Craving Hawk (The Aces' Sons 3)

The club was mostly quiet, but it wasn’t dark as I walked through the main room and out the open front door. They never turned all of the lights off, even in the middle of the night. It made sense, considering the amount of people that walked in and out all fucking night.

I sat down at a picnic table out front and rested my head on my arms. Damn, I was tired. It was crazy how tired I’d been for the past few days. Ever since the night I’d invited Reb to sleep with me, I’d barely been sleeping at all. Not only was it nearly impossible to fall asleep on the concrete floor, but I also wasn’t actually doing anything all day so when I climbed into my makeshift bed I was never quite ready to sleep yet. By the time I finally felt my eyes growing heavy, one or more of the guys had already gone to bed and their snores echoed through our room.

The one night I’d shut our door and was able to fall asleep, I’d been woken up rudely by Cecilia kicking me in the side and the sound of Lily sobbing. Apparently, they left the door open for a reason. When I’d closed it, poor Lily hadn’t been able to hear her dad when she woke up, and when she’d gone to find him, she’d slammed into the door that wasn’t supposed to be closed because she couldn’t see it. I knew she was blind, but hell, I’d never been around a blind person before. I hadn’t known that was why I had to keep my shit out of the way and my bed in the exact same spot every night. I’d just figured Cecilia was a control freak.

Tommy’s invitation to sleep in his tent was becoming more and more appealing as the days went on. We’d reached some sort of truce. We hadn’t exactly ignored each other before, but since the fire he’d been more likely to find me during the day and say hello. It was something, at least. It wasn’t as if I had many friends in this place. The person I hung out with most was Rebel.

I lifted my head and looked around at the various little camping spots set up. There was no way I’d even be able to find him. If I went from tent to tent, there was a good chance I’d open them to the sight of a pistol in my face, and while I didn’t think anyone would actually shoot me… I didn’t relish the idea.

I laid my head back down and sighed. This spot would work. I could already feel my limbs growing heavy. The cool night air felt good against my skin after being cooped up inside, and the lack of noise was like heaven.

Sometime later, I jerked awake as I felt myself sliding off the bench.

“Shh,” Tommy said softly as he lifted me up against his chest. “You’re freezing. Why didn’t you come into my tent?”

“I didn’t know which one was yours,” I answered scratchily.

“The blue and gray one,” he said as he walked away from the table.

“What are you doing awake?” I asked, pushing my face against his neck. He was so warm.

“Had to piss,” he mumbled, stopping in front of a small tent. He set me on my feet and unzipped the side. “Climb in.”

I practically dove into his tent, then recoiled when I landed on his sleeping bag. The place smelled like feet. Really stinky feet. With a little moldy cheese thrown in.

“This is disgusting,” I choked out, trying not to breath through my nose.

“Quit bitching,” he snapped, pushing in behind me.

“This is bad, Tommy. What the fuck?”

I heard him zipping up the tent behind me before he replied.

“Have you tried to do fuckin’ laundry inside? There’s a goddamn line. I haven’t had the chance to get in there.”

“You haven’t washed your clothes in almost three weeks?” I asked in horror, turning to look at him.

“Nah, it’s only been one,” he said dismissively, lying down on his side. “I threw some shit in with my mom’s laundry last week.”

“I can’t sleep in here,” I mumbled, shaking my head. “No fucking way.”

“Jesus,” he groaned, pushing himself back up. “You’re such a fuckin’ princess.”

“No, I’m not,” I argued, pulling my shirt up and over my nose. “No one would sleep in here.”

I fell back on my ass as he reached toward me, but he didn’t notice as he unzipped the tent again. Then, without another word, he was throwing handfuls of clothes out the opening. In less than a minute, the only things left in the tent were his sleeping bags, pillow, and a duffle bag stuffed into the back corner.

“Happy now?” he huffed, jerking the zipper to the tent closed again.