Chapter 40 #2
Hawk was up, groaning as the room spun. Before he even took a single step, his hand was in his pocket, pressing the button combination on his phone to send an SOS to his team.
They would call for backup. They might even think to call Colt.
Which would be good if he wasn’t able to eliminate the threat all by himself.
But he was going to try. He’d fucking die to protect his family if he needed to.
Hawk could hear voices in the distance. Someone was pacing on the floor and Jessie…
she was crying. Arguing with a voice Hawk couldn’t place.
A second, deeper voice joined in the conversation and Hawk moved with the experience of a SEAL.
He didn’t stop. He didn’t let fear for his family cloud his mind.
Silently, Hawk moved to the front of the house.
And then up the stairs. He’s memorized every stair that squeaked or groaned the moment he started overseeing renovations, and used that to his advantage.
Not a single sound was made as he maneuvered to the second story of the house.
Finally, he made it to the landing, and crouched down silently as he listened inside.
“It’s time to hand him over, Jess. I’ve got to get him into his car seat. If he’s not ready by the time Mack gets here, he won’t let me take him. You understand what I’m saying?”
He placed Adrienne’s voice immediately. It didn’t matter that Hawk had no idea who the hell she was talking about. He needed to neutralize her, then get ready for Mack to arrive, if his team wasn’t there for backup in time.
Hawk shouldered through the door, wobbling on his feet as he took in the scene before him. Jessie was holding Bee out to Adrienne. No. NO!
As if she could hear the shouting in his mind, Jessie pulled the baby back to her chest. It seemed to be a big enough shock for Adrienne to pause, and that gave Dakota an opening. Hawk watched him lunge, knocking Adrienne into the nightstand, before wrestling her to the ground.
Perfect. Hawk didn’t give one single fuck about what the two of them were doing.
He jumped into action, moving towards the bed before scooping Jessie up into his arms. Adrenaline was dumping into his body, and Hawk no longer felt the throbbing in his head.
All he knew was that he needed to keep his family safe.
And nothing was going to keep him from completing that mission.
He left the bedroom in two strides. Jessie’s arms tightened around Bee, who thankfully was still sound asleep despite the commotion.
“Are you okay?” he whispered as he marched down the stairs.
“Yes. God.” Her voice was shaking, and Hawk pressed her closer to his chest. “Are you?”
He nodded once in response. Truthfully, he wouldn’t be okay until they were out of the house and in the truck. A loud thump sounded from above their heads as Hawk swiped his keys off the table next to the door. Jessie groaned as he jostled them through the door.
“My belly,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry, sweet—”
A gunshot rang out into the silence of the night.
Hawk didn’t stop moving. He curled his body around Jessie and the baby as best he could to shield them from whoever might have pulled the trigger, and he moved with a speed that was silent and deadly.
Because he would kill whoever tried to come for his family, without a second thought.
Hawk unlocked the SUV, depositing Jessie and the baby into the back seat. “Get buckled.”
Her hand grabbed his arm. “Don’t you dare go back into that house.”
“I have no plans to. I’m going to get in the driver's seat and bring you up to your parents’ house. But we need to go. Now.”
She nodded, adjusting her hold on Bee. He hated not having the car seat for their son, but they needed to get out of there.
He stepped back, his eyes drifting towards the house. The front door was wide open. No movement from inside that he could see.
“Hawk.”
His name whispered in the wind had him spinning around, puffing his body up to take up as much space as he could in Jessie’s doorway.
“Colt.”
“What’s going on? Gunner called and said you signaled an SOS. Told me to get my ass over here.”
“I thought you were walking down the property tonight?” His voice deepened, the anger at knowing how close his family was to being taken from him boiling beneath his skin.
“I was. It’s a big fucking property, and Dakota could have come from anywhere. Is that what this is? He was here?”
Two trucks came barreling up the driveway, their headlights blinding him.
Hayes and Beau jumped out of their respective trucks, and jogged towards them.
“We’re here. What the fuck is going on? Is Jessie okay? The baby?” Hayes’s worried eyes tried to peer past Hawk, but he wasn’t budging. In fact, he was itching to get Jessie and the baby out of there, and the longer it took to explain things, the more likely something bad was going to happen.
“This needs to be fast. Dakota and Adrienne are upstairs. I don’t know how the fuck they got in the house, but one of them bashed me over the head in the kitchen and I was out for a few minutes.
When I came to, they were arguing upstairs and I fucking rushed into the room and grabbed Jessie and the baby.
A gunshot went off when we were coming out here.
I have no fucking idea where anyone is or if anyone got hurt or even who has a fucking weapon, but I am getting in my car and bringing Jessie up to the main house. ”
He didn’t wait for the brothers to acknowledge him. Hawk slammed the door shut next to Jessie and jogged around to the driver’s side. Her sniffles filled the space between them.
“We can’t leave my brothers,” she gasped as he put the vehicle in reverse and slowly crept down the dirt driveway.
“Colt is a deputy, Jess. He’ll assess the situation and figure out the best way to handle it. What he decides is on him. Not us. The only thing we’re responsible for is staying out of his way.”
His eyes met hers in the rear view mirror before sidelights illuminated the space behind him. Shit. Hawk pressed on the breaks, turning the wheel over as he threw the SUV into drive.
“What’s wrong?” Jessie hissed as he drove off the driveway and into the grass. It was going to be a fucking bumpy ride, but Hawk knew whoever was in that vehicle creeping up the driveway, they were up to no good.
“Someone’s behind us. I need you to get low and just hold on to Bee, okay?”
“O-okay.”
“Call Reaper,” Hawk commanded the SUVs voice control system. The phone rang once before Gunner picked up.
“Phoenix? ETA two minutes. SITREP?”
Hawk didn’t waste a single second. “Dakota and Adrienne are inside our house. I got Jessie and the baby out, but we’re in our SUV driving across the property.
At least one of them has a gun.” Jessie hissed in the back as they went over a bump.
Fuck. Hawk was never going to be able to make this ride up to her.
It had to be torture with how sore she was after having Bee.
“Colt, Beau, and Hayes are on site. A vehicle is following us, I can’t decipher anything about it in the dark. ”
“Did you say Adrienne? From the diner?” Stone’s voice came over the line.
“Correct.”
“Copy that,” Gunner replied. “Which way are you headed? We’ll cut the vehicle off.”
“West. Towards the main house. I’d like to get Jessie secured inside with her parents if I can.”
“Thirty seconds out, Phoenix. We can see your headlights.”
The next few minutes were a blur. Hawk watched as Gunner’s truck tore across the field in front of Dolly and Danny’s place.
He didn’t stop driving towards the house.
He trusted his team to have complete control over the situation.
And from what he could hear over the still connected comms, they did.
He drove around the back of the main house, parking so Jessie’s side of the SUV was closest to the back porch. As soon as the vehicle stopped, he was out the door, running to scoop her and Bee up. The back porch light went on, blinding him for a moment, before Danny came rushing out.
“What’s going on?” he barked as Hawk walked up onto the porch, Jessie’s tears soaking his shirt. Another gunshot filled the air. “What fucking danger have you brought here?”
“It wasn’t him, Dad! Dakota and Lach… they—” She groaned as Hawk set her down.
“Can you let your dad hold Bee for a second? I want to make sure you’re okay,” he asked, hating the way her pain was written all over her face.
Jessie nodded, and his heart rate tripled, knowing she really wouldn’t have agreed to that if she was actually okay.
“Here, I’ll take the baby upstairs to your mom.” Danny scooped Bee out of Jessie’s arms. “And I’ll bring down a shirt for you.”
Hawk had completely forgotten he wasn’t wearing one.
“Have her bring him back down in five minutes,” Jessie directed. “I don’t… I can’t be away from him for long. I need him back in my arms.”
Danny nodded before he disappeared up the stairs.
“Hawk…” Jessie’s lower lip trembled as he wrapped his arms around her.
“Shh, I’ve got you.” Her face pressed into his chest, and he instantly felt her tears trickle down his skin. “Jessie? Are you in pain?”
Her head shook back and forth, but he didn’t believe it for a second. “I need you to tell me the truth here, Pretty Girl.”
“I-It’s just the a-adrenaline. I’m s-sore, but o-okay.”
“Alright. You just take your time letting it out and I’ll be here.
” Hawk pressed a kiss into her hair, his own emotions constricting his throat.
Fuck. All the ways the night could have ended, all the things that could have happened to Jess and the baby, all the ways they could have been taken from him if their friends and family hadn’t jumped into action…
Boots fell heavy against the front porch, and Hawk rolled to position his body in front of Jess. But he knew it had to be a Ford the second he heard a key slipping into the lock.
And he was right. Beau walked in with Stone, both looking grim.
“What happened?”
Stone held up his hand. “Gunner and I took down the driver of the vehicle that was coming after you two. Nash and Gage almost missed the fun, but got there just in time to take down the idiot riding in the passenger seat.”
“What about Adrienne? Dakota?” Jessie asked, lifting her face off his chest and wiping at her eyes.
“Jess.” Beau took a step closer. Fuck. Whatever he was about to say wasn’t good news. His hand slipped off Jessie’s back and his fingers wrapped around hers. “Adrienne had a gun.”
“We heard it go off,” she whispered. “Was Dakota hurt?”
“No.” Beau shook his head. “But that fucking closet door we spent two days restoring has a hole in it that’s gonna need to be patched.”
Hawk blew out his breath.
“Beau, just fucking tell us what happened.”
“We rushed up there and Dakota was holding her down, the gun kicked clear across the room. Colt detained them both and now an entire fleet of deputies are coming in to sort out what the hell happened. I’m still fucking baffled myself.”
“Lachlan.” Jessie’s eyes were wide, but he could see shadows starting to form under them. He needed to get her tucked into bed. She needed rest. And where the hell was Daniel with Dolly and the baby?
“What about him?”
“The deputies will need to question him too. He hid things with Dakota. They should have come forward. They should have talked to Colt.” Her voice was wavering, and Hawk felt her start to shake.
“Okay, mama. That’s enough for now. Let’s go.”
Hawk picked Jessie up again in his arms and climbed the stairs to her old room. Just as his feet hit the hallway, Dolly emerged with the baby.
“What’s going on?”
“We need to stay here tonight, Doll. Is that okay?”
“Of course it is. I had Daniel bring down the cradle from the attic and he got it all cleaned up earlier tonight. He’ll bring it up here in a minute. Are you alright? Jessie?”
“We’ll be fine,” Hawk answered for her. “I just need to get her somewhere she’ll feel safe enough to rest.”
Dolly nodded, reaching through the doorway to Jess’s old room and flipping on the lamp beside the bed.
“You’re always welcome here.” Dolly bustled around the room as Hawk slid Jessie onto the mattress. “Here, honey, have your son back.”
“Thanks, Dolly.” Hawk smiled as he took Bee back into his hold.
“I know it’s not official yet, Hawk, but I wouldn’t mind if you started calling me ‘Ma’ like the rest of my kids do. You’re family, after all.”
Hawk wrapped his free arm around Dolly’s shoulder and leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Thanks, Ma. I appreciate you saying that.”
“Good boy.”
Dolly left the room as Hawk lowered himself onto the mattress right at Jess’s hip.
“He’s okay, isn’t he? We should have Stone come up and look him over. Do you think the car ride jostled him too much?”
“Jessie, you kept him safe,” Hawk’s voice caught and he cleared his throat. “I’m so proud of you. I failed you both… but I promise, if you give me a second chance, I won’t ever fail you again.”
Jessie’s hand rested against his cheek, her thumb brushing away a tear that tracked down his face.
“You are the reason we are safe right now. Please don’t think for a second that we would have made it out of that house without you. Because I know we wouldn’t.”
“I love you, Pretty Girl. With everything in me. I love you.”
“I love you too, Chief. We’re going to be okay.”
“I know we will.”