Craving Hawk (The Aces' Sons 3)

“Damn.”

“What made it even worse was that it was the day we did our ultrasound to see the baby. So there I was, waiting with my gram for him to show up at our appointment, and he never did.”

“Oh, shit,” I muttered. “Were you pissed?”

“Hell yes,” she chuckled. “But I was worried, too. It wasn’t like him to just not show up. Eventually Poet called and told me Asa had been arrested, but that didn’t really calm my anxiety.”

“I bet.”

“He eventually got to call me and smooth things over a little, but it was a long time before I got over it. He ended up doing two years.”

“Say what?” I blurted as I lifted my head in shock.

“Yep. I had Will while Asa was inside. It was a clusterfuck.”

I choked a little at her words. “I didn’t know that.”

“It’s not something we talk about a whole lot,” she said easily. “I just thought it might help. You know, coming from someone who’s been there. All of it may seem completely impossible now, but it’s not.”

“I think they’re trying for a lot more than two years,” I said quietly, closing my eyes as my throat tightened.

“They won’t get it,” she promised. “The boys’ll do their best to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

I didn’t reply. We both knew if things played out the way the district attorney wanted them to, there wasn’t a damn thing the Aces could do about it. I was surviving on nothing but blind faith that Tommy knew what he was talking about when he’d said they didn’t have any evidence.

We lay in silence for a long time, and just as I was finally dozing off a large shadow blocked the light pouring in from the hallway. I didn’t lift my head as Grease moved toward us, but I did watch him through half-closed eyes.

“Come on, sugar,” he said softly, leaning down into the bottom bunk. “You ain’t sleepin’ in here.”

“I was keeping Heather company,” Callie said as he lifted her from the bed.

“She don’t care about your company when she’s sleepin’,” he answered, turning to carry her toward the door. “And I doubt she wants to hear your snorin’.”

“I don’t snore,” Callie protested, tucking her face into Grease’s neck.

“You sleep with me,” he replied firmly. Then they were out of sight and all I could hear were Grease’s heavy footsteps moving down the hallway.

I closed my eyes and told myself over and over again that Monday night I’d be crawling into bed with Tommy again.

Chapter 14

Thomas

“I didn’t think I was gonna get bail,” I muttered, glancing at my new attorney. He’d shown up in court that morning, surprising the fuck out of me with his slick suit and fancy fucking hair cut. I’d been dealing with a public defender for the past couple of days, and that guy had worn khakis and shirts that were two sizes too small and hadn’t known or cared what the fuck he was doing.

“I’m good at my job,” the lawyer muttered. “I’m parked over that way.”

I followed him to his car and climbed in after him, rolling down the window so I could breath. I hated riding inside anything but the Nova. They didn’t make cars that gave you room to breath anymore. Everything in the newer cars was crowded and full of levers and buttons. Fucking suffocating.

“Like I said inside, my name’s Carter Lincoln,” he said as he turned the car on.

“Nice.”

“My parents liked the whole president thing.”

“Obviously.”

“My little sister is named McKinley.”

“Mine’s Rose,” I replied, glancing at him. “Now where the fuck did you come from?”

“Owed a favor,” he replied, pulling onto the highway. “Figured this was as good a way to pay it back as any.”

“Not sure I can afford you,” I muttered, looking over his suit.

“We’ll work it out.”

“Alright.”

“I hear you just got married?”

I chuckled humorlessly. “Yeah, they picked me up the day after my wedding.”

“You knew they were coming before that?”

“Yep.”

“Smart,” he said with a thoughtful nod. “You trust her?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

We were silent the rest of the way to the clubhouse, and I lifted my eyebrows in surprise as he made his way there without any direction from me. He’d obviously done his homework.

I waved my hand at the prospect on the gate and nodded my thanks as he let us in. I wasn’t going to piss this guy off by asking to search his car. I knew he was legit from a conversation I’d had with my dad the night before, and I highly doubted he was trying to smuggle anything onto the compound.

He pulled to a stop and glanced at me to make sure he’d parked in the right spot, then shut off the car and climbed out like he fucking owned the place. No hesitation. He didn’t even look around before leaning into the backseat and grabbing his briefcase. The guy was either a complete idiot, or had balls the size of watermelons. I was betting on the second one.