Page 28 of Hawke

I knew Ayden had been at the grand opening, so my question seemed dumb in hindsight. I could also recall one of the detectives seated beside him there as well. I had never seen him before, but when I’d first arrived, he had introduced himself as Austin Whiteside. Hawke’s name didn’t seem to draw interest from him because his attention stayed glued to whatever he was doing on his phone.

My other brothers, Cooper and Cortland, also didn’t seem to care about my love life. Turning back to Chase, I wished he could be more like them right now. Ayden was like a brother to me, but like my oldest one, he was very much interested.

“When were you and…” Ayden paused as if he was trying to think of how to word his question. Finally, he just shifted gears, it seemed. “I didn’t know you were seeing him.”

“Char saw him all right. She also—” Before Emery could finish, I smacked her in the arm with a throw pillow.

“We weren’t dating or anything like that.” Embarrassed to even be discussing this with Chase and Ayden, my cheeks became flushed with heat. “He was a client of mine. I was hired to plan the grand opening party for his club.”

There. It wasn’t a lie. Platinum Dreams did set up the masquerade party for Syn. Once again, my cheeks burned even more crimson when I remembered the first day I’d met him face-to-face. Hawke had been such an asshole from criticizing my outfit to throwing me out of his office.

Our second encounter didn’t go much better. I’d walked in thinking I was in control, and maybe I had been until he pinned me against the wall and kissed me. His lips. I ached to feel them moving against mine again. He’d taken control that morning, leaving no question as to who ran things between us.

How’d I go from that to this?

I tried to act like he hadn’t gotten rid of me that day, too. He had. It seemed to be a growing trend between us. He’d fired me up, seduce me into submission, then walk away as if nothing had ever happened. It was a twisted game I was all too happy to play right into.

“I thought I’d noticed you there,” Ayden remarked. “So you were at Syn for work?”

This time, Ayden was the recipient of my pleading glare. Chase was watching the two of us closely and the last thing I wanted was for him to start investigating this guy like he had my last boyfriend. The poor kid had never had anything more than a parking ticket, but Chase exhausted all background checks and bureau resources to make sure. I couldn’t allow that to happen to Hawke, even if I was curious to know what might be lurking in his past.

I was about to answer when Emery beat me to it. “Char was very hands-on that night.”

It was official. I was going to kill Emery once we left Chase’s. Needing to put an end to this conversation, I remained calm. “I’m hands-on at every party I plan. It’s my name on the line, after all.” I looked at Em, who smirked, then shook my head. “And I was never dating Hawke. I just thought he was hot, but that’s about as far as it goes.”

This time, it was my brother whose face turned red. I knew Chase wouldn’t want to hear about how cute some other guy was. Ayden, however, didn’t buy my story at all. That much was obvious by the way his eyes narrowed sharply. I thought he might leave it alone, but he eventually started to speak again.

“I hope you’re right because he isn’t any good for you, Charlotte.” Ayden’s words were like a dagger to the chest. I didn’t need him to point out what I had been too oblivious to see.

“You’re right,” I lied. I knew the two were very different, but there’d been enough moments between us to make me think he felt something, too. What it was, I didn’t know.

And the way it looks, I’ll never find out, either.

“Good, because he has some issues. That much is for sure,” Ayden responded, then proceeded to tell Chase about some break-in that had happened during Syn’s construction phase.

I was more intrigued now about what those issues were, not that I couldn’t deduce a number of them from how he had treated me. It was obvious that Ayden didn’t intend to elaborate, causing me to sigh.

They continued to talk about the break-in, but I had known nothing about that. Austin even chimed in, mentioning some kid that had gotten arrested. Before they could all get into police talk, I abruptly stood up.

“I have an early morning appointment with a caterer, so Em and I are going to leave.”

My friend wasn’t happy about that, but after I grabbed her hand tightly, she stood anyway. We started to make our way around the room to say our goodbyes, and the second to last one was Ayden. He pulled me close, then dropped his mouth to my ear. “I want you to promise you’ll forget about Hawke. Something about him isn’t right, and I don’t want to see you hurt.”

I stepped back, then kissed his cheek. “I’ll probably never see him again now that my job is done. You have nothing to worry about,” I whispered in response.

Finally, I hugged my oldest brother. He also seemed to also have an opinion on the matter. “I agree with Ayden. You need to leave Birdman alone.”

I giggled at that nickname before nodding. I then grabbed my coat and practically dragged Emery out of the condo. As we walked to the elevator, my friend snickered. The doors opened, and we stepped inside. My best friend was still amused, and when the double doors closed, Em turned to me.

“Forget what those two just told you. If you still want to fuck Hawke, this is what you need to do…”

20 – KILLER

The woman clawed uselessly at the wire around her neck, frantic to free herself from what she knew to be impending death. My heavy, booted foot pressed down even more firmly on her back as I kept her pinned to the ground. Her mouth opened, a slight wheeze breaking through before I jerked roughly on my end of her noose. Her head, which had been just inches off the ground, slumped lifelessly to the earth below her. Twilight was turning to darkness as she took her last ragged breath. And it was not one too soon.

“Goodbye, you vile, disgusting whore,” I spat out, not even attempting to hide the disdain in my voice any longer.

And while I knew she was already dead, I wanted to be certain, so I loosely wrapped the excess wire around my wrist, then gave it a final tug, watching as her half naked body offered no resistance. I had succeeded yet again in sending another immoral sinner straight to hell where she belonged. Reaching inside the sheath tucked into my pants, I produced a knife and cut the excess wire from the female’s body. She was the fifth sinner I’d put down in recent weeks and months, but she certainly wouldn’t be the last.

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