Hulk Chapter 7
I watched Celeste’s car until it disappeared into the darkness.
Knowing I had to get back inside and do some work, I turned around.
As I approached the door, I saw that Dave was alone.
No customers were waiting to get in or to have their identifications checked. As I reached him, he held up his hand.
“Boss, you don’t need to say anything. I know I screwed up. I’m sorry. I saw a beautiful woman, and I flirted with her. I had no idea she was Celeste. It won’t happen again, I swear. I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.”
I didn’t bother to correct him that Celeste wasn’t mine.
I wanted her to be, and as each day passed, I became increasingly determined to make it a reality.
I wanted Celeste Malcolm, and I’d do whatever it took to have her.
Complicating the matter was dealing with those who hurt her niece.
That took priority over claiming Celeste, but I refused to let it entirely wait until we took care of the rotten fuckers who hurt Capri.
“I don’t talk about my love life at work. However, I don’t want this to happen again, and since she’ll likely be around, I’ll make an announcement. That doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. You lusted after Celeste. You undoubtedly looked at her with desire and impure thoughts. Didn’t you?”
He sighed heavily. “Yeah, I checked her out, and I wasn’t opposed to getting close to her if I could. My thoughts were…” he let his words peter off into silence.
“What would you do if you were in my shoes and it was your woman?” I asked him.
He winced before answering. “I’d want to beat your ass,” he replied softly.
Without a word, I grabbed him by the throat.
His eyes widened, and he struggled to breathe.
I put us nearly nose-to-nose. “If I ever see you looking at her in anything other than a platonic way, or if you flirt with or touch her, I’ll do more than beat your ass.
I like you, Dave, but I won’t tolerate anyone disrespecting or openly lusting after Celeste.
Are we clear?” I snapped. I eased my hold enough that he could speak and breathe.
“Y-yes, it’s crystal clear, Hulk,” he rasped out.
“Good. Now, get back to work. And no more assuming a sexy, gorgeous woman is automatically here for a job,” I said, before I let go of him. Without another word, I opened the door and went inside.
I made rounds, but I was restless. I held my phone in my hand until a message came through, informing me that she had made it home safely.
Some of the tension in my shoulders eased.
However, I wasn’t as attentive as usual in detecting if someone was about to cause trouble.
Typically, I had a sixth sense about it and often headed it off before it ever got started.
Tonight, two men yelled and threw punches before I sensed it.
It took Hunt and me to separate them, then march them out of the club.
They were given a strict warning that if they returned and caused trouble again, they’d be banned permanently.
They tried to slink off, but we called an Uber for them.
We only asked for one, since they were roommates.
If they fought in the car on the way home, it was the driver’s job to do something about it.
We prevented them from driving drunk. That was my only worry.
It was a damn relief when the club closed and all the staff, except the cleaning crew and the bouncers, had gone home.
I didn’t stay until everyone was gone as I usually did.
I rode home, then after a hot shower, I crawled into bed.
My head was filled with thoughts of Celeste, and I knew I’d dream about her.
When I did, the only way to get sleep would be to pleasure myself.
I was having sexy thoughts and dreams about her nightly.
I was painfully hard. However, beating off gave only a tiny amount of relief.
Muttering darkly under my breath, I rolled over and shut my eyes.
By God, I would sleep tonight. No dreams about her would ruin it.
???
It wasn’t until late last night, two days since I saw Celeste at SS, that Wire had news for me.
On one front, it wasn’t what I wanted to hear.
While he’d gotten a pattern down for Vanessa, it wasn’t holding at the moment.
It seemed that she had told her college she had a family emergency and would be taking a leave of absence.
According to the notes Wire read, they tried to talk her into waiting a few weeks until after finals so she could finish out the semester, but Vanessa insisted it wasn’t possible.
By doing this, she flushed a whole semester of classes down the toilet. She’d have to redo them.
Wire checked into things to see what the family emergency was.
According to my brother, there wasn’t one to be found.
Her parents and other family members were all living their lives as usual.
The only conclusion we came to was that there wasn’t a family emergency.
Wire then attempted to track her last few days of movements and found that she hadn’t been sighted by anyone, anywhere, for the past three days.
We knew what that meant. She was hiding.
The question was, why would she do that?
The conclusion was she didn’t want to chance being questioned by Celeste or the cops again. Vanessa had something to hide.
Wire tempered the bad news with good. He’d been able to get us the excuse we needed to check out the pool house with a bit of help from friends.
Tomorrow, at eleven a.m., the estate where Capri was attacked will receive notification that they have to allow a group of inspectors onto their property.
The reason was to verify the presence of a type of endangered bird nesting on their property.
It had been reported that others spotted them.
To ensure no one scared away the endangered birds, anyone not part of the professional team would have to vacate the premises for a few hours.
It was an ingenious idea that Outlaw in Hunters Creek came up with.
As long as it got everyone off that estate, I didn’t care.
Celeste and I exchanged a few text messages over the past few days.
They were mostly check-ins to be sure she and Capri were okay.
I knew she was impatient to have real leads or to conduct our own investigation.
I was, too. Armed with Outlaw and Wire’s news, we were making a move on one of them today.
Last night, she agreed to bring Capri to the compound to spend time with Aliya and the other ladies while we went out with a few of my club brothers to “inspect” the estate.
Wire placed a call to inform the family what was needed and that, if they refused to allow us access today, they’d face daily fines until they did.
According to Wire, they had hastily agreed.
We were to arrive at eleven this morning.
They would all leave and not return until five o’clock.
Six hours would be more than enough time.
It was almost ten o’clock. I was impatiently pacing the clubhouse. It was Friday, so most people were at work. Today, besides Aliyah, Capri would have Zari, Tana, and Jessamy.
“They’re here,” Thoryn called from the bar.
He was behind it, stocking up for later tonight.
Glancing over, I saw the screen above the bar.
It showed the front gate. Celeste’s car was there.
Not waiting for him to say another word, I rushed to the door, then outside.
I stood by the bikes, watching as she drove up to the clubhouse.
She parked in an empty spot. I hurried over to their car.
I opened Capri’s door, then rounded the hood to get Celeste’s before she got out.
“Thank you, Hulk,” Capri said sweetly.
“You’re welcome. What, no thank you?” I teased Celeste.
She made me chuckle when she said, “Thank you, Hulk,” then stuck out her tongue.
I hooked an arm around her waist and took her with me.
Reaching Capri, I held out my hand. I wasn’t sure if she’d take it.
If not, I wouldn’t take it personally. After what she’d been through, I understood being leery.
There was the tiniest hesitation, then she placed her hand in mine.
Just as she did, Soren came bounding up.
He had been at the gate. I saw his disappointment when he saw I was escorting both women inside.
“Hi, Capri, Celeste, it’s good to see you again,” he said.
“Hi, Soren, it’s nice to see you, too,” Celeste replied.
“Hello,” Capri said. Soren dashed ahead to get the door for us, then followed us into the clubhouse.
Aliya, Jessa, and Zari were inside waiting for Capri. They came over to hug and say hello. I moved out of the way. We’d be leaving shortly to arrive at the estate. As they ended their hugfest, Wire and Cyclone strolled in.
We couldn’t risk taking too many with us, or it would seem suspicious. So it would be those two, me, and Celeste. Wire would come in case there was an alarm we needed to bypass. They were already dressed for the part. I had Celeste and my clothing on a nearby table.
When she saw my two brothers, her eyebrow hiked up.
“Wow, you look all official.”
“We do. And so will you and Hulk, once you get changed,” Wire said.
“Then let me get changed. I don’t want to be late,” she replied.
“Here, you know where the bathroom is if you need to use it. I’m just putting mine on over top of my clothes,” I informed her.
“I think I’ll go to the bathroom first. Give me five,” she said, taking the clothing from me.
While she was gone, I unzipped my boots, removed them and my cut, then slipped on the coveralls. Once the coveralls were on, the boots went back on. I hung my cut on a hook by the door. We weren’t wearing or riding anything that would proclaim we weren’t conservationists.