Page 55 of Three to Fall

My mouth dropped open. “Fancy! Hawk, she’s got to be sixty years old! She’s War’s mother! Are you trying to get Kyle killed?”

Hawk was clearly finding himself hilarious. And I had to admit, the expression on Kyle’s face was funny. I’d come to learn this sort of teasing was normal within these walls. All the men did it, paying out on each other for laughs. I’d begun to realize it was how they showed affection. Though Grayson with his PhD in psychiatry would surely have something to say about how unhealthy that was.

Thankfully, none of the women appeared to be home, and Hawk held up his hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay. Probably a bit much for one of the club girls to be your first. Or War’s mom.”

Kyle’s face was pale. “I don’t mean any disrespect to Ms. Fancy, but…”

I squeezed my eyes shut at Kyle and just shook my head. He just needed to be quiet right now and not give Hawk any more fodder.

Hayden cleared his throat, a hint of understanding in his tone. “Kyle, if you want to find someone, you aren’t limited to the women who hang out here. Get on one of the dating apps.”

Hawk didn’t try to hide his groan of disgust. “Whatever happened to going to a bar and just going home with some smokeshow? Or not even getting that far? Just fucking her right there in the parking lot…”

I raised an eyebrow. “Really? Is that how you want your future son-in-law to treat Hayley Jade when she’s old enough?”

Hawk’s eyes darkened. “I will gut and kill any man who even peeks at her in a bar. Or on the street. Or… Ever.”

I rolled my eyes. “Great, so we’ll just be blindfolding the entire male population once she turns sixteen, will we?”

Grayson paused with his spoon halfway to his mouth. “It’s not a bad idea.”

Hawk nodded in agreement. “I see no problem with that.”

“Me neither, just saying.” Hayden seemed like he was in pain at the very thought of Hayley Jade dating someday.

Poor kid. With the three of them in her life, she was never going to be able to meet a boy.

But it was also a little bit cute.

“Can we get back to the idea of Kyle dating?” I changed the subject. “One of those dating apps doesn’t seem like a bad idea. It’s hard to meet nice people.”

Hawk snorted. “I’m laughing at you thinking you might meet ‘nice’ people on one of those apps. Nice for a night, maybe.”

I ignored him and focused on Kyle, who really was looking at me like I was a lifeline. He was clearly lonely, and I felt awful for not seeing it sooner. I’d been so wrapped up in my own problems, I hadn’t even noticed he’d been isolating himself, not even coming up to the clubhouse. He’d spent his last few teenage years inside one prison, and we’d basically locked him in another with no one else his age. He didn’t know a single person in this state, other than the people inside this clubhouse. “Ignore them. Download an app. Meet some people. You don’t have to…um…do more with them if you don’t want to.”

Kyle pulled his phone out of his pocket and ran his thumb over the screen, scrolling. “I don’t even know which one is good.”

Hawk shrugged, leaning over to peer at his screen. “Fuck, why are there so many? Just download any of them. Wait. Just use that one. It says it’s already on your phone.”

Kyle screwed up his face. “No, it’s not.”

Hayden took a peep over his shoulder when Kyle held it out to him. “App store says otherwise.”

Kyle’s eyebrows knit together in confusion as he stabbed at the screen. “I swear, I’ve never seen that app before. It’s not on my phone.”

He’d piqued my interest now too, and I got off Hawk’s lap to peer over Kyle’s shoulder. There was no dating app on themain screen, but there were a number of folders. I pointed at the search bar. “Just search the app name. Maybe your phone came preloaded with it.”

He nodded, putting in the app name in the search bar.

It popped up instantly.

Hawk slung his arm around the back of Kyle’s chair. “Who have you been swiping right on?” He squinted. “Or is it swiping left? I don’t know.”

“I haven’t been swiping on anything, I swear.” Kyle shook his head, clearly thoroughly confused.

Hayden patted him on the shoulder. “Then why do you have an account already logged in?”

We were all crowded around him by this point. But Kyle seemed completely bewildered.

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