Page 20 of Hawk
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Maci
I was seriously about ready to let him kiss me. His lips were hovering above mine and I could feel his breath fan across my face. He was so close to me.
Have I mentioned how good he smells? The many smells delicious! I wanted to stick my face in his neck and smell him like a damned puppy.
But my phone had to ring.
At first, I thought it was Riley. Turns out I was wrong. I was way wrong.
I jump off the swing to answer the phone call for Howie. This is the second time he has called me in one night. Something has to be off. What the hell is going on back home?
“Hello?” I answer.
“Maci, you gotta be careful. Some shit just happened.”
I’m practically running back to my apartment. “What happened? You’re scaring me.”
“Vitali just had someone burn your house down. Everything inside of it is gone.”
My heart hammers in my chest. “What do you mean? When did this happen?”
“Just now. We got to your house and the whole thing is burned down.”
I start to panic. “Has Vitali been making any phone calls?” I question. I don’t know what kind of protection they have for him at the county jail or if they are monitoring him. If they aren’t monitoring him, he could be doing whatever the fuck he wants.
Howie lets out a deep breath. “We don’t know much. The jail isn’t being that forthcoming with information. Sorry to be the one to tell you this, Maci.”
“Everything’s gone?” I ask again to clarify.
After everything that has happened, I’m surprised I’m not crying. My house is gone, my career is gone and much more than that- my daughter and I are being threatened.
There isn’t much more he can take from us.
“The whole house is burned down.”
“All right, I’m going to get some sleep. Let me know what you find out.”
Howie hangs up without saying bye or anything. That’s nothing new. The man doesn’t have a lot of manners.
My house. I can’t believe my house is gone. Everything I had in there… all gone. Luckily for me and Riley, we packed and brought everything we thought we wanted or needed with us when we moved to the other side of the country.
Without realizing it, I made it inside of the apartment with the door closed. How did I do that?
Riley is looking at me with scared eyes and shows me her tablet. Sure enough, our house is on there.
Fuck!
I hear the bikes start up and I rush outside to stop Hawk from leaving. I owe him an apology for leaving him like that.
The guys are on their bikes with my neighbor watching them intently. The way she is watching them makes me wonder how well she knows them.
Hawk turns to meet my eyes and I give him an awkward smile in hopes of him stopping his bike to come and talk to me. He doesn’t. He looks at me once more and then takes off.
“How do you know the guys?” The woman asks me and tightens her robe.
“I just met them. I’m a waitress at one of the places they own.”
