Page 4 of Jake's Angel

“Hmmm.” Peering down at the mess of a woman on the floor, I’m not interested.

After a minute or two of silence, he asks, “You good, man? You sound a little off.”

Hawk may act like a jackass, but he’s also our resident techy and our secretary. Both jobs require him to be diligent and pay close attention to details. Two traits I would normally admire in a man, but with Hawk, they can be annoying since his ass never misses anything.

“I’m tired.”

“I call bullshit, but I’ll let it go for now.”

I don’t bother mentioning the dream. The anniversary of the accident is weeks away. Hawk knows as well as anyone how it screws with me the closer it gets. Our club took a major hit. Most of us never fully recovered.

I never recovered.

The entire year was a clusterfuck of epic proportions. For a ten-year-old kid, it was a scary eye opener. I grew up faster than planned, but Pop needed me to be the man of the house and take care of my mom and baby sister, Jayde. It was a huge responsibility, and I wasn’t about to let my old man down.

Gabe, our President took the biggest hit of us all, losing his wife and child. As if that wasn’t enough, he lost hisbloodbrother and another who he presumed was a good friend, too. All of this, after losing his uncle only three weeks before. His dad, Caleb, went to jail shortly after Gabe’s family died, leaving Gabe to take care of the club and his mother. My mom and Pop helped, trying to lighten the load by taking care of Gabe’s sister-in-law, and his niece, Sadie.

The club hasn’t been the same since.

“Roll yourself off the bed, slap the sweet ass you left with last night, and bring your grumpy self to the clubhouse. Pres wants everyone ready to roll out by eight a.m.”

Well, shit.

“Fuck. How long do I have?”

“An hour. Give or take. You would’ve had time for a shower and shit if you’d answered the last five times I’ve called. Nexttime, don’t turn your ringer off. I’ve been calling you for over an hour. You’re lucky I’ve got GPS on your shit. Pres was ready to send Declan to hunt your ass down.”

“You were calling? I thought it was my damn alarm. Figured I was hitting snooze, not ignore. Shit.”

“No, motherfucker. You’ve been sending me to voicemail. Check for yourself.”Hawk laughs. I glance at my phone. He’s right. Five missed calls.Fuck.

“Pres is pulling in now. You got just enough time to give your girl the well-earned ‘Thanks for the good night. It was a pleasure doing ya’ speech. Then grab your shit from your place and haul your ass here. If you hurry, youmightget yourself a fresh cup of coffee.”

I snort. I don’t have a girl. Don’t have any need for one. One night is all they get. Once we’ve both gotten off and I’ve had a little rest, I’m gone.Sometimes I don’t even take the time to rest. I’m not here to snuggle and catch feelings. Fuck and forget. That’s all I need.

“Yeah, all right. I’m heading out in five.” We hang up and I get out of bed to start getting ready to go.

I watch the blonde in question, finally starting to rouse herself. Her head lifts, and she’s taking in the scenery. Her eyes meet mine. She looks confused. Probably trying to figure how she got on the floor in the first place. I don’t bother to offer a hand to help her, stifling a chuckle as I finish buttoning my jeans.She’s going to freak when she sees how wrecked she is this morning.

Lacing my boots, I watch for her reaction as she tries to remember everything we did andwherewe did it while intoxicated.

The spoiled priss is about to be mortified.The good girls usually are. It’s always the same old bullshit.“I’ve never done anything like this before.”

Well, you have now, and you’re welcome.

They might be telling the truth and maybe I should care about defiling a good girl if it is. But I don’t. She’s grown. She was sober enough to give consent and there were witnesses to just howconsentingshe was about the whole thing, or I wouldn’t have touched her in the first place.

I make a mental note to make sure I tipped the Uber driver well for his discretion.

He should probably tip me for the show he got to see, but whatever.

Before she has time to put two and two together, I get to my feet and head for the door.

“It was fun, but I’ve got to go.”

She’s disappointed as she looks at the floor and nods. The slight wince as she moves is the first sign of her hangover. I don’t feel bad. I laid out the rules last night. One night of sex. Nothing more. She agreed.

Now get the fuck out of here, Jake.

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