No woman wanted Hawk for more. They wanted Gabe. Caz. Bull. All his life, he’d fought the envy. He loved his brothers. Would die for them. But…that shit with Jazeera? That’d gutted him.
Gabe stared for a second, then blew it off, the fucking asshole. “That doesn’t excuse the crap you pulled with Kit. I can’t believe you—”
Hawk’s control snapped. His right hook impacted Gabe’s self-righteous chin, getting the bastard out of Hawk’s space real nice.
Gabe rubbed his jaw and growled, “Like that, is it?” He waded in, swinging fast and furious.
And then it was down to it.
Growling, grunting, and punching. Taking painful blows, landing harder ones. Lunging forward, retreating. Hawk had more muscles and hit harder. Gabe’s talent for tactics evened the playing field.
“Noooo.”
At the high-pitched scream, Hawk backpedaled to check for a new attack.
Aric ran between them and shoved at Gabe. “You hurt him. You’re bad.”
“I… No, Aric, we’re just having fun. We fight like this all”—Gabe’s expression turned to dismay—“Hell, bro, you’re bleeding.”
Hawk glanced down. The left sleeve of his pale blue and gray shirt was now dark red. Blocking Gabe’s punches must have ripped open the stitches. “Yep.”
Hawk went down on his haunches. “Kid, c’mere.”
Aric’s face was dead white.
Shit. Can I mess this up any more? “Aric, I had a…cut, and when we were play-fighting, it pulled the…scab…off.”
Behind Aric, Gabe shook his head.
Bullshitting wasn’t exactly in Hawk’s skill set. He ruffled Aric’s hair. “I better put a new Band-Aid on it, huh?”
The kid nodded.
Thank fuck.
Gabe went down on one knee to get to Aric’s height. “Bull, Caz, Hawk, and me—we’ve been fighting like this since we were only a few years older than you. When Frankie gets upset, she yells, right? When we get upset, we throw punches, only we never fight too hard. Not so anyone gets hurt bad. If I’d known Hawk had a…an ouchy”—Gabe glared at Hawk for a second—“I wouldn’t have let him fight.”
Hawk snorted. “Like you could stop me, cop.”
At the retort, Aric blinked, and a tentative smile appeared.
“Get your ass to bed before your mama yells at us.” After a quick hug with his good arm, Hawk pointed at the kid’s chest, then at Bull’s house.
The boy ran off—toward Mako’s house.
Gabe sighed and rose.
“They’re staying in the sarge’s place?” Hawk accepted Gabe’s hand up.
“Yeah. She wanted to get a place in town, and I wouldn’t let her.” Gabe shook his head. “I know you don’t like people in Mako’s house, but, hell, Hawk, Nabera is still out there.”
The thought of the PZs getting their hands on Kit was intolerable. “You did right.”
“Huh.” Gabe turned and yelled, “Hey, Doc.”
At the grill, wire brush in hand, Caz turned. His eyes narrowed, then he tossed the brush onto the table and jogged over.
“’Mano, what did you do?” He pointed toward his house. “Let’s go.”
Hawk shot Gabe a disgusted look. “I can sew myself back up.”
Gabe smirked. “Now you won’t have to.” Annoyingly, the bastard followed them onto the deck.
“Sleeve up. Sit.” Caz disappeared into his house.
Hawk obeyed. No one argued when Caz was in medic mode.
Inside the house, JJ’s voice was audible. “Sounds like the boys are done with their games, Regan.”
Hawk almost laughed at her irritated tone. Gabe hadn’t lied to Aric—fights were common between the brothers. After the first few times, the women had accepted it—although JJ had waded in a couple of times to smack them if they got rougher than she approved of.
JJ was saying, “While Caz fixes Hawk’s arm, can you take his suitcase to his house?”
“Sure.” Regan trotted out, slowing to frown at Hawk’s bloody arm. Fetching his suitcase from the dock, she pulled it across the courtyard and onto his deck. He winced; it probably weighed more than she did.
She ran back and past him and Gabe.
When he tossed her a two-fingered salute for thanks, she grinned before disappearing into the house.
Good kid. Tough kid.
With a bag of medical shit, Caz sat down on Hawk’s left side.
Setting a hip on the railing, Gabe eyed the long slash on Hawk’s forearm. “Knife?”
“Yeah.” Hawk stayed immobile as Caz injected a local.
Hell, guess he owed his brothers a bit more information. “Remember deVries?”
Gabe nodded. “The merc who joined a security company? He was at the sarge’s funeral.”
“Yeah, him. He was sent to worm out an informant for a client. The pilot he’d hired had an appendectomy.”
“You wanted to be gone for a while,” Gabe said thoughtfully, “or you’d have only subbed long enough for deVries to hire someone else.”
Hawk shrugged.
“Numb?” Caz tapped near the sliced-up flesh.
After Hawk nodded, the doc efficiently cleaned, stitched, and bandaged the wound.
“Done. Be more careful, sí?”
Hawk nodded. “Thanks.”
“Mind if we sit here for a bit?” Gabe asked Caz.
“Stay and talk.” After setting his bag inside, Caz headed back to the patio.
Hawk glared at Gabe. “What now?”
“Couple of things. The woman. Jazeera. She used you? To meet me?” Gabe’s jaw was tight.
Hawk nodded. Her plan hadn’t worked, had it? “You hardly remember her.” And Hawk had been fucking gone on her. Then again, it wasn’t as if he had much experience having a girlfriend.
With thumb and index finger, Gabe rubbed his eyes, then met Hawk’s gaze. “I only remember I was glad you found someone who made you happy.”
Hard to stay angry when he said shit like that. “I got taken in.”
“It’s why you quit the unit, isn’t it?”
Hawk looked away.
“Fucking-A.” Gabe pushed off the railing to pace the deck. “Dammit, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I’d never—we don’t—”
The code they’d established as teens meant they didn’t poach a brother’s girl. Jazeera wouldn’t have gotten anywhere with Gabe, even if he’d noticed her.
“Not your problem. Not your fault.” His brothers couldn’t help being good looking and able to talk to women.
And Hawk had thought he was past that bitterness…right up until Gabe gave him shit about Kit.
Gabe still looked worried. “But—”
“No, bro. I overreacted.” Hawk held out his hand in the sarge’s way of indicating: fight over, move on.
Gabe studied him for a minute, nodded, and they shook hands.
Hawk started to stand.
“One more thing.”
Jesus fuck.
Gabe rubbed his chin, examined the blood on his fingers. “You got me a good one, asshole,” he said mildly. “About Kit…”
Hawk considered punching him again. A lot harder.