28. Hawke
Hawke
I follow Braxton outside, positioning myself so I can still watch Ivy. I see her throw her head back, laughing at something Hope says.
“This doesn’t count as the favor you owe me. I’m saving that for something special,” Braxton says, which immediately pisses me off.
“This was her idea. Don’t worry. I’ll still owe you a favor when the time comes.”
Braxton nods. “Good. Is she okay? I know Hope’s been worried about her lately. It’s hard for me to keep secrets from my woman, so holding on to the knowledge of what happened that night gets more difficult by the day.”
My jaw tics, and I look back at Ivy. I was hoping she would’ve spoken to somebody by now about what happened to her.
It’s not anyone else’s business, but I know Hope, Billie, and Ivy are close, and I think there’s been a small part of her she’s been holding back since that day.
Sure, she might think I’m hovering around to look after her, but it’s entirely selfish because I don’t want to spend any of my waking time with anyone else but her.
“She’ll get through it,” I say without a doubt. Ivy is one of the most resilient women I know, and she’ll open up in her own time.
“Good.” Braxton clears his throat. “Good luck with the not killing him part.”
“You’re an ass,” I say as he smirks and shoves his hands in his pockets. He then walks back into the restaurant.
I take out my phone and call Eli. He answers on the third ring.
“Update?” he demands.
“Everything’s in motion. We’re going to bait him back to Manhattan so we can try and find a lead through him.”
Eli clicks his tongue, and I can tell he’s impatient with how slowly the pieces are moving.
I’m not the brains behind most operations, and even now, this might be an unrelated lead, but we’re grasping at straws.
We’ve only been able to track down petty drug dealers.
They’re not the root of the problem of the recent distribution of date-rape drugs.
The moment Ivy told me about what was happening, I called Eli.
Either way, I’d get to help her in the process, or it could potentially lead to our guy.
I haven’t told Ivy any of this because I don’t want her thinking the only reason I’m helping her is because what happened to her might be connected to my work with Eli.
I also don’t want her to know I told them about the incident that happened that night.
If she hasn’t spoken about it to her friends, I don’t want to betray her by telling the guys.
But keeping secrets is torture for me. It makes me feel icky.
“Braxton is going to take him after we question him.” Which means he’s going to torture him, which I can’t fucking wait for.
“Why?” Eli asks in a clipped tone. “Just cut the head off. No loose ends.”
“Ivy thinks he’s not the main problem, that it goes deeper, so she doesn’t want his employers suspecting our involvement. She’s good at what she does. I trust her.”
Eli’s quiet for a moment. “Why didn’t you go to Will to have him dig deeper into this? He could track him down right now.”
We’re desperate using this as a lead, but in our line of work, we’ve learned to follow every thread, curious as to what den of vipers it’ll lead us to.
I sigh, wishing that people wouldn’t make me admit it out loud.
“You know her father hates me and refuses to do any kind of work on my behalf.” It’s fucking true.
Anyone can ask Will Walker for help, and he’ll provide it for a high price.
From day one, he’s made it clear he will help anyone but me.
“Besides, she’s good at what she does, Eli. I think she’s onto something.”
Eli sighs, and I imagine him bringing a glass of whiskey to his lips. “Or it could be a waste of our time if it’s unrelated. Just make sure you’re focused on our objective and not thinking with your dick.”
“You know I always think with my dick,” I say with a smirk, then turn to look through the restaurant windows. I pause when I see Ivy standing directly behind me, furiously glaring at me. “I’ve got to go.” I hang up on my boss. “How long have you been there?”
“Does it matter?” she bites out, and I can see the hurt in her expression. Fuck, this is bad.
“It’s not what it sounds like?” I say, but it comes out as more of a question. Because I don’t know what she overheard, all I know for sure is that she’s pissed.
She scoffs. “So now you’re just telling everyone my shit?”
My heart sinks because I haven’t told them specifically, but the only one I alluded to was Braxton, so he could look after her. Guilt consumes me nonetheless, but I know if I hesitate with Ivy, she’ll eat me alive.
“These are two completely different incidences. I can’t give you the information about what we’re working on, but they might not even have anything to do with each other.”
“So are you helping me because you want to or because you’re being told to?
” she growls furiously. Shit, this is really bad.
I’ve dealt with my mother’s raging fits, and they often involve weapons, but I’ve never dealt with something that cuts so deeply as Ivy’s scornful expression.
It twists in my stomach, and I want to do anything to make it better.
To tell her everything she needs to hear and to understand that I would never hurt her.
“You know I’d help you no matter what. I’m a simple guy. You know I want to help you.”
“Especially because you always think with your dick?”
I don’t know how to respond to that. Before I can reply, she throws her hands up in the air.
“You know what? It’s been fun. And your dick is a lot of fun too, but maybe we should have some space for a bit.”
“Space? What the fuck does that mean?” I ask, stepping toward her. She laughs as she steps back.
“Exactly what it sounds like, Hawke. No more you and me. No touchy. I can take it from here; I don’t need your help anymore.” She begins to walk off, but I follow her.
“You don’t get to just call it because you’re in a pissy mood.”
She swings around. “Pissy mood?!”
Fuck. I said the wrong thing. Damnit, I’m not good at this shit.
“This is all just sex, isn’t it? And we’ve had fun, and you can tick it off your list. Job well done, Hawke.”
She turns away again, but I catch her wrist, unsure of what the fuck is happening right now. How is it spiraling so much, and I seem to be saying all the wrong things? I mean, I’ve always done that, but I want to be able to say the right things when it comes to Ivy.
“You’re not just a tick on the list,” I say, my eyebrows furrowing because I’m still not entirely sure if I’m saying the right thing.
“It just feels like we’ve been hanging out a little too much. Maybe you’re lonely because you can’t hang out with your brother anymore, but I’m not a consolation prize you can just fuck and use to entertain yourself.”
I’m baffled that she would think that. And when she pulls her hand out of my grip, I let her because I have no idea what she’s saying.
“I thought we were having fun.” I thought she was enjoying all of the time we spent together.
Sure, we’re at each other’s throats all the time, but I thought that was our vibe.
I didn’t realize she thought I was using her.
“It’s been fun. But now I’m going to find fun with someone else.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I growl.
“Precisely that, Hawke. We’re not a thing.
We can still fuck anyone else, and maybe we need to remind ourselves of that.
” She once again takes off down the sidewalk, and I storm after her.
Despite her shorter legs, she picks up a ridiculous amount of speed when she’s pissed. Onlookers watch us as we argue.
“Well, yeah. Obviously, it’s easy for us to fuck other people,” I bite back. I’m not even sure what I’m saying right now.
“Good.” She throws her hands up, and somehow, some way, her speed picks up even more. Jesus Christ, this woman is on a mission.
“Yeah, well, good. I can probably pick up before you,” I blurt, and a violent bubble of laughter comes to the surface. My cock twitches, and I internally argue with Hawke Junior that he should not find it hot when she’s mad because I’m pretty sure this, right now, is serious.
“Want to make a fucking bet?” she challenges, those fierce blue eyes slicing over to me. Goose bumps erupt over my skin. She’s furious, but I don’t know how to stop the momentum.
“Yep. Game on.”
She shakes her head, and I’m still at a loss as to whether I’ve done the right thing or the wrong thing.
I scratch the back of my head as I follow her because this woman undeniably confuses the shit out of me.
This isn’t the straightforward Ivy I know.
Or maybe she is being straightforward, and I’ve really fucked up.
I’m used to fucking up. But not like this. And I don’t know how to stop it.
She’s fucking furious with me. She told me to stop following her five times, but after the fifth time, she gave up.
Ivy is many things, but a coward she’s not.
If she’s challenged me, we’re going to see this shit through, or at the very least sit down and fucking talk about it.
I’m familiar with the bar we walk into; I’ve been here twice before.
It’s mostly filled with tourists at the moment, but I don’t care about who’s here.
I only have eyes for the furious little blonde who has far too much attention on her as she walks in.
That is, of course, until they see me standing behind her, promising death.
She walks straight up to the bar and orders a water.
When I come up beside her, she turns her back to me.
I try not to laugh as I lean against the bar.
I’m kind of pissed, but also I find this amusing.
I can never quite understand Ivy, and maybe that’s why I’ve always been curious about her.
Just when I think I have her figured out, she throws a wild card at me like this.
A guy wastes no time approaching her as the bartender gives her the glass of water. I order a whiskey, trying my hardest to take the edge off because now I’m really starting to get pissed.
“Cute outfit,” the guy says to her, and she tucks her hair behind her ear.
I loom behind her, glaring at the guy, and he pales when he notices me. She huffs out an irritated sigh, still not looking at me.
“Please ignore him. That’s my brother,” she says, and I can just imagine the sweet, flirtatious smile she gives him.
“He doesn’t look like your brother,” he says, still nervous. Good. I hope he pisses himself.
“I’m not her brother,” I clarify. If the fucker has any brains or survival instincts, he’ll run the other way.
“Oookay. Ah, I think my friend is calling me over,” he says and then scampers off. I can’t help but grin as the bartender hands me my drink. I triumphantly have a sip as I lean back against the bar. She still won’t look at me.
“Stop glaring at men over my shoulder,” she growls as she takes a sip of her water.
“I was actually looking at your ass.” That does make her turn to face me. Damn, she is so fucking furious that my dick jumps again at the sight. This little vixen has no idea how much hold she has over me. “Lover, what are we even doing here? Let’s go home and talk about this.”
She points her nose up defiantly. Stubborn little wench. Yet, I still find it amusing. “We made a bet.” There’s never a dull moment with this woman.
“Yeah, yeah. Whoever can pick up first,” I say, shrugging my shoulders and surveying the bar properly this time. There are plenty of beautiful women. But none of them will compare to her. “It’s just that I have such an unfair advantage. Maybe we should up the stakes and make it two people.”
“What, you think I haven’t had threesomes?” she asks, folding her arms over her chest.
“I won’t believe it until I’ve seen it for myself,” I challenge.
“Um, excuse me. My girlfriend and I overheard some of your conversation,” a somewhat attractive guy says, pointing out his girlfriend, who waves at us from the closest tall table to the bar. “We have a hotel room with two beds if you two feel like swinging.”
Ivy and I glare at one another. The defiant little shit looks like she’s willing for my head to explode, and a flush of red rises across her chest.
“That’s what this is, isn’t it? Role play?” the man pushes as his girlfriend approaches us.
She holds her hand out to me. “I’m Lucy.”
I don’t like the way the guy looks Ivy up and down, but she’s smiling at him in that flirtatious way that gets her everything she wants.
My jaw tics as I turn back to whatever the fuck her name is. “Hi, sweetheart.”
“Where did you say that hotel of yours was?” Ivy bites out.
A few months ago, I would’ve said this situation isn’t surprising.
Tonight, I can confirm that it’s not only deflated a particular fantasy for me, but I also don’t like how Ivy touches this guy.
But I can’t look away either. The woman in front of me gets down on her knees, undoing my belt.
My cock isn’t even interested until Ivy removes her shirt, and her perfect tits bounce free.
The other guy is irrelevant to her, as her attention is on me.
My cock twitches as the woman begins to stroke my cock, but it’s not her I’m focusing on.
It’s a mischievous little liar trying to make a point.
And she will be punished for this.