Page 61 of Leading Conviction
“Oh yeah?” Her lips ticked up in a smile. “Warn you off from what?”
“You,” he answered simply as he propped his elbows on the folding chair’s arms and steepled his fingers in front of his lips.
Her brow furrowed, and she paused mid-brushstroke. “He warned you off from me? What for?”
“Little man said you’re already in love with someone else.” He felt his smirk grow at the bewilderment wrinkling her face.
“In love with…que rico, what is thatniño locotalking about?”
“I don’t know. Something abouttu cielo.” His head tilted lazily to the side as he examined her shocked gaze.
Her lips parted and her free hand ghosted over a curious, raised circle that must’ve been connected to a necklace underneath her shirt. Her eyes widened in uncertainty and shock.
“Yeah, that was my expression, too,” he chuckled. “But then I realized how fucking lucky I am.”
“Lucky?” she asked and turned back to the canvas to paint more furiously than before.
“Yeah… not many people get a second chance with the woman they screwed up with.”
“Hawk, I never said I was still in love—”
“I know,” he interrupted softly. He didn’t want to fluster her, but he still needed to tell her how he felt, if for no other reason than to let her know he was serious about earning forgiveness, even if he didn’t deserve it. “But the fact I was on your mind at all these past years, well, that’s lucky all on its own. Do you think you’d be able to give me a second chance? To make it up to you?”
“Hawk… I don’t know.” Her voice was quiet as she slowly dotted a dark-greenish-blue color at the bottom of the canvas, creating the conifer trees the Blue Ridge was known for. “I mean, you left me, sure. But, how could you even want me after…”
“After what?” he asked. His brow furrowed hard enough to hurt as he racked his brain, trying to figure out what she’d fill in the blank with.
“After my father screwed you guys over so royally—”
“Hannah, that wasn’t you. That was yourfather. I’m just hoping you forgive me for leaving you for his fucked-up schemes.”
“That wasn’tyourfault, either. But I… I slept with your best friend. How couldyouforgiveme?”
His chest ached at the pain and guilt in her voice. He was on his feet in a second and lifting Hannah’s chin in the next.
“Hannah, baby, how could I possibly be angry at you? Sure, ten years ago, I would’ve been upset. And maybe if I was still foolish and in my twenties, I’d be jealous. But after everything we’ve both been through…” He shook his head and let his sincere gratitude show through. “My best friend is gone, Han, and after all this time, I was sure I’d lost you, too. Now I have you in front of me and a piece of the best friend I thought I lost forever. You and I have lost so much, dove. Tommy is the biggest blessing we could ask for.”
Hannah’s eyes grew watery and Hawk brushed her cheek, catching a tear before it tipped over the apple of her cheek.
His heart thudded in his chest as he succumbed to asking the question that had been a constant in his mind, “Can I ask… how it happened?”
Her breath came out in a shudder and she held on to his wrist as she seemed to figure out where to start.
“It was right after we broke up. Thomas was there…”
He’d said he had already moved out. Why was he there?
The question buzzed in his mind, but he didn’t want to interrupt.
“He must’ve heard me crying. You were gone and the next thing I knew he was consoling me. Honestly, I don’t remember what he said. I just remember being…devastated.”
“Fuck, Hannah, I’m sorry.” His own voice cracked as his heart split in two.
She shrugged and set her paints aside on the small table jutting out of the easel. “He said he had loved me from the beginning. I guess I was a fantasy that’d always been too far away, but when you were out of the picture, he didn’t want to hold back anymore.”
Hawk cursed inwardly and for the first time since Eagle had died, he wanted to bring his best friend back from the dead solely to knock his ass out.
“I gave in to my grief, and I think he regretted it just as much as I did when it was all said and done. Thomas had always been myfriend. He thought we could be more, but it was obvious that next morning he believed we were better off as friends, too. We never spoke again after that. He left when you did. And I was all alone. Until a few months later when I realized I was pregnant.”
