Craving Hawk (The Aces' Sons 3)

She tugged me up the stairs and into Rose’s room.

“We’ll just get you some pajamas,” she said as she walked to the dresser. “We’ll go to your house and get you some clothes tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” I said quietly. “Uh, do you think Rose has a snug tanktop or something?”

Callie looked at me in confusion.

“I don’t have a bra on,” I said with an embarrassed laugh. “This dress keeps things in place, but I probably shouldn’t be walking around your house with the girls loose.”

Callie laughed as she rifled through Rose’s drawers. “I’m sure we can find something.”

As soon as she’d gathered up a pile of folded clothes, she ushered me toward the bathroom and waved me in.

“Take your time, our water heater is huge,” she said with a small smile. “I’m making dinner, so just come downstairs when you’re done.”

“Okay.” I smiled. “Thanks.”

“You know,” she said softly, “I always thought you’d marry one of my boys. I just didn’t think it would be Thomas.” She smiled at me again and closed the door behind her as she left.

As soon as I’d locked the door, I dropped down onto the closed toilet seat and stared at the wall across from me, trying to get my emotions under control. The bathroom was the same. It still had the same colored walls and the same raindrop shower curtain. There was still a little scent warmer thing plugged into the wall.

But it was different, too. Toothbrushes were missing. There weren’t any wet towels hanging over the curtain rod. I reached over and slid the shower curtain open. There wasn’t any boy body wash on the corners of the tub against the wall.

My eyes watered and I tilted my head back, inhaling deeply.

I was in a time warp. I’d taken showers, and brushed my teeth, and had once watched Mick putting on deodorant in that bathroom. I’d been in there a hundred times, yet it somehow felt foreign.

Everything was the same and everything was different, and I suddenly missed my best friend so badly it was a physical ache.

I stripped out of my dress and climbed into the shower, letting the hot water pour over my tight shoulders. I felt jittery. Like there was something I should be doing but wasn’t. I knew I couldn’t help Tommy. My job in that area was done the moment we’d signed our marriage license and I was no longer a threat to him. God, that sounded bad. There had never been any danger of me speaking against him. If my loyalty to Mick hadn’t been enough to keep my mouth shut, my absolute support of Tommy taking care of Mark Phillips would have kept me quiet.

Tommy was so sure our marriage would work in his favor that I’d gone along with it, but I was scared it had only put a target on my back. The police could still question me, and I was sure they would. It was only a matter of time before they caught up with me and I knew I would have to answer the detective’s voicemail at some point.

I finished showering and got dressed in Rose’s pajamas, wrinkling my nose at the boy band faces on the front of the t-shirt. At least, I assumed it was a boy band. No guys were that pretty unless they were getting paid for it.

I left my dress hanging on the towel rack and went downstairs where I could hear voices drifting out of the kitchen.

“Is she okay?” I heard Molly ask, making me breathe in a sigh of relief. One of my people was there. I liked Tommy’s parents, but their concern was Tommy. Molly, though, she belonged to me.

“She seems to be holding up,” Callie answered. “She’s doing better than I did the first time Asa got arrested.”

“Wasn’t the first time, sugar,” Grease pointed out.

“Well it was the first time I had to deal with it,” Callie said with a huff.

I rounded the corner and found Grease and Will sitting at the table, Rebel standing next to it, and Molly and Callie carrying dishes over from the counter.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re such a badass,” I said with a snort, making Will choke on whatever he’d been drinking.

“Keep pushin’,” Grease grumbled, but his lips were twitching with suppressed humor.

“I would have been over earlier,” Molly said as she came over to hug me. “But Will didn’t think it was important to let me know what was going on until he got home tonight.”

“It’s okay,” I replied as I gave her a squeeze. “There was nothing you could do anyway.”

“Well I could have at least kept you company,” she said as we sat down at the table. “You were at the clubhouse all day.”

“I pretty much lied in Tommy’s bed and stared at the ceiling the whole day,” I said with a short laugh. “I wasn’t good company.”