She grabbed his forearm and whispered through clenched teeth, “Put your gun down.Now.”
The stubborn man from her past listened and lowered his weapon, just in time to hear the familiar voice that made this life of running worth it.
“Braves won!Finally!” The voice had the jarring quality of a person with their headphones on too loud. Sure enough, as soon as he appeared, she saw the knockoff over-ear headphones covering his ears. “That means sweet tea tonight—”
Hannah put up her hands to stop him from getting anywhere close to the kitchen, protecting him from what he could see on the ground. His eyes narrowed at her stance before they widened on the man behind her. That azure gaze darted back to her and he slid the headphones from his ears onto his neck.
When Hannah glanced back at Hawk, he’d stepped in front of the space between the wall and theL-shapedcounter, further preventing the corpse from being seen. But instead of relaxing at the sight of the boy in front of her, at the realization there wasn’t another enemy, his entire body had gone still as a statue. His biceps and chest were stone underneath his Henley, even as his breaths came out unevenly.
Hannah swallowed before turning around and settling her hands on the boy’s shoulders. “Mijo, go to your room.”
“Hannah, who… who is this?” Hawk’s question came out rough and slammed into her back like a baseball bat, knocking the breath out of her with the vulnerability laced in his deep voice. Her heart pricked at the confusion and pain there.
“Yeah, who areyou?” asked in the much younger and much higher pitch.
She held her breath before pivoting on her heel to Hawk and facing the awful mix of heartbreak and hope in his expression.
“Um, Hawk, this… this is Tommy.” She swallowed as her still racing heart beat a million miles a second. Her gaze darted back to Tommy’s curious one, and she ran her trembling fingers through his soft blond hair. She met Hawk’s gaze again before admitting the rest, refusing to feel shame for the best thing that’d ever happened to her. “He’s… my son. And he’s also—”
“Eagle’s son.”
CHAPTEREIGHT
The sight of the little boy in front of him made Hawk’s calm pulse—his default setting whenever he faced an enemy—stutter to a stop. The boy’s serious scowl and blue eyes were painfully familiar, and Hawk couldn’t stop watching Hannah’s slender fingers thread through the boy’s thick mop of hair that was just like his father’s.
Protectiveness rolled off her in waves as she stood proudly in front of Hawk. The blonde mixed in her dark hair suited her, especially with the gorgeous, wavy strands escaping her loose side braid. Flecks of brightly colored paint splattered her tight jeans and worn, baggy Atlanta Braves T-shirt that he could’ve sworn looked familiar. A blue speck dotted her cheek, and Hawk resisted the urge to wipe it away with his thumb.
“Fuck,” Draco cursed, bringing Hawk back to the moment. “I’m, uh… I’m gonna canvas the neighborhood, make sure no one is calling the cops about the gunsh”—he coughed—“I meannoise.”
“Hurry,” Hawk muttered. “We don’t know how long we have until we need to get out of here.”
On the way to Mexico, Hawk had considered giving Hannah the choice of leaving or surveillance protection in her home. But if men were actively hunting her—and herchild—then there was no way he was leaving them to the wolves.
Draco grunted and left through the broken door. The child’s watchful eyes followed Hawk’s teammate and widened again, no doubt having just seen the state of the door. When he returned his gaze back to Hawk, he took a step in front of his mother with a glare of determination on his face.
“Who areyou?” he asked again, his voice carrying all the authority of a little man of the house.
Hawk’s chest felt like it’d been carved open just so the kid could excavate his heart, stomp on it, and stuff it back inside. But pride warmed his chest at the protectiveness in the boy’s stature.
“You’re just like your dad,” he murmured, his voice hoarse.
Tommy’s wary eyes widened farther and shot up to his mother’s before meeting Hawk’s again. “You knew my dad?”
Hawk nodded. He cleared his throat to get past the emotion clogging it. “Yeah… I knew your dad. He… he was my best friend.”
The admission brought on a coin toss of hurt. One that his best friend was gone, and the other, that the love of his life and his best friend had had an affair. Judging by the kid’s age, apparently right before they left for MF7. Was it before he and Eagle had made a pact to keep her safe and leave her behind? After?
Did it matter?
Then there was the added realization that a piece of his best friend, the one he’d thought he’d lost forever, was still in this world.Herein front of him. It was taking every ounce of self-control not to pick the kid up and bear-hug him.
“Your best friend?” The wonder and hope in little Tommy’s voice made Hawk swallow. “Did you help him save the world, too? Were you there when he died?”
Shit.
“Tommy!” Hannah scolded.
Hawk raised his hand to say it was fine, even though he didn’t even know where to begin to answer this child’s question about his father.
