Her lips turn up into a cocky as shit grin. “Fuck yeah, we can.”
MOUNTAIN
Hawk and Avah come through, though I know that I shouldn’t be surprised. Hawk may have bounced on the Beasts years ago, but he’s been making an effort to truly be part of the club since he’s been back, and Avah is loyal as fuck to Trista.
“Okay, so what now?” Dutch asks after we make our way through the checkpoint.
“We go to Hawk’s and wait for them. He’s got Avah doing whatever she’s doing, then he’s going to meet us there and they’re supposed to join us on the road back to home.”
Dutch is quiet for a moment, then he clears his throat. “What did Avah do to get us through without any checks?” he asks.
I press my lips together in a grim line as I pull into the parking lot of her building. “Avah was a call girl as her job before.”
He doesn’t say anything as I turn the engine off. Then he turns to me, his eyes widen as it dawns on him what she had to do to ensure our safe passage.
“I thought she was Hawk’s woman? I mean, he’s old enough to be her father, but I thought…” His words hang between us.
“I don’t know what they have together, but she ain’t branded, therefore ain’t his woman.”
Both of us are quiet as we wait for them. I watch a fancy as fuck BMW arrive, and grin at the sight of Hawk driving her car. When they get out, my smile falls immediately at the sight of Avah. Her head is dipped down, she’s got a huge pair of sunglasses on and an oversized sweatshirt pulled around her.
“C’mon,” she whispers.
We follow behind them, and my good mood is completely gone—it’s vanished. I feel like a piece of fucking shit. It didn’t bother me, the idea of her fucking some guy to get what we needed, to help us out. A whore does that, right? Fucks whoever she needs to for financial gain or any other type of gain.
It’s no big deal, right?
Right?
She disappears into the back of the apartment before I can even say a single word. Turning to Hawk, I lift a brow in question. He jerks his chin toward the sliding glass doors that lead to the balcony.
Following him, I wait as Dutch closes the door behind him before I ask if everything is okay. He’s quiet for a moment, taking a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it. “Wish I had something stronger, but I haven’t been out in a while to get supplies,” he murmurs.
I don’t remind him that we have so much goddamn pure product in the back of that pickup truck that we could probably end all of Los Angeles in a week. Instead, I wait for him to answer me, knowing that he has something to say, something that he doesn’t want Avah to hear.
“Thought she could do this and be good, thought that I could be good.”
“Shit,” I hiss. “We would have figured out another way, we could have.”
He opens his mouth, but it’s Avah who speaks. We all turn around, our eyes finding hers. I can’t stop the guilt from gathering in the pit of my stomach.
“There was no other way,” she whispers. “This was the only way. But this is the last time. Trista never belonged in this life. I pushed her into it, dangled all of the pretty pieces about it in front of her as a way to entice her because I was so alone. I brought her down to my level when she shouldn’t have ever been there, she’s so much better than I could ever be.”
“Avah,” Hawk rasps.
She shakes her head. “No, what happened today. This is nothing less than I deserve, and I was happy to do it for your club. This club that has come to mean so much to me. But I can’t do it again, please don’t ask me to.”
“Never,” Hawk announces. “Not fucking ever. Now, pack your shit and let’s go home.”
Avah gives a trembling smile. “I’m not going with you. I’m staying here, or maybe going somewhere else. I’ve given you all of Layne’s contacts. I’ve done what I promised. I need to just breathe for a while.”
I expect Hawk to demand she goes with us, but he doesn’t. Instead, I watch as he makes his way toward her. It feels too fucking intimate a moment for us to witness, but I can’t look away either.
Hawk wraps his hand around the back of her neck and tugs her head forward. He rests his forehead against her for a moment, whispering something to her, then he shifts his head down and kisses her.
When he breaks the kiss, he turns, his gaze finding mine. “Let’s get the fuck back to Arizona,” he growls.
“Let’s go home,” I rasp.
“Home,” he grunts.
I can tell it’s the very last thing he wants to do. He wants nothing more than to run after this woman. This girl half his age that he’s falling in deep with, this is not the end of their tale, I’m not a fucking fool and even I can see it written on both of their faces. Shit between them is about to get really fucking real—after they get their heads out of their asses of course.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
LEIGHTON
I want to ask Trista what the hell is up with this Jaguar guy, but I don’t. We’re too nervous to chat, or at least I am. I’ll ask her eventually. Right now, all I can think about is attempting to escape.
If we get caught, it’s game over.
We need to get out of this clubhouse and compound. The only hope for survival, to stay together, to get home is to leave before these monsters get ahold of us, separate us, and torture us.
There is a knock on the window. Both of our heads whip toward that direction. I gulp at the same time Trista reaches for my hand and squeezes.
“We can do this,” she rasps. “We can.”
I nod, though I’m not as confident as she appears. It doesn’t matter. I’m going to fake this until we make it, at least until she makes it. If I don’t, then Mountain will be okay. He has his brothers; he has his club. He will be okay without me. I repeat myself over and over again, a mantra of sorts.
Trista stands and makes her way over to the window. Slowly, she tugs it open and lets out a sigh when it shifts upward. Standing, I walk over to her and watch as she sticks her head out, looking from left to right.
“It’s clear,” she whispers, sounding almost surprised.
I watch as she throws one leg over the side of the frame, then the other. I kind of wish she would ditch me and just run, but she doesn’t. Trista holds her hands out for me and helps me slide over the side as well. Before we run, we slide the window back into place.
“We need to stick to the shadows, just in case,” she whispers.
Looking to the left, I see the exit gate and wish that we could just slip through that instead of going into an unknown forest area at night. Taking Trista’s hand, she squeezes me once and I squeeze her back before we start to walk.
Our legs move swiftly, our bodies hunched down to make ourselves as small as possible. We do exactly what Jaguar told us to do, though why we’re trusting him, I don’t know. The way they talked, he’d betrayed the Savage Beasts once before. What’s to stop him from doing it again?
The edge of the property comes into view. There is a small fence that will be easy to climb over. Trista reaches for the fence, throwing herself over it quickly. She holds her arms out for me, but I hesitate.