Page 31 of Three to Fall

Hawk shrugged, dragging me into his arms. “I like arguing with him. I can’t even explain why. I just do.”

I laid my head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat in the quiet night. “Are you mad about the party? I can try to talk Bliss into something more casual if you really hate the whole idea.”

But Hawk shook his head over the top of mine. “I don’t hate it. I’ve never had a birthday party before.”

I pulled back to stare up at him. “Never?”

“Never. Nobody gave a shit about my birthdays when I was a kid. My mom tried giving me a party once, but my dad was a jealous fuck, never wanted her thinking about anything but him.And that even included me. If I got too much of her attention, he’d get jealous. The one time she planned a party, he packed her bags and whisked her off to some shitty hotel by the beach for the weekend to remind her why all her attention should stay on him.”

I gasped. “He hurt her?”

“Nah. He probably just made her come until she saw stars. He did it regularly, reminding her she was never going to get it better anywhere else, even if he was a jealous prick. At least he treated her right. Shame he didn’t give a fuck about me, but then he was an ass, so I didn’t really want any more of his attention. Never cared much about birthdays after that. It was just another day.”

“That makes me sad for you. Bliss is right. You should be celebrated.”

“Don’t be sad. What happened in the past doesn’t matter. Only that this birthday will be different, because I’m with you.” He buried his face in my hair and inhaled deeply. “All I want is you and Hayley Jade by my side. I don’t need fancy food or a cake or gifts. Just you being there. That’s the only thing I want.”

He wrapped his arms around me and held me close, whispering how much he loved me.

And in that moment, I stupidly, selfishly convinced myself I could stay another week. That being there for him was important and everyone I loved would be safe, even though a monster stalked the streets, hunting us down, just waiting for his chance to ruin any happiness I’d found.

7

KARA

Despite what happened at the hospital the last time I’d been there, when Friday rolled around again, a nagging feeling settled in the pit of my stomach and wouldn’t leave me alone. I anxiously cleaned anything I could find at the clubhouse, wiping down the kitchen, even though Hayden did that religiously. I washed sheets and blankets. Scrubbed bathrooms, and when I checked the clock and it was only ten, I wanted to scream.

Hawk seemed equally lost. He grouchily snapped at everyone who looked his way and complained loudly about the fact no one had fixed the wobbly leg on the pool table and then stomped off to the shed to find some tools to fix it himself.

After a few minutes of tinkering with the tools, he slammed the toolbox shut, the metal on metal making a painful screeching sound. “I fucking hate this!”

I paused in the middle of wiping down the communal room walls. “Maybe you should take a walk. Or a ride? You haven’t done that for a while.”

He paced across the room, perhaps considering the idea, and then stopped to stare at me, a sort of helpless expression on his face. “I want to be at the hospital clinic.”

“Me too,” I admitted.

He groaned, scrubbing his hands over his closely cropped hair. “Fuck it. Let’s go.”

I smiled for what felt like the first time since everything had happened. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. People there need us. Gray said security has been insane at the hospital after what happened. They’re checking IDs of every person who walks in, and the cops have a whole team stationed down there apparently.”

That was surprising. “Seriously? Providence Police Department actually did something proactive?”

“That new chief is on the warpath about gang violence. Maybe it had something to do with them.”

I frowned. “Not sure Josiah’s followers count as a gang.”

Hawk shrugged. “Maybe not an officially branded one, but calling together a mob of people with the intent to hurt or capture might be worse. Clearly, it was enough to get them to get off their asses and do something. I’m not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.”

Neither was I.

Hawk’s party was tomorrow night, and there was a midnight bus out of town leaving the terminal just down the road from Sinners. I knew I needed to be on it. The pieces had fallen together too easily. Last week I’d tried to come up with ways to leave, and all of them had involved elaborate schemes and lies.

But tomorrow night, while everyone was enjoying the party, I’d just slip out. Walk the block to the terminal and get on the bus before it left.

I knew nobody would be happy with me. But I’d written letters for them all, explaining why I was doing it, asking them to respect my decision and not come after me.

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