Saving Serena (Hawk Security #1)

Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

Duke

On Wednesday afternoon, I picked Serena up after work, same as before. We shared a kiss, but she didn’t hold my hand on the way back to the car.

“How was work today?” I asked.

“Oh, same old, same old, except that I’m grounded. After the crash, my boss won’t let me go out in the field until he figures out what to do with me.”

“But it wasn’t your fault.”

She shot me the side eye. “And you told me to claim it was.”

“Sorry.”

“Yeah, everybody’s sorry for me except Remy, who’s sorry for the deer. I can tell Powell is trying to use this to demote me and put his pet, Remy, in my place.”

I beeped the door locks open. “That sucks.”

“Tell me about. It’s really, really sucked to be me for a few days.”

Inside the car, she didn’t look my way or offer her hand. We were definitely in Awkwardville after last night, and there was nothing I could do about it because Lucas had been called out of town for the rest of the week. The conversation I needed to have with him couldn’t be done over the phone.

“I need some clean clothes,” I told her. “Is it okay if we stop by my place on the way home?”

She stared out the window. “Whatever.”

As I turned onto Wilshire, she looked over at me. “I’m still supposed to wait, right?”

I glanced over. She was beautiful, and I yearned to touch her. But I nodded. “Lucas is out of town.” I turned into the long circular drive in front of my building. “We’re here.”

“I thought you said we were going to your house.”

“I said place .” She was correct that it was no house. It was a gigantic fucking tower.

“Holy shit. You live here?” Her surprise was understandable, given that this was the premier address in this part of town.

I shrugged. “Mr. Covington’s wife named it Battlestar Covington. I just call it home.”

“You know Lauren?”

I parked and shut off the engine. “We’ve done work for several of the Covingtons.”

She let me run around the car to let her out.

Before we reached the safety of the lobby, three men stepped out from behind a car. I recognized the two burly ones as two of Zolotarev’s goons, Baldy and Tattoo Neck. I remembered seeing them drop Ariana off to meet her father.

This was not good. I stopped us, dropped the bag, and swept Serena behind me with my free hand.

“Stay back,” I whispered. I had my phone in my hand, and I wished it was my SIG. But my weapon was sitting in the lockbox in my truck. I hadn’t expected to need it in my own parking lot.

Baldy had a Beretta out, and I bet he knew how to use it.

Tattoo Neck flexed his fists. He didn’t have a gun.

The shorter man I didn’t recognize.

“You,” Shorty said, pointing an angry finger. “You hurt my sister.” That explained who he was. The idiot brother, Stanislav—the one even airhead Ariana called stupid.

“She never got hurt when I was with her.” I kept it simple for rocks-for-brains.

Shorty kept coming. “You walk away. She get cut. Your fault.” He parroted his father’s faulty logic.

“Not my problem. She fired me.” I stood my ground. Distance was not my friend here. With a gun in play, I needed them close to have a chance. Even if I hadn’t released Terry for the night, he couldn’t have arrived in time. “Now leave. This is private property.”

Shorty laughed and then spat on the ground. “We fix you.”

They all moved forward.

My adrenaline surged as I prepared. “I’m warning you.” Pretending I was scared, I took a small step away and forcefully pushed Serena farther back. “Stay behind me, baby.”

Shorty was still flapping his gums but hadn’t pulled a weapon, which gave me a chance. “Papa tell you. You not listen. Now you learn.” He nodded to Baldy, who stepped forward.

Baldy grinned and swung the barrel back and forth.

Tattoo Neck came up behind him.

“Which knee, pretty boy?” Shorty laughed.

Baldy moved closer, keeping his feet tight together. “Or shoot…” He waved the gun in the air. “Your woman.”

Big mistake. “You will not threaten her,” I growled.

“Or what, pretty boy?” Shorty snorted.

With his feet together like that, Baldy couldn’t quickly move sideways or back.

Tossing my phone, I lunged.

I was almost there when the gun went off.

Serena

I pushed paper at the EPA. How had this become my life?

I felt Duke tense, then he threw his phone and jumped. The big, bald man fired, and my heart stopped.

Duke landed a kick to the guy’s gun arm, and the weapon went flying.

The tattooed one moved up to swing, and he missed as Duke landed a punch on his neck and a kick to that guy’s midsection, sending him against a parked car.

Bald Guy recovered and swung wildly, hitting Duke in the side. Duke retaliated with a combination of punches to the man’s face that made him look like a bobblehead doll before he slumped to the ground.

The tattooed one got up and ran at Duke, who stopped him with a kick to the head. He went down in a heap. Their boss, the short one, watched slack-jawed as my man took out his two thugs. He fumbled at his pocket.

If he pulled out a gun, this wouldn’t end well. I screamed and hurled myself toward him.

Duke punched the bald one again when he tried to get up.

The boss was still having trouble with the Velcro on his pocket when I reached him and launched a woman’s best offense—a kick to his balls. He didn’t swivel enough to escape, and my shoe landed solidly. With a cry like he was dying, he crumpled to the ground and curled into the fetal position.

Duke landed another fist to the bald one’s head as the doorman jogged up. The bald guy went limp.

“My goodness, Mr. Hawk. What happened?” The doorman’s accent was British.

I wanted to scream that my man was a badass and had just creamed five or six hundred pounds of Russian muscle. That’s what happened.

“Oliver, these three jumped us.” Duke pointed. “Please get the gun.”

I should have thought of that. I watched Oliver scurry over and grab the pistol. He clearly knew how to handle it.

Duke stood. “If any of them move, shoot them anywhere you like.”

Oliver grinned. “My pleasure, Mr. Hawk. I’m partial to the stomach. But it’s been a few years, and I might miss and hit the groin.”

The short guy in front of me moaned, and I gave him a warning glare and cocked my kicking leg back. “Don’t move.”

“Oliver, this is my girlfriend, Serena Benson,” Duke continued. “She is to have full access to the building and my unit.”

I blushed. Being Duke’s girlfriend still felt almost too good to be true. I gave the old man a slight wave. “Hi.”

Oliver tipped his chin. “A pleasure, Miss Benson.” He pulled out a phone with his free hand. “Shall I call the police, sir?”

Duke waved a finger. “No need. My company will take care of it.”

Oliver nodded knowingly and put the phone away. “As you wish, sir.”

A minute later, my badass man had the two big guys zip-tied. “Sorry, I didn’t bring enough zip ties for everybody. Oliver, shoot this short little shit if he moves a muscle.”

Duke took my hand. “I hope my phone’s okay.”

I clung to the security of his hold as we searched for it. “Why’d you throw it at him?”

“Not at him. Off to the side.”

I admitted my biggest fear. “I thought he shot you.”

“Not even close. The eye instinctively follows a moving object. That gave me the advantage.” He picked up the phone and with a quick call arranged to have Terry pick the guys up.

“You scared the shit out of me. Please don’t do that again. I almost had a heart attack.” I kept the other part to myself—that watching him do his badass thing turned me on.

He pulled me close with a possessive arm. “No promises, Princess. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe—anything and everything.”

Nobody had ever said that to me before, and I knew my protector meant every word of it. I wished even more that I could take him someplace private and show him how much I appreciated him. “Watching you take down those goons was the hottest thing I’ve ever witnessed.”

“Really?” He pointed at two motorcycles as we passed, one a big black Harley and the other a small, sleek machine that looked like a racer. “Ever ridden?”

“No.” I’d only dated milquetoast boys who didn’t ride badass motorcycles. And Dad had forbidden me to ever ride a bike after Johnny Raskin had shown up with one. I didn’t hear from Johnny again after Dad’s outburst.

Duke grinned. “We’ll fix that after this whole thing is over.”

“Yes, please.” I pulled myself closer to my badass biker.

“Do you think it’s safe to leave Oliver alone with those three?” I asked as we entered the lobby.

Duke chuckled. “Don’t let him fool you. He can probably shoot the tail off a field mouse at a hundred yards. He’s former SAS.”

Ahh, yes. SAS was the British armed forces equivalent of our SEALs.

“Some people say they’re even better than our SEALs,” I joked. When Duke’s eyebrow rose, I quickly added, “Some people are idiots.”

Later that night, I finished brushing my teeth, and as always, double-checked the nightlights before getting into bed.

Accepting that I had poor willpower, I reached into my nightstand for my vibrator. It was nothing to be ashamed of. Probably Duke was taking care of business as well. All guys did that, didn’t they?

I couldn’t wait for Duke to clear this up so we could be together. It was noble of him to want to handle things professionally with his team, but honestly, we were adults and didn’t need anybody’s permission to take things beyond platonic.

Switching on the toy, I settled back and spread my legs. Soon, I was moaning his name.