Guardian Angel (Angel's Halo MC #3) by Terri Anne Browning
I’d asked Spider once why they didn’t just have church at their warehouse that was their clubhouse and where several members of the club basically lived. He’d frowned, thinking about it for a moment before shrugging his massive shoulders. “I haven’t really questioned it. Max Hannigan was the president when I was boy and had to run the bar on Friday nights. I guess it just fit that they would have church there. When he died it must have been too ingrained in them and the tradition was set. Besides, Hannigans’ is more important to everyone in the MC than the clubhouse. It’s kind of like home. Our family is always there; we can unwind and be ourselves at the bar.”
Dressed in a simple tank top and jean shorts with my favorite flip-flops, I grabbed my purse and the keys to my car. My phone was still connected to its charger so I snatched it up and headed out the door. As I left my apartment on the second floor I glanced down at the parking lot and grimaced. The second floor of our complex might be apartments, but the ground floor was still a hotel that was basically a pay-by-the-hour kind of establishment. Which was why Lexa didn’t come here to visit me. My heart lifted as I realized just how much of a wonderful present Spider had given me with that key to our new house.
It was with that thought that I unlocked my car and got inside. Starting it I barely looked at the gages before putting it in drive. I had an almost full tank of gas so I was good…
Nope.
I’d barely gone five feet when I realized my error and glanced down at the gages on my dash with a groan. I had a flat. Muttering a curse I shoved the gearshift into park and got out to inspect which tire was being an asshat. If I was lucky it was just low and I could put some air in it at the gas station just down the block.
Both tires on the driver side were perfectly fine, but when I walked around the back of the car to check out the passenger side I started cursing and I didn’t stop until I had my phone in my hand and it was ringing on the other end.
Raven picked up on the second ring. “Hey, we’re on our way. I’ll see you in a few.”
“Can you stop by and pick me up?” I rushed to ask before she could blow me off and hang up. Raven wasn’t much for phone conversations, I’d learned in recent weeks.
“Yeah, sure. Is everything okay?”
I heard Lexa talking in the back ground and pressed my lips together. “I’m having some tire issues.”
“That sucks. Well I’ll be there in a few.”
She hung up without so much as a goodbye and I lowered the phone as I continued to glare at my very flat tire with a screwdriver sticking out of the side. Who the fuck had done something like that? Not many people had the balls to mess with my shit these days. They knew that I was Spider’s ol’ lady and that if they messed with me, they risked his rage. The sheep had quieted down considerably since they’d found out we were getting married and the ones that still held a grudge didn’t have the balls to do anything about it.
But someone had very deliberately shanked my tire.
A little unnerved, I got back into my car and backed it up into the parking space it had been in. I kept the doors locked and sent Spider a text that I would need a new tire tomorrow. Seconds later I got a reply assuring me that Clutch, from Uncle Jack’s garage, would take care of it tonight.
Now all I had to do was explain to my big, scary enforcer that someone was playing not so nicely with my shit.
Damn it.
Chapter 7
Hawk
I’d tried to put the whole Harley thing behind me by the time I’d gotten to the bar. He knew not to fuck with me. Club brother or not, I would gut him without hesitating if he tried anything with Gracie. I didn’t let it eat at me while I got to work cleaning behind the counter.
Normally it was Raven that came in and cleaned everything, but now that she was pregnant we didn’t want her messing with anything stronger than Lysol. Lately we barely even let her come in to work unless it was to do the books. She was pissed about it because she wanted to pull her fair share, but after losing one niece or nephew that hadn’t had a chance to take its first breath I wasn’t going to take any chances with this one.
Muttering a curse, I threw a dirty bar rag into the bucket and glared up at the ceiling. It always came back to Felicity. Even little things made me think of her and my anger would start to simmer all over again. I wanted to wrap my hands around her neck and shake her. We still had people keeping their eyes open for her, but she might as well have been abducted my aliens the way we couldn’t even find any leads on her.
Around four, my brothers started coming in. Colt was whistling as he went about his normal routine of stocking liquor. Colt only whistled when he had just gotten some, so I knew that he must have come from the clubhouse. Raider, however, came in cussing up a storm and throwing shit.
Colt’s whistling stopped when Raider threw a shot glass at his head. When Colt ducked, it shattered against the wall behind him and having-a-good-time Colt was no more. I groaned as I saw that damn look enter my little brother’s eyes.
“What the fuck is your problem?” he snarled at Raider.
“Your damn whistling was hurting my ears,” Raider snapped back.
I emptied my bucket into the sink and ran some hot water to wash it out before turning to watch them. Colt took a threatening step in Raider’s direction. “What’s wrong, Raid? Didn’t you get your dick sucked this morning?”
“Fuck you, motherfucker.” Raider wasn’t going to back down, and got in Colt’s face. “The next time I see you smack Quinn’s ass I’m gonna to cut off your fucking dick.”
I leaned back against the sink and crossed my arms over my chest, deciding that this had just turned into something worth watching. Since when did Raider care about anything to do with Quinn? He’d spent more time ignoring her over the years than actually speaking to her. I doubted he knew anything about her other than that he had fucked everyone of her sisters on a regular basis.
As for Colt and Quinn, that was something completely different. Colt didn’t call many of our club brothers’ friends, but Quinn was another story. Maybe they weren’t best friends in the traditional sense of the word, but for Colt, Quinn was as close as it got.
“Me smackin’ Quinn’s ass is none of your business, dickhead. I’ll smack it, caress it, and even lick it any time I fucking feel like it. You don’t get a say in any of it. She’s not yours and she never will be. Quinn is too good for your sorry ass. So leave her alone, brother. Or I’ll be the one cutting off dicks.”
I saw the fire flash in Raider’s eyes, knew what was coming next, and moved quickly before they tore the bar down. Colt was closer to me so I grabbed hold of him and jerked him back before stepping between them. Just because I’d put myself in the middle didn’t mean that they would keep from going at each other’s throats, but at least I could kick a little ass in the meantime.
“Enough!” I yelled at them both when Colt took a threatening step closer and Raider tried to go around me to get to him. “Are you two seriously fighting over a chick? Is she really worth two brothers coming to blows?”
Colt turned his pissed-off glare onto me. “She’s worth everything.”
“Quinn is a good girl. She deserves more fucking respect than you show her,” Raider raged behind me.
“You’re one to talk,” Colt growled. “You’re the one that disrespects her every goddamn day.”
“I stay away from her, so how have I disrespected her?”
“Because she’s fucking in love with you, or she thinks she is at least. And you go to the clubhouse and hook up with one of her sisters at least once a week. Her sisters rub it in her face every damn time, dumbass.” Colt picked up a bottle of Jack Daniels and jerked the top off, swallowing a good two shots directly from the bottle before slamming the bottle onto the bar top. “You break her heart all the time, and I’m the one that has to put it back together again.”
Behind me Raider had gone oddly quiet and I turned to face him. His face was pale and there was an almost ha
He didn’t flinch, but at least he looked like he was breathing again. “Fuck,” he muttered. “Fuck.” It was louder this time and with his next breath he was bellowing the word. “Fuck!” He walked out without another word and I knew he wasn’t going to come back any time that night.
“Ah, shit.” I shook my head as I glared after first one brother and then the other. Looked like it was going to be a long fucking night.
--
The bar was crowded with almost every club member by eight. I dropped a tray of beers onto the table at the Original’s booth and took my usual seat between Uncle Jack and Bash. We didn’t have a VP since the last club president had beaten him to death. We needed to get that sorted, which was at the top of the list for church discussion tonight.
The club had been in chaos after Jet had gone to prison for manslaughter, but when Bash had come back and taken up his role as president things had simmered down. Now that we had everything under better control it was finally time to fill the VP position.
As everyone took their beers, the front door opened and Raider stomped forward. Colt shot him the finger as the other man took his place at the booth, but no one else batted an eye at his tardiness. I snorted and took a pull from my bottle of beer. Looked like I was wrong about Raider not coming back. But he knew this was an important night for the club.
“We have a few things to get through tonight,” Bash’s deep voice filled the bar with ease. Every eye in the room turned to look at our president, respect shining in every one of them. “First, and most important, we have to decide who’s gonna be our new VP. It doesn’t feel right without having Jet here to vote with us, but he keeps saying he isn’t a member any more.”
“I call BS,” Uncle Chaz muttered under his breath.
Bash grinned. “Me too, but we can sort that out once he’s home in a few more weeks.” He turned back to everyone else. “The floor is now open for suggested VPs.”
It didn’t take long before someone was speaking up, but it wasn’t whom I was expecting. Uncle Jack caught my eye and said clearly, “Hawk Hannigan.”
My eyes narrowed on the old man, but before I could even open my mouth Uncle Chaz, Uncle George, Ox and Razor spoke up. “I second,” they said, practically in unison.
Bash didn’t seem surprised and I glared at all of them. I hadn’t even considered the VP position. It wasn’t something I’d ever had my eye on. Just because I was a Hannigan didn’t mean I wanted that figurative seat. They should pick someone better, more worthy. “Hawk Hannigan has been seconded. What do you fuckers say?”
Behind me I heard beer bottles pounding on tabletops. It started out slow but quickly turned into a roar of glass bottles clanging on tables. I looked around at my club brothers. Every single one of them was grinning. My chest tightened with an emotion I hadn’t felt in years. Love for my club and brothers washed through me in a way it hadn’t since I’d first became a member of the Angel’s Halo.
Bash stood and held out his hand to me. I took it and he pulled me to my feet before pulling me into a bear hug that nearly snapped my spine in half. I slapped him on the back and the room erupted into deafening yells as they cheered my name.
I felt a hand on my back and Bash released me. Turning, I was pulled into Uncle Jack’s man hug. He beat me on the back twice before stepping back. “You deserve this, boy.”
I swallowed hard. “I won’t let you down, Uncle Jack.”
“I know you won’t. You’re your father’s son, Hawk. You could never disappoint me. But if you hurt my grandbaby, I’ll gut you like a pig.” He slapped me on the back harder this time, and I bit back a grunt when it stung. “Take care of her, boy.”
“Always.”
Gracie
From the moment I walked into Aggie’s, I’d been run off my feet. She wasn’t kidding when she told me that the dinner shift was faster paced. As tired as I was, however, I was glad for the busyness of it. If I was concentrating on keeping everyone’s glasses full and getting them their food I didn’t have time to wonder what I was going to do about Hawk.
From the moment he’d left the garage earlier that afternoon I’d wondered what to do about his cavalier attitude about hurting someone for doing nothing wrong, except talking to me. And while I didn’t fear him ever hurting me like my father had hurt my mom, it still left me wondering if it was basically the same thing. Worried that he would hurt someone over me was just as bad as worrying if he would hurt me… Right?
I don’t know.
What I did know was that even before that earth-shaking, life-altering kiss the night before; Hawk had been overly protective. For weeks he had gone to chemistry with me and sat beside me to make sure that Kevin Samson didn’t bother me. At home if one of his brothers, biological or club, said something that made me uncomfortable he would set them straight and make them apologize to me. I thought all of that was nice, adorable even.
Fudge. Okay, so I’d eaten that stuff up like it was chocolate. It had made falling for him so fast, that much harder.
So why was I getting all bent out of shape over him threatening Harley?
I filled a pitcher up with iced water, pausing to think that over for a moment. It was because of my damned father. Would I ever get over him beating my mother on an almost nightly basis? Or would I always consider the least little thing over the top and hold it against the people I cared about?
My head started to throb and I pushed all thoughts of Hawk and my parents to the back of my head as I made the rounds of my section to make sure everyone was happy and didn’t need anything.
I filled up the water glass at my last table, offering the older couple a small smile before turning back to the kitchen to see if I had any more food to deliver to my tables. Quinn and Chrissy and two other girls were standing there waiting on their own orders and I leaned back against the wall out of the way to take a small breather.
My back, legs, and feet were killing me. I had seriously thought I was in better shape than this. Sure, I’d gotten out of the habit of running every morning since I’d moved in with the Hannigans, but it wasn’t like I’d given it up altogether. Sometimes I would run with Willa, or if Hawk was at the bar I would take smaller runs just to clear my head. It was almost pathetic the way my entire body was now one big throb from having only worked the day before and tonight.
Quinn moved past the other three girls and leaned on the wall beside me. “Feet giving you some trouble?”
I shrugged and gave her a grim smile. “It feels like I’ve been on them for days instead of just a few hours.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I remember that. I started working here when I was sixteen and I went home and cried myself to sleep because my feet hurt so badly after that first day. But you’ll work it out in a few days, I promise.”
“So it’s not just because I’ve become a lazy slob?”
When Quinn laughed again, I realized that I liked the sound of it. I’d only spoken to her a few times the day before, but she always seemed nice and had offered to help me as much as I needed. I didn’t know much about her, except that I knew she was a friend of Colt’s, and only that much because I’d answered the phone a few times when she’d called him.
“No, girl. We’ve all had the torture walk. Take some ibuprofen and a hot bath every night with some epsom salt. You’ll be good as new in no time.” She pushed away from the wall when the cook put three plates of food up. “If you need anything, just let me know.” Her gaze went to the two other waitresses standing whispering to each other, and then to Chrissy, who I’d had the displeasure of meeting the day before. When her eyes met mine again they were serious. “I mean it. Anything.”
I nodded, touched that she would want to help me, and went back out to check on my
I bent to hug her. “Hey, pretty girl.”
“Gracie, it’s my Auntie Willa’s birthday,” she informed me excitedly. “My daddy and Uncle Spider are gonna come eat with us.”
I grinned. “That sounds like fun.” I straightened and smiled at the two women behind her. “Happy birthday,” I told Willa, hugging her.
“Thanks.” She lifted Lexa into her arms. “Do you have a free table for us? I’d much rather have you touching my food than most of these other girls.”
I glanced over at my section to make sure no one had sat down in the last booth that I had available. “Yeah, sure. Come on before someone takes it.”
I lead them to the last booth in the back of the diner and took their drink orders. I was going to have to be extra careful with my new customers. Lexa had a severe nut allergy and unfortunately Aggie’s had nuts in several of her dishes. Since Lexa couldn’t even touch nuts without becoming affected I needed to make sure I washed my hands before I touched anything that came into contact with her food and drinks.
By the time I returned to their table Spider was already sitting with them. I couldn’t help but grin down at the sexy bald biker as I distributed glasses of water to the three girls. “Hey, it feels like forever since I last saw you.”
Spider lifted his head, exposing the terrifying spider tattoo on his neck a little more. “Hey Gracie. Yeah, I know. Willa’s been keeping me chained to the bed, and only lets me out of the apartment when she decides I need to go to work.”
Raven snorted and Willa elbowed him in the ribs, but it must not have been very hard because he didn’t even flinch. Laughing, I shook my head. “I bet. So, what would you like to drink?”