Chapter Eleven
Six years.
Hawkeye clenched his jaw and fought his need to pull Delilah into his arms and comfort her.
Only two things stopped him. Number one, they had to get out of there.
They had to get to the safe house, and out of Crows territory or they would be in more danger than he wanted to think about.
Number two, he didn’t know how she would react and the last thing he wanted was to frighten her.
Six years.
She had been married for six years before she’d been ‘set aside.’ He couldn’t forget that she’d told him she was nineteen. That wasn’t quite how she’d put it, but it meant the same.
Six years.
That meant she’d been married at thirteen.
Her husband ‘set her aside’ because she was barren. The fucker was a pedophile who took a child to his bed and gotten rid of her when she was older than he preferred.
Hawkeye clenched his jaw and made a decision.
He would find out who her ex was, every detail he could get.
Then he would find a way to take him down.
Since her parents hadn’t gone to the law about her being married at such a tender age, he had to assume they’d been part of it, so he added them to his mental list of those he would be going after.
Something about the quiet woman who held on so tight stirred something deep inside.
Something he’d thought was dead or missing.
He wouldn’t force her to stay with him. It seemed that Delilah had far too little choice in her life already but if he could convince her, he’d like to get to know her better.
To see if it was more than just his outrage at what little she’d told him or if maybe there was more.
As they rode, the four bikes ate up the distance and Hawkeye tried to focus on the road and his brothers around them. He needed to let go of his rage at what his little dove had told him.
Thirteen. She’d been raped at thirteen. Because in his mind, there was nothing else to call it.
She hadn’t been old enough to consent, even if she’d been brainwashed or indoctrinated to think it was normal.
Hell, he’d bet that her ‘husband’ and he used that term loosely, was at least twice her age, if not even older.
His hands clenched around the grips until they cramped. He had to force himself to relax, flexing each finger in turn, which helped but only so much. As he rode, he made a mental list of things he needed to ask her.
Everything. He needed to know everything she would to tell him.
The question was how to make her feel safe enough to share?
How could he show her the Angels were not the same class of men as the Crows.
Hawkeye had to wonder why the Crows hadn’t treated her like the rest of the women, but he didn’t know if he would ever get a satisfactory answer.
He wondered why the other woman had been so hostile to her.
Because the Crows had treated her differently?
He couldn’t wrap his head around either dilemma, other than knowing that both groups had to be eliminated, for different but not dissimilar reasons.
First, they had to get everyone to the safe house, and out of Eagle’s Rest safely, then figure out exactly what they’d walked into.
Hawkeye’s fingers itched to get to a computer where he hoped to work a little magic.
Short of that, he’d enlist Pike to help, and if he had to, he’d reach out to a couple of men he could trust for more help.
The more hands and eyes doing the looking, the faster they could find what they needed.
Plus, each man had a specialty, something they were better at cracking than the others.
Hawkeye had learned that dividing up tasks along the lines of who was best at what didn’t just increase the group’s capabilities but multiplied them.
Before he could do that, he had to get them to West Yellowstone.
Once they were there, he could reach out to his contacts and at least get them started.
Then he would sit down with Delilah and get every detail.
He suspected the woman at his back, the one who started every ride clinging to him like a koala, then slowly relaxing the longer they rode, was far stronger than he was.
But then, wasn’t that true about most women?