Page 15 of Hawk

We spent the next hour going through the clothes on the bed. She had a story or comment for each item. We were making decent progress until we reached a sweater vest near the bottom of the pile.

“Look at this thing. It’s the only item of clothing I ever tried to crochet, and it’s hideous… not that he would ever admit that. He even wore it on occasion. Never outside the house, though, thank goodness.” She smiled and hugged the vest to her chest. “I think that’s enough for today.”

“Do you want me to drop off these things for you on my way home?” I was afraid if we waited for her to arrange a pickup, it might be months before we made any progress.

“If you could, that would be wonderful.”

“Do you know where you want me to take them?” She hadn’t said, so I wasn’t sure if she already had a place in mind.

She shook her head. “I don’t really have a preference, just someplace where someone can use them.”

“If it’s okay with you, I thought maybe we could start with the Vesper Pride Association’s Trans Closet.”

“I don’t know how much they would want, so maybe they could pick through it, and then you could take the rest to Saint Vincent’s.”

“I can do that. David may have been older, but his clothes were nice and very stylish. I bet the VPA will want most of his suits, his polos, and maybe even his dress shirts.”

“And the hats,” she added. “They would make some young man look very suave.”

“I think so, too.”

“Thank you. I know that means two stops, but I love the idea of someone having his things who will really appreciate them.” She walked over to the dresser and ran her fingers over the antique valet box that he’d kept his watch and rings in before picking up a familiar silver necklace and studying it for a minute. “Speaking of which, Mika, I want you to have this.” She held up the Saint Michael medallion her husband had worn every day. “David’s father gave it to him, and I think he would want someone to wear the pendant who would appreciate it.”

“Mary Ellen, you don’t have to give me anything,” I insisted.

“I know that, dear, but it isn’t doing anyone any good sitting here, and he doesn’t have anyone to leave it to. He adored you, and you were so good to him. I’m sure he would want you to have it.”

I reached out and took the necklace, looking at it. It had an angel with massive wings holding a sword in one hand and placing his foot on the neck of what appeared to be a dragon. Across the top, it said,Saint Michael, protect us.

“There’s a prayer that goes with it, but I don’t know what happened to it. I’m sure you can find it on your phone.”

“I’ll do that.” I probably wouldn’t, but she didn’t need to know that. I slipped the necklace over my head and let the weight of the pendant settle against my breastbone. I knew it was just a necklace and didn’t hold any special powers, but knowing it had been David’s father’s and then his—and was now mine—was comforting in some strange way.

I left early because Mary Ellen insisted that I didn’t get to run her errands on my time. My first stop was at the VPA to see if they would be interested in any of the clothes, and to my surprise, that ended up being my only stop because they kept them all. The person who came out to look was so excited they could hardly contain themselves.

Turned out they had a gentleman who came in regularly, always looking for what he called apipe-smoking college professor aesthetic, but had only ever found a few things he liked. They said they were going to call him right away so he could come look.

I gave them my number in case they wanted me to come back and pick anything up. They took it but made sure I knew they didn’t think they’d be calling.

Since I didn’t need to go by the other place, I decided to go home and chill until it was time for my self-defense class.

Self-defense class, where I would be seeing Hawk.

I didn’t know what I’d been thinking at the club, going over and talking to him like that. I blamed it on one too many Golden Cadillacs. They weren’t strong drinks, but if I had enough of them, they could still cause me to make questionable choices. That had to be the explanation because I had no business with a man like Hawk. I thought I’d learned my lesson at this point.

I pulled down the mirror on the visor of my car and gave myself a firm look. “No more men who are big enough and strong enough to break you in half, Mika. No more.”

My gut told me Hawk wasn’t like that, but I’d learned the hard way that I couldn’t trust my gut. Just to make the point, I stared at myself in the mirror again and shook my head in disappointment.

“None of them are like that until they are. Remember that.”

He was a good teacher, though, and I was glad I’d signed up for this class. I couldn’t take down a guy his size, but I’d learned enough that I thought I had a decent shot at getting away if I needed to—and as he liked to remind us, that was the goal.

I made it home with plenty of time to shower and work on my latest crochet project while watching the newest episode ofReacher—because, as we’ve established, big, strong, and potentially violent was totally my type.

When it was time to leave, I grabbed my sweatshirt and my gym bag and headed for the car. I opened the door and tossed my stuff in the back seat. Then I hopped in behind the wheel. I was about to start the car when I spotted something flapping in the wind underneath my windshield wiper.

I glanced around, but no one was nearby.

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