Chapter 4
Delilah
Ididn’t know what had gotten into me. I should’ve been scared out of my mind when Viper and Hawk came into the room to question me, but it was like that part of my brain simply wasn’t working how it was supposed to.
I wanted to think it was just all the anger and frustration pumping through my veins that was making it difficult to see that my life was in danger, but I knew that wasn’t the only reason I wasn’t thinking clearly.
It was him—the handsome stranger who brought butterflies to my stomach every time he looked at me.
I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I was a smart girl.
I knew Hawk was one of them—the men who’d threatened my brother’s life and my own.
For that matter, he was the one who’d brought me into this godforsaken room and locked me inside, yet I still found him to be irresistibly, earth-shatteringly hot.
Every time I looked at his broad, muscular shoulders, dark tousled hair, and piercing green eyes, my pulse would start to race, and my entire body would grow warm with desire.
It was bad to even give a man like him a second look.
I knew that. Regrettably, I couldn’t seem to make my body understand that.
I needed to get as far away from him as possible.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen.
Because of Danny, I was stuck there with him, and if I wasn’t careful and didn’t stay out of trouble, he’d end me once and for all. Damn. I was screwed.
“Fine ... I’m sorry.” Trying my best to sound sincere, I glanced up at him and added, “I won’t say another word.”
“Yeah, somehow I find that hard to believe.”
His eyes met mine, and an unwelcome shiver traveled down my spine, forcing me to quickly look away.
My eyes drifted to the floor, and as I sat there studying the scuff marks on my tennis shoes, I found myself wishing I’d changed out of my work clothes and into something else—anything else.
Maybe then it wouldn’t bother me so much that I could feel him staring at me.
When I couldn’t stand it a moment longer, I shifted, positioning myself so that my back was to him.
I crossed my legs and toyed with my fingernails, trying to pretend that he was no longer in the room.
I’d never been good at being quiet, much less still, so I quickly became uncomfortable.
The silence in the room wasn’t making it any easier, and my leg started to lightly bounce up and down.
I let out a deep breath and tried counting the tiles on the ceiling, but I just couldn’t keep my focus.
When I couldn’t stand it a moment longer, I glanced over my shoulder, and just as I feared, Hawk was staring right at me.
A knowing smirk crossed his face. “You just can’t stand it, can you? ”
“What? I didn’t say anything.”
“Yeah, and it’s eating at ya something awful.”
“No, it’s not!”
“Yeah. Sure, it’s not.” He shook his head as he snickered. “Looks like you’re about to come out of your skin over there.”
I rolled my eyes as I positioned my hips even further to the left, making it even more difficult for him to see my face. “I’m just fine, thank you very much.”
“Um-hmm.”
My back was still to him when I heard him move behind me, but I refused to turn and look.
Instead, I just sat there as still as possible, glaring at the blank wall in front of me.
I remained that way even after I heard the door open and close.
I thought he was just messing with me until I heard the click of the exterior lock—that was one sound I couldn’t ignore.
I quickly turned around and was surprised to see that there was no sign of Hawk.
Still not believing he was truly gone, I got up and walked over to the door, testing it to see if it was really locked.
When I felt that it was, I decided to use the moment alone to check out my surroundings.
I went over to the window, quickly testing it to see if I could get it open; when I couldn’t, I tried the window in the bathroom.
After seeing that it wouldn’t budge either, I rushed over to the dresser and searched through the drawers, but they were all empty.
I stood in the center of the small room, searching for anything that might help me out of my precarious situation and was disappointed when there was nothing to be found.
Having no other choice, I walked back over to the bed and lay down.
I hadn’t realized how exhausted I was until I rested my head down on the pillow.
There was no way I could actually sleep.
I was too worried about Danny for that to happen.
Those men had him somewhere in this building, and they were doing god knows what to him for god knows why.
It was a thought that terrified me and made me even more curious about what he’d gotten himself into.
The Danny I knew, the brother I’d grown up with and loved so dearly, was now a stranger to me, and it was all my fault.
I was too wrapped up in my own life, too busy being focused on my career to think about Danny and what he was going through.
I should’ve done better. I should’ve called more, gone to see him—been more involved in his life.
Maybe then, he wouldn’t have found himself in such a terrible predicament.
I was wallowing in a pit of self-loathing when the door opened and Hawk appeared with a tray of food and a handful of clothes.
I sat up in the bed and watched silently as he walked over to the corner and placed them on the desk. “I thought you might be hungry.”
“Oh?” I was surprised by the gesture, especially after the way he’d just up and left, so I was a little hesitant as I got up and muttered, “Well, umm ... thank you.”
“No problem.” He motioned his hand towards the pile of clothes and announced, “I also got you a change of clothes.”
“Okay.” I got up and walked over to him, looking at all the things he’d brought. While I should’ve been grateful that he’d even thought to bring me anything, I wasn’t. “So, where did these come from?”
“They’re just some clothes. Why does it matter?”
“Well, it might not matter to you, but it does to me.” He didn’t respond.
Instead, he just stood there looking at me like I was being a complete bitch.
I couldn’t blame him. I was being a bitch, but I didn’t know what kind of women he ran around with.
If I had to guess, they were nothing like me—average looking with a boring life and limited experience with men.
A part of me was unsettled by that fact.
To be honest, I was more than unsettled.
For reasons I didn’t understand, I was actually feeling jealous. I just couldn’t get a grip on my green-eyed monster and found myself crossing my arms as I looked over to him with a scowl. “I don’t want to catch something from one of your little bimbos that won’t wash off.”
“Bimbos? Are you fucking kidding?” With a snarl on his face, he picked up one of the t-shirts and held it out to me. “These are brand new. Hell, they still have the fucking tags on them.”
“Oh ... I missed that.” A sudden feeling of guilt washed over me, and I wished I could take back what I’d said.
It wasn’t like me to be so catty. I was normally a pretty nice person who was respectful and kind.
Nothing like I’d been behaving. I lowered my head and whispered, “I’m ... I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”
“Um-hmm.” I would’ve given anything to read his mind as he stood there silently studying me with narrowed eyes.
His back was stiff, his jaw was locked, and he looked like there was a storm raging inside of him.
If I wasn’t careful, I was going to make an even bigger mess of this whole thing.
After several long, agonizing minutes, he finally ran his hand over his face and sighed. “You know, I’m not the bad guy here.”
“Are you sure about that?” I asked as I turned and went over to sit on the edge of the bed. “You are the one in charge of keeping me here. I also recall hearing that you should put a bullet in my head if I cause any trouble.”
“Maybe, but you gotta remember, I wouldn’t have been told to keep an eye on you if your brother hadn’t—”
“Hadn’t what?” I pushed. “What did he do?”
“It’s not important.”
“We both know that’s not true; otherwise, you wouldn’t be keeping me here.” I looked over to him and softened my tone as I said, “I just don’t get why you won’t tell me what’s going on. I deserve to know why I’m being forced to stay. I deserve to know what my brother has done.”
“I don’t disagree.” He ran his hand through his tousled hair and sighed. “But the decision isn’t up to me. If Viper wanted you to know, he’d tell you.”
“Okay ... so, who is this Viper guy anyway?”
“He’s the president.”
“President? President of what … the Ruthless Sinners?”
“That’s right,” he admitted. “He’s the one in charge, so do us both a favor and don’t get on his bad side.”
I thought back to our earlier conversation—the tone in his voice, the tone in mine—and groaned. “I’m afraid it’s a little late for that.”
“It’s never too late, Delilah. Just do what you can to keep it together until we figure this thing out with your brother.”
“Okay.”
I had no idea how I was supposed to keep it together when there were so many things I simply didn’t understand—why I was even there, what Danny had done, or why I continued to feel such a pull towards Hawk when I should’ve wanted to run as far away from him as possible.
I suddenly felt like the walls were closing in on me, and even though I’d tried to fight it, I felt tears begin to sting my eyes.
A strange look crossed Hawk’s face as he took a step towards me.
I stood frozen as he lifted his hand to my face, gently brushing the pad of his thumb across my cheek as he whispered, “It’s going to be okay, Delilah. ”
“You don’t know that for certain.”
“No, but I’ll do whatever I can to help ... to get you back home where you belong.”
“Why do you care what happens to me anyway?”
He took a step back as he removed his hand from my face. “Because I believe you when you say you weren’t involved in this.”
“Oh, well ... um ... if that’s the case, can I ask you something?”
“You can ask. Doesn’t mean I’ll answer.”
“Is Danny okay? Have you hurt him?” His face twisted into a grimace, and I knew I had my answer. Danny might be alive, but he definitely wasn’t okay. I dropped my head into the palms of my hands as I cried, “Oh, god. This is bad. Really bad. I should’ve done something.”
“What could you have done?”
“I don’t know ... something.” I lowered my hands and started pacing back and forth. “He’s my brother. I should’ve at least known he was in trouble. Maybe then I could’ve helped him in some way.”
“If everything you’ve said is true and you had no part in it, then none of this is your fault. Your brother is a big boy. He can take responsibility for his own shit. He doesn’t need you to do it for him.”
“It’s not that simple. He’s my family, Hawk. It doesn’t matter what he did or didn’t do. I’m supposed to be there for him, have his back, and stand by him when things are tough, and I failed him.” I had to bite back my tears. “I want him to be okay ... I need him to be okay.”
“I can’t make any promises about Danny, Delilah. I wish I could, but it’s out of my hands.”
“What about me?” I knew I couldn’t do anything to help my brother while I was locked up in this room.
I needed to get out, find some answers to what was going on, and then, maybe—just maybe, I might be able to help him get out of this mess.
“Do you think there’s any way I’ll be able to get out of here? ”
“I can’t say for sure.” He shrugged. “That depends on your brother.”
“If I could talk to him, then maybe—”
“That’s not going to happen.” He glanced over at the clock. “I’ve gotta get going. Watch some TV, sleep, or something. Just try to stay out of trouble until I get back.”
“Okay ... I’ll try.”
Hawk’s lips twitched into a smile, almost knocking me off my feet, and then he headed for the door.
I watched him walk out of the room and close the door, leaving me alone once again.
Even though he got under my skin and had a way of making me act like a complete asshole, I was actually a little sad to see him go.
I didn’t want to obsess over the fact that I was locked in a room alone, so I grabbed a few of the clothes Hawk had brought me and went into the bathroom for a shower.
Once I was done, I put on a t-shirt with a pair of knit leggings, surprised to find that they fit perfectly.
I used the hairdryer stashed in the bathroom cabinet, then grabbed a pack of crackers and a drink before climbing back in bed.
Even though I wasn’t in the mood to watch anything, I turned on the TV and sat there listening to one of those infomercials on some new cooking device while I ate.
Needless to say, it wasn’t the most entertaining night, so I gave into my exhaustion and nestled into bed.
I closed my eyes, but instead of drifting off to sleep, I thought about Danny and what they might be doing to him.
I wanted to think that they were just talking to him, but I knew better.
Men like the Ruthless Sinners weren’t about talking.
They were about getting results—by any means necessary.
My imagination started to run wild with horrific thoughts.
I hated the idea of my brother being hurt.
I hated the idea of him dying even more.
With all the crazy notions whipping around in my head, I feared I’d never manage to fall asleep.
Thankfully, after several hours of relentless crying and praying, I finally drifted off—unaware of the fact that my life was about to change in ways I couldn’t comprehend.