head slowly, and leaned against the car parked next to mine, maybe to keep from falling down.
Oh, God. Oh, God, he knew.
I was so fucked. I panicked. I started slipping my keys into my car door. “I don’t have to put up with this,” I muttered.
“You fucked him,” Jason was muttering. “Jesus, Naomi, do you have any idea who he is? What he’s connected to? You can’t have feelings for me, when I’ve looked after you and protected you and loved you for years; but you can screw a hardened criminal in the hospital while you’re working? Have you… are you fucking kidding me? Are you crazy, Naomi?”
I opened my car door and slipped into it. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said as I put my keys in the ignition.
Jason held the door when I tried to close it, and I looked up to see his face twisted with pain and disbelief. “Naomi… please… just give me a chance. I love you. More than Jack Hawke is even capable of.”
“It wouldn’t matter if I was seeing someone,” I told him, “or if I was single. It wouldn’t matter who I was seeing, Jason; it wouldn’t change anything. Please let go of my door.”
“You know he’s wrapped up with Peter Valentino, right?” Jason snarled. “A fucking mobster? You have no idea what you’re stepping into, Naomi. Jack’s not some rebellious teenager tagging city property and trespassing on the steel mill grounds for illegal parties. He’s involved in the sort of world that people die in; violently. You really want to be a part of that?”
“There’s nothing going on between me and Jack Hawke,” I said, a politician clawing desperately to stay on-message. Just drop it, Jason. Please, please just drop it and go away.
He let the door go, shaking his head. “Please be safe, Naomi. Please. If anything happened to you…”
I closed the door, though, and made sure I didn’t run over his feet when I pulled out of the space and sped away around the corner.
Halfway home I pulled over, leaned my head against the steering wheel and sobbed. Just like that, it seemed like my world was upside-down. Jason had ruined us. Jack had ruined me. Nic… if nothing else, maybe now that Jason knew exactly how I felt, he would finally see her. She’d be so furious that I said anything to him about how she felt, but… maybe that was for the best. Maybe, if he could just see that she was the one for him, not me, then some part of this would fix itself.
If Yvonne was with me, she’d push me to look for the silver lining. So, I did.
With things the way they were, I didn’t see how they could get any worse.
Chapter 9
Jack
For the longest time after Naomi left, I could still smell her.
No one else seemed to notice, or if they did they didn’t say anything. But I avoided showering until almost six just because the scent of her was on my fingers, and floating up from under the blanket. Her hair had been filled with her own scent, too, different than what was between her legs, of course—but none of that bullshit flowery, fruity crap that so many other women washed their hair with.
There was definitely something sweet about her, though; sweet, and practical, and direct. And good God she had squeezed me right. Being inside Naomi had felt like going somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be. Being in the wrong neighborhood, or a Catholic church during the mass when I was covered in somebody’s blood. That place was quiet, and clean, and special.
I’d been a secret guest no one was supposed to know was there. It made me crave being back in it; with her, surrounded by her smells, her body, her everything.
Which was the next best thing to never-gonna-fucking-happen. Just the fact that she was hangin’ around my mind like that meant that I needed to back away slowly before something real bad happened.
I didn’t rest much for the remainder of the day. I tossed and turned when I tried to sleep, already having a
Oh, God. Oh, God, he knew.
I was so fucked. I panicked. I started slipping my keys into my car door. “I don’t have to put up with this,” I muttered.
“You fucked him,” Jason was muttering. “Jesus, Naomi, do you have any idea who he is? What he’s connected to? You can’t have feelings for me, when I’ve looked after you and protected you and loved you for years; but you can screw a hardened criminal in the hospital while you’re working? Have you… are you fucking kidding me? Are you crazy, Naomi?”
I opened my car door and slipped into it. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said as I put my keys in the ignition.
Jason held the door when I tried to close it, and I looked up to see his face twisted with pain and disbelief. “Naomi… please… just give me a chance. I love you. More than Jack Hawke is even capable of.”
“It wouldn’t matter if I was seeing someone,” I told him, “or if I was single. It wouldn’t matter who I was seeing, Jason; it wouldn’t change anything. Please let go of my door.”
“You know he’s wrapped up with Peter Valentino, right?” Jason snarled. “A fucking mobster? You have no idea what you’re stepping into, Naomi. Jack’s not some rebellious teenager tagging city property and trespassing on the steel mill grounds for illegal parties. He’s involved in the sort of world that people die in; violently. You really want to be a part of that?”
“There’s nothing going on between me and Jack Hawke,” I said, a politician clawing desperately to stay on-message. Just drop it, Jason. Please, please just drop it and go away.
He let the door go, shaking his head. “Please be safe, Naomi. Please. If anything happened to you…”
I closed the door, though, and made sure I didn’t run over his feet when I pulled out of the space and sped away around the corner.
Halfway home I pulled over, leaned my head against the steering wheel and sobbed. Just like that, it seemed like my world was upside-down. Jason had ruined us. Jack had ruined me. Nic… if nothing else, maybe now that Jason knew exactly how I felt, he would finally see her. She’d be so furious that I said anything to him about how she felt, but… maybe that was for the best. Maybe, if he could just see that she was the one for him, not me, then some part of this would fix itself.
If Yvonne was with me, she’d push me to look for the silver lining. So, I did.
With things the way they were, I didn’t see how they could get any worse.
Chapter 9
Jack
For the longest time after Naomi left, I could still smell her.
No one else seemed to notice, or if they did they didn’t say anything. But I avoided showering until almost six just because the scent of her was on my fingers, and floating up from under the blanket. Her hair had been filled with her own scent, too, different than what was between her legs, of course—but none of that bullshit flowery, fruity crap that so many other women washed their hair with.
There was definitely something sweet about her, though; sweet, and practical, and direct. And good God she had squeezed me right. Being inside Naomi had felt like going somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be. Being in the wrong neighborhood, or a Catholic church during the mass when I was covered in somebody’s blood. That place was quiet, and clean, and special.
I’d been a secret guest no one was supposed to know was there. It made me crave being back in it; with her, surrounded by her smells, her body, her everything.
Which was the next best thing to never-gonna-fucking-happen. Just the fact that she was hangin’ around my mind like that meant that I needed to back away slowly before something real bad happened.
I didn’t rest much for the remainder of the day. I tossed and turned when I tried to sleep, already having a
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