90. Hawk
Icould hear the screaming the moment I opened the door, the obnoxious screeching as familiar as my own music.
For a moment, I froze, the sound of Victoria’s voice in my house drawing me back in time, back to a place where I was stuck with her in my life with no hope of escape.
The memories of all the times I’d been in this exact same scenario, walking into the house to find her ranting about something I wasn’t even aware of and had no possible way of changing, slammed into me, and it was a hot second before I could shake off the intense wave of anxiety and realize that she may have been yelling, but she absolutely wasn’t alone.
Wren. Cooper.
The thought of my girls being in this house with her had me moving fast, flying up the first flight of stairs and into the kitchen, my heart lodged securely in my throat.
But it was the words I heard Wren speaking that really stole my breath and had me faltering in my tracks.
“...it was your sabotaged condoms that resulted in my pregnancy, Victoria. You caused all of this, and now you’re paying the price.”
What the fuck did she just say?
I didn’t want to believe it, the thought of Victoria doing something so absolutely heinous almost too much to contemplate.
But as I stood there, watching the two women facing off in my kitchen, I knew it was true.
It was true, and even though I should have been livid, I found I was just sad.
Sad for Tori, the woman who went about love in all the wrong ways.
Sad for Wren, who was forced to pay the price for all our mistakes.
I was even sad for Cooper, my beautiful girl, having faced her entire life thinking that her father didn’t want her.
But the person I wasn’t sad for was myself. Because how could I be, when I was finally here, with everything I could have ever hoped for within my grasp.
There was only one thing left to do. One loose end to clean up and tie off, and then we could finally start living our lives the way we deserved.
Together.
“Victoria,” I called, and both women swung their gazes to me.
“Hawk,” Tori breathed, her voice both excited and apprehensive at my presence.
Wren said nothing, but the anxiety in her expression told me everything I needed to know. This situation needed to end, the sooner the better.
“It’s over, Tori. You’re done. You need to leave. Now.” I watched as she searched my eyes for some sign that I was kidding, something to give her the hope she seemed to be constantly clinging to.
I wasn’t offering her shit.
“And don’t come back.”
“You don’t mean that, Hawk,” she said, her smile brittle and sorrowful at the same time. “We’ve been through so much together, you and me. Twenty years, Hawk. That’s a lifetime in this industry.” Stepping up to me, she moved to place her hands on my chest, but I stepped back, making my position more than clear. Her hopeful expression crumbled, leaving devastation behind. “You can’t just throw that all away.”
“I’m throwing away twenty years of toxic bullshit, Tori,” I snarled, my exhaustion and rage wearing my patience thin. “I’m throwing away twenty years of lies and manipulation and more hate and resentment than you could possibly imagine.” Blowing out a breath, I looked at her, and seeing the desperation clear on her face, I knew.
Victoria Castor was never going to see herself as anything but the victim.
“If I’ve learned anything in the last few weeks, Tori, it’s that this life is too precious to fill it with all that garbage. I don’t need or want that shit in my life anymore,” I said, shaking my head in sadness. “It’s just such a fuckin’ shame that the cost of that wisdom was half my lifetime.”
Flicking my gaze to Wren, seeing her arms crossed protectively over her chest, one hand clutching the guitar pick necklace she was wearing once again, I smiled.
God damn, I loved that woman. I could feel it in every fiber of my being, the sheer joy and radiant happiness that just looking at her filled me up with.
And protecting her was my first priority.
“You and I have done nothing but hurt each other, and for a while there, I gave as good as I got. I own that shit. But this, Tori? Hiding my child? Threatening Wren and damning her and Cooper to a lifetime of solitude and ridicule because you were what? Threatened by them? And when couldn’t find any other way to get what you wanted, you resorted to having your father blackmail me into marrying you. That’s some Machiavellian shit right there.”
“What was I supposed to do? You wouldn’t sleep with me anymore! Even before we got married, I couldn’t get you to pay attention to me. I mean, come on, Hawk. We were married for nearly a decade, and in all that time, you refused to even share a room, never mind my bed and my body,” Tori screamed at me, and behind her, Wren gasped, her hand coming up to cover her mouth.
“You were happy enough sharing it with everyone else,” I replied caustically.
“I had no choice!” Tori screamed, her chest heaving as her tears now rolled down her splotchy cheeks. “Can’t you see? I had no choice.”
“You had plenty of choices,” Wren put in, causing Tori to shoot her a withering glare. “Plenty of choices that wouldn’t have hurt me, my daughter, or the man that I love.”
The words hit me like a shot to the heart.
Love.
She’d never said it before. Not out loud, anyway. She’d shown me how she felt, and I hoped she’d say it one day, but I was willing to give her the time and space she needed to be sure and comfortable.
Having Victoria force the situation on her wasn’t ideal, but that didn’t mean my heart wasn’t still practically pulsing out of my chest with joy.
That joy, however, was short lived, because Victoria just had to open her fuckin’ mouth once again.
“Oh, cut the crap. Like I give a shit about you or your stupid brat.”
“Tori!” I snapped, drawing her attention back to me. I could see the moment she registered the anger on my face, and I watched as she attempted to gather herself, shoving her hatred and panic down deep so that her smooth, controlled face was back in place. It was a move I’d seen her do a thousand times, and a prayed that this would be the last.
Tori took a breath, then swallowed, smoothing one hand over her hair as she tried to pull herself together. “Hawk, I’m sorry. I would have told you about the kid eventually. I just wanted—”
“Eventually?” I scoffed, jamming my fingers in my hair and pulling, trying everything I could to control my rage. “Eventually, Tori? Fifteen years, you kept my child from me! Fifteen years of lost time. Time that I will never get back! How could you ever think that was okay? That I would forgive you for something so absolutely heinous I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.”
“I did it for you,” Tori whispered feebly, her voice trembling. “I was trying to protect you. Protect the band.”
“No, you weren’t. You were only ever protecting yourself.”
For a moment, no one spoke, Tori standing before me, her lower lip trembling as she seemed to realize she wasn’t going to win this fight.
“You need to leave, Tori. We’re done. We’ve been done, but this time, I never want to see you again.”
“But—” Her eyebrows shot up, surprise crossing her face. “What about work? It will take time to find you a new label liaison.”
“I think you’ll find that Castor Records has bigger things to be worrying about right now.” She looked like she wanted to ask more, but I cut her off. “Go home, Tori. To your husband, a man who, for some reason, seems to love you. Maybe try not shitting all over him like you do everyone else in your life.”
Tori hesitated only a second longer before she brushed past me and stormed down the stairs, the door slamming behind her.
“You alright, Bird?” I asked, heading straight for her. I felt like I’d just run ten miles, my heart thumping heavy and hard behind my ribs. Wrapping Wren in my arms, I breathed her in, loving the salt and sunshine scent that seemed to coat her. I wanted her to stay just like that, spending her days bathed in sunshine and her nights in my bed.
My California Bird.
“Yes,” she said, her voice soft but firm. “I’m fine. She didn’t do anything, really. She just had a lot to say.”
I snorted. That was really accurate for Victoria.
“Did you mean it?” I asked, Wren looking up at me in confusion. “When you said you loved me. Did you mean it?”
“Hawk,” she said, pulling back slightly so she could fully look at me. “Of course, I meant it.” Taking my face in her hands, Wren held me close, staring at me, her warm brown eyes full of emotion. “I love you, Hawk Jameson. I think I’ve loved you my whole life. And there is nothing—not slanderous headlines or meddling exes—that could ever change that.”
Rising up on her toes, Wren kissed me. It was a kiss full of love and hope and devotion.
It was the kind of kiss I’d been waiting my entire life to receive.
“We’re okay,” she whispered once we finally broke apart. “She’s gone now, and we’re all okay.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know how she got in, but I’ll be changing all the locks before the sun goes down.” I’d probably have Charlie post some security on the premises, too.
I cringed at the thought of the lecture I knew was coming my way from Charlie regarding locking the damn doors, but at least this time, I agreed with him.
My girls needed to be safe.
“Where’s Cooper?” I asked, looking around, keeping Wren tight to me the whole time.
“Here,” came her voice, and I smiled as her feet stampeded down the stairs. She bounced into the kitchen, a bright smile on her face. “That was epic.”
“Coop,” Wren admonished, stepping away from me to go to our girl. I let her go, but moved with her, wanting—needing—to be as close to them both as possible while not seeming like a psycho. “Victoria was hurting. We need to understand that the things people say when they’re hurting should be taken with a grain of salt.”
Fuck, she was such a wonderful mother. I was the luckiest man alive, no fuckin’ doubt.
“Yeah,” Cooper started slowly, her lips twisting to the side. “But she was also really horrible, and sometimes it’s nice to see karma in action.”
I barked out a laugh, covering it with a cough when Wren shot me a look.
“I don’t know about karma, kid, but it was nice to finally cut ties.” I thought about that, about the fact that I was now, for the first time since I was seventeen, completely free from everything Castor.
It was a good fuckin’ feeling.
“Oh, no. There was definitely karma.” Cooper laughed, holding up her phone where a video seemed to be playing, hearts flooding the screen as people reacted to it. Looking closer, I could see that it was a video of my kitchen.
Thiskitchen.
“Cooper,” Wren said, her voice wary. “What did you do?”
“I, uh,” she hedged, not nearly as confident now that it sounded like Wren was mad. I was still clueless as to what I was seeing, so I was reserving judgment. “I may have just livestreamed the whole I-hid-your-child-from-you-because-I-was-protecting-you thing.” When Wren’s mouth dropped open, Cooper scrambled to add, “I thought it was important that people knew the truth, Mom. And the only way they’d ever believe us over her was if she outted herself.”
Turning to me, Cooper went on, her eyes pleading. “I didn’t do anything but show the world what really happened.” Licking her lips, she shrugged. “Everyone was so quick to say mean things about my mom, and she never did anything wrong. Why should that lady get away with being the bad guy?”
She wasn’t wrong, and if I was being honest, I thought the move was pretty badass. The press was already airing our dirty laundry for everyone to see; we could at least make sure they got the right information this time.
“Cooper, how many people have seen that video?” Wren asked, and I thought that was a really good question.
“So far? About six hundred.”
“Oh,” Wren said, relaxing. “That’s not too bad.”
“Six hundred thousand, I mean,” Cooper added. “And counting.”
“Holy shit!” I said, looking closer at the screen. “Are all those hearts for us?”
“Yeah,” Cooper said, excited again. “And you should see the comments. They are all so happy for us. Saying that what she did was awful, and that they are so glad the truth has come out. It’s really amazing, Dad.”
We all froze, the word hanging between us, suspended in time as we all tested the waters, seeing how it felt.
Looking down at Cooper, seeing the hesitation and hope on her face, I decided I liked it.
A lot.
“It is amazing, kid,” I said, wrapping my arm around her and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. She smelled like Wren, but less like sunshine and more like the ocean breeze.
It was perfect.
“I’m proud of you, Cooper,” I said, reaching for Wren with my other hand. “I’m damn proud of you both.”
And in that moment, I knew that there would never be anything in the world that I needed more than this, my two girls, safe and right where they belonged.
With me. Finally.