“She was a clumsy liar, that’s all. Bitch tried to ruin me.”
“Wrong answer,” I said, balling up my fist and sending it into his stomach.
I took a small step back as he doubled over. I half-expected Hawk to step in and pull me away from the guy, but he didn’t. Instead he came to my side and did nothing.
“Do you feel like a big man when you hurt women?” I asked as I stood over him, the disgust clear in my voice. “Does it make you feel better about yourself? You’re fucking pathetic.”
The minister used the wall beside him to steady himself as he straightened.
“You don’t know anything about me,” he spat.
“Oh, butIdo,” Hawk chimed in. “I talked to your wife. The baby’s doing fine, by the way.”
“Baby?” I repeated. My voice was low and dangerous.
“Don’t worry, I’ve been assured by his wife that the child wasn’t touched.”
Well, that was something, at least.
“His wife, Lea, however, wasn’t so lucky.” Hawk turned back to the minister. “She’s still wearing a cast on her arm from the bad break you gave her just before you left.”
“You don’t understand. She needed to learn to keep her mouth shut.”
That was when I lost my cool and punched him right in the mouth. His lip split as he cried out in pain that he deserved. Hawk surprised me by smiling, but he did put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me from continuing with the beat down. I was so furious that I could hear my blood rushing in my ears.
“Now, I’m guessing that your crusade against the motorcycle clubs and the strip club are just your way of overcompensating for your past, making yourself look good. But that’s too bad because you’re going to stop right now.”
“I’m leading the charge against moral depravity in La Playa. You bikers are all criminals and the whores at Black Satin are sinners. Something needs to be done about the influence you all have on this community.”
“Let me make this clear for you,” Hawk said, moving closer. “You are going to back off—and convince the people in your church to do the same. I don’t care how you do it, just make it happen. If you don’t, I’ll make sure that every single person that has ever stepped foot in this church knows about your ugly past.”
“And I’ll be back for you,” I promised, almost wishing he would give me reason to return.
The minister wouldn’t make eye contact with either of us, but he nodded. There was a trickle of blood running down his chin that I knew I shouldn’t be happy to see, but I couldn’t help it. Any man that put his hands on a woman like that deserved to bleed.
When we walked back out of the church, all eyes were turned our way again, but I ignored them this time. I looked around as we walked, taking in the beauty of this place with its vaulted ceiling and the fading sunlight still illuminating the stained glass, so that it spilled red and blue and green onto the gray carpet.
This was supposed to be a good place with good people, a place of worship and love. But the man running the show was a wife-beating dick with an axe to grind. It just didn’t make sense to me, but then, there was a lot that didn’t.
“Why did you bring me here?” I asked Hawk as we walked through the door and out into the fresh air. The sun was setting and it painted the sky in a way that was even more impressive than the windows of the building behind me.
“Because I needed someone for backup. I figured the guy was probably a weak coward, but you can never be sure.”
Hawk and I got into the truck, and I realized that I had completely sobered up. Anger had a way of doing that to me.
“Do you think he’ll listen?”
“I’m sure he will. The man moved to a new place, changed his looks, changed his name. He’s seen how the truth impacts his life, and I don’t think he’ll want to do that again if the congregation turns against him. Besides, I think he’s terrified of you.”
“He should be.”
Sabrina
I left the doctor’s office with a spring in my step. She’d confirmed it, I was about five weeks pregnant. I hadn’t realized that I’d missed a period because the birth control shot caused that to happen all the time.
I’d heard the baby’s heartbeat, the fast thumping that told us there was indeed life growing inside of me. I was clutching an ultrasound picture in my hand, but there wasn’t much to be seen yet. The spot that the ultrasound technician pointed out on the monitor was just a little dark blob, but I felt my heart swell when I looked at it anyway.
I knew it was way too early to start buying anything, but I found myself heading to the mall anyway, where I knew there was a store that sold baby items exclusively. When I walked inside, my eyes latched on the clothes. They were so small, and I couldn’t imagine a little human being able to fit in them.
