Hawk: Reapers MC Book #6 Read online

  Hawk

  Reapers MC Book #6

  Elizabeth Knox

  Contents

  Available Now

  Coming Soon

  Playlist

  Acknowledgments

  Trigger Warning

  Billings, Montana Charter

  Las Vegas, Nevada Charter

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Epilogue

  Social Media

  Steele Brothers

  Prologue

  Available Now

  From Elizabeth Knox

  Series: Skulls Renegade

  Reign

  Redemption

  Revenge

  Relentless

  Reckoning

  Reclaimed

  Regret

  Reckless

  Reclusive

  Retribution

  First Generation: A Skulls Renegade MC Boxset

  Series: Steele Bros.

  Tough as Steele

  Stripping a Steele

  Protecting a Steele

  Series: Reapers MC

  Scarred

  Blackjack

  Here Kitty, Kitty

  Booger

  Widow

  Kade

  Hawk

  Series: Iron Vex MC

  Enraged

  Series: The Clans with Iris Sweetwater

  Promised

  The Trade

  Cherished

  Deceit

  Love is War

  Defiant

  Shattered

  Sin City Fets with Linny Lawless

  Switched

  Full Throttle with Erin Trejo

  Against All Odds

  Coming Soon

  From Elizabeth Knox

  Bull

  (Reapers MC #7)

  Covert

  (The Clans #9)

  Steele Her Heart

  (Steele Bros #4)

  Leave Me Breathless: The Black Rose Collection

  Love is a Gamble

  (Royal Bastards MC: Baltimore Charter #1)

  Hawk

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are all products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblances to persons, organizations, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.

  Hawk. Copyright © 2019 by Elizabeth Knox. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations used in articles or reviews. For information contact E. Knox.

  https://www.facebook.com/elizabethknoxbooks

  Publisher: Knox Publishing

  Publishing Link: www.knoxpub.com

  Cover design: Clarise Tan, CT Cover Creations

  Editing: Courtney Lynn Rose, Knox Publishing

  Proofreading: Rebecca Vazquez, Full Bloom Editorial

  Formatting: E.C. Land, Knox Publishing

  Models: Dustin Hadley & Jessica Pisarczyk

  Photographer: Reggie Deanching, R + M Photo

  Created with Vellum

  Playlist

  Fucked Up, Kinda – Julia Michaels & Role Model

  There You Are — ZAYN

  Close My Eyes — Hey Violet

  Don’t Call Me Angel — Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus & Lana Del Rey

  Let You Be Right — Meghan Trainor

  History of Violence — Theory of a Deadman

  Acknowledgments

  My Betas— You all are amazing. Thank you so much for your invaluable feedback while I was writing this book.

  Clarise— This is one of my favorite covers that we’ve ever worked on together. Thank you so much!

  Dante— Thanks for adding these tattoos to Jess and Dustin. They’re sick!

  My Blogger Team— As always, thank you so much for helping me share all my work. Without you, I wouldn’t be reaching the masses.

  Amanda/A.C.

  You’ve shown me what it truly means to be a friend. We may have connected through the worst of circumstances but what I will say is that I’m so thankful we found each other. Two women who think in many of the same ways and who’ve dealt with the same struggles.

  As always, I gotchu girl.

  Xoxo,

  E.K.

  Trigger Warning

  This book is intended for mature audiences only. If darker books are not for you, please do not move forward. After re-adjusting my trigger warning system, I will not be giving any spoilers. Please understand that this is not your run of the mill romance and tough subjects will be spoken about in this storyline.

  Billings, Montana Charter

  Fist — Prez (on sabbatical)

  Cracker – VP (Deceased)

  Zane – Prez (interim)

  Blackjack – VP (interim) – Ol’ Lady – Ashley

  Children: Dex (Blackjack’s previous relationship) & Noelle

  Bull – Enforcer

  Grim – Sgt at Arms

  Tex – Full Patch – Ol’ Lady – Roxy

  Children: Kat

  Dracus – Full Patch – Ol’ Lady – Roxy

  Children: Nova

  Bolt – Full Patch – Ol’ Lady – Roxy

  Children: Jordyn

  Zorro – Full Patch

  Axel – Full Patch

  Hammer – Prospect

  Las Vegas, Nevada Charter

  Damon — Prez — Ol’ lady — Kat

  Amara – VP

  Booger – Enforcer – Ol’ lady — Camila

  Dixon – Sgt. At Arms

  Chaz – Full Patch

  Widow – Full Patch – Ol’ lady – Tania (A Jackal)

  Children: Zoe (Widow’s previous relationship)

  Cobra – Full Patch

  Hawk – Full Patch

  Kade – Full Patch – Ol’ lady – Ivy

  Mouser – Prospect

  Prologue

  Part of recovery is dealing with the memories you would rather forget.

  ~ The Freedom Center

  Raven

  4 years ago . . .

  I graduate in a month and can’t wait for the day I walk across that stage and grab my diploma. Ever since I was a little girl, the only thing I’ve ever dreamed of is getting out of this podunk town. There’s no future for anyone here. You marry a farmer, are a farmer, or work at a small general store where the closest available alternative is over an hour away.

  “Chelsea! Are you hearin’ a word I’m sayin’ right now?” My best friend Izzy pulls my attention back to reality. That’s what keeps happening these days. I’m so close to getting out of here and all I seem to do is daydream about it.

  I glance over my shoulder from home plate and look at her. “Are you gonna throw the ball or what?”

  She gives me a dumbfounded look. “Am I gonna . . . girl. I’ve thrown the ball two times already and your ditzy head
hasn’t even tried to hit one. We all know I’m good, but I’m not this good. You’re the best batter we have on the team. Heck, any time we expect a foul, you end up hitting a home run. Get your head in the game!”

  Izzy and I have been friends since we were about six years old. We went to the same after-school daycare together— not that there’s anywhere else to go in town. When I think back on it, I think about the good old days— the days where my mom worked a couple of towns over. Back then, our lives were relatively normal.

  My brother Matthew was a few years older than me. He was always the typical, annoying big brother that any little girl would have. Now, though . . . now, he’s something else entirely. One day, everything changed. First, it changed for Momma. But then Matthew started changing too. I had already accepted I was losing her but Matthew made a promise he wouldn’t do the same. He went back on that promise when I was fifteen.

  It’s been three long years but somehow, I’ve made it through to this point. I silently told myself to make it until graduation, until I had enough money saved up to try and rent a room out close to Missoula. Classes don’t start until late August, but it’ll come sooner than I think.

  Izzy pulls her arm back and throws the ball in an undercut pitch and it proceeds to fly my way. I yank the bat back, watching the ball as it approaches me. Just as it crosses over the edge of home plate, I swing, using the entire force of my body to get the ball into the outfield.

  As the ball flies away, I run toward first base, the mud sticking in my cleats. It rained here a couple of days ago after not getting any for the last month. Normally, we wouldn’t even be out here until the dirt dried but we don’t have many days like this left. Soon, the group of us will be leaving to go off on our new adventures.

  I didn’t start playing softball until a couple of years ago. It was a few months after Dad left us and Momma started acting a little lost. Matthew was the one who recommended I do something after school.

  Momma works first shift at a shoe factory now because she lost her job at the bank. I think my brother knew she was going downhill after that. I saw the signs but chose to ignore them all. I wanted her to get better, not to continue going down the rabbit hole. Looking back, I feel like a naïve little girl.

  I start to slow down as I reach first base and end up sliding on the mud, getting the entire left side and my butt covered in filthy dirt. The girls bust out into laughter. We only came here to play for fun. It’s not practice or anything with obligation, but we love softball. It’s what helped get me out of this town and earned me a scholarship.

  “I can’t believe you just busted your butt,” Megan says, chuckling at first base.

  I roll my eyes, extending my hand out for her to help me up. “I may have, but I still hit that ball outta the park.”

  “That you did,” she agrees.

  I stand back up with her help and the dark gray clouds come in swiftly. “Is it supposed to rain?” I call over to Izzy. She’s always looking at the weather. It makes sense since it’s her life’s dream to become a meteorologist.

  “Yeah, they said thunderstorms this evening. I thought we were beating it, though.” She frowns, looking up to the sky.

  We all jump as a loud, crackling thunder greets us. “Okay, I think it’s time we call it a night,” Nicole yells over from third base. Pulling her hand from her glove, she heads over to where all our duffel bags are behind the chain-link fence.

  Brandi, Lauren, and Rachel come in from the outfield too. I sigh, knowing this means I have to head home a lot sooner than I want to. “You need a ride?” Izzy asks, but we both know the answer.

  I don’t have a car, so obviously I need a ride. It’s not exactly like I want to ride my bike three miles home in a torrential downpour either.

  All of us girls go to our duffel bags and grab our things. Those of us who have cars grab keys, and the passengers go with whoever is driving them home. Megan hops in Izzy’s truck as I put my bike in the back of it. I don’t want to ride with Megan, but I’d rather not be a drowned rat so I’ll deal with it. She’s one of those girls who make you feel like she’s constantly judging you.

  Hell, I am the trashiest one in our group. Everyone knows it too. Izzy does her best to keep my reputation clean but she can’t save me from everything. If Izzy heard me thinking like this, she’d slap me silly. Everyone else in our group are farmers’ daughters. Izzy is the only exception because her mom owns an oil rigging company. They dig primarily out of South Dakota but live here in Montana because it’s where her mom grew up.

  As soon as I finish putting my bike in the back, I hop in front next to Megan and shut the door. Izzy is quick about making it down the street to Megan’s house first and then peels out of her driveway and off to the small trailer my mom moved us into earlier this year.

  “Are you alright?” she asks, her copper-colored hair blowing from the crack in the window as we drive down the interstate.

  “Yeah. I’m fine. Just thinkin’ about how I’ll miss this is all.”

  Izzy smiles with a somber look, taking her right hand from the steering wheel and grabbing mine. “We’ll be split up for a couple of years, but we’ll always be best friends. Trust in that, okay? As for the rest of the gang? Well, I dunno, but you and I have stuck it out through the long haul and we always will.”

  I squeeze Izzy’s hand tightly as we venture down the road and she turns onto the small dirt road that leads up to the trailer. It goes back about half a mile and she parks directly in front of the house. “Is your mom ever gonna put your stuff away?”

  I hear the judgment in her tone, knowing she isn’t trying to do it. Momma sold the shed next to our house last month. While she sold the shed, instead of putting everything in the house . . . she left it outside. The shed is where I used to lock up my bike, but now I have to put it next to the steps out front. At this rate, my bike wouldn’t have lasted another year.

  “I doubt it.” I don’t mean to let the emotion come out in my voice, but I can tell it does as Izzy looks me dead in the eyes.

  “I love you, but I hate what this place does to you. It’s like you’re being suffocated. I hate we’re being separated when we go off to college, but I can’t wait to see all the great things I know you can accomplish. For so long, you’ve held your family together. Now, it’s time for you to put yourself first, Chels.”

  I unbuckle my seatbelt and hug Izzy the hardest I can before the rain starts to pour down. We hold each other for a few moments before I start to pull away, not wanting to get soaked. I’d rather grab my bike, put it next to the steps, and get safely inside. Hell, I know if Izzy isn’t back to her house soon, her mom will be freaking out.

  Izzy grabs me by the arm and stops me from pulling away. Her eyes drift from mine down to my lips and she sucks in a quick breath before she brings her face closer to mine, pressing her lips onto my own.

  I don’t know what to do or what to think. Never in my life has a girl kissed me, especially not Izzy. I was lucky to get my first kiss from Josh Cox last year, and I think he only kissed me because he took me to homecoming and wanted to make Marissa jealous.

  I yank myself away, open the door, and immediately grab my bike. I don’t bother looking back to her truck and rush inside as quickly as I can. So many feelings are coursing through me right now. I’m nervous, scared, and anxious all rolled into one.

  The second I open the door, I realize my mom is passed out on the couch. I go from feeling human to transforming into the emotionless void I am in this home. It’s what’s gotten me this far, and it means I’ll make it to graduation.

  It’s no surprise that right next to her on the floor is an orange bottle. As I venture closer, I’m not shocked in the least bit.

  There’s not a drop left.

  1

  You are being presented with two choices: evolve or repeat

  ~ @SpirituallyEmpowered

  Raven

  I’ve been here at the Reapers MC clubhouse for a few weeks no
w. It felt weird at first to be smack dab in the middle of all these bikers, but now it feels normal. I’m definitely not a clubwhore, ol’ lady, or biker myself, however, they do the best they can to make me feel at home.

  The clubhouse burned down in the middle of a war with the Bears MC, so we’re rebuilding right now. Zane is the interim Prez, and Fist’s oldest son. He’s been making all the decisions since his father has been incapacitated by his depression. Sadly, Fist’s woman died in the fire. Fist also made another change since his brother, Cracker, who was the VP died the same day Saffron did— Blackjack was named the interim VP.

  Fist hasn’t been remotely the same since that day. I didn’t know him very well, but he was always kind and sweet to me. He reminded me of a Santa Claus lookin’ type who was a little hotter but could also snap your neck in two. Now he’s just . . . emotionless.