Craving Hawk (The Aces' Sons 3)

I walked Heather to the front door and almost made it outside before my dad came stomping in. He was scowling and I felt Heather shrink into my side as he passed us, but he barely glanced our way as he followed the sound of Dragon’s voice to the kitchen.

“Your dad hates me,” Heather said as I led her outside.

“He doesn’t hate you.”

“Oh, yeah,” she chuckled humorlessly. “He does.”

“My dad’s got a lot on his plate,” I told her, pulling her toward my bike. “It’s got nothin’ to do with you.”

“He thinks I’m just making my way through the Hawthorne boys,” she said quietly as we came to a stop. “He’s never going to let it go, is he?”

“Hey,” I called, pressing under her chin with my fingertips so she’d look at me. “My dad’s gonna calm down. I promise.”

“What are we doing, Tommy?” she whispered. “I bought a wedding dress today. We got our nails done. I got a fucking tiara. What the hell are we doing?”

“Jitters,” I murmured, pulling her against my chest. “It’s just jitters.”

“No, its not,” she argued, her voice growing panicked. “We should tell your parents, at least. They should know what’s going on. Even if the police never talk to me, they could still arrest you or something. What the hell would I do? What would I tell your parents? They should know, Tommy. They should—”

“Stop,” I ordered, cutting into her freak out. “Everything is gonna be fine. I told you I’d take care of it.”

“We’re getting married tomorrow,” she whispered frantically. “Married.”

A couple more bikes came rolling down the driveway and I lifted my chin at my brother and Rocky as they rolled to a stop beside us.

“They kiddin’ us with this shit?” my brother asked as he climbed off his bike. “Where were you?”

“I had shit to do today,” I answered. “Thought Brenna had her shadow. Didn’t even think to ask.”

“Nah,” Rocky said, walking toward us. “Kid’s had the shits all day.”

Just then something loud crashed inside the house.

“Aw, fuck. Someone’s throwin’ shit,” my brother muttered as he passed us. “Aunt Farrah’s gonna flip.”

As soon as the two of them had gone inside, I got on my bike and jerked my head at Heather. “Climb on,” I ordered, grabbing my helmet and stuffing it on her head. “We’ll talk when we get home.”

“I never even said you could move in,” she said in frustration as she threw her leg over the seat. “We didn’t even get that far.”

“You wanna live in different places?” I asked, scoffing.

“Yeah, I’m sure that would convince everyone,” she snapped sarcastically. “But we didn’t even talk about it.”

I shook my head and turned on my bike, drowning out whatever she said after that. I wanted to get the fuck out of there. Just being on my aunt and uncle’s property made me twitchy. I didn’t know how they’d continued living there after the shooting. Four of us had died in their back yard. Our entire world had been torn apart right outside their back door, but they hadn’t moved. When my cousin Lily had been released from the hospital, they’d come right back home. It blew my mind.

I realized when we were halfway back to the apartment that it was the first time Heather had ever been on the back of my bike, which was kind of nuts. It highlighted the fact I’d known her for years, but I really didn’t know that much about her. I wasn’t sure what her favorite food was or what she was going to college for. I didn’t even know her birthday.

I turned away from the apartment and felt her pinch my side, but there wasn’t really any way to tell her where we were going until I’d parked in front of my house. I felt her scramble off the bike and looked up at the old beast, taking in the peeling paint and wrecked siding with a grimace. I hadn’t taken anyone to the house except my parents when I’d first bought it, and I was pretty sure it looked worse than it had then.

“Is this your house?” Heather asked, walking toward the slanting porch.

“Stop!” I ordered as she got to the base of the stairs. I hurried toward her and put my hand on her hip. “Second step is almost rotted through, fourth one has a nail stickin’ out,” I warned.

She nodded and stepped gingerly around the spots I’d pointed out before stopping at the front door.

“Well?” she said, gesturing for me to go first. “Give me the tour.”

I chuckled and unlocked the front door, pushing in ahead of her. I probably shouldn’t have even bothered with locking up. It didn’t keep anyone out of there if they were trying to get in, but I liked the feeling of unlocking the place. My place.