21. Hawk
Hawk
Yanking open the door and bringing Veronica into the compound creates the strangest sense of déjà vu. My ex-wife came by a few times on her own, looking for me or dropping something off when I was here, but this is different.
I’m walking in with Veronica on my arm. A claim to everyone who counts as family in my life that she’s mine.
But watching her now, this just feels right.
We’re hardly inside the door when I hear a squeal.
“Veronica?”
Clara, Veronica’s hairdresser who also happens to be Poppy’s sister, comes running up to us. She touches the ends of V’s hair and pulls her into a tight hug. “I had no fucking clue you’d be here. You look gorgeous. What are you doing here?”
She looks past V to me and falls silent, like she’s working out the math in her head.
“Oh… Oh,” she says, a smile sweeping across her face.
Within seconds, V is surrounded. First, it’s Poppy who’s running over, looking pissed that her sister got to welcome V first.
“Miss Hollifield?” Poppy looks from V to me, and I shrug. “I’m Poppy, Holly and Daisy’s stepmom.”
“Call me Veronica,” she says, extending a hand to Poppy. “It’s so nice to finally meet you in person.”
Poppy shoves the hand aside and pulls V in for a big hug. “My God, you’re wonderful. Ohh. And you smell good.” She looks at me. “She’s beautiful, but we need to take her away to get her situated. Bye.”
Poppy leans over and grabs my arm. “I heard you had a little run-in with a curling iron,” she teases.
“Savages,” I growl. “Utter fucking savages.”
“Did I hear my name?” Savage is holding Aurora in his arms but shoots me a look.
“Wrong savages, man!” I yell.
Veronica looks absolutely shook. I cup her waist and pull her in. “You okay? Is this too much?”
She shakes her head and gives me a smile. “I’m all right.”
I kiss the top of her head and smack her playfully on the ass. “Go on, then. Poppy’s waiting.”
V follows Poppy and Clara over to where Holly and Daisy are playing in the huge living room on an area rug with their baby sister Lily.
Phantom’s standing nearby watching, smoking a cigar.
Poppy motions for him to meet her, and he nods, moves the cigar from his lips to his fingers, and whispers something in V’s ear.
No doubt making sure she’s okay after the Wilson shit.
She nods, and they exchange a quick hug, then he meets my eyes and goes back to smoking his cigar.
Holly and Daisy jump up and hug their principal, then drag her over to meet Shadow’s wife Violet, who’s a school librarian at another school. I can’t believe I didn’t think to mention that. Veronica’s probably going to shit herself that another biker landed himself an educator.
Poppy tugs Veronica over to the bar, where she meets Chloe, Savage’s wife, and Stella. I head over there to run interference because, while I know Stella knows how to keep her mouth shut, she probably won’t hesitate to tell V what an asshole she thinks Wilson is.
I sidle up to the bar and snake a hand around V’s waist.
“Hawk.” Stella reaches over the bar and pinches my cheek. “My God, it’s about time you got yourself a good woman. What’s she drinking?” She asks the question of me, but she’s looking at Veronica.
I let V order for herself and shout over the music that someone just turned on that I’ll have a beer. V perches on a barstool, flanked by Poppy and Violet, so I feel good wandering the crowd and checking in with the other guys.
“Yo, birthday boy.” I slap Tank hard on the shoulder, and he turns to face me, a fat cigar in his mouth but unlit.
“Hey, man.” We dude-hug, and then Tank drops back onto the couch by Holly and Daisy, firing up a video game.
“Keep it all-ages,” I warn him, pointing to the girls. “We’re going to need a fucking bouncy house at our next party to handle all the kids.”
Tank laughs and says, “I’m playing with the kids,” he says, loading some kind of multiplayer Mario game. Holly and Daisy squeal, and their little brother Jax looks up from the artwork he’s drawing on the floor.
“I’m good,” he says. “I’m still working on Tank’s card.”
I spend the next hour or two grazing on food, drinking, and watching Veronica interact with my friends.
Holly and Daisy clearly love her, so I know she’s got to be a good person.
But there’s something else about V. She’s tall and beautiful, commanding even, and I feel like every eye in the room follows her when she moves through the space.
I don’t know how I got so lucky to bring this woman into my bed, my life, my brotherhood, but she fits. She fits in. She fits me.
Sadie was never like this. She loved when I had shit at the compound because she could do her girls’ nights. Stay in and binge her shows. She loved that we had our own time and our own friends, and the less she knew about the Heat, the better.
But Veronica?
Damn.
She’s got Phantom cracking a smile while he puffs that damn cigar in her face.
Poppy is nothing but pure love, and I can see her leaning into Veronica like the sister inside the compound she needs.
As the wife of the club president, Poppy takes on a lot.
She helped Savage and his old lady, even when she was on the verge of popping out her baby girl.
She’s there for Stella and the girls; she remembers birthdays.
Shit, she organized this get-together for Tank.
She invites strays like me in for holidays.
She’s the glue that binds this family in so many ways, and how she talks to Veronica, like they are already best friends, makes me think she’ll have someone else to lean on.
That is, if Veronica sticks around.
I keep my distance from her most of the night, but not because I don’t want to be with her. I’ve already accepted how I feel about her. What I need to know is how she feels. As I watch her help serve slices of cake like she’s been here for years, not hours, I feel something deep in my chest.
V finds me over in a corner, leaning against a wall, watching the action while nursing a beer. She’s juggling two slices of cake in her hands, and she offers me one. “I’ve missed you,” she says, her smile huge. “Are you having fun?”
I grab the cake and can’t help meeting her smile.
I don’t answer her question. “The real question is, are you having fun? You seem to have no problem blending in with these misfits.”
She raises her brow. “I’m kind of a misfit myself, so…”
I shake my head and lean over to kiss her lips. I lick a spot of frosting from her top lip. “You’re perfect,” I say.
She nods. “You know, I didn’t expect there to be families here.” She is quiet as she nibbles another bite of her cake. “I don’t know what I expected exactly. But not this.” She looks me over, from my head to the toes of my combat boots.
Around us, the parents of kids start to gather everyone up. Holly and Daisy come to hug Miss Hollifield goodbye, and Daisy runs into my arms for a big hug. She’s a teenager now, but I’ve known these kids since they were little girls.
“Uncle Hawk, I’m so glad you’re dating Miss Hollifield.” Daisy wraps her arms around my neck, and I don’t argue. Don’t say anything to that. I just smile and put her back on her feet. Then I touch her strand of blue hair.
“I’m only with her because she doesn’t curl her hair often.” I hold my arm like it still hurts.
Daisy laughs and runs off. Poppy waves, and I know Phantom will be back later for the real party, so I give him a wave until then. Savage and his old lady and kiddo are next, until the only ones left are the adults.
“This is where the fun really starts,” I tell Veronica. “You ready for this?”
The lights are going down, the music’s coming up, and the Hurricane Heat are brewing up our own kind of storm.
Veronica bites her lower lip and smiles. “I’ve been ready.”
We dance and drink for the next two hours, mingling with the people coming in and out of the party.
Things get seedy fast. Weed and cigarette smoke fill the air, and pretty soon, games of strip poker start up.
Stella grinds on a couple of laps, and one of the club girls brought a cute little thing who seems hell-bent on giving Tank a birthday lap dance.
Things begin to get rowdy and I’m getting tired, so I grab Veronica’s hand and cock my head toward the hall.
We stumble through the compound to my dark room. I don’t bother turning on the lights, and I push the door closed behind us and press her against the surface.
“You want to do this?” I rasp against her ear.
I kiss my way from her neck to her bare shoulder, my hand cupping her breasts through her one-shoulder top.
“Yes,” she murmurs, but she doesn’t sound like she’s in the mood to refuse.
“Not this. Us,” I say.
She stiffens in my arms, and I lift my head to look at her. My room is dark, but enough light is coming in through the closed curtains to see the muted glow from the moon reflecting off her face. Her expression looks confused.
“What do you mean?” Her voice is low, and I swear I can hear the beating of her heart. “What are you asking me, Hawk?”
I trail my fingers down the hollow of her throat, past her collarbone. I stop over her heart, right between her breasts. “We live in two different worlds, but…” I shrug one shoulder. “You fit here. You fit me.”
She nods. “It’s nothing I ever expected. You’re incredible.”
“You think this could work?” I ask. “Me, you…Us?”
When she swallows, my heart sinks. Does she not see any hope for this? Am I everything she doesn’t want, except once in a while between the sheets?
“We are so different,” she says softly, and I brace my heart for the blow. “But it’s like we’re two halves of the same whole.” Her hands move to cup my face, and she runs her thumbs along my jaw. “Hawk… Nico… You make me feel things I’ve never felt with anyone else.”
We both laugh at that.
“I mean it,” she says. “Not just in bed. We fit. We work.”
I bend down and pick her up, scooping an arm behind her knees. I carry her, shoes and all, to my bed. I set her on top of my bed and slip off her heels.