Page 61 of Three to Fall

He scowled at me. “That’s it! I’m not going.” He shot Kara a dirty look. “I told you this was a bad idea.”

She caught his hand. “Stop it. You’re fine.” She glared at me. “Isn’t he?”

The corner of my mouth quirked up. “Sure. Just never thought I’d see you in anything other than denim, white tees, and leather.”

Hawk flipped up his middle finger. “You saw me in my birthday suit the other night, and I didn’t hear you complaining.”

I sniggered. “But you weren’t wearing neon-pink shorts then, so I really had nothing to tease you about. Wait!”

I held my phone up and snapped a photo of Hawk’s outfit then quickly forwarded it to Hayden before Hawk could stop me.

He scowled as his phone beeped with an incoming message, and he turned it around so Kara and I could see the laughing emojis Hayden had sent him.

“Where did you even get those?” I wiped at my eyes quickly, trying to disguise my tears of laughter.

He shrugged. “I don’t know, actually. They might be Scythe’s.” He tugged at them, trying to pull them down over his muscled thighs. “Yeah, not happening. I’ll hike in jeans and fucking boots.”

I couldn’t help but think that might be a good idea. What I’d said to Kara about wearing clothes you were comfortable in went for men too. But ribbing him was too hard to resist. “Bring the shorts anyway!” I called loudly through his bedroom door. “If we get lost, they’ll be a beacon for helicopters to spot us!”

“I think I hate you more than I hate Chaos,” Hawk grumbled back through the door. “You both suck.”

I laughed beneath my breath, but his grumbling couldn’t kill my good mood. Too many things were going right this week, and I just wanted to bask in the glory of being happy. Facing what had happened to my wife and having my brother back in my life had settled some angry part of me that hadn’t been coping. Sleeping in Kara’s bed at night and smelling the soft scent of her hair was something I’d dreamed about for months, but now I got to actually have it. Knowing she had a baby in her belly, who could very well be mine, even if the odds probably were stacked against me, felt like a grounding I hadn’t knew I needed.

It wasn’t so much that the club felt like home.

But she did.

And building a world around her was easy.

I was well aware I was stupidly head over heels in love with her and that she hadn’t said it back, but I couldn’t help what I felt. It was too strong to keep inside, and I could see her falling a little more each day.

I didn’t need to rush her.

There was no finish line in this thing between her and me. I wasn’t going anywhere. If she could never say it back, then Iwould accept that. But I’d still be here. Loving her, until she told me she didn’t want it anymore.

With Hawk back in his regular clothes, I drove us toward the bluff. I was familiar with the many trails that snaked their way from the parking lot through the trees and along the edge of the coast.

We all got out, shouldering backpacks full of food and study supplies. I stood in front of the information board that directed to different walks, where they ended up, and highlighted each walk’s difficulty.

But there was one in particular I wanted to do, so I led the way, taking a track marked in yellow on the map, that led through the woods and out along a path with a tree-restricted view of the ocean. “It opens up farther down here,” I called back. “The view just gets better and better the further we go.”

After some gawking, and commenting on how calm the ocean was today, we fell into a comfortable silence, me setting an easy pace, the other two following single file along a well-worn trail.

Hawk spoke to Kara quietly from the back of the line, but I couldn’t make out his words. The trails were quiet with it being the middle of the week, and this being one of the harder, non-toddler-friendly routes. There’d been a small number of other cars in the parking lot, but we hadn’t seen another person since setting off. I knew from hiking these tracks regularly on my weekdays off, it would be unlikely for us to stumble upon anyone else. The crash of waves and the gentle roar of the breeze against the cliffs wrapped around me, calming my nervous system, clearing my head of anything but me and nature.

And Kara moaning.

I stopped and glanced back at them, eyebrows furrowing together. “You hurt?”

Kara was so pink I couldn’t tell if she was sunburned or blushing as she passed me. “I’m fine. Let’s keep going.”

But then Hawk smirked at me. “We should stop soon. Somewhere private. If you catch my drift.”

I gawked at him. “Out here?”

“Why not?”

“Do you ever just do it in a bed?” I grumbled, following him.

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