Page 44 of Hawke

“He hasn’t made a move in almost two weeks,” Chase offered.

“That’s good, though. Right?” I questioned.

“Yes, of course. We’re in a waiting pattern, which isn’t good for the public who’s understandably freaked out over the perp still being on the loose.” Chase raked his hand through his hair.

I understood that and reached across the table to put my hand on my brother’s. “Ayden and Austin are awesome at their jobs. And with your help, I’m sure the killer will be caught soon.”

“I hope so,” he hedged, but then sat back in his chair when the waiter returned.

We decided to go with a pizza tonight. I often liked to drown my sorrows in either wine, ice cream, or carbs. With the first two options being unavailable to me at the moment, I opted for the third.

Our conversation flowed seamlessly. While Emery was my best female friend, no one held a candle to Chase. My oldest brother was the strongest and most compassionate male I had ever known. He was honorable, cute, funny, intelligent. He was also lonely. I’d suspected that more than once. His life consisted of work and so many other familial obligations that I actually felt bad for him.

Everyone deserved someone in their life. I just hoped his next attempt went better than my last one had. I frowned at the thought of Hawke again. I couldn’t get him out of my head. Ever since we reconnected, he’d been a permanent fixture in mine. Not even his cruel words, of the mortification I still felt did anything to remove him from my thoughts.

“You okay, Char?” Chase asked.

“Yeah, I was just thinking of the Brook’s party tomorrow night.” It wasn’t a complete lie because the local district attorney did hire me to throw the debutante ball for his only daughter the following evening.

“I still can’t believe Laura is sixteen already.”

The Brooks and Maxwell families had always been fairly close. They owned sprawling estates in the same gated neighborhood, and their children all attended the same private schools. Adam Brooks had even been a dorm mate with my father when they both attended the University of Colorado many years earlier.

My father had gone into medicine while Adam went to law school, eventually earning his law degree. He worked his way up from prosecutor to assistant DA, and just last year, finally became District Attorney.

“She’s grown up fast, I do agree,” I said, smiling at the waiter as he returned Chase’s credit card. “And speaking of Laura, I need to head back to my office to grab a few things before the dress rehearsal.”

Me and my brother stood up. Chase insisted on walking me to the car, which I appreciated. I had almost told him about some of the strange things I’d noticed lately but I knew he’d go into overprotective savior mode. If there was truly a threat, I would tell him, but as Emery had told me, it was likely just some paranoia on my part.

When we got to my car, I leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed my brother’s cheek. “I love you, Chase.”

His arms wrapped around me. “I love you too, kid. Promise me one thing,” he said.

“Anything,” I replied as I pulled away from him.

“Be very careful. With this sicko on the loose, I don’t want to have to worry about you, too.”

“I will,” I promised.

Chase was very concerned about this serial killer, and as I got inside my car, I tried to remember what I’d heard about him. All I could recall was that his victims were less than virtuous women. Prostitutes, I believed. And if those were his targets, I definitely didn’t have much to worry about.

To appease Chase, however, I locked my car doors before backing out of the parking space. I also would make sure to carry mace with me. Now, though, I had a party to get to, but I needed to grab two documents from work. I merged into traffic and headed to Platinum Dreams.

30 – CHARLOTTE

Ihad gotten through Laura Brooks’ debutante ball. It’d been a very stressful night because anything that could go wrong, had. I had been wound so tightly that even a good night’s sleep and few hours at the spa with Emery hadn’t relaxed me any.

“Why are you so antsy, Char?” Emery asked as she finished her makeup.

I looked over at my best friend. Everyone thought Emery was self-centered and while they were partially right, there was a lot more to my bestie than anyone ever cared to notice. We had been close since childhood, and if anyone could see through my front, it would be Em.

“I don’t like the way things ended with Hawke before.” That much was true. I’d been mortified when I realized he hadn’t actually enjoyed sex with me. I’d given him every part of me during our scene and to still feel as if I was lacking in some way had been a bitter pill to swallow. I liked him, though. A lot.

“Where does he get off being such a jerk to you?”

“It seems to come natural to him,” I replied.

Hawke had been that way for as far back as I could remember. While I hadn’t initially known it was him in Washington, D.C., it came as no real surprise afterward that he turned out to be the mystery sadist from The Box.

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