Chapter Fifteen
Besides, it would be far more satisfying to roll his ass out of bed and put him to work in person rather than over the phone.
Raven’s phone chirped. He looked at the screen then shook his head.
“Fuck. This can’t be good.” He hit the screen a couple times and a moment later a tinny ringing sound echoed through the room.
“What?” Snarled Wrench as he answered the phone.
“Tell me what’s going on?” Raven said.
“I got the women dropped off. No issues there. I’m on my way to you now but it’s going to take longer than anticipated.”
“Why? What’s going on?” Raven looked up and met Hawkeye’s gaze, the worry clear in his eyes.
“Nothing to be alarmed about, but I’ve got a Smurf on my ass. I’m not going to be able to make my usual time.”
“Is he suspicious?”
“Not that I can tell. He’s only been on my ass for a couple of miles. I’m on a pretty lonely stretch of highway. It could be that we’re just going the same direction. I’ll keep you up to date.”
“Sounds good, let me know how things are going, and be sure—”
“I know,” Wrench cut him off. “I know better than to lead him back to you. If he’s still on my ass when I get closer to town, I’ll do a Casper.”
“See that you do.” Raven disconnected the call without waiting for a response. “I really wish he’d drop with the code talk. It wouldn’t be so bad, except he insists on using cartoons.” Raven shook his head. “There’s something wrong with that boy.”
Hawkeye smirked but didn’t say anything. There was something wrong with everyone—the real question was what it was and how they dealt with it.
There were three hard knocks on the front door, making several men startle.
“Someone get that. Don’t forget to make sure it’s someone we trust before you let them in,” Hawkeye barked. Delilah had started snoring softly and he wasn’t ready to disturb her quite yet. She was more than exhausted, and he wanted to let her rest as much as she could.
A moment later, several voices boomed through the room as Smokey and Hardtack stomped into the room.
“Not sure what you expected us to get at this time of night.” Smokey dropped a pair of bags, stuffed with who knows what onto the table beside Hawkeye. Delilah jumped, lifting her head and blinking owlishly.
“What’s up?” She looked up at him. He liked that he was the first person she turned to for answers.
“The guys just got here with food.” He reached over and tugged one side of one of the bags down.
“Though, I’m going to use the term food loosely here.
It looks like chips, candy and Slim Jims.” He looked down at where Delilah had propped her chin on his chest as she watched him. “Anything in that you’ll eat?”
She crinkled up her nose. “Are there any barbeque chips? And did they get any soda? I could use some sugar and caffeine.”
“I’ll check on the chips, but no soda. I don’t know if they got any but we’re going to be here for a couple more hours at least. You should rest while you can. We’ll be back on the bike for another hour or so and you’ll do better if you get a little sleep.”
She frowned at him but didn’t argue. He wondered if she wanted to say something, or to argue but her father and that fuckwad’s treatment kept her from speaking up.
“Here’s a bag of barbeque,” Hardtack said as he tossed the bag to the table next to Hawkeye. “We didn’t get drinks, didn’t have room on the bikes. What kind of candy you like?” he asked.
Delilah frowned. “Got anything with white chocolate?” She didn’t move but her gaze flicked to something over his shoulder than back to his face.
As if she was waiting for him to tell her no candy.
He wouldn’t do that. She wasn’t a child and he wasn’t going to treat her like one.
He told her his reason for no caffeine, but if she wanted to ignore him or if she thought she could sleep after the sugar, then that was up to her.
“I got a couple of these.”
A thump told Hawkeye that a candy bar had been tossed next to the bag of chips. He tilted his head back until he looked at an upside-down version of Hardtack. “Will you grab us a couple bottles of water from the fridge?” Hardtack nodded and moved to the fridge.
The men from the living room came in, snagged something from the table, then went back in the other room. After a few minutes the hubbub of everyone coming and going died down.
Delilah sat up and wiggled a little to get more comfortable.
“Is one of those for me?” She looked at the water bottles Hardtack had put on the table next to the chips and candy bar.
“Sure thing. If you want them both, you can have them. I can get more,” Hawkeye said.
“Thank you.” She picked up one bottle and took a long pull. It was half gone when she set it down and reached for the chips. She fumbled with the bag, trying to open it, and not managing. When he could see she was getting frustrated, he took the bag from her, opened it and gave it back.
“Thank you.” She reached into the bag, pulled out a single chip and popped it into her mouth. He watched as she chewed and swallowed then pulled out another single chip.
“Mind sharing?” he asked, nodding toward the bag.
“Not at all.” She tilted the bag in his direction.
He shook his head. “My hands are dirty, plus, I kind of like holding on to you like this. How about you feed me?” He lifted one brow and waited as he watched her thoughts flash across her face, one after another.
Then she turned a pretty pink, but she dipped her hand in the bag, pulled out a chip and offered it to him.
“Thank you, little dove,” he said before leaning forward and snagging the delicate chip between his teeth, then pulling it in his mouth and devouring it.
He kept an eye on her as she continued to eat, alternating offering him one, then eating one herself.
It didn’t take long for the two of them to finish the small bag.
She finished her water before picking up a candy bar.
“You want some of this, too?” she asked before she unwrapped the chocolate.
“Nope. That’s all you, baby.”
She frowned at him for a second, then turned her attention back to the candy. She seemed focused on the food and not paying much attention to what was going on.
“Did I hear something about Smurfs?” she said as she snapped a block of the candy free from the rest of the bar.
“Yeah. The brother driving the truck that took the women from the Crows to a shelter for battered women has an odd sense of humor. He’s a little on the crazy side but we’ve learned to deal with him.”
She frowned. “What did he mean? What’s a Smurf?
Hawkeye lifted his brows and watched her for a moment. “You don’t know who the Smurfs are?”
She shook her head, then poked a square of chocolate in her mouth.
“They’re a cartoon. You can watch them on YouTube on your phone.”
“You can watch cartoons on your phone?” Her tone was so amazed it made him do a double take, at least mentally.
“Delilah, do you have a phone?”
She shook her head, as if he’d asked if she had a soda in her pocket, not if she owned a piece of technology that nearly every American over the age of fourteen owned.
“When’s the last time you had a phone?”
“Never.” She didn’t even look up from where her attention was on her lap and the candy.
Hawkeye looked up and met Raven’s gaze.
“Little dove, does anyone in Jericho have a phone?”
“Father Monro does. It’s supposed to be available for anyone to make a call or receive messages, but few ever bother.
I never needed to make a call, but I was told if you needed to use the phone, you had to tell them who you were calling and why you needed to talk to them.
Then either Father Monro or one of his disciples would sit with you, listening to everything.
” She shook her head. “I didn’t have anyone to call, and after learning about that, I always thought that was probably a good thing.
” She paused for a moment then spoke again.
“The no one to call, not the listening in.”
Hawkeye clenched his teeth so he wouldn’t say what he was thinking.
It wasn’t kind toward her father or any of the men in Jericho.
He hadn’t heard anything about them yet that didn’t make him want to beat the fucking shit out of every one of them.
He wouldn’t say anything, not now, but he added a phone to the list of things he’d need to get for her.
It was a good thing he hadn’t spent much of what he’d earned with the club, because he knew a wardrobe and all the floofy shit women bought wouldn’t come cheap.
Not that he cared. If she needed it, he’d find a way to make sure she got it.