“That’s odd,” Camila's voice cuts into my thoughts. “We were supposed to meet up for lunch today. He was going to help me pick something out to wear to Joe’s initiation party next week.”
“He might be still passed out. Have you tried the apartment?” I finish with the table and carry the bussing tub to the next while Camila turns on her stool to follow.
“I haven’t had time.” She holds up her hand to show off her new nails. “Got a pedi too. It was time.”
I bet it was. I have to get her and Hawk out of my mind before it drives me crazy.
“Have you seen Hawk?” I ask. No luck getting him off my mind ever.
“No.” She shakes her head, still studying her nails. “Not since last night. Why?”
“No reason.” Though I can’t stop from smirking. Camila is a horrible liar. That’s why she’s had so much trouble getting what she wants from Hawk. He reads her like a book. I wish he could read me the same way. Then I wouldn’t have to work so hard to ask him for help.
“Well, if you see Jonus, tell him I’m going to kill him when I find him.” She hops off the stool and makes for the door. “I’m going to check the apartment first before I call the police to find him.” She laughs, so I know she’s kidding, but a rush of something cold crashes over my skin.
No. Darren wouldn’t mess with Jonus. He’s too smart to arouse suspicions by showing himself to my roommates. He only wants to talk. He’s not that stupid.
“Lotus,” Camila shouts my full name and I turn to her, my blood shooting through my veins and my heart beating hard against my chest. “Where did you go? I called your name three times. Jonus just sent me a text. He’s on his way over and he has something for you.”
“Something for me?” I have no idea what it could be, unless it’s another bill in the mail. Those always seem to find me and no one else has my address.
“Don’t know,” she says and opens the door. “I guess you’ll find out when he gets here.”
She’s out the door and down the sidewalk before I can ask her to text Jonus for specifics. It doesn’t matter because the door swings open again seconds later and its Hawk. His gaze catches mine for a second before he turns away and doesn’t look back. He’s behind his office doors before I can even say “hey.”
I really pissed him off yesterday. Either that or he knows Jonus and I figured out what happened with him and Camila. Either way, talking with him now is out of the question. I’m going to keep my secret to myself.
It’s almost time for the dinner rush and well after the end of my shift when Jonus finally arrives. He’s in a rush to get his personal stuff stowed behind the bar and to get to work before Hawk catches him showing up late. Again.
I let him catch his breath and get the bar sorted before I clock out for the day and take one of the empty stools.
“You had a late night,” I say, pulling over a stack of drink napkins and straightening them for Jonus.
“An early morning is more like it,” he says with a silly grin. “You have no idea the fun you missed.”
“I’m sure.” Anything would have been better than laying in my bed, fully awake, and still dreaming of Hawk. There’s one question I’ve never asked him. I’ve never had the nerve too. Unlike his brothers, Hawk doesn’t have any tattoos. At least, not any that I can see. Maybe that’s why when I daydream about him, I always picture him in a tank top and jeans.
“Earth to Lo.”
Jonus snaps his fingers in my face and I realize I’m doing it again. “Sorry,” I mutter. “What were you saying?”
Jonus already has a drink order. He’s filling mugs from the tap and talking simultaneously. “You got a letter in the mail today. Handwritten and a Kentucky address. I thought it might be family, so I bought it with me. It’s in my satchel.”
I can’t leave my stool even though Jonus is bobbing his head in the direction of his leather bag behind the bar. Other than my mother, I don’t know anyone left in Kentucky and even she doesn’t have my address.
“Thanks,” I say when Jonus continues to stare at me. “Probably an old high school friend,” I hedge.
Jonus goes back to his drink order and I slip behind the bar, grab the letter from his bag, and make my way to the dark hallway that leads past Hawk’s office and to the restrooms. No one is back here, so I stop and flip the baby-blue-colored envelope over in my hand. It’s addressed to me, at the apartment complex, but it looks as if someone has penciled in the apartment number.
The return address is my mother’s house. Or at least it was the last time I spoke with her six months ago. I’ve never told her where I live past the city. Did she send Darren to find me? I have so many questions. I glance around to make sure I’m alone before I break the seal and pull out a card with a puppy blowing out birthday candles. The inside says “Happy Birthday” and it’s signed “Darren.”
My birthday was last week. An ice-cold shiver runs through me at the same time a hand comes down over my right shoulder. I would have screamed, but I couldn’t find my voice. Instead, I drop the card and turn, ready to fight.
“Whoa there, Lo.”
Hawk squares his body to mine and stares at me with his hands in the air and shock on his face. He backs up a step as if giving me room.
“What’s going on with you?”
I’m frozen in place, but as soon as he makes a move for the card, I find my bearings again and reach for it first. “Nothing. It’s nothing. Just a card. From a friend.”
Hawk’s head tilts to the side. He glances down to my hands and he reads the card. “I didn’t know it was your birthday. Funny. That should be on the staff calendar in the office.”
“It’s not.” I stumble over my words to answer. When I applied for this job, I used my grandmother’s social security number and birthday so I couldn’t be tracked. “I’m not big on birthday celebrations.”
He nods at the card in my hand. “Well, someone remembered.”
“My mom,” I hedge, regretting it the second I say it.
Hawk’s brows furrow. “You two are talking again? That’s good.”
Christ. I’ve never been good at lying. “Yeah, well. For birthdays anyway.” I slide the card in my pocket and glance behind him.
Hawk must sense how uncomfortable he’s making me because he backs up another step. “I’m sure you have plans then. If I’d known, I would have done something for you here.”
“That’s okay,” I say before passing him. I don’t look back when I say, “I need to go. I’ll see you for my shift tomorrow.”
I’ve never moved so fast in my life without running. Darren knows where I am. He’s known long enough to be here now. Heck, he could be watching. What would he think if he saw me with Hawk? What trouble would he start for me here?
I have to get out. I need to get away. I can have my bags packed and be on the next bus out of town within an hour. I have no idea where I’ll end up or what I’ll do for money, but I can’t stand the thought of that man anywhere near me. He’s manipulative enough to make everyone I care about believe the worst about me.