"What?" she snarled into the device as she turned along another side road.
There was a small silence; enough to make her frown as she sniffed back her tears.
"If I don"t pa.s.s you heading back to the house, then you may not like me much once I get hold of you, Faith." She had never heard Jacob"s voice so cold, so furious.
"I don"t like you much now," she bit out. "I did my job, you have your papers, now I"m going home."
"Faith, you won"t get out of town before I catch up with you, baby," he growled. "And I promise you, you"ll regret leaving like that."
"Catch up with me then, you son of a b.i.t.c.h," she told him furiously. "Come on, Jacob, find me. I promise, you"ll be the one who won"t be pleased."
She disconnected, pressed her foot to the gas pedal and eased onto the main road leading directly into town. She accelerated the vehicle as fast as she dared, racing to the bar. If Hawke wasn"t there, then she swore she would leave his a.s.s sitting.
He was there, with Danson, standing beside a vehicle identical to the one she drove. She squealed to a stop beside them and waited impatiently as Hawke strode quickly to the door. He had it opened before she could stop him, jerking the keys from the ignition and facing her furiously.
Surprised flared through her.
"What are you doing?" She s.n.a.t.c.hed at the keys, jumping from the vehicle as he moved back quickly. "d.a.m.n you, give me the keys. What the h.e.l.l are you doing this for?"
"Faith, you can"t leave, dammit," he told her angrily. "Do you think I spent two months busting my a.s.s to get you in shape to meet up with Jacob just to have you turn tail and run? I never took you for a coward."
Faith stilled. She felt a chill race over her spine as she faced the Enforcer, seeing the steely determination in his dark blue eyes as he stared down at her. This wasn"t the friendly, charming soldier she had fought with for two months. This wasn"t her friend or her partner. He was an Enforcer, and answerable to Wolfe and Jacob before anyone else.
"You called him," she whispered hopelessly.
"h.e.l.l yes, I called him." He raked his fingers through his short black hair and stared down at her. "Faith, honey, you can"t leave him yet. You know that. Dammit, you"re so f.u.c.king hot any Breed in a two-mile radius could track you. You"re becoming a danger to yourself and to the Pack."
She shook her head desperately. "I don"t live with the Pack." She should know, she suffered that isolation every day of her life. "I"m alone, Hawke. All alone for a reason, d.a.m.n you." Because the man who had marked her had deserted her.
"And soon you"ll be alone and dead, woman," he growled. "You know as well as I do there are still Breed soldiers out there following the commands of their puppeteers. G.o.dd.a.m.n it, the smell of your l.u.s.t will see you raped before they ever get around to killing you. Is that what you want, Faith? Do you really think those vibrators are easing your l.u.s.t enough to still the scent of it? I promise you, it"s not."
Faith fought to breathe. She wanted to scream, to rush him, hurt him. She still held enough control, just enough to realize it would serve no purpose.
"Please give me the keys, Hawke," she whispered desperately as she heard a vehicle speeding towards the parking lot. "Just let me go home. Please, Hawke, before he destroys me."
She could feel fear clawing at her insides. She wasn"t afraid of Jacob, she was terrified of herself. The demands of her body, the surge of her desires, her emotions, were tearing her apart.
"Faith, your death will lay on my head if I let you go," he told her gently. "Fight this out with Jacob. It will work out."
"He doesn"t want me," she screamed out as a motorcycle"s headlight speared through the area. "Why are you f.u.c.king doing this to me? If I have to be pity f.u.c.ked, then you do it. G.o.dd.a.m.n it, it wouldn"t hurt nearly as bad."
There was silence as her words struck each man. Jacob, who had just halted and switched the motor off to the lethal black cycle he rode, and Hawke who stared at her in shock.
"If he touches you, Faith, I"ll kill him." Serious as death, and just as dark, Jacob"s voice sliced through the tension already building in the parking lot.
She turned on him. She saw the savage fury on his face as he lifted himself from the motorcycle and advanced on her slowly. She snarled at him, fury filling every cell in her body as she tensed for the fight she saw in his face.
"Not yet, baby," he promised. "Unless you want me to mount you here, in the parking lot, with Hawke and Danson as witnesses."
"I"ll kill you first," she bit out.
He shook his head, mocking amus.e.m.e.nt crossing his face.
"Get in the jeep, Faith. Now."
"Make me." She backed away from him, searching desperately for a weakness in his stance. She saw none.
He stopped in front of Hawke and held out his hand. Betraying b.a.s.t.a.r.d laid the SUV"s keys in that broad palm. Jacob slid them in his pocket, never looking away from her.
"You see that cycle, Hawke?" Jacob asked him carefully.
"Nice little thing." Faith sneered at the other man"s awed voice.
"I expect to see it outside the gates of the hacienda come afternoon. Then I want that job I gave you completed."
"Hawke, you leave me here with this s.a.d.i.s.tic son of a b.i.t.c.h and I"ll kill you next time I see you," Faith bit the words out furiously, her breathing rough, and d.a.m.n her body all to h.e.l.l and back, but her p.u.s.s.y was throbbing with a beat more desperate than that of her heart.
She could feel her c.l.i.t swelling, arousal stark and blinding flaring through her body.
She watched as Jacob inhaled softly, his lips quirking.
"I hate you," she snarled viciously, her fingers curling into fists as Danson and Hawke drove away. "You just signed his death warrant, Jacob. I"ll murder that betraying b.a.s.t.a.r.d when I catch up with him."
He tilted his head, his expression curious.
"Faith," he chided her a little too sweetly. "Why darlin", I never saw you so bloodthirsty. It"s arousing."
She trembled violently from the hard edge of pure rage that shot through her.
"Arousing?" she asked him with a sneer. "Sorry baby, I don"t like your brand of f.u.c.king. Find someone else."
"Well darlin", I guess I"ll just have to see if I can"t do better next time." He advanced on her, his eyes narrowing.
Faith backed up again, seeing no advantage, no sign of weakness in him. He was dressed in form fitting black pants, boots, and a sleeveless white T-shirt that he had tucked into the snug waistband of his pants. There was no body hair to mar the perfection of his muscular body. Nothing to dim the sun bronzed sheen of flexing muscles and a body ready for any move she would make.
"I don"t want you," she a.s.sured him heatedly.
"Your body is desperate for me," he argued. "I can smell it, Faith, sweet and hot, so d.a.m.ned addictive it makes my mouth water with the need to taste you."
"And you think I"m desperate enough to let you touch me again," she bit out. "I don"t think so, Jacob. I"d rather suffer."
She stared up at him as he stopped before her, standing still, forcing herself to relax. He watched her for a long moment, and she didn"t hide the fury, or the resounding pain in her expression.
"Faith," his voice gentled, his hand reaching out to touch her face.
Instinctively, the flat of her palm slammed into his stomach as she twisted, ducking under his arm, her foot slamming into the back of his knee as she gave a hard shove to his shoulder.
She heard his curse, but didn"t wait around to see if he recovered. With a burst of speed and desperation, she headed for the edge of the jungle. If she couldn"t outfight him, then maybe, just maybe she could outsmart him.