“About an hour after you left.”
I leaned back in the chair and watched Matty play with his doll. Hawke was letting me go. I couldn’t believe it.
“Why would he do this?” I asked. I had no doubt that Seth knew exactly what Hawke’s plans for me had been since I was sure Ronan would have told him.
I wasn’t sure if Seth was going to answer me or not, but before he even had the chance, there was a knock on the door. Mira, the second shift nurse entered.
“Hi Matty,” she said.
“Hi,” Matty returned and then he was holding up the doll. “Look what I got.”
“Hawkeye,” Mira said knowingly. “He’s my favorite.”
“How come?” Matty asked as Mira came farther into the room.
“Because he doesn’t have any actual super powers, but he’s just as brave as all the other Avengers.” Mira bypassed Matty’s bed and came up to me.
“The billing office asked that I give this to you,” she said as she handed me a piece of paper.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Your receipt.”
Mira turned her attention to Matty before I could question her further. I studied the piece of paper and felt my heart constrict painfully in my chest when I saw Hawke’s name again in the payer section. I shifted my eyes to the bottom of the page and sucked in a breath when I saw the balance. It was a negative number. A really big number.
“What is it?” Seth asked.
I glanced up to see that Mira had left at some point and Matty and Seth were once again playing Tic Tac Toe.
“He prepaid the bill,” I managed to say. “For Matty’s treatment.”
Seth’s eyes held mine for a brief moment and I swore I saw a hint of a smile drift over his lips before Matty demanded his attention again. I sat back in the chair and let my eyes fall back on the receipt.
What the hell did this mean?
Chapter 9
HAWKE
I heldthe rifle against my shoulder as I watched the headlights bounce along the dirt road that led up to the house. I’d grabbed it long before the car even made the turn from the secluded highway that bordered the property, because it was rare to see any kind of vehicle making the journey across the pass this time of night. And since my only neighbor owned a huge cattle ranch, I knew the man was already in bed since he was up before the sun even rose. It was likely just some poor soul who’d taken a wrong turn somewhere and gotten lost and was seeking directions, but I was hoping the rifle would make it clear that I wasn’t in the mood for chit-chat.
Because I had work to do.
The drive from Seattle to Rocky Point, Wyoming had taken nearly twelve hours, but instead of getting the rest my body was demanding when I’d finally spied the lone light on the slight rise as I’d crested the last pass, I’d immediately started putting my plans into motion. Not having Tate as part of the equation anymore would make finding Buck and Denny much more difficult, but what I couldn’t get with a few subtle questions, I could take with bruteforce. Someone in Lulling would tell me where the bastards were one way or another.
From the moment I’d admitted to Ronan that I’d lost not only my wife, but my son as well, I’d been a man possessed. Only I hadn’t had anyone or anything to take my rage out on, so I’d drowned myself in alcohol in the small, secluded motel I was staying at. Ronan had called me several times and left messages asking me to go to Matty’s first appointment with the oncologist or to join them for dinner, but I hadn’t called him back. I hadn’t wanted to see Matty and I definitely hadn’t wanted to see Tate. And not only because my growing need for the other man was slowly driving me crazy. No, I hadn’t wanted to see either of them because that fucking voice had gotten louder and louder in my head.
My wife’s voice.
My beautiful, gentle wife who’d given up everything to be with me. My wife who’d been carrying the child we’d been trying for years for.
And she’d kept saying the same three words over and over to me until the doubt grew like a cancer inside of me.
This isn’t you.
I’d done my best to ignore the words, but I’d heard them in every heartbeat, in every breath. I’d figured that if I set a timetable, the relentless torment would stop, so I’d sobered up long enough to get in my car and drive to Seattle in the dead of night so I could confront Tate and tell him when we were leaving. To my surprise, I hadn’t had any trouble finding out what room Matty was in because someone had put my name down as an authorized visitor. A little bit of sweet talk with one of the nurses had gotten me around the fact that at just past midnight, it was too late for visitors and I’d been led to Matty’s private room. She’d explained to me that the chemotherapy drugs were being administered to Matty while he was asleep and had warned me not to wake him up. She’d also told me that Matty’s father was spending the nights with him.
I’d pushed open the door after steeling myself to face Tate, but all the pity for the man and his son that I’d forced away during my drive to the city had come roaring back when I’d seen Matty curledup on his side, his Spiderman doll and teddy bear clutched against his chest. There’d been only a small light on above Matty’s bed, but it’d been enough to see where the line from the IV bag entered his body through two cannulas that were sticking out of his skin beneath a huge bandage. I’d managed to quietly close the door behind me as my eyes had drifted to Tate who’d been asleep in a large chair next to Matty’s bed. His hand had been extended onto Matty’s bed, his fingers resting on one of the little boy’s arms.
