Craving Hawk (The Aces' Sons 3)

Shoving my pants down my hips, I shimmied a little so they’d drop to the floor, then left them where they were as I skip-hopped and jumped onto my bed. I rolled around a little until I was under the covers and let out a heavy breath. I had a full night of snore-free sleep in my future and I didn’t plan to waste a single minute.

Well, maybe I’d waste a few minutes… I closed my eyes and I was back in that blue and gray tent with Tommy’s solid body tucked in close to mine. I’m pretty sure I said his name when I came. Then I laughed at myself. I was such a loser.

Chapter 6

Thomas

I hadn’t seen Heather for almost a week, and the shittiest part about that fact? I’d been counting the damn days. We’d been hella busy at the shop and I’d been working twelve-hour shifts every single day. The money was good because I was getting a ton of shit finished and out the door, but by the time I was done at night I was fucking exhausted and hadn’t had the energy to stop by her place.

I was going to change that tonight. It didn’t matter how many hours I worked. I needed to get the fuck off the Aces’ property for a bit.

I was really hoping she’d let me in the door. I knew I’d been an asshole the last time I’d seen her, but she’d seriously pissed me off. I’d seen the way she used to look at Micky. She could tell me they were friends until she was blue in the face, but we both knew that she’d had a massive thing for him. It drove me nuts she wouldn’t just admit to it and let it go. Then I could fucking let it go.

I didn’t understand why she pretended she hadn’t been in love with the kid. It might have been puppy love of the teenage variety, but she’d been head over heels for my brother. I hated that. I hated that she’d looked at him like that and she wouldn’t even own up to it.

But what was even worse? The fact that I’d known she loved him, and after he’d died I’d never once checked up on her. I didn’t think my parents had either. I wasn’t even sure who’d told her he was gone.

After the shooting, we’d been dealing with our own mess. Mom had been in the hospital with a gaping hole in her chest from first a bullet and then surgery, Will had been laid up, too, with a couple bullet holes of his own, Rosie had been pretty much inconsolable, and I’d lost my fucking mind. My dad was the only one who’d held it together and I was pretty sure that had been a close thing.

We hadn’t had time for Micky’s little girlfriend. It was understandable, but I felt like shit about that now. While I’d been slowly losing my shit, who’d been taking care of Heather? Her sister? I liked Mel, but she didn’t really seem the type. Molly was like a surrogate sister to Heather but I was pretty sure she hadn’t even known about the connection between Heather and our family until recently, so it couldn’t have been her.

Shit, she hadn’t even been invited to the funeral. We’d had a quiet thing after Mom was out of the hospital and only close family had gone to it.

“Hey, TomTom, you just gonna stand there or are ya gonna get some work done?” my uncle called out from across the garage. He smiled cheerfully as I flipped him off, then he wiped his face, leaving a streak of grease across his cheek. I laughed and shook my head.

Casper didn’t usually work in the garage unless he was doing maintenance on his bike, which was what had him there today. He was more of a numbers guy. He took care of all the books, legal and not-so-legal. It wasn’t that he couldn’t work as a mechanic. Shit, he knew more about engines than most of us put together, but he just didn’t have time for it. Thank God. When he actually was in the garage he spent most of his time heckling all of the mechanics.

I grabbed the wrench I’d been looking for before I zoned out and dropped down to the creeper, rolling myself back under the car I was working on. Only a couple more hours and then I’d be done with the piece of shit.

* * *

“You’re back!” Heather said cheerfully, opening her door wide.

Shit, did the woman ever wear pants? She was standing in the open door with nothing on but a men’s thin white t-shirt and a pair of underwear with… yeah, that was the Zelda Triforce printed on the front.