Chapter 26

Hawke

I hold her hand, heading down the sidewalk and feeling a few people stare. Maybe they think I’m still wanted by the cops. Maybe they know she’s a Rebel and from Green Street. Maybe they’re wondering if I have a girlfriend.

I guess she’s my girlfriend now. Not that I have a problem with it. But I honestly don’t think of it like that. It just feels good to need her. To finally feel everything with one person and know that it lived up to the hype.

Why did it suddenly work with her?

She pulls her hand out of mine and stops. “I don’t want to do this.”

I reach over and take her hand again, leading her to Rivertown, but she digs in her heels.

“Your mom is ordering pizza,” she argues.

“I don’t want pizza.” I pull her along. “I want a burger.”

“But they’re going to think the tattoo is because of me.”

I open the door to the hangout. “It is because of you.”

“You know what I mean.”

I pull her inside, and she lowers her voice as eyes turn on us.

“They’re going to think I initiated you into a gang or something,” she grits out between her teeth.

I see an empty table and drag her to it. “Not something. It’s a gang, Aro.”

People watch us as we pass their tables, and she groans as my friends and former classmates look up from their phones and turn away from their meals to follow us with their eyes.

Their gazes drop to our entwined hands.

I pull out her seat for her, and she slams her ass down, the legs scraping across the tile as she pulls out the menu.

I hold back my laugh. I actually wouldn’t have minded pizza. Or to just take her directly back to the tower and continue having her to myself, but Reeves knows I have him, so he’d be stupid to come after us. We’re free, and I’m taking her to dinner where everyone can see.

I take a seat, and Annabelle Foy comes up, placing coasters down for us. “Hi, Hawke,” she says. “Medium rare, gouda, dressed?”

I nod, but Aro shoots her a dirty look. Pursing her lips, she stuffs her menu back between the ketchup bottle and the napkin holder. “Same, I guess,” she mumbles.

I can’t contain my smile that time. I like her jealous.

“Two lemonades,” I tell Annabelle.

She nods and leaves, and I sit back in my seat, slipping my hand into Aro’s that lays on the table.

“Now you know my burger order too,” I tease.

“Whatever.”

I really shouldn’t like how territorial she is, but it means she’s afraid of losing me. I like that, because that was the exact reason that I didn’t tell her we were in the clear when I knew I had the evidence on Reeves. I just needed to keep her another day. Maybe two.

I thread my fingers through hers, in awe of her hands. How small and smooth they are. Like I half expected them to be made of grit and iron with how she uses them.

I graze the raised skin over the back of her hand that disappears up the sleeve of her gray and black flannel. “How did that happen?” I ask.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

She pulls her hand away, and I watch her, barely noticing Annabelle setting the lemonades down on the table. Aro unwraps her straw, sticking it into the glass.

“Do Hugo, Nicholas, and Axel know?” I press.

She meets my eyes.

“No one should know you better than me,” I tell her.

I understand if she doesn’t want to talk about it, but she has talked about it. She’s not telling me because she’s embarrassed for me to know about her life. She wasn’t with her foster brothers. That won’t do.

“My grandmother,” she says finally. “My father’s mother. She got tired of my shirts always being wrinkled. Lost her patience one Sunday before church and ironed the sleeve while I was wearing it.”

I look down at the scar again, knowing her sleeve wouldn’t have extended that far down her hand. I picture the woman holding her down, Aro screaming.

“Jesus Christ,” I say, taking a drink. “How old were you?”

“Seven.”

When I was seven, I was bummed, because I didn’t have grandparents. Not blood-related anyway, although Jared’s mom and Madoc’s dad did a good job of stepping in.

My dad’s mom abandoned him when he was a kid, his dad was in jail, and my mom never let me visit her mother unsupervised. She said the woman was unstable. Now I’m grateful they protected me. They knew some parents were bad, and we were better off without.

“It’s okay,” Aro assures me. “I still remember the pain, but I never had to see her again, so that was good. My mom came through that time.” She gives a sad smile. “She let the bitch have it.”

You almost can’t see the tears in her eyes.

“It wasn’t that bad,” she says, “but the scar got even worse over time. As I grew, the skin stretched, I guess. Got a little gnarly.”

“Where was your dad?”

She takes in a breath and exhales. “He joined the Navy before I was one. Saw him a few times after that, I’m told, but I don’t remember. He got drunk and died in a car crash in Hawaii when I was nine. That’s where he was stationed.”

I hold her hand, thinking about how lucky my cousins and I are. How lucky Quinn is. But our parents, like Aro, didn’t have it so great. Jared and my dad were neglected and abused. My aunt Tate lost a parent, and my mom was alone so much. So alone before she found my dad.

They found a life, because they found each other. People save people.

“Does it ever hurt you?” I ask her.

She shrugs. “There’s some nerve damage, so parts of it are a little numb, but I can use it just fine.”

“No,” I say softly. “I mean, does it ever hurt you?”

Her eyes dart up to mine, and I hold her gaze. I told her all that shit about my head, the girls, how I freaked out every time someone wanted intimacy, and I couldn’t do it. She knew exactly what to do. She just stayed. She touched me. She never pushed.

I want to know everything.

A small smile pulls at her mouth. “I used to have to look up all the time. I didn’t want to see most of what was around me.” She looks up at me and leans down to suck on her straw. “I like my view right now.”

And she winks. Everything warms under my skin, and I squeeze her hand, satisfied.

She sits back, and I let her hand go. “You haven’t asked me what Reeves said in the car last night,” she says.

I wait.

She crosses her arms over her chest. “You wanted to see if I’d tell you.”

“Asking you would mean that I didn’t trust you to tell me,” I retort. “I knew you’d tell me.”

“Ugh, you’re so infuriating.” She rolls her eyes. “You did not.”

I chuckle. “Honestly, once Hugo showed up, you’ve taken over my head, and I haven’t thought about anything else since. You’ve either had me pissed off or naked, so I’ve been distracted.”

Her face falls, and I swear I see a blush.

“What did Reeves say?” I ask her officially.

But then someone pulls a chair up to the table, and Kade straddles it, sitting between us on the side. “Yes, what did he say?”

Dylan shows up on my right, taking a seat, and Annabelle sets the food down, Dylan immediately snatching one of my fries.

Aro eyes me, looking apprehensive to talk in front of them, and I get it. They’re both live wires.

She picks up the mustard. “He wants me with you all on Grudge Night.” Then she looks at Kade. “He wants me to get you to unlock the doors to your house.”

Kade shoots me a look.

“Money?” I ask her.

“He doesn’t need money.” She lifts her bun, squeezing on the condiment, and I take it from her before she sets it back down. “And if he did, there are less high-profile people with a lower-tech security system to rip off.”

I go through Reeves’s train of thought in my head. He found the camera. He’d told Aro as much last night.

“He knows we have footage of him at Green Street,” I say.

She nods.

“So, he needs something better to guarantee his freedom,” Kade adds.

I look at him. “What would he have on your dad that he could use?”

“Nothing.” Kade looks at me like I should know better than to ask that. “My dad returns the shopping cart to the bay every goddamn time, in case someone is filming and they try to accuse him of being unfit for mayor or senator, because he endangers property or children in cars or the environment or some shit,” Kade goes on. “He’s scared to death of Twitter. My dad is clean.”

“I know.” I take a drink. “Why does Reeves want inside the house then?”

We all sit there for a minute, thinking. Kade will host the Senior Sleepover on Grudge Night. It’s different than the Senior party he threw. The Senior Sleepover welcomes anyone in the school—not just seniors. We stay together. Safety in numbers and all that. A tradition that started with the birth of the Carnival Tower legend.

Even though the Marauders don’t exist, and Weston never actually breaks into houses, we still get together for fun. We pretend that it’s real, because it’s exciting to think they might show up.

But with everyone there, the house will be packed. Aro can easily be there, get Kade to unlock the doors, but that still means Reeves would have to get by unnoticed. Which, if everyone is drunk enough, would be possible, but…

“Maybe he doesn’t want inside the house,” Aro says, looking up at me. “He knew I’d tell you. He knew he couldn’t trust me.”

I hold her gaze, realization dawning. “A decoy…”

“Huh?” Dylan looks between us, still not understanding.

Kade tells her, “He told her he’ll be at my house, so we’re all at my house, waiting for him, and not where we can see what he’s really up to.”

Her mouth falls. “What do we do?” she asks me. “Grudge Night is tomorrow night.”

“Nothing,” I reply. “I turned in the Green Street footage. They brought him in an hour ago for questioning.”

Everyone at the table stops, and I squirt ketchup all over my fries.

“That’s what I talked to my dad about last night,” I tell Aro. “We have more on him than just the footage, too.”

Her eyes light up, and the three of them look between each other and then me and then each other again.

“So, it’s over?” Aro asks. “Nothing is that easy.”

I laugh under my breath, because she’s good. “Green Street is on the video too,” I inform them. “And Weston will protect its own. Grudge Night could get…ugly.”

Immediately, Dylan breaks into a smile, and I don’t even have to look to know that. I feel it. “Why does that make your eyes light up?” I ask her.

Kade and Aro laugh a little, Aro taking a bite of her burger.

“We get the kids,” I tell them, “including James and A.J., tucked in safe, and we be ready. That’s what we do.”

We eat, Dylan steals all of my fries, and Kade orders his own burger, before we leave about an hour later. Dylan has a gameplan in the notes on her phone, and Kade will be making sure his parents are out of the house, just in case.

We walk onto the sidewalk. “And the Senior Slumber Party? Should we still have it?” Dylan asks.

We step over the curb, behind Dylan’s Mustang. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“God, no.”

But when I look up, she’s smiling, because she loves bad ideas.

I shake my head, but okay. If she wants some fun, I think she’s going to get it.

Kade crosses the street and gives us a nod before he climbs into his car, and I follow, taking Aro to mine. We’ll go check on her brother and sister, but then we’re coming back to the tower. I need some rest before tomorrow with just her around and not my parents.

But then a vehicle is there, screeching to a halt in the middle of the street. I barely have time to make out Dirk and Stoli before they’re rushing and shouting.

“Grudge Night, bitches!” Stoli howls, and Dirk grabs Aro and hauls her into the convertible. She falls in with him, and I hurry over, but they’re already speeding off. Tire smoke fills the air.

“It starts now!” Stoli yells. “No fraternizing with the enemy, Hawke!”

“What the fuck?” I growl, watching them peel away with her.

Dylan and Kade run over, and I hear Aro scream in the back of the car.

“We’ll take good care of her!” a voice booms, followed by laughter fading away as they disappear around the corner.

“That was Falls.” I breathe hard, digging in my pocket for my keys.

And I thought the biggest threat would come from Weston.