Page 77 of Hawk

I let out a tired sigh. “I need to call Andy, my mother, and Mary Ellen, so I should probably head on upstairs and make those calls while you talk to Wolfe.”

When the elevator doors opened up on the eighth floor, he brushed a kiss across my lips and stepped out. “I won’t be long, baby boy.”

I nodded and pushed the button for the tenth floor. As soon as the door to the condo closed behind me, and I was alone, the reality of everything that had happened hit me. I’d lived with this fear for so long that I didn’t even know how to feel now that the threat was gone.

My mind was still having a hard time wrapping itself around the idea that these men that I’d spent months with could be involved in something so horrible. I’d known they weren’t on the up and up, but nothing like this.

My thoughts were racing as I went back over every interaction I could remember for a sign that they were the kind of people who would do these things. I didn’t want to tell the story of today’s events over and over until I’d had time to figure out just how I felt about all of it, so I took the easy way out and sent text messages to Mary Ellen and my mother to let them know that it was over, and I would be calling them with details the next day. I knew that wasn’t going to fly with Andy, though, so I dialed his number and waited for him to answer.

“Hey, Mika, what’s up?” he answered.

“Have you seen the local news?”

He paused and then said, “No, why?”

“They arrested Butch’s guys on human trafficking charges today.”

“Butch’s guys, but what about Butch?”

“He’s dead, Andy. This whole thing is over with for good.”

“Butch is dead?”

“Yeah, he tried to take me again, and Hawk rescued me.”

“Okay, I feel like I’m missing a big piece of the story. Tell me everything.”

So I did. I told him about how the FBI’s plan to lure Butch out had worked, about him trying to take me, and about Gator getting shot. Then finally, I told him about Hawk shooting and killing Butch.

“Okay, and how do you feel about that?”

“Oddly enough, I’m okay with it. They were selling people, Andy. I just can’t feel sorry for someone who would steal someone else’s entire life just to make a buck.”

“Yeah. It’s hard to believe human trafficking is even a thing, but it is.”

“Exactly. To be perfectly honest, part of me feels like he got off too easy. The other guys he ran with will all be going to prison, where they’ll have to live with the consequences of their actions.”

“I get that, and I don’t disagree. So what are you going to do now that this is all over?”

“What do you mean, what am I going to do?”

“Are you going back to your house? Are you staying at Hawk’s place? Are you two going to keep seeing each other? That’s what I mean.”

“It just happened, so we haven’t talked about it today. He did tell me before that he wanted me to stay here with him, so unless something’s happened and he changed his mind, that’s my plan.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about him changing his mind. He’s gone on you. I can tell. This is the real deal for him.”

“I sure hope so because this is the real deal for me.”

We made arrangements to get together soon, and I hung up the phone. Then I decided I needed a distraction, so I went into the kitchen and pulled out the ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies and brownies.

When life didn’t make sense to me or things got overwhelming, I always turned to baking because recipes were black and white. If I followed them as written, I was pretty much guaranteed a positive outcome, which sounded pretty good to me right now.

Hawk

I hadn’t wanted to leave Mika alone after everything he’d just been through, but I’d not only discharged my weapon, but it had resulted in a death, so I knew I needed to stop by and talk to Wolfe. We had rules and procedures in place for things like this here at Three Bears, and they applied to everyone, owners included.

I stopped by the ops center to give Kat a hug and thank her for all of her help. She was the best at what she did, and we were damn lucky to have her working with us. I wanted to make sure she knew that we were aware of that fact.

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