Page 55 of Freeing Hawk
“What do you want me to say?” Eris tossed her hands up.
“Nothing.” I shook my head. “I was an idiot to ask.”
“No. You care about her.” Eris rested a hand on my forearm. “Even after she’s been acting like a lost teenager, you still care for her. That says something.”
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “Listen, I have to wash the muck off then take Tiberius home.”
“Angel…”
“The answer is no, Eris.” I told her. “Hawk is not a child. She knows what she wants, who she wants. If it was me, she would have been here. I know you’re her friend and you love her. But this isn’t a peace treaty. You can’t negotiate her happiness for her.”
“Why not?” Eris asked. “She may not see it now, but she will—eventually.”
“And I refuse to risk everything on aneventually.”
I did walk out on her then. It was hard, but I forced my feet to move, carrying me to the change room. I showered and dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a graphic t-shirt withE=MC Hammeron the front and a pair of black runners. I slid on some deodorant closed my locker then made my way back to my office.
“What was that about?” Romeo asked. He was already there waiting for me, with Tiberius asleep on one of the chairs.
“She wanted to talk about Hawk.” I replied.
Though I hate waking Tiberius, I walked over to him, hunched down and kissed his head a couple of times. He opened his eyes, licked my cheek and sat up.
“Are we going to talk about it?” Romeo asked.
“About what?” I wanted to know. “Come on, boy. Time to go home.”
When I snapped my finger, Tiberius hopped off the chair and turned for the door ahead of us. We followed and I opened the backdoor for him to hop in.
“About Hawk.” Romeo climbed into the passenger side and me behind the wheel. “About why you’ve been pushing yourself like a mad-man. The other trainers have noticed. You haven’t been sleeping.”
“Nothing to tell, really.” I told him. “Not every relationship was meant to work out. This one, sadly, was one of those.”
“You don’t really believe that.”
“What do you want me to say?” I glanced at him quickly then back at the road as we sped toward my place. “Better yet, what do you want me to do? She made a choice. This isn’t one of those movies where I run after her to beg her forgiveness. Real life doesn’t work like that. Like I told Eris, if she wanted me, she would have been here.”
Romeo sighed.
“I’m not going to run after her.” I continued, making a left turn. “All I have to do now, is find a way to get over her.”
“And how’s that going for you?”
“Give it time.” I pulled up to my favorite Jamaican food truck. “Everything can be gotten over with time.”
Another few days melted by and Dude managed to sucker me into a boys’ night out. Even as I fed Tiberius, showered then dressed, I wanted to cancel.
I didn’t.
I knew what would happen—they’d show up at my place and dragged me out kicking and screaming.
At precisely ten at night, Romeo stuck his head into my office. “Ready? Dude’s here.”
I grunted, grabbed my phone off the charger and turned to look for my wallet. I found it at Tiberius’ butt under a pillow.
Smiling, rubbed my pooch’s back, kissed his head, and stood. “Protect the house, Tiberius.”
He barked.
