Three to Fall (Saint View Slayers vs. Sinners #3)

18. Hawk

18

HAWK

I couldn’t stop the sick feeling swirling in the pit of my stomach. I stood in the doorway of Hayley Jade’s room, watching her sleep, her hair all spread out across her pillow. Her eyelashes fanned across her cheeks, and her chest rose and fell in deep, relaxed breaths, her body at rest because she knew she was safe here within these walls.

I couldn’t stop thinking about Kara’s little sister. About how she was barely older than the child sleeping in front of me now.

I’d done some shit things in my time. I hadn’t always treated women well.

But I sure as hell hadn’t come close to the level of fucked-up Josiah and his cult of freaks had shown. Being an arrogant prick was bad enough, but I wasn’t in the same league as Josiah.

Someone stepped in behind me, and I instantly knew from how big he was and how close he stood that it was Chaos. Nobody else would be all up in my space like that, but for once, I didn’t mind. I found myself leaning until his chest was brushing my back.

His voice was soft so he didn’t wake Hayley Jade. “What’s the plan?”

I sighed. “Other than go get her sister, while leaving enough men here to keep Hayley Jade and everyone else safe, I don’t know.”

“We don’t have enough guys, do we?”

I shoved my hands in my pockets and closed my eyes, wishing I hadn’t already come to that conclusion. “No. I don’t think so. From what Kara has said, Josiah has more than a handful. And probably even more now, after his fucking podcast went viral. The men we dealt with at the school and the hospital were all armed. I just can’t see Josiah not having a stash of weapons himself. He has to have a way of protecting his turf. It’s one thing for us to protect our own grounds. We have the upper hand here. But if we have to split up, half of us here, half of us there… We don’t know his grounds. Don’t know what we’re facing. It could end up a fucking shit show in a matter of seconds if we play this wrong.”

“Kara knows Ethereal Eden.”

I spun around and stared at him. “You are not seriously suggesting we take her? We’ll take Kyle.”

“We should take them both.”

I shook my head stubbornly. “No fucking way.”

“She’s not going to take no for an answer. I saw the look in her eyes just now. It’s the same one I’ve seen in her every time she has to protect Hayley Jade. Or me. Or Grayson. Or you.”

I swore beneath my breath. “She has zero sense of self-preservation.”

“She cares about people.”

“Why can’t she use some of those feelings to protect herself?” It seriously fucking killed me how she was always willing to sacrifice herself.

“Would you?” Hayden asked, so fucking sensibly I wanted to smack him in the nose. “You just said yourself we don’t have enough men to do this safely. There is a real risk we might not come home. Is that going to stop you?”

“No.” The answer came so quickly and easily and felt so right I didn’t even have to question it.

A grin pulled at the corners of his mouth. “So the two of you are exactly the same then, aren’t you? Actually, you’re probably worse, considering you’ve never even met Jacqueline. And yet you’re willing to die for her.”

“She’s important to Kara. So she’s important to me.”

“Ditto. But all I’m saying is don’t give Kara a hard time for not wanting to sit here on the sidelines when you couldn’t either.”

I scowled at him. “Fuck, you’re annoying.”

He brushed his lips over mine. “Yeah, well, you’re an asshole.”

Couldn’t deny that.

Couldn’t deny the way my dick kicked at each brush of his mouth either. Or the way my fingers acted as if they had a mind of their own, tucking themselves into the waistband of his jeans and tugging him closer so I could fucking kiss him properly.

He kissed me back, mouths opening, tongues joining, the kiss turning hot fast.

My dick ached, straining toward him, but I pulled away with a groan. “Can’t do this right now. I need to call the Louisiana chapter. See if they can help.”

Hayden’s eyes darkened, and he stepped away as if I’d slapped him. “What the fuck? No. They’re in with Luca.”

“So are you.”

His face went cold. “That was a cheap blow, and you know it. I’m not trafficking women for Luca. The Louisiana Slayers were expecting an entire van full of them. One of their guys fucking buried Kara alive.”

“Or one of ours did. We don’t know for sure because both Ratchet and Thunder are buried six feet under.”

“Why are you standing up for them?”

I sighed. “I’m not. But we fucking need help, and I don’t know where else to get it.”

Grayson cleared his throat from the other side of the room, and both Chaos and I jumped a mile. I glared at him, feeling slightly stupid for having a lover’s tiff in front of him. “Fucking hell, you stalker. Where did you come from?”

“Been here the whole time, you were just too wrapped up in each other to notice. But that’s beside the point. How many guys do you think you need?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. The more the better.” I eyed him. “But if you think I’m letting you and your doctor buddies have guns…”

He gave me a deadpan stare. “Funny. They aren’t my only friends, you know. You know those guys you met at my apartment?”

I remembered them. Five big motherfuckers who’d had Chaos and I hovering fingers over our guns, even though one of them had been baking bread and trying to make me his gay BFF. Or something. “The ones who were joking about tying a guy up and scooping out his eyeballs?”

“Yeah. They weren’t joking about that.”

I’d seen enough thugs and psychopaths in my time. Gotten to know a few of them, like Scythe and Vincent, really well. This life attracted men who liked to kill. So Grayson’s “revelation” wasn’t really much of one. “You think they’d want to help us?”

“Is there a chance they’d get to kill someone?”

“I really fucking hope so.”

Grayson just shook his head. “They’ve been calling themselves the murder squad lately, so I think they’d be in.”

“That’s dark.”

“They’re dark sorta guys. They kinda make you look morally gray instead of morally black.”

“Not sure if that’s a compliment or an insult.” But I needed help in whatever way, shape, or form I could get it. “Can you get them on board?”

Grayson nodded. “They owe me more than one favor. They’ll be in.”

I studied the doctor. “You’re odd sometimes, you know? In an interesting sorta way.”

Grayson grinned. “Was it my ball sack in your face that piqued your interest?”

I choked.

Chaos turned to me slowly, barely concealing his laughter. “Want to tell me what that’s about?”

“Not even a bit.” I shoved Grayson as I stalked off toward my bedroom. “You’re all getting a little too comfortable around here. Can we go back to when you were just a guy I used to work with?”

“But then you’d never get to see my ball sack again.”

He and Chaos dissolved into laughter, which slamming my bedroom door did nothing to cover.

And they called me the asshole.