Chapter 13
Hawk
Sending a wolf whistle through the clubhouse, I waited for everyone to shut up. The music was still playing, but low enough that I could talk over it once the chatter quieted.
“Destiny’s Enforcers, this is Katarina Petrov. Well, Katarina Jones now,” I said as I glanced at her, “but we gotta get that paperwork finalized.”
Squatch walked over, kneeling in front of her, “I’m sorry. I’d never disrespect the fir–”
“Get up,” I interrupted. She wasn’t my Old Lady and she wasn’t ready to take on the role of First Lady.
Katarina smiled as he stood. She looked at his name patch then said, “Apology accepted, Squatch. But I’d love to see how you’d fare against me.”
Squatch’s brows shot up and I shook my head and said, “This is my wife. None of you are to touch her, sparring or otherwise.”
“What if I wanted to touch her?” Daisy asked as she draped her arm over her shoulder. “What then?” Falcon gave Daisy a stern look but she rolled her eyes. “You hungry? We got food over here.”
Rod, the member that she laid out, approached slowly. “Sorry to you both.”
I waved him off then turned to her. “Grab a bite. I need to see Keys.”
“Aren’t you going to have something?” Katarina asked.
“Later.”
Her eyes dulled a little but she gave a curt nod and Daisy pulled her over to the ladies table.
Heading outside, I lit a cigarette and took a second to cool off. Fighting with her over my suspicions wouldn’t reveal anything. If she was a plant, she had a lot longer to prepare for this than I did.
She seemed genuine, and I wanted to believe I could read her, but I found it hard to trust anyone or anything these days, even folks I knew, much less a stranger.
After walking to the SUV, I popped the back open and held my smoke between my lips. Her bags were designer ones, and I opened each one and shoved things around. Nothing of interest, just lady shit and clothes. Although, I wondered what her little panties looked like on her.
Shaking off my wandering thoughts of her in her underwear, I closed those bags and checked the backseat. She hadn’t been carrying a purse inside. There was another designer bag, much smaller, sitting on the floorboard in the back. Bingo.
Leaning in, I swiped it and unzipped it.
Pulling out her phone I tapped the screen and nothing.
No wonder she left it outside. Although the women here didn’t tend to cradle their phone at all times.
Pocketing that, I shoved a few things around, finding nothing else besides some lip gloss, lip balm, lip oil…
fuck. I primped but how much shit do you need for your lips?
There was a small vial of liquid unmarked, so I pulled it out.
Carefully pulling the top off, I held it away from my face and slowly brought it closer.
The floral scent that clung to her wafted to my nostrils and I couldn’t help but grin.
Plugging the vial, I put it back. Then, I took one last look and found nothing interesting, so I zipped it and headed toward the back door.
A few guys were hanging outside and offered their congrats, but I was in a hurry. I needed to get to Keys without her noticing anything. The ladies would keep her busy and she’d eat, so I had a little bit of time to get this done.
After flicking my cigarette to the dirt, I walked into the clubhouse through the back door and made a beeline for Keys’ lair. Shoving the door open, I hustled over to him, his brows shooting up high.
“I need you to pull everything off this phone for me to review, including anything deleted in the last two weeks. No, thirty days,” I instructed.
“Salutations and congratulations, Prez,” Keys said as he turned to take the phone from my hand. “She’s prettier in person.”
“What?” barked.
He held his hands up. “Whoa, just making a statement. Don’t worry, I don’t have a death wish. Give me a few minutes.”
“No, I need it done now.”
He stared up at me, his face neutral as his blond waves nearly fell in his eyes. “I meant a literal few minutes, Prez, but I gotta get it powered on first.”
He rolled his chair across the room, and pulled a drawer open. Once he found the cord he needed, he rolled back and plugged one side to the phone, the other into a box on the desk. I didn’t know what any of this shit was, only that he did.
“I also need you to find out whatever you can on the Martinellis. I think they’re in the tri-state area up there, but not sure if they’re in Jersey.
” Petrov ran most of New Jersey, so the other family who wanted to merge wouldn’t already be there but would need to be close.
And that was not one of the families looking to do business with us.
“Do you also need that in the next few minutes?” Keys asked, typing away.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I looked down and waited for him to turn.
He never did, but said, “Hey man, just asking.”
Still standing behind him, I asked, “Any updates on the Heathens?” We kept stamping them out as we found them. Still, we knew to expect them to keep popping up so we had eyes and ears out all over.
“Nope. Not a peep. Okay,” Keys said as he pulled the phone from the cord. “I pulled it all and should have it all organized for you tomorrow. I’ll start looking at the Martinellis and will update you with what I can tomorrow as well.”
Irritated I wouldn’t have the info to read now, I snapped, “I need a new phone for her.”
He reached back on his desk and grinned as he held one out. “You mean like this?”
I swiped it from his hand. “Cocky fucker.”
He leaned back, crossing his arms this time. “Learned from the best.”
“I’ll be back tomorrow. Will you have data from her phone ready by then?”
“Yep. I won’t have it all read myself but I’ll scan keywords, read what I can, and print it off for you,” he said.
“Alright, I’ll be by late morning, then. Appreciate it,” I told him as I left, heading back to the back door again.
After walking back around the building, I went to the SUV, replaced her phone in her purse, then walked back inside to the bar.
She was having a burger and fries. Her drink didn’t look alcoholic. Ma and the ladies that tended bar all had experience and never served drinks in the wrong glass. Katarina was chewing and smiling, listening intently to Daisy. God knows what they were talking about.
I walked over and leaned in so she could hear me. “I’m gonna grab a bite then we can go home.”
She gave me a thumbs up because her mouth was full, so I walked on by and poked my head into the kitchen.
Ma looked up and grabbed a plate off the counter. “Order up.”
“Thanks,” I said, shoving a fry in my mouth.
“You gonna just stand there?”
Nodding, I grabbed the burger and took a huge bite. She rolled her eyes, then walked around me and out of the kitchen. Just a minute later, she returned with a beer and a soda, not saying a word but leaving them next to my plate.
“Thank you.”
She went back to whatever she was prepping, probably for in the morning.
I washed down a bite of burger with the soda, then said, “She’s pretty.”
“That she is. She’s sweet, too. We chatted a lot on the ride.”
“Sweet, huh? Think she’ll be okay here?” I asked before taking another big bite. Neither of us looked at each other, just made small talk as we went on with our business.
Ma chuckled. “Well, she put Rod on the ground. I think she’ll be alright.”
Another few minutes passed with nothing but the sounds of her clanking around and me eating.
I was nearly done when Ma tore some paper towels off the roll and shoved them at me. Instead of grabbing the paper towels, I grabbed her hand. “I’m glad you were there.”
She finally looked at me. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“And thank you for driving her back.” I let go of her hand and took another bite of burger.
“Ya know, since you trusted me with her, I’d love it if I could go to the store without a babysitter.”
I swallowed my bite. “What store?”
“ The grocery store,” she said. “Just up the road. The guys drive me crazy and throw too much shit in my buggy.”
Sighing, I said, “Fine. But no further. And I’ll know if you do.” I shoved a few more fries in my mouth then said, “How do you think she’ll do?”
Ma shrugged. “We’ll break her in soon enough. I think she’ll fit in just fine around here.” Ma patted my hand. “Can’t believe I’m not the First Lady anymore, though,” she said, a slight break in her voice before she went back to her workstation.
“You haven’t been retired yet.”
She stopped and looked over. “You don’t have to say that on my account, son.”
“I’m not,” I said before shoving the last fry in my mouth.
“I know this little chat is as close as I’ll get to a sorry, but remember I’m your momma. I’ll love you no matter what. But that woman,” she said, pointing to the door, “will not. Don’t be stupid, Hawk.”
“Me, apologize?” I asked, tapping my chest. “You’re the one hiding shit from me, Ma. Ya know what? I’m tired. Thanks for the food.”
I wiped my hands and face, took one last sip of the soda, then went to the bar.
Me, say sorry? For what? She was the one who needed to apologize, not me. Stomping back to the table, I stopped by Katarina. “You ready?”
Her smile faded, and she looked around. “Ladies, it’s been fun, but I may go to sleep for three days.”
Shiv gave her an obnoxious wink as she stood up. “Yes, you go sleep. Then report back to us.”
Katarina’s cheeks turned pink and she waved to the table before walking ahead of me. I wasn’t sure if she knew how powerful she was. Not that she was able to throw a grown man to the floor, but what she did with those skin tight jeans stuck to that shape of hers.
“Hop in,” I told her as I opened the passenger door of the SUV. Once she was inside, I climbed into the driver’s seat.
“Did you eat?” she asked as I pulled backwards before turning to head to the house.
“Yeah. You full?”
“Mmhmm.”