Savage Collision: A Hawke Family Novel (The Hawke Family Book 1) (16 page)

His eyes darken and he turns his computer monitor toward him before glancing over at me. “I’ll be right down.”

He returns the phone to its cradle before moving quickly to the door. “Danika, I have to go take care of something. Lock this door behind me and don’t open it for anyone but me, Gabe, or Byron. Got it?”

I slide off the table onto shaky legs, and my stomach churns. “Savage, what’s going on?”

With a quick tug, he yanks the door open, glides through it, and turns back to pull it shut. “Danika, please, just do what I ask.”

The concern I see in his gaze makes me shut my mouth when all I want to do is chase after him and find out what’s going on. It’s not in my nature to sit on the sidelines, but I nod my understanding. He closes the door without another word, leaving me half-satisfied and more worried than I care to admit.

Hurry the fuck up!

The elevator seems to take an hour while I wait impatiently, unable to stop myself from looking back toward my office, and her.

I can still taste her in my mouth, and the sounds of her gasps and moans are echoing in my ears. The fantasy I had worked up in my head was nothing compared to the real thing.

But I can’t think about that now. Shaking my head, I try to get myself in the game. The shit is hitting the fan downstairs, and I can’t be distracted by my dick when I get down there, no matter how hard it is.

When the ding finally sounds and the doors slide open, I move in, punching the button for the main floor and waiting impatiently for the doors to close.

Jesus, I should have known something like this would happen.

Things have been going way too smoothly today, and my luck is never this good. It was only a matter of time before my “favor” for Dom was going to bite me in the ass. I just hadn’t imagined it would come this quickly.

The ding sounds, and the door slides open to the main floor and the melee ensuing by the main stage. Quickly taking stock of the situation, I see Nora clinging to the center stage pole watching the ruckus as Byron and Gabe try to pull people from the top of pile.

Where the fuck are Tubbs and Rocky?

I can’t see my door security guards over the throngs of people. Being so low to the ground has distinct disadvantages. I push my way through the crowd, ordering people back, but don’t make it very far before a wall of patrons block my path.

Shit, I will never get to Byron and Gabe from here.

A hand lands on my shoulder and I grab the wrist, twisting my torso to flip the assailant onto their back, but, thankfully, I catch a flash of familiar blonde hair in my peripheral vision and recognize Nora. She somehow made it to me from the stage.

“Savage!” She leans in, pressing herself to my side. “What should we do?”

“You need to get the fuck out of here, go back to the dressing rooms where it’s safe, and make sure all the other girls are back there.”

Anger flares in her eyes and she pushes past me and then turns to face me. “Hell no! I may look like a fucking princess, but I’m not helpless. Gabe and Byron need help, so we are going to help them.”

I growl at her, but she ignores me, turning back to the crowd and pushing people out of the way, making room for me to get through.

Maybe Nora is more like Dani than I realized. Nora and I will definitely be having a talk later.

We finally make it to the epicenter of the melee and I find Byron and Gabe, each with a choke hold on guys in expensive-looking clothes while another asshole is doing some serious ground and pound on some poor soul on the floor.

Byron catches my eye and nods down to the MMA-wannabe.

I nod my understanding and reach down, grabbing his arm as he brings it back for another swing, and twisting it backward. He screams, turning toward me, frantically trying to get the pressure off his shoulder and elbow.

“Fuck! Let go, you motherfucker!” The wannabe thrashes wildly, striking out at me with his free hand, but his fist only grazes my right cheek.

Damn, that actually kind of hurt. All this time away from the ring must have turned me into a real pussy.

Byron steps in and wrestles him away from me and I turn to find Rocky and Tubbs escorting the other two guys toward the front door.

“What the hell, man? That asshole started it!” Mr. Wannabe screams, pointing to the bleeding kid on the floor.

“I don’t give a fuck who started it. I don’t tolerate this bullshit in my club. You’re all banned from the premises, permanently.”

More cursing and grumbling comes from various directions, but I push my way through the crowd to the bar. Clarissa and Jamie are waiting for me, wide-eyed and visibly shaken.

“Everything’s fine, girls. Did you see what happened?”

Jamie nods. “Those guys were all part of that bachelor party that started out in the champagne room. They were really being assholes, then Byron moved them out here and they just got worse.”

I cringe. I knew it would come back to my Dom favor.

Selling your soul has repercussions.

“So, what started the fist portion of the evening?” I ask, glancing over to see Byron and Gabe shoving the last offender out the door.

“The bachelor grabbed Crystal’s leg while she was at the end of the stage. One of his buddies got real pissed and started screaming something about his sister. I have a feeling he is the future bride’s brother.”

I don’t blame the guy for reacting, but this stuff absolutely cannot happen in my club. Ever.

Glancing around the main room, I find things are slowly returning to normal. My employees are doing their jobs, wrangling the clientele and getting the girls back on the poles. I run a tight ship and I don’t let things like this ruin the evening for everyone, at least I try not to.

This is going to cost me.

“Have the waitresses tell their sections the next round is on the house. I will help you man the bar until things calm down.” They nod and disappear to tell all the waitresses just as Gabe and Byron make it back to the bar.

Gabe gives me an “I told you so” look.

“Don’t you fucking start with me,” I snap, grabbing a bottle of Glen Livet and pouring us all a shot. We raise our glasses in unison and down them in one gulp.

“Gabe, go check on Danika. I left her in my office. Keep her company until I’m done down here.”

His look holds a thousand questions that I have no plan on answering right now, or maybe ever, but he keeps his mouth shut and walks toward the elevator, leaving me and Byron to get things back to normal.

I down my second glass of bourbon and pour myself another one as I sit at Savage’s desk, my eyes glued to the footage of the club on the screen. My heart hasn’t stopped racing since Savage disappeared behind the door.

How the hell does he think he can just bolt out of here like that without explaining what’s going on to me?

I raced to his desk to see what was happening and found myself watching my baby sister push her way through a throng of men to get Savage to the middle of the crowd. My heart may have stopped when I saw that asshole throw a punch at him, but another glass of bourbon has somewhat steadied my nerves. That, and seeing Savage is okay.

Now, on glass three, my heartbeat is finally returning to normal as I watch him behind the bar. A knock at the door startles me, and I almost drop my glass. Setting it on the desk with my shaking hand, I stand to open the door but wobble on unsteady legs. Maybe I shouldn’t have poured that third drink. I kick off my heels and, with a little more balance, make my way to the door, Savage’s parting words echoing in my head.

“Who’s there?” I ask, my voice shaking slightly. Shit, adrenaline does weird stuff to your body.

“Danika, it’s Gabe, open up.”

I recognize his voice and turn the lock, opening the door and letting him in. He offers me a kind smile and closes and locks the door behind him.

“Why isn’t Savage back?”

He walks to the bar and grabs a glass, glancing around for something. He finally sees the bottle of Blanton’s on the desk and they flicker to me. He grins. “Bourbon girl, huh?”

I nod and walk over to the desk, scooping up my glass and taking a long pull while I take a seat.

This night is becoming a hell of a lot more stressful than I had anticipated.

“Savage has to sort some stuff out at the bar,” he explains, grabbing the bottle and giving himself a generous pour before dropping down into the chair across from me.

“And you or Byron couldn’t do it?” I ask with a little more snipe than I had intended.

There goes your mouth again, girl. Rein it in.

He grins at me. “If you haven’t noticed yet, Savage likes to be in control, especially of his business. Getting him to delegate isn’t easy.”

I sigh and slouch back into the chair I dragged over after Savage left. “Has he always been like this?”

“More or less, but it definitely got worse after the accident.”

I glance at the picture frame in the corner of the desk. It’s Savage and a young, female version of him smiling widely at the camera with snow-capped mountains in the background. “Did you know her well?” I ask, turning the picture around to face Gabe.

His gaze falls on it and his smile falters. He takes a long drink from his glass. “Yeah, I did. I grew up with the Hawkes. They’re like family to me.”

The sadness in his voice rips at me.

I probably should just leave it alone, but opportunity to delve deeper into Savage with his best friend and business partner is something I can’t pass up. “Did you go to school with Savage?”

His eyes flicker to mine and his smile returns. “We met in first grade. My mom died giving birth to me, and my dad was always so focused on work. I was basically raised by nannies and babysitters. Savage’s mom found out my situation and kind of adopted me into the Hawke clan. We only lived two blocks away, so I ended up spending almost every day and night there.”

While I don’t know much about Savage’s family, being adopted into the Hawke clan sounds like it would pretty amazing.

“What was she like?” I know he knows I mean Star without me saying her name. He returns his stare to the photo and the corners of his mouth turn up in a sad smile.

“Star was quiet, reserved, brilliant…kind of a perfect angel.”

“Is Skye a lot like Star?”

He bursts out laughing, tossing his head back and wiping at his eyes. “Fuck no. They couldn’t be more different. Don’t get me wrong, Skye is brilliant, too, but their personalities couldn’t have been more opposite. Even if they tried to trick someone by switching places, they always gave themselves away the second they opened their mouths.”

“So, Skye is what? A troublemaker?”

He scoffs and drains his glass. “Troublemaker is an understatement.” His hand tightens around the now-empty glass, his knuckles turning white as a muscle along his tense jaw flutters.

“What about the other two? Stone and Storm?”

He shakes his head and grins at me. “Boy, aren’t we inquisitive?”

I feel my face flush and grab my drink, draining the glass to cover my embarrassment at being busted. “You have something else you want to talk about?”