Page 56 of Songbird: Black Kite
“Wait!” called an urgent voice from behind us, and we turned to see Charlie jogging across the darkened lot, his arm raised as he hailed us. “Hang on a second.”
“It’s too cold for long goodbyes, Chuck,” Sabrina said, her teeth chattering.
“I know,” he grumped, his face looking carved from stone. “Hawk is, um, sleeping again,” he said evasively. “But when I talked to him, he said he wanted you to have this.” Holding up his hand, Charlie displayed the custom guitar pick I’d played with earlier. I took it from him, looking at Hawk’s name on the back one more time before closing it in my fist.
“Thanks, Charlie,” I said with a small smile. “For everything.”
“Listen,” Charlie said, running his hand across shiny bald scalp. “Hawk...he’s dealing with some shit right now, but he’s a good guy. Really.”
I stared at him, wondering why he was telling me this. It occurred to me that some of the girls who had been on the bus before me might have gone running to the press, ready to sell their story for a few bucks and a moment of fame.
That was why Charlie was standing in front of me; he was on cleanup duty.
“It’s alright,” I assured him. “I get it. I’m not gonna say anything to anyone.”
“What?” he asked, obviously confused. “No, that’s not—” He sighed, his frustration evident. “I’ve known Hawk since he was seventeen years old. The kid has a lot of shit in his life that he doesn’t deal with in the right ways. But for all that, he’s a good kid. When he was with you tonight, I saw a side of him I haven’t seen in nearly a decade. I guess I just wanted you to know that. To know that no matter how the night ended, he was different with you.”
I stared at him, Sabrina still shivering at my side, and thought back to the night’s events. The way Hawk had looked at me, held me while I played. The way he’d actually seemed interested in what I had to say. I’d had absolutely no expectations going into the night, and I was happy enough with how it had ended, even if it wasn’t quite the way the fantasy had gone in my head when I’d dreamed of meeting him over the years.
I knew Hawk was more than the way the media portrayed him. I just hoped he knew it, too.
Looking at the hand that held the guitar pick, I noticed the bracelet on my wrist, a black leather and pewter beaded creation that I’d made myself. Loosening the ties, I slid the bracelet off and handed it to Charlie.
“When he wakes up, give him this,” I said, offering the bracelet. “And tell him thanks.”
Charlie nodded, and that was that.
Chapter thirty-three
Hawk
Present
“Yourdinnerisgettingcold, my boy.”
Harry’s tone let me know she was pissed. She had been patient with me, but I knew she’d already called me twice, and now she was more than done.
“I know, Harry. I’m coming.”
“You said that twenty minutes ago, Hawk.”
Shit. I had.
Setting down the fist full of envelopes I was currently sorting through, I straightened, wincing at the kink in my lower back and my achy shoulder. I was getting too damn old to spend time in unusual positions these days.
Although, it wasn’t just unusual positions that were starting to catch up with me. Some days, just walking up a flight of stairs was hard, my knees clicking and my back tweaking in ways that I couldn’t remember them doing before.
When the fuck had I gotten so damn old?
Shutting off the light in the study, I followed an irritated Harry down the hall and back through the house until we were in the kitchen. She’d set the table, one place setting at the head of a table meant for a dozen people, and as I stared at it, I felt the creeping shadow of loneliness begin to close in on me.
“Hey, Harry?” I asked, my tone artificially bright. “You wanna have dinner with me tonight? You worked so hard to make it; be a shame for both of us to eat alone, right?”
“What makes you think I’d be eating alone?” She arched one silvery eyebrow at me, and I gaped.
“You been sneaking women onto my property? You harlot!”
“Oh, don’t you dare,” she laughed, swatting at me with the dish towel she kept over her shoulder. “You know I’d never. I just thought it was presumptuous of you to assume is all.”
