Page 9 of Hawk

They all split up and moved around to the outer edge of the room. I stepped back to watch—and if I spent a little extra time watching Marcy and Mika, it was only because we didn’t have male-female pairings in class that often. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t triggering for Marcy and that Mika wasn’t taking it too easy on her.

It had nothing to do with the fact that Mika was adorable.

There was just something so sweet about him, but now and then, there’d be a look in his eyes that told me he’d been through some shit. It was that wary, wounded look that had first caught my attention. It made me want to find out who’d hurt him so I could make sure it never happened again. Being protective wasn’t new for me—hell, it was in my job description—but I’d never felt the urge to hunt someone down and seek retribution before. But for him, I did.

It had been that way since the first time I saw him at my friend Samuel’s house months ago, and if he weren’t skittish as a mouse around me, I would’ve already taken steps to make him mine. But he was, which meant I needed to move slowly.

I’d been surprised but thrilled when he showed up for this class. I was hoping that by the time it was over, he’d be more comfortable around me. It had only been a few weeks, and he already seemed to be loosening up.

Tucker sidled up to me and gave me a hip check. “You know we have ten people in this class, not just two.”

I glanced over at her, and she smirked at me. I just rolled my eyes and went back to watching as Mika pinned Marcy against the wall. She knocked his arm away and ducked to the side.

“Good job, Marcy,” I called out—just to make the point that I wasn’tonlywatching Mika.

Tucker and I continued to supervise the students as they practiced the move over and over, and by the time they all had it down, it was time to end the class.

“Okay, everyone, that’s it for tonight. We’ll see you all back here again next week. Naturally, our goal is to stay on our feet, but shit happens. So next week, we’ll be working on breaking some holds from the ground.”

We watched while everyone filed out, and then Tuck and I took a few minutes to put the room to rights before heading upstairs.

“You stopping at the lounge?” Tuck asked.

I was beat, so the smart thing would’ve been to go straight up to my quarters and get some rest, but it was still early, which meant most of the guys were probably up there hanging out, eating junk they’d had delivered.

“I’ll stop for just a minute, but I have an early day tomorrow, so I won’t stay long.”

“If you say so. You know you’re gonna get sucked into some argument or something, and you’ll be there way past time for you to be in bed.”

She wasn’t wrong. I enjoyed hanging out with the guys, and I often lost track of time when I was with them. Not that I would tell her that.

“Whatever,” I grumbled as I stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the ninth floor.

Sure enough, there was a small crowd hanging out in the common area on that floor that everyone calledthe lounge. It was basically a large communal space with a big television for video games, a pool table, a foosball table, and a poker table. The poker table was my weakness, no matter what game was going on. More often than not, it was spades, not poker, but either way, I loved a good card game.

Unfortunately, no one was playing tonight. Instead, everyone was riveted by some first-person shooter game the twins, Axel and Maddox, were playing.

I flopped down on the couch and let out a sigh, dropping my head back and closing my eyes. This had been a long day. Between helping Crowe out at the camp, a planning meeting for a fundraising gala we were working security on, and then the self-defense class, I’d been at it since sunrise.

“Aww, what’s wrong, Hawk? Did teaching all those civilians how to protect themselves from a big ol’ baddie wear you out?” Rylan asked.

“Nah,” Tucker chimed in. “His eyes are just tired from staring at his boy all night.”

“He’snotmy boy,” I growled.

“Ah, it was that class,” Axel said, never taking his eyes off the screen.

“When are you gonna stop watching his cute little ass and actually do something about it?” Gator asked. “He’s seriously adorable. I’m shocked someone hasn’t scooped him up and put him in their pocket.”

I lifted my head and glared at him. “You... shut the fuck up.”

He laughed and shook his head. “You know, I thought about it last fall when I met him up at Mars’ shop.”

I knew he was just trying to rile me up. Gator was charming and never had trouble picking up a guy when he wanted to, but he was like a brother to me and would never poach a guy he knew I was interested in. Didn’t mean I’d let his comment go unanswered, though.

“Well, you can just stop thinking about it. You’re way too hard for him, and you know it.”

“Isn’t that the whole point? To be hardforhim? Or am I not understanding how this gay sex thing works?” Maddox looked at us over his shoulder, wearing one of his classic smirks. The smartass.

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