Page 52 of Hawk
Her eyes blink really fast and I can see she is trying to process everything that I’m saying. “Isn’t this moving a little fast?” She whispers.
“That’s Hawk. He moves fast and he doesn’t care.”
“He’s right,” I agree with my brother. “Baby, I protect my club and I protect what’s mine. There is nothing you can do or say about it. You got me?”
Gear answers the phone and he raises an eyebrow at me. “You know anything about a man followin’ Maci?”
“What man followed you?” I ask her quickly.
“I didn’t get the chance to tell you,” she murmurs. I can see she’s uneasy about the whole thing, but I’m trying to protect her. I’m trying to make sure she is safe. “Some man was sitting in the parking lot when I got back from picking up Riley from school. He took a picture of Riley and then of me. He drove off really quickly and then my handler got in touch with me.”
“What did you handler say?”
“Basically, he knows where I’m living and he has someone out to come find me.”
“Gear, how’d you find out?”
“I found out because Capone has him in holdin’ right now. I guess he won’t talk until he talks to the big man.”
Maci starts to cry a little and I wrap her tighter in my arms. I need to keep touching her to make sure she is feeling safe. I know it’s silly, but I need her to know I’m there for her.
“Fuck ‘em. He can sit on ice. I have a tat to finish. I want you to go and help Capone. I’ll keep the girls here.”
He nods but then smiles a little. “Nah, I’m gonna eat my burger.”
Maci smiles. “You know she is going to order the cheapest thing on the menu to keep all of your change, right? She does that shit to me all of the time!”
I raise a shoulder. “It doesn’t matter. It’s only going to be a couple of bucks.”
“What am I supposed to do while I’m sitting here?” She questions.
Good point. I haven’t gotten that far yet.
“You know how to answer phones and all of that shit?”
Riley walks back into the store with four boxes and both twenties in her hands. The boxes are in a plastic bag.
“The woman says it is on the house. I guess she likes you…” Riley answers and puts the bags of food on the counter.
She sticks the money in her back pocket.
Maci hisses. “You stole his money. The polite thing would be to give it back to him.”
“But he said I could have it!”
I don’t give two shits about the money but I also want Maci to be able to parent her kid how she would normally parent her.
I don’t know the first thing about being a parent.
“Hawk, here is your money back.”
The way she is reaching into her back pocket to give me back the money makes me chuckle.
I seem to be doing that a lot every time I’m around Maci. The woman brings something out of me that I have never felt. Utter happiness.
“You can keep it. Thanks for gettin’ the burgers.”
Kaylie is peering out the window across the street with a smile on her face. That’s Kaylie for you. The woman is always looking out for us. I try to pay her numerous times, but she always turns me down.
