Chapter 16 #2
I run my hand through my hair, suddenly nervous next to the man who is most likely to see right through me to the secrets I keep buried. The moment my hand drops, I slide it into my pocket, grasping the one thing that keeps me grounded when I need it. “I like it.”
The last few days have given me a wider view of the Hawke empire and what it takes for them to maintain it when they’re under threat from a man like Satriano, but there is always more to learn.
“You know, I dug into you…”
The hair on the back of my neck rises, and I clear my throat. “I wouldn’t have expected anything less.”
He nods slowly and takes a long pull from his beer, eyes narrowed on me. “Your superiors had nothing but good things to say, and my son says he likes you.”
I laugh. “Umm, I guess that’s good, right? Considering that we’ve tried to punch each other in the face a couple of times.”
The tiniest hint of a grin appears on Gabe’s lips. “I heard about your sparring matches with him. It’s nice to have somebody who can actually keep up with him. I used to be able to, but God knows those days are long behind me. Same with Stone.”
As soon as he says the words, his eyes dart over to where Stone sits in a leather chair with a cane resting against the edge of it, courtesy of the man who has everyone so on edge now.
He may not have been aiming for the Hawkes when he took out Christiano Roselli that day in front of The Grind, but the collateral damage was huge…and if what Bishop has told me is true, it may have been planned that way.
Two birds…one stone.
“I hear Isaac, Pope, and sometimes Coen like to get in the ring with him, too.”
None of them have been there during any mornings I’ve been able to go, but it would be interesting to see what they’re capable of.
Gabe snorts. “Yeah, but they can’t do half of what Bishop can, so it isn’t much of a challenge.”
I can’t fight my smirk.
She is every bit the badass that I’ve seen her to be, even when it’s just with the people she considers family. They all know what she’s built of and what she stands for, and even though she doesn’t always see it, they accept her for who and what she is.
Just like I do.
Gabe leans in conspiratorially. “If you need to get out of here tonight, just tell me a code word and I can make an excuse to send you to go check on something.”
I recoil slightly. “Jesus, you’re the second person who has warned me. Is it really that bad?”
He chuckles. “It’s really that bad. I don’t envy what you’ll be facing tonight.”
Hell…
Skye and Storm appear from the kitchen carrying trays of food. “Time to eat.”
Their call carries out across the room like a dinner bell, and they cross the hallway into what must be the dining room as everyone else starts to trickle that way.
Caroline appears behind them with a beer in hand. “Perfect timing.” She hands it off to me and then narrows her eyes on Gabe. “You haven’t been scaring him, have you?”
He scoffs. “What? Me? No.” But as soon as she walks away, he leans in. “So…safeword?”
I take a swallow of my beer, but it doesn’t help the unease starting to fill my stomach and coil around my spine. “Red.”
What have I gotten myself into tonight?
* * *
BISHOP
Nana’s sharp gaze stays locked on Gage and me, just as it has since the moment she was introduced to him—as our new employee—and we sat at the table.
Even as the food is passed around and everyone digs in, enjoying all the regular dishes and the easily flowing wine, she sits at the head of the table, only taking a few bites here and there, watching us as if she’s waiting for something.
Maybe for me to run away screaming…
I squirm in my seat and avert my gaze to my plate, cutting another piece of lasagna and popping it into my mouth. At least when I’m eating, I can distract myself from the growing dread that the questions are coming.
After almost thirty years of Hawke family Sunday dinners, I’ve witnessed enough cross-examinations to know what’s coming.
It’s only a matter of time before someone pipes up, and if it’s Atlas with his slick comments about how “close” Gage and I are getting, I swear, I won’t wait until we’re in the ring next time to take him down.
Beside me to my left, Gage helps himself to a second portion of baked ziti with a grin on his face like a kid in a damn candy store. “I know I’ve said it once already, but this is incredible, Mrs. Hawke.”
Nana beams at the compliment. “Thank you so much, dear. It’s an old family recipe. And please, call me Nana. Everyone does.”
He nods, shoveling another mouthful in and chewing. “Did you grow up here? In New Orleans?”
She bobs her head, offering him a kind smile. “Not too far from here, actually.”
“How did you meet Sam?”
Everyone at the table exchanges glances, and I reach over and squeeze his leg under the table, trying to get him to stop asking questions.
All it’s going to do is open it up for her to do the same with ones we might not want to answer.
Nana looks wistful as she takes a sip of her wine. “We grew up on the same block.”
I release a relieved breath that’s all she said, but as soon as I take another bite, I know that door that he cracked has actually been flung wide open when Nana speaks again.
“And what about you, dear?” Her voice is deceptively friendly. “I know you’re relatively new to town. Do you plan on staying permanently now that you’re sleeping with my granddaughter?”
Gage chokes on whatever’s in his mouth, coughing and reaching for his water as I try to slink down in my chair and disappear under the table.
How the hell does she know that?
I scan the room, searching for the culprit who must have said something to her.
Everyone at the table seems to be enjoying our embarrassment immensely.
Savage barely fights a grin and exchanges a look with Danika that she passes on to Cass and Kennedy, who can’t contain her cackle. Gabe and Skye both smirk, as do Atlas and Wren, who already suspected something was going on and may be the guilty parties.
Though, so did Astrid, but she might be the only one who looks even a little bit sorry for us.
Stone slides his arm across the back of Nora’s chair, squeezing her shoulder while they both chuckle. Isaac, Jack, Coen, and Allegra all grin and shake their heads as if they expected this and were just waiting for it to hit.
Landon does his best to hide his laugh by snagging his wine glass and taking a long sip, but Storm doesn’t do as well concealing hers.
Neither do Pope, Allie, or Angie.
The only people not laughing are the kids who are completely oblivious and focused on their pasta…
And Mom and Dad.
I steal a glance their way and find them glaring at Nana, but they quickly shift their attention to Gage, awaiting his response.
So am I.
As much as I’ve fought Gage trying to get past my well-established defenses, the last couple days since we sparred at the gym, since I finally broke and conceded defeat, have been …good.
Really good.
The best I’ve had in a very, very long time.
Maybe ever.
Being in his arms, in his bed, somehow, I’ve managed to sleep more than I have in the previous three months combined. And it isn’t just because the man exhausts me with his almost obsessive attention to getting me off.
He seems to intuitively know when there’s something weighing on me, when something frustrating happened or when I’m about to spiral.
He understands how to distract me from that and give me other things to concentrate on.
And he only pushes me to talk about it after, when I’ve released the tension.
When I’ve let a little bit of that stuff that seems to want to drown me go.
Somehow, Gage just gets it.
The thought of him leaving, of him suddenly not being here, makes me lose my appetite.
He finally manages to swallow and stop coughing, his nervous gaze darting from Nana to Mom and Dad, then falling on me. “Umm, I do like New Orleans a lot. Especially the people. And I hope to stay.”
There’s something there in his answer. In the way he keeps his eyes on me rather than her that makes heat flare in my cheeks.
I have to look away from the intensity of it.
Nana gives him a tight smile and dips her head. “A very diplomatic answer.”
He tears his gaze from me and returns the smile, then shoves a piece of garlic bread in his mouth before anything else can be said.
Smart man.
Over the years, the family has been brutal to some of the people sitting around this table for the first time, and I have a feeling it isn’t over just because Nana gave him a reprieve.
Savage and Gabe lean closer together, exchanging hushed whispers, and the lack of amusement that was on their faces only a moment ago suggests the topic of conversation is no longer Gage’s embarrassment.
Everyone around the table exchanges glances.
Nana doesn’t like to discuss any sort of business at the table and prefers to find one person to pick on about their social life instead.
Which appears to be me tonight. Something I would much rather avoid, but it may be better than the alternative, given the look Savage and Gabe give Stone and Dad.
It’s enough to make my blood run cold.
“Is everything all right?”
Savage glances down the long table to me, and his jaw tightens, a muscle there ticcing. “I just got a text.”
For some reason, the food I ate turns to lead in my stomach, and all the conversation at the table dies as all eyes turn to him.
He glances to the empty chairs at the end of the table, where Luca and Byron usually sit, and the other, where Jude occasionally makes an appearance when he feels up to coming to these things.
They’re the only ones absent tonight.
I didn’t get a chance to ask where Luca and Byron were, but it seems evident that whatever’s going on has to do with them.
Gabe casts a look to Angelina. “Jude thought he saw someone prowling around The Grind tonight.”
Angie shoots to her feet, her chair sliding back on the hardwood floor. “What?”