Chapter 22 Hawk
HAWK
I shifted in the front seat of the Ford Explorer and silently cursed the rental-car company. Vigo’s car was a million times more comfortable than the Explorer and almost as big, but it would’ve been foolish to bring the bright orange G-Wagon on today’s errand.
“He’s been in there awhile,” Vigo said, watching the small regional bank through the windshield.
“He’s being careful.”
“How long do you think?” Vigo asked.
He didn’t need to be more specific for me to know what he was talking about. After five years of living, working, and fucking together, our communication was often wordless.
“A couple of weeks,” I said. “We’ll need at least one more recon mission, and I want more time with the scanner to see what kind of presence the locals have.”
The bank was almost two hours from Blackwell Falls because we didn’t shit where we ate, and that meant not robbing banks — or jewelry stores or anything else — where we ate either.
I liked to log a lot of time with our targets before we made a move, liked to be sure where the cameras were inside and out, how many employees worked every day so we could account for the ones in the back when we went in through the front.
And listening to the scanners was important too. It told us whether the local police made regular drive-bys of the bank, and if so, how often.
All of it worked together to help us time and plan our hit, and after four successful years raking in money from semi-local banks and retail outlets, I wasn’t about to deviate from our methods now.
Jagger and Vigo let me take point on the planning on account of my background with the Feds. I’d been too much of a wild card for it to be a good fit — much to the disappointment of my family — but I’d learned enough about law enforcement to make the two years I’d spent there worth my while.
Vigo stretched. “A couple of weeks is good. We have our little mouse to keep us busy.”
My dick stirred at the thought of Cassie: her long copper-colored hair, green eyes that made me feel like I was swimming through one of the springs hidden up on the mountain, and untouched curves that made me want to stake my claim.
She was living in our house now, and while I’d never admit it, not even to Vigo and Jagger, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. It had taken an act of Herculean will not to let myself into her bedroom, be the first to drive into her virgin pussy.
She’d spent the last two days hiding from us, hurrying in and out of the kitchen at odd hours (obviously hoping to avoid us), then disappearing into her room like a death-row prisoner hoping the warden had forgotten they were next.
Normally we wouldn’t allow it. We would want to start playing right away, like kids on Christmas who couldn’t wait to tear open the box on a new toy.
But we’d been giving her space to settle in by some kind of unspoken agreement, like Vigo and Jagger were as off balance as I was.
I told myself it was just because she was Bram’s sister. It made sense. The Bram connection complicated things, and the Hunt wasn’t supposed to be complicated.
“We’re going to have to decide,” Vigo said, pulling me from my thoughts.
I must have been off my game because I had no idea what he was talking about. “Decide what?”
“Who’s going to be the first to fuck her.”
I tamped down the possessive fury that rose in my veins. Jagger, Vigo, and I didn’t do jealousy, and we definitely didn’t do jealousy with each other. I’d watched them eat a girl’s pussy while I fucked her in the ass, had watched a girl blow them while I’d played with her cunt.
And I’d never — not once — felt the urge to keep a girl to myself.
It wasn’t the girls. They were always beautiful in their own ways, always fun.
But the truth was, I didn’t feel much of anything.
For anybody. It was a flaw in my genetic code, a bug that couldn’t be fixed.
The closest I came to human emotion was the adrenaline I felt when we pulled a job, the pleasure I felt when we hunted, the brotherly camaraderie I shared with Vigo and Jagger.
Which was why it was confusing to want to lock Cassie up, hide the key, keep her to myself.
“It’s her decision,” I said.
Vigo laughed. “We make the rules.”
“Not this one.”
He smirked. “Getting soft already?”
“Fuck off.”
“It’s an honest question,” he said, returning his gaze to the bank. “She’s soft.”
“Soft?”
“I mean she’s physically soft, yeah.” He grunted a little. “Her pussy’s like fucking satin.”
I turned sharply toward him. “How would you know?”
“Because I finger-fucked her the first night,” he said. “And let me tell you, she may be a virgin but she’s ready to play.”
I should have expected it. Vigo didn’t know the meaning of the word wait.
What I didn’t expect was my annoyance at the fact that he’d started without Jagger and me.
Okay, mostly I was annoyed he’d started without me.
“Anyway,” he continued. “It’s not just that her pussy is like satin. She’s soft. Like… inside.” He shuddered a little, like he found the thought unsettling. “Makes me want to… I don’t know, protect her and shit.”
“It’s not our job to protect her.” I didn’t know whether I was reminding Vigo or myself. “And she doesn’t need our protection anyway. She has Bram.”
“Yeah, but aren’t you curious?” Vigo asked. “Why she joined the Hunt instead of asking Bram to take care of someone for her?”
“No,” I lied.
“I’m just saying, I don’t blame you for going soft. She’s an intriguing little mouse."
“We don’t hunt to be intrigued.”
And yet, here we were.
“What do you think Bram’s going to do when he finds out we own her for the next three months?” Vigo asked.
“I think he’s going to want our balls,” I said. “Which is why we’re going to reach out to him as soon as he gets back.”
Better to get in front of the whole thing, like Vigo had said. Hunt rules were snitches get stitches, but I wasn’t sure anyone would be able to resist spreading the word that little Cassie Montgomery had been captured in the Hunt her brother had started.
And as bad as I knew it would be to break the news to Bram that we were in possession of his little sister, I knew it would be ten times worse if he heard it from someone else.
“There he is,” Vigo said.
I followed his gaze to Jagger, who was exiting the bank in a nondescript suit and sunglasses, looking like just another finance bro making a transfer.
I tapped my fingertips on the steering wheel as he walked casually toward the Explorer. I wasn’t looking forward to the confrontation with Bram, but not because I was afraid of him. I mean, everyone was a little afraid of Bram, but that wasn’t what was driving the knot in my stomach.
It was the possibility that he’d pull rank, pull Cassie out by force. The possibility that we wouldn’t get to keep her after all.
Because as much as I hated to admit it, now that I had Cassie Montgomery in my clutches, I very much wanted to keep her.
Fuck.