Chapter Two
The night shift sucked. Well, it kind of sucked and kind of didn’t. For one, she was rarely interrupted from her job of stocking shelves by impatient customers. Most of the time at the twenty-four-seven store, there was no one shopping at night. That was the bonus. The not-so-good bonus was that most of the customers who were shopping were a little strange. Most of them were stoned or drunk. Several people talked to themselves. The list went on and on. Again, not fearing for her life, and she doubted every late shopper was strange, maybe it was just her.
Since doing some of the night shifts, she did find that she loved shopping at night. She much preferred it to the hustle and bustle during the day.
Then of course, when her shift was over, in the summer months, like now, it was great. The sun was up, and it was light outside. In the winter months, it sucked, because she couldn’t stand the dark. It terrified her, always had, ever since she was a kid.
It didn’t help that one of her mom’s ex-boyfriends had locked her in a cupboard for the whole day. He covered any gaps that could have emitted light, and since that moment, she had been terrified of the dark. Especially since he hadn’t just left her alone, he told her of all the dangerous creatures that lurked in the shadows waiting to eat little girls, and even big girls. He’d been a cruel asshole. She knew what he told her wasn’t true, but that didn’t stop her mind from playing tricks on her.
She refused to dwell in the past. That ex-boyfriend had moved on once he realized her mother wasn’t that good, but the fear of the dark remained. Fucking asshole.
She hated most of her mother’s boyfriends. They were always a mix between not giving a shit about her, the kid, to ignoring her, to being a little too friendly, and then plain old cruel.
This was why she got in the habit of sneaking out. It made her life a lot easier. Also, it meant she could study. Now, if she could save up enough money to get into beauty school or take some lessons, perhaps she could leave town and start up on her own.
She had a lot of plans, and it wasn’t to stock shelves for the rest of her life. It was a good job but shit pay, and she hated the hours. They were never consistent. She didn’t know if it was because she had become one of the regular employees. She would soon earn her five-year badge, which was fucking terrifying. She got the job at eighteen and was still working it now. What started out as part-time soon evolved into full time. It sucked.
After she finished with the canned fruit, she completed the dessert aisle and moved onto savory. She had long stopped looking at the cans of food with any interest. She didn’t like the convenience of it and tried to eat as healthy as she could afford. Years of her mother telling her she had a fat ass could affect a woman’s ego.
She didn’t give a shit about her weight, but after watching all the documentaries about the chemicals and stuff they put in food, she was dubious. Although, she did love a good packet of ramen noodles. They were a weakness of hers, also chocolate ice cream.
“Well, well, well, funny meeting you here.”
Nikki frowned and turned toward that husky voice, and sure enough, the guy from the MC club was in the aisle she was working.
“Not funny at all, seeing as I work here and I’m just doing my job.”
“Stocking shelves?” he asked.
She looked at him and then past him to see if he was alone. He held his hands up. “I’m all alone.”
“That’s strange. I thought you guys hunted in packs.”
He chuckled. “You make us sound like a pack of wolves.”
Nikki tilted her head to the side and simply stared at him. She had to wonder if that was the truth. The MC clubs were known for being deadly. Scary as fuck. The men were loyal to the patch, and that was it. The only rules they followed were those set by the club.
She had no idea what rules his club set, but she had heard a lot of horror stories. She had no idea who was telling the horror stories, or whose club they were about. Either way, other than Diana’s involvement, she steered clear of all of it.
Her mother’s dabbling in sex and drugs was enough to keep her eyes open. One of the men her mother liked would often make suggestions of her coming to work for him. Spreading her legs and showing men a good time. That was never going to happen. The more she thought about her mother, the happier she was that she steered clear of the evil bitch.
Her mother, because of the drugs, booze, and jealousy, was not a reliable person to have in her corner. One day, she’d scream at anyone who dared to look at her daughter. The next day, Nikki recalled getting slapped for attempting to take away her meal ticket. She would never look at any of the men her mother brought home. Most of them were pieces of shit.
“Are you looking for something?”
Nikki asked.
“I think I found it.”
She looked over at him and then at the shelves. “Don’t let me get in your way.”
She moved around her cart and picked up a whole tray of hot dogs. Crouching down to the second-to-bottom shelf, she pulled the last few cans off the shelf, opened her tray, and began to place them at the back. Once they were done, she put the older dated ones at the front.
Many of the shelf stockers didn’t do this. She had seen them simply pushing the products to the back, which was fine. Only, it was a pet peeve of hers. It was silly to have any kind of peeve when it came to shelf stocking, but if she was going to do a job, it was going to be done right.
“I’m not looking at the food,” he said.
Nikki had forgotten he was even there. She frowned and then stood. He’d closed the distance between them.
“What do you want?”
Nikki asked.
“You’re different.”
“Huh?”
“You don’t party at my club.”
“So?”
He smiled. “I’m not used to women not partying at my club. There are a lot of women that would love a man’s attention.”
“Good for them. I am not one of them.”
She was done with this conversation.
“Do you think you’re better than us?”
He didn’t sound accusatory, but she felt it was damn close, and that really pissed her off.
She slammed down the cans of food and turned to glare at him. “What makes you think that? Is it because I don’t want to sleep with a bunch of random men? Is there something wrong with not wanting to be passed around like a piece of meat, or not even have my name remembered? Just because I don’t want to live that kind of life doesn’t mean I think I’m better. You don’t have to be a dick about it.”
She was done listening to him. Once he was gone, she’d come back and restock the shelves. The good thing about working in a supermarket was that there was always work to be done. She’d clean the floor near the meat counter. It was always a mess, and she hated to think of people walking on horrible floors. She might also have an issue with mess. Again, it stemmed from living with her mother.
She was pretty sure if there was ever a time she could afford therapy, they would all have a field day with her.
“So you have a boyfriend?” he asked.
Nikki stopped and turned toward him. “Why are you following me?”
“I’m having a conversation with you.”
“I’m working. I don’t have time for this, and not that it is any of your business, but no, I don’t have a boyfriend.”
She was only interested in getting enough money to study and leave.
That was her new plan. She wanted to get her beauty diploma or whatever it was called, and leave town. Save enough money to start a new life, somewhere no one has ever heard of the name Brown, or her mom, or anything associated with her. She was done being held back because of her mother’s memory.
“I want you to come by the bar,” he said.
This made her turn. She noticed on his leather cut that he was the president of the Devil’s Beasts MC. It also stated his name was Hawk. She couldn’t remember if he had remembered her name on their brief acquaintance. Not that it mattered. She had already told Diana she would drop her off. She had until eleven to pick her up, otherwise, she’d have to stay at the club.
She was done hanging out, waiting for her friend, only to fall asleep in her car. She had a trailer for a home, and she’d rather use that, seeing as she paid rent for the damn place.
“What?”
“Come to the bar Friday night. I’ll buy you a drink,” he said.
Nikki put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “No, thanks.”
“Do you know who is inviting you?” he asked.
She was losing her patience. “According to your jacket, the president of the Devil’s Beasts MC. Congratulations, and no, it still doesn’t change my answer.”
“Why not?”
“I’m busy Friday.”
She was not busy. It was one of the rare days she had off, unless she was asked to cover a shift. Also, Thursday night was her last night shift, until he needed her to cover again. Saturday, she’d be back to her mid-morning shift. Yay. She was not looking forward to either.
“You should come. The club might surprise you, and if you don’t come, I may just have to find you myself.”
“Is that a threat?”
she asked.
“It depends on whether you consider being chased by me a threat.”
He winked at her and then turned on his heel to leave.
Nikki found it the strangest thing. He didn’t scare her. His response didn’t sound like a threat, but more like a sexual promise.
This was insane. There was no way she was going to his bar, and besides, if he came looking for her, he was going to have to find her. She was not easy to find. She doubted he even knew what trailer park to look for. She was not worried.
Making her way back to her cart of goods, she couldn’t help but wonder how he knew she worked at the supermarket. He didn’t buy anything. Did he stumble upon her or was he in fact looking for her? That was crazy. Men like Hawk didn’t go looking for women like her. He had a whole club at his disposal. She was nothing. And she was more than happy to stay that way.
****
Friday night at exactly ten o’clock, and there was no sign of Nikki, not that he expected there to be. Nikki didn’t disappoint him, and he now had a feeling he was dealing with a completely different breed of woman, which was refreshing.
“Do you want to tell me what has caused that smile on your face?”
Dan asked.
He was standing at the bar, and for some odd reason, that was where Dan always liked to be.
Hawk turned toward him with a smirk. “No reason.”
“You kind of have that look your dad had when he was about to kill someone.”
Yes, he was aware that his father took a great deal of enjoyment out of annihilating their enemies. It was what put the Devil’s Beasts MC on the map as being a club not to fuck with. They didn’t do deals with anyone. They never bargained. If anyone got in their way, they were fucked, simple as that. All the men here would rather die trying than be someone’s fucking messenger boy.
This was how Hawk preferred it as well. They were not at anyone’s beck and call. However, he very much wanted a woman at his, and he was more than willing to do whatever it took to get her that way. Perhaps.
He had considered Nikki Brown, and so far she was acting completely different from how he assumed she would react. She was twenty-two years old. Graduated high school with decent grades. Not overwhelming, but enough to get herself into college. Only, she never applied to any colleges. According to the information he got on her, she did enroll in a beauty course about a year ago, only to pull out due to financial difficulty. For some reason, she no longer had the ability to put herself through school and turned down every avenue that would put her in debt. Her mother, well, he knew women like her mother very well. A whore, plain and simple. She had a reputation around several towns. It would seem her mother loved married men and pimps. Nikki had worked since before she was eighteen, but her job at the supermarket was full-time steady employment. Never had a speeding ticket. Never been in trouble with the law. However, she was known down at the police station because of Diana.
Nikki had bailed her friend out of jail a few times. He didn’t know if Diana had paid that money back.
On paper, Nikki was a boring woman. Plain, dull, without anything going for her. But, he saw that sparkle in her eyes. There was something in the way she looked at him that he just couldn’t get out of his head. Unlike the women at the bar, she didn’t look at him like he was anything special. He was no prize. No great conquest. Maybe that was it, she looked at him as if he was just a man.
It had been a long time since a woman had treated him as just a man. When his father was alive, he wasn’t that interesting to them, working up the ranks to get where he was today. He didn’t do this for the pussy or the admiration. He did this because he was his father’s son.
His rightful place was at the head of the table. Sure, there had been a couple of men along the way who thought he had gotten the role incorrectly. They tended to be rookies, newbie prospects who thought they had a right to question him. They soon learned.
It was something his father had taught him—to never allow anything to fester. To always bring bad shit out in the open, otherwise assholes were going to take full advantage of it.
“You’re kind of creeping me out,” Dan said.
Hawk smirked and looked around the bar. Nikki wasn’t coming, and that was okay for him. He’d warned her about not showing up, and now it would seem he got to go and take a ride. Leaving the clubhouse was easy. On the way out, Sandy was making her way inside.
“Hey, Hawk,” she said.
“You all right, Sandy?” he asked.
Sandy looked at him and nodded.
He knew she wasn’t the same since his father died. After his mother passed away, his father didn’t quite move on. It was hard for him to do so, as he watched his wife slowly wilt away before his eyes. The doctors didn’t know what was wrong with his mother. One day, she went from being this powerhouse of a woman, to frail, struggling to do anything. Hawk knew his dad felt helpless and there was nothing any of them could do.
Sandy had been there for his mother, for his dad. Even though he never looked at another woman, Sandy was different. Even though she was a club woman, Sandy became more. Hawk remembered his dad telling the club they could have any of the women, but to keep their hands off Sandy. In a way, Sandy became his father’s. Since his death, he told everyone that Sandy was to be taken care of. His father had asked him on one of those strange nights he had with his dad when they talked about the future.
Even though his father was in the peak of health, it was like he knew the Grim Reaper was coming for him. Fucked up and freaked him the fuck out just thinking about it.
“You can talk to me if you need to,” he said.
“You’re sweet, Hawk, thank you.”
She put a hand on his shoulder and then moved up to kiss his cheek. This was Sandy all over. Never too forward but always friendly. It was why it made no sense for that piece of shit Greg to have done what he did. Not that he would excuse raping a woman. His dad had two rules: consenting women always, and no touching any kids. So, rapist and pedophiles were a no-go.
“Do you want company?”
Sandy asked.
“Nah, got to go and deal with a problem.”
When Sandy offered him company, it was not of the sexual kind. She would sit with him in his office, mostly, sometimes in silence, other times they would talk about the club, or Sandy would talk about his father. He knew she missed him.
“Be careful. Diana the Desperate is in.”
She rolled her eyes. “Seriously, do the guys not see her for what she is?”
“They’re only interested in the free pussy.”
He winked at her and then headed out, making his way toward his bike.
There were people making out across the wall where the bikes were. It was a good party. It had been a good, clean, easy run. One of the best he had experienced in a long time.
Straddling his bike, he turned over the engine and felt it purr to life. It was a fucking dream, especially after he had recently tuned it up. Whenever he had to ride, he always made sure his bike was in shape to make the journey. The last thing he wanted was to hit a spot of trouble, and his bike let him down. That shit had happened in the past, and his father had refused to help him. His reasoning was that it would make him a much better man, which as far as he was concerned, was bullshit.
Although, he made it back to the clubhouse with his bike, a lot of bruises, and fucking exhausted, he built his bike back up, and now he was fucking king of the road.
Taking off out of the clubhouse, he relished the feel of the wind on his face. This was what it was all about. The freedom to be his own man. The open road, where nothing could bind him. Where there was no fucking control.
This was freedom.
This was everything.
And all too soon, it came to an end as he found the trailer park with her address. While she’d been working at the supermarket, he’d already taken a trip to her trailer park. It wasn’t in a bad section, but even still, it wasn’t the most secure, and he knew the rents on these were not cheap. The landlord who owned them was a piece of shit. Larry, the landlord, was fucking cheap and didn’t pay to get the trailers cleaned after previous tenants had either died or torn up the place.
Nikki’s trailer was decent and clean. He had a feeling she was responsible for that, though, not Larry.
Parking his bike close to her trailer, he saw the glow from inside and knew she was still home. He couldn’t help but smile as he climbed off his bike and made his way to the door. He gave it a knock. Seconds passed. He heard movement, and then her voice.
“Who is it?”
she asked.
Sweet victory.
“Who do you think?” he asked.
Now that got her attention, as the lock flicked and the door opened. It was the kind that opened toward her rather than outward.
She looked at him and frowned. Well, she wasn’t wearing clothes to go out. It looked like she had on a robe, and her hair was pinned back. Her face was very clean.
“Hawk, what are you doing here?”
she asked.
“I came to see you. I did tell you I would come and find you.”
“But, how do you know where I live?”
“I have my ways.”
“Your ways.”
She frowned and then sighed. “Diana.”
“Yep, your friend is not quite a friend. You might want to be careful about what you let her know.”
He was being very friendly.
“What do you want?”
she asked.
“I’m waiting to be invited in. Seeing as you wouldn’t come to my party, I figured I had to come to yours.”
He held onto the doorframe either side and leaned in. “Or are you the rude kind, Nikki?”
He waited.
Nikki sighed and then stepped back, allowing him to enter.
Her trailer was small, and he had a horrible feeling he made it even smaller. He was not a small guy. Years of working out, lifting weights, keeping himself in the peak of fitness had seen to that.
“Uh,”
she said, looking down one section of her trailer where a small table was, and then in the corner, where there was a sofa.
The main table, which was small, looked like it could only manage two people. There were several products laid out on the table, along with a mirror. He didn’t recognize what they were, but he had a feeling she’d been giving herself a beauty treatment.
“Am I interrupting?” he asked.
“It’s fine. Do you want a drink?”
she asked.
“What do you have?”
This was unusual. He was used to women fawning all over him. Nikki seemed to keep her distance.
“I’ve got tea, coffee, water, and hot chocolate. Do you want to take a seat?”
she asked, pointing down to the small seating area.
“No beer?” he asked.
“I don’t drink.”
“What about whiskey?”
“I don’t drink.”
“Coffee it is.”
He walked down her trailer, feeling it move beneath his feet, and he wasn’t sure if that was how it was supposed to be. Lowering into her sitting room, he couldn’t help but glance around. The trailer was old, but Nikki kept it clean. There was something floral in the air, and everywhere he looked, it was so very clean. Nothing was out of place.
He noticed there were no dishes piled high. No used takeout cartons filling up the counters. Nikki had one of the cleanest trailers on the lot.
Glancing over at her, he had a feeling that the moment she moved in, she would have gutted the place. Was this why she had to cancel her enrollment in beauty school?
He heard the kettle whistle, and seconds later, her question about cream, milk, and sugar.
“Black, two sugars,” he said.
He heard the spoon in the cup, stirring. He had a feeling she was stirring longer than she normally would. She was nervous. He found it rather sweet.
She walked over toward him, passing him a cup, and then taking a seat as far away from him as she could possibly get.
“I guess I’m going to have to talk with Diana about giving away personal information,”
Nikki said.
“It wouldn’t have been hard to find your trailer without her.”
“Are you defending her?”
He blew across the surface of the coffee.
“Depends on how pissed you are that I am here?”
“Why are you here?”
“Now, wouldn’t you like to know?”
Nikki laughed, leaning on the edge of sarcastic, but he liked the sound. She actually snorted and then shook her head. “You do know you are insane. What are you doing here?”
“I thought you might like the company.”
She shook her head and he noticed she didn’t deny it.
“And besides, I did invite you to come and spend some time with me. You didn’t come, so I had no choice but to find you.”
“You had a choice.”
He shrugged. “I guess we’ll never know.”