Craving Hawk (The Aces' Sons 3)

Then I was dragging her out of the house and down the front steps. When we climbed in the Nova she let out a shuddery breath and turned to look at me.

“The hard part’s over, right?”

“Yeah,” I muttered.

“How’s your hand?”

“It hurts like a bitch,” I said, shaking it out before stuffing the keys into the ignition.

“Jesus,” she said. “You sure know how to make an announcement.”

Chapter 9

Heather

“I’m getting married,” I announced, pulling the phone away from my ear as my sister started yelling.

I’d known she would be the hardest person to convince I wasn’t insane, so I’d saved her phone call for last. When I’d talked to my parents, they hadn’t said much. They’d confirmed I’d still be attending college and that Tommy had a steady job and wouldn’t be living off my college fund and they’d agreed to be at our wedding later in the week. It was as simple as that. My parents loved me, but they’d pretty much stopped ‘parenting’ when I’d been old enough to cook my own food.

It was Mel that I had to convince everything was great. She was the one who’d made sure I’d gotten to school on time. She was the person who’d held back my hair when I was sick and had helped me move into my apartment.

My parents may have loved me, but Mel was the one who’d always taken care of me.

“You’re out of your mind,” she finally said, her rant coming to an end. “You’re not getting married for Christ’s sake. Rocky got married when he was young. You know how that turned out.”

“Well I’m not marrying a Russian mobster’s daughter, so I think I’ll be okay,” I snapped back, exhausted by the day’s events. Everything was happening so quickly that I hadn’t had a minute to just sit by myself and let it all sink in.

“No, you’re marrying into the Aces,” she said incredulously.

“Oh, so it’s fine for you but not for me?”

“You’re better than I am,” she blurted. “You have all this stuff going for you. You’re in college. You’re super smart and ambitious.”

“That’s stupid,” I argued, my throat tight. “Don’t say shit like that. Besides, I’m still going to go to school. I’ll still get my degree.”

“Yeah, until your new husband knocks you up.”

“Oh, that’s bullshit! Newsflash, Tommy and I are already fucking and it isn’t 1952.”

“I’m just saying,” she retorted. “Priorities change when you get married.”

“I’m not having kids any time soon,” I said firmly. “I’m still going to get my degree.”

Mel huffed and went silent. After about thirty seconds she finally spoke again. “Okay, what time on Friday?”

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Tommy and I didn’t do much, mostly just hung around the apartment while he made calls, letting people know about the wedding. Dragon agreed we could have it in the field behind the clubhouse, and I found it incredibly ironic we’d be getting married right on top of the scorched grass where we’d first started talking again.

There wasn’t a single person congratulating us without also trying to talk us out of it. As the day went on Tommy grew quieter and quieter, and by the time I started making dinner he was sitting silently on my patio staring out into the night.

He was trying to do the right thing, I knew that, but as his eyes grew darker with every phone call he made, I wondered if we were going about everything all wrong. Tommy was so adamant his parents could never find out about Mick, he was burning bridges left and right. I wasn’t so sure that we couldn’t have told them something. We could have explained our plan somehow while leaving Mick out of it, but every time I’d even mentioned letting Grease and Callie know what was really going on he’d shot me down.

“Hey,” I said, standing in the doorway. “Do you want fajitas or baked chicken? I have the stuff for both so I—”

“Whatever you want,” he replied, cutting me off.

I nodded even though he wasn’t looking at me and walked back inside, anxiety making me nauseous. I’d agreed to his plan. I’d gone to the county clerk’s office for the paperwork, tagged along to his parents’ house even though I’d known it was going to be terrible, and I’d announced our news to my family. I’d done all that with the knowledge that Tommy and I were a team. That even though we weren’t in love, and even though no one was supportive, we were going to stick together.

Suddenly, I was feeling very alone.

* * *

“Are you coming to bed?” I asked later that night.

I’d fallen asleep right after dinner, worn out from the day’s events, but three hours later I’d woken up to find myself alone. Tommy was still sitting in a lawn chair on the back patio, the scent of pot wafting from him, and his head tipped up to the sky.