Cajun Protection (5 page)

“Might need to tell her to leave if shit hits
the fan.” I don’t need to respond as I notice a bunch of people
making a beeline to something off the road.

“What’s going on?” I am already on my way to
see the smoke filling the sky when I pose that question to Hawk.
I’m a noisy bastard, I grant you that, but shit, this seems off for
a small town. As I pulled up to a large old style house, I watch as
people stand around gawking at the site.

I see a young woman, who is chewing gum,
loudly. “Whose house?”

The woman looks me up and down, before she
smiles at me, making me feel like a piece of meat. “Well it’s fat
Zoey’s Granny’s house. Now maybe the pig will fry with it too and
leave town.” Zoey, shit this is her family house, I remember
reading she owned some house, but didn’t live in it.

“Why isn’t the fire department here?” This
time she smirks at me.

“No one called. She has been trying to put it
out by herself.” Sure enough, I look up and see Zoey covered in
water, dirt, and soot from the fire. I look at Hawk who is already
on the phone as I make my way to Zoey. But the closer I get, the
more comments I hear.

“Good riddance. Now she’ll leave us.”

“Stupid whore, getting Andrew in
trouble.”

“She isn’t one of ours, let it burn.”

“Why can’t she be locked inside and burn
too?” All from different people. Hawk hears them as well, and
starts yelling as the sounds of sirens can be heard in the
distance. I use that moment to grab Zoey, who is crying and
wheezing some.

“Zoey, you gotta stop,
chéri
.” I grab
the bucket from her, but she just turns away and walks back to the
hose.

“No, I have to save it, I have to save it.”
Over and over, she is chanting to herself. Hawk is now talking to
the fire department and some of them don’t look too happy about the
house, but in the end, they start to do their thing with the hoses.
Zoey is still going strong, yet I can see the defeat and exhaustion
in her eyes. Not wanting her to keep going like this, I take the
hose and throw it away; it isn’t really working anyways, and I pick
her up. Her squeal of surprise is my warning before she starts to
pound my back. Sure, I could have done the sweet way and carried
her like a child, but it’s more fun to swing her over my shoulder
and carry her like a caveman. She finally stops struggling when we
get near the small ambulance. Setting her on her feet, Hawk is next
to me in an instant with a blanket.

“Ya okay?” I am so mad at these people. Who
the hell do they think they are? Hawk went to check her over,
pushing her hair out of her face. I can’t take the comments anymore
and walk over to the group of people talking.

“Why didn’t you call the fire
department?”

“Why would we? Let the damn place burn. If it
gets the hippo out of our town, then good riddance.”

“Are ya crazy? Ya gotta be kidding me, good
riddance, maybe she is too good for this Podunk town. Y’all are the
ones messed up, she’s the victim. Ya know what, fuck it, we got
her, and you tell Andrew we are coming for him, and if anyone gets
in our way, we’ll take them out too.” I glare at the people in the
crowd before I turn and find Hawk holding her steady as the
paramedic looks her over. It kills him when shit like this happens
to good people. She didn’t deserve this shit, any of it. Ignoring
the rest of the comments, I hear the paramedics say she is okay.
Hawk holds onto her tight before nodding to me. I understand what
it means.

“This your car?” I ask, pointing to the weird
bubble contraption that doesn’t seem to fit into rest of the town.
Her silent nod is all I need. I toss my keys to Hawk to follow us,
while I place her into the passenger side seat. Finding her keys
still in the ignition, I try to sit, but the seat is too far up. It
takes me a second to find the seat adjuster, but I slide it all the
way back before I can even climb inside. The car starts, even
though it sounds like shit, and we make our way to Zoey’s house.
She had yet to say anything to me, which is good. I don’t know what
to say to her. But it shouldn’t shock me when Hawk flies by us and
makes it to her small apartment making sure everything is okay when
we get there. But what I don’t expect is when Hawk stops us at the
door.

“Can’t let her in.” Shit, it is broken into.
Andrew is a fucking dead man.

“This is my place—wait—what? He did it again,
didn’t he?” Damn, when did she get out of the car?

“Zoey, get in the car,” I snap, but the damn
woman doesn’t listen.

“Don’t think so, I can’t live like this.”
Tears well in her eyes but don’t fall as we make it inside. From
the look of it, everything is destroyed. I should have known
something like this would happen. It’s escalating and now the town
is behind him.

“You’re coming with us,” I manage to say. It
is easy to see her start to argue, but wisely, she didn’t. “Hawk,
get what you can.” Hawk disappears into her room while I go back
down to her car. The more I look at it, the more I realize it won’t
make the drive.

“Your car stays here.” She keeps shaking her
head, but I am set on this one. Picking her up once again, she
yells as I throw her ass in the middle seat of my truck. It is only
about two minutes before Hawk throws a bag of stuff in the back and
climbs in next to her.

I have this need to protect her, sure I would
love nothing more than to fuck her senseless, but its more than
that. Since the first day we went to her apartment for information,
this woman has haunted my every thought. It’s as if she needs me,
both of us. This damn town would eat her alive and no one would
find her body in the end. She deserves better. It could be that I
also got my mom’s heart at looking after things that were less
fortunate than myself. She look Hawk in without a second glance,
loved him, and cared for him when no one else would. I want to do
that for Zoey. The damn thought scares and excites me at the same
time. It’s times like this I wish mom was alive to help me figure
all this mess out.

Taking the driver’s seat, I drive off, hoping
that we just made the right choice. Either Andrew will back off and
let us catch him, or he will escalate more and come after her. In
which we will be able grab him, either way, Andrew is going to go
down.

I can’t stop my body from shaking, and I’m
cold. I can handle so much, but now everything is gone. My
apartment is ransacked; I can deal with that, it’s Gran’s house I
have issues with. Why? Why do that? The name-calling is normal and
after the first few years of living here, it became normal for me,
but Gran’s house
? No one cared, and I couldn’t save it. I
tried, I did, I tried to save it. But the more I ran and got water,
something else would catch and go up in flames. The only
possessions I have left is whatever Hawk grabbed from my apartment
and if I know Andrew, that isn’t much. I told myself I will not
cry, I will not let the town people get to me again. I’m stronger
than that. All my life I had no one but Gran. I love my dad, but he
was there because he had to. I’m a constant reminder of my mom,
well the chunkier version of her. Why can’t I stop shaking?

“It’s an adrenaline rush. You’re coming down
from it. Here, eat this.” Hawk passes me what looks like a bar of
something. I shake my head. I’m not hungry, just shaky.

“Eat it,
chéri
,” Wolf snaps at me. I
lift my hand and take the bar Hawk opened for me before taking a
bite. It tastes of peanut butter and chocolate. Not bad, but I
don’t feel better. I finish the bar and hand the wrapper to Hawk as
we drive off. I don’t know where we are going, but I do know Andrew
won’t get me there. I watch as the world starts to get hazy and
black.

I wake with a jolt. Where am I? Am I moving?
So many question, but the musky smell makes me hum with excitement.
It is yummy, and not cake and jambalaya good, but a hot sexy man
good. My eyes pop open and see that someone is holding me.

“Sleeping Beauty wakes.” Wolf is holding me
and walking. Shit, I’m gonna break his back.

“You can put me down, I know I’m not light.”
He starts walking up the stairs. Fear grips me and instantly I grab
around his neck praying he won’t fall or drop me on my bubble
butt.

“You’re light as a feather, and I gotcha.
Just relax, we are almost there.” I take a chance and lift my head
to see Hawk already ahead of us and a door wide open. Huh, I would
have thought they would drop me off at a motel or something, maybe
their office. But the more he walks the more I realize this is
their place. Wolf sets me down on a couch before leaving, I’m
shocked. Their apartment is small, maybe a little bigger than mine
and it is hard to imagine two grown men, and as large as both of
them are, living here.

“Drink.” Lifting my head to the voice, Hawk
holds his hand out with a cup. Taking it, because I’m thirsty, I
nod my thanks. Smelling it, I can tell it is whiskey, and I drink
it quickly. I enjoy the welcome burn as it warms my insides. I’m
not much of a drinker and despite my size, I’m a lightweight. I had
a friend I went to school with who is like a size zero and she can
drink everyone under the table.

“So, um, thanks for everything, but I should
be going now and find a place to stay.” I make to stand, but Hawk
and Wolf stand in front of me, arms crossed across their chests.
Both have a scowl on their face. “What, do I smell or something?” I
look down and see my clothes are a hot mess and I raise my arm, and
yikes. I reek, despite my shower this morning

“You’re staying here.”
Say what
? I
look at both of them, and I swear they can be twins, except Hawk
has longer hair and silver eyes and Wolf is scruffy and has blue
eyes. But their expressions are similar. Damn them both.

“Look, guys, I thank you for helping me when
I went a little psycho, and for hunting down the rat bastard, but I
can’t stay here.”

“Why not?” Hawk asks.

“Because, well I’m sure you don’t want me
here, and there is no room for me.”

“You can have my room, problem solved and yes
we want you here,” Wolf answers this time.

“Well, I gotta work and stuff.”

“You quit, you’re not going back there,” Wolf
says as if I have already agreed upon this. I stand this time,
though be it on shaky legs.

“Look, I appreciate everything you all have
done for me, but I’m a big girl, and no I’m not talking about just
my size, but I have bills to pay, and things like that. You might
hate the town, Lord knows I do too. But I can’t just quit. I need
the money; I need to keep my life going. If I sit still it will eat
at me, and I am not going to let him win this time. I want him
caught and I will be in the way here. Just let me find some place
to stay.”

“Where you gonna stay,
chéri
? Do you
even have enough money for a room somewhere?” Wolf asks as he
raises an eyebrow at me. Cheeky bastard, because he is right. Damn
it. I nibble on my lower lip, another bad habit I have, trying to
find the right words. “Your car is back at your apartment, and in
case you forgot, it was broken into. Not much is there. So give in
and stay here, no more arguing.” Hawk turns and leaves, leaving
Wolf glaring down at me.

“You know he’s right. I set your bag in my
room, shower is there too. I expect you to sleep right after. It’s
been a long day, and tomorrow is gonna be busy.” And like that, the
bastard leaves me.

Oh wait, where the hell is his room? I walk
to the back and find one room, but my bag isn’t there. Another one
is a bathroom, and so the one at the end must be his since it’s the
only room left. My bag is sitting there on the extremely large bed.
I open it and find some clothes, but not much. Pulling out a pair
of sweat pants and a t-shirt, I rummage and find no panties. Either
Hawk didn’t pack any or—well I don’t want to go there again. I
found only two bras and not my nice ones. Grr, this totally sucks
monkey balls.
I hate this, all of it
. I make my way to the
bathroom, which is attached and find it to be fairly clean. I start
the shower and I have to wait for it to warm up so I look at myself
in the mirror. I look pale, haunted even. My hair that once was
nice and clean is hanging in clumps with black soot. My face
reminds me of a chimney sweeper from
Mary Poppins
. I quickly
strip my clothes and jump into the shower. It’s time I face that
things are going to be different and I will not let him break me.
No, Zoey Thornburg is standing on her own two feet and taking a
stance. Well after he is caught and put behind bars that is. So
tonight is shower and sleep, I can handle that.

I felt bad Wolf had to sleep on the couch,
but he is up before I am. In the kitchen, I see Wolf cooking
something. It’s some eggs and bacon. Either he is hungry or he is
thinking the same thing I was. “She had no food in her place,” Wolf
states. Shit, and we didn’t feed her at all last night either.