Page 147 of Songbird: Black Kite
Such a delightful moniker.
“It’s summer vacation,” Cooper moaned again, and I rolled my eyes before looking over at her. She was sprawled out on the couch, her legs up across the back while her head dangled over the side, long brown hair pooling on the carpet. “This is lame. I’m sobored. I can’t even talk to my best friend.”
“I know,” I repeated, because we’d already had that talk, as well. To say that Jillian’s parents were unhappy with Cooper’s new notoriety was an understatement. I’d received a very brief, very angry phone call from the good pastor, expressing his thoughts and feelings about ‘loose women’ and how he didn’t want my ‘devilry’ tainting his daughter any longer. Since then, Jillian hadn’t been responding to any of Cooper’s texts, most likely because she didn’t have her phone. But that didn’t make the situation any easier for Coop to swallow.
Isolation sucked; I knew that from experience. But even though I’d felt isolated in this town my entire life, I’d always had Sabrina. Being without your best friend when times were tough only made everything even more difficult.
I was doing my best to be supportive, but I was struggling just as much as Cooper was at the moment.
Daniel had kept his word, coming by the house that first evening with my car and my purse. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until after he’d left that I remembered my phone had been stuffed into my desk drawer, not in my purse, leaving me with no phone and no way of seeing if Hawk had responded to my text.
Cooper had learned very quickly to stay off the internet, shutting down her phone after browsing the first gossip site comment section. We’d cried together, with me explaining that sometimes people just sucked, and that no one who said horrible things about a fourteen-year-old girl on the internet was a person worth worrying about.
But that didn’t mean that I wasn’t still raging mad about it. Just remembering the awful things that total strangers were saying about my child had me wanting to track each and every one of them down and personally kick their asses.
But all my anger was for nothing, because I was a literal nobody, impotent in my fury, and any comment I tried to add in our defense would only have made it worse. So instead, I did nothing at all.
“We can watch a movie,” I suggested when Cooper gave another dramatic sigh. “Your choice.”
“No thanks.” Rolling to her feet, I watched as she started toward the hallway, shoulders hunched and looking defeated. “I’ll just go to bed.”
I opened my mouth, wanting to tell her once again that it would be alright. That the whole thing would eventually blow over and our lives would be quiet once again. But before I could get out even a single word, the quiet night was shattered by the loud squeal of a siren.
“What was that?” Cooper asked, her eyes wide. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know, but stay back.” Flicking off the lights, I crept to the window and carefully peeked out the curtain, trying to look without being seen. When I caught sight of the police cruiser parked in front of my house, I gasped in shock.
Sheriff Donovan was on my lawn, the lights on his car flashing across the faces of all the disgruntled photographers he was currently ushering away from my house. I watched in satisfaction as, one by one, each of the horrible paparazzi climbed into rental cars and removed themselves from my street, making my neighborhood quiet again.
Well, except for the large black SUV that remained parked behind the cruiser.
“Mom, what is it?” Cooper asked, tired of waiting, and before I could stop her, she pushed up beside me, flinging the curtain away dramatically. “Why are the cops here?”
That was a really great question, but before I could speculate an answer, my attention was drawn to the SUV as the doors opened and four large men filed out into the night.
Men I recognized immediately.
“He’s back!” Cooper squealed. “Mom! Look! He’s back. He came back for us!”
“Cooper, wait,” I tried, but she was done listening. Before I could do more than take a step, my girl had flung the front door open, throwing herself off the porch and across the lawn, right into the arms of a surprised Hawk.
“You came!” she cried, her whole body shaking as she wrapped her arms around his waist. “I knew you’d come.”
“Hey, kiddo,” he breathed, looking startled by her enthusiastic greeting. “Of course, I came.” Raising his face, Hawk met my eyes where I stood in the open doorway, the intensity of his gaze sending a shiver through me. “I’ll always come for you.”
“We should probably take this inside,” Charlie said quietly, his head on a swivel as he watched for anyone with a camera.
“Nah, they’ll be on their way now,” said Donovan, thumbs in his belt as he stood there, surrounded by rock stars, puffing his chest up like a hero. “People respect the law ’round these parts.”
“Really?” I questioned, lifting my chin as I glared at the sheriff. “Because I asked your office to help clear those parasites away yesterday, and was told that it was a free country, and to clean up my own messes.”
Sheriff Donovan—the same man who had been a deputy twenty years ago and taken great pride in arresting my father—sputtered, his face turning red under his wide-brimmed hat.
“That true?” Hawk asked, his voice icy as he glared at Donovan. “Did you deny help to Wren and Cooper?”
“I have no idea what she’s talking about,” he floundered. “Must’a been a misunderstanding down at the station. I don’t take the calls. Can’t be held responsible for what does and doesn’t make it to my desk.”
“Sounds like quite the department you’re running here, Sheriff,” Charlie growled, crossing his arms and standing to his full height. “When is the next election, again? I’m suddenly feeling generous. Maybe your opponent could use a significant boost to his campaign funds.” Looking over at me, Charlie gave a nod. “Might be time to put someone in charge who looks out for all their citizens, not just the ones they personally think are deserving.”
