BYRON
The laughter and raucous arguments floating from the game of Pictionary in the living room follow me down the hallway to Storm’s old bedroom. I pause outside the closed door.
Maybe I should just leave them alone.
I glance at my watch.
But they’ve been in there for three hours, without either of them coming out, so I should at least check on them.
I slowly turn the knob with a shaking hand and push it open, pausing to listen for a moment.
Allie’s light, lyrical voice floats through the cracked closet doors. “And then Angie told me I wasn’t allowed to use her makeup anymore, but she got a whole new kit this morning. So, I’m going to ask Mom if I can have her old stuff. I think that’s fair, don’t you?”
I grin as I wait for Jude’s response, but he either offers none or it’s said so softly that I can’t hear it.
One thing Allie will always do is chatter someone’s ear off, but it seems not to have bothered Jude the last few hours.
I start to pull the door closed, and it releases a squeak that makes me freeze and wince. Allie stops talking, and the closet door opens.
She pops her dark head out, her bright-blue eyes landing on me. “Oh, hi, Uncle Byron.”
“You guys okay in here?” I scan the empty pie plates sitting just outside the door.
At least he’s eating.
Allie bites her lip and glances back toward where Jude must be. “I need to go to the bathroom.”
I chuckle and step in. “Go.”
She hesitates for a second, then pushes the door the rest of the way open and climbs to her feet. Her eyes dart to Jude. “I’ll be right back.”
Sweet kid.
Even at ten, she can tell Jude needs the reassurance and is sure to give it to him. It’s intuitive for her. No one needed to tell her what to do for him; she just did it.
Allie moves past me out into the hallway as I slowly approach the open closet. I squat until I can see Jude tucked in the corner behind the hanging clothes, knees pulled up to his chest, staring at me. “You okay, buddy?”
He stares at me for a second, then nods.
I offer him a soft smile. “Good. You get enough to eat?”
He nods again.
“Nana’s a great cook, isn’t she?”
He swallows thickly and nods. “She is.”
Those two words are more than he’s spoken to us since we first found him. After explaining what he was doing there, he’s been practically catatonic. It appears Allie’s constant chatter has relieved a bit of the tension he felt when we got here—though, his current position suggests it’s going to take a hell of a lot more to actually get him to feel comfortable.
I rest my arms on my knees and offer him a smile. “I know you don’t really know Luca and me, or any of the Hawkes, but I want you to understand that you’re safe here and welcome.” I point absently toward the living room. “We even have some gifts for you under the tree, if you want to open them.”
He tenses, fear returning to his blue gaze.
“I could bring them in here so you wouldn’t have to go out where everyone else is.”
His shoulders relax slightly, but he still shakes his head.
“Would you like me to bring them back to our place for later?”
He nods, and despite the tears threatening to well in my eyes, I force another smile. “That sounds like a good plan. We’ll be leaving soon, okay?”
He bobs his head again.
“Are you having fun with Allie?”
Maybe fun isn’t the right word, but apparently, I really suck at this talking-to-kids thing, despite having practice with all nine of my nieces and nephews.
The last twenty-four hours, I feel like I’ve been stumbling over, and over, and over again. I’m sure Luca and I have said and done the wrong things a thousand times. I try not to think about what he ultimately did to Jude’s father as I stare at the traumatized boy who has filled my heart with so much I never thought I’d experience.
He considers my question for a second, then nods again.
“Good.”
Allie comes up behind me. “What’s good?”
I push to my feet and let her slip past me, back into the closet. “Jude said he’s having a good time with you.”
Her face lights up, and she grins. “Me, too.”
She settles next to him and reaches out to take his hand in hers, interlocking their fingers and squeezing it tightly. His fingers whiten as he squeezes back.
Thank God.
For a split second, I can see the possibility that he’ll really make it through this okay.
But not if he gets dumped into some foster home. Not if he gets bounced around until he ages out of the system and never has a solid, safe place to land. The really great foster families are few and far between around here, and I don’t have any faith that anyone will put the time and effort in with him that it will take to save him from the dark hole he’s locked himself into in his head.
This little boy needs us.
He needs the Hawkes.
I pull the door almost closed, leaving it open a tiny crack. “We’re going to leave in a little bit, Al, okay?”
“Okay, Uncle Byron.”
Her constant chatter fills the closet again, and I slip from the room, not bothering to fight my grin.
“Sleigh!”
“Reindeer!”
“Light bulb!”
Everyone’s shouting voices float out from the living room, and I rejoin them to find the game of Pictionary still in full swing—though, I can’t tell for the fucking life of me what Gabe drew on the board. And apparently, no one else can, either.
But there’s no sign of Luca or Savage.
I check the empty dining room and the kitchen, where Antonia, Storm, and Skye work on cleaning dishes. “Have you guys seen Luca or Savage?”
Antonia glances up. “I think they’re out back.”
Probably sharing a drink away from the fray, which doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
I pause at the bar set up in the dining room and pour myself an Ardbeg, hoping the smoky scotch will help ease away some of the worry filling me. More yelling comes from the living room, and I take a sip and make my way outside to find Luca seated on one of the lounge chairs near the pool, Savage next to him.
The chilly late-December air sends a shiver down my spine as I slowly lower myself onto the chair on the other side of Luca.
He glances at me with a furrowed brow. “Where were you?”
“Checking on Jude and Allie.”
His shoulders instantly tense, and the dark eyes I know almost as well as my own narrow on me. “Are they okay?”
I nod. “They seem to be, but I think we should get out of here before too long. It’s been a lot for him.”
Luca’s jaw tenses, and his hand tightens around his tumbler, likely full of the same thing I’m drinking. Something crosses his gaze that makes my stomach tighten—a look I haven’t seen in years. One I hoped to never see again.
Savage doesn’t miss it, either. “You did the right thing.”
Even though Luca and I both hear his words, I don’t know if either of us believe them.
Luca looks up at him. “I’m not so sure.”
Savage scowls. “The man abused his son. The man made him do things that no human should ever make another do. There was only one way that was ever going to end where any of us would be content with it.”
A heavy sigh slips from Luca’s mouth, filled with a thousand feelings I know must be welling inside him right now, and he takes a long sip from his drink.
He gave up the violence of the mob for me, for us, so that we could have a life together without constantly looking over our shoulders. So that I wouldn’t end up dead on the street with another bullet hole in me. But we’ve also paid the price for his past.
The constant whispers.
The dirty looks.
People who still won’t work with the Hawkes because he’s involved with them.
And now, we’ve got this boy to think about—the boy who now has no one because of us. That guilt weighs on him as heavily as it does me, even if we both know, deep down, that it was the right thing to do.
I just hope he doesn’t allow it to eat him alive the way I did when I hid my relationship with him from the people I care about the most.
* * *
LUCA
A few stars twinkle in the dark sky through the cloud cover, and I stare up at them and release a heavy breath, trying to let some of the stress and uncertainty of the last twenty-four hours go with it.
I haven’t even attempted to sleep since I laid eyes on Jude yesterday, and I wouldn’t have been able to even if I hadn’t been busy with…other things.
All I see when I close my eyes is him.
The way he cowered behind that dumpster, terrified of me finding him and discovering what he was doing,.
How his body shook when I grabbed his arm and brought him into the club and to my office.
His terrified gaze following every move Byron or I made, like he was anticipating having to run.
I’ve seen fear in a lot of people’s eyes over my lifetime, people who knew what was coming and suffered far worse fates at my hands, but there was something about the way Jude looked at me, petrified but also begging for help, that wouldn’t let me look away.
And now, here we are, and I have no fucking idea what to do about it.
I glance over at Byron, who offers me a tight smile. This has been rough on him, too, even though he wasn’t the one who had to get his hands bloody. He carries the weight of knowing what I did, of what we agreed to do, as soon as we found out what happened to Jude.
Byron reaches out and rests his hand on my arm. “I think…” He swallows thickly and glances at Savage and back at me. “I think we need to keep him.”
It’s the same thing I’ve been thinking, but neither of us has had the guts to say it. We both felt it the moment we met him, and somehow, we knew, deep in the pit of our stomachs, that this was somehow meant to happen.
I nod. “I think so, too. But I don’t even know…shit!” I shake my head and scrub my hand across my face. “How would we even go about doing this legally? What court is going to grant Luca Abello custody of a ten-year-old kid? Hell, any kid?”
It’s why Byron and I have never even considered the possibility of having a family. We always assumed it was out of our reach because of my past, that we would have to pay that penance for the life I chose.
But this is different.
Savage nods slowly. “We’ll talk to Stone. We know enough people, Judge Cramer, our friends at HSD. We can figure something out to make it happen.”
I push off from the lounge chair and start pacing beside the pool while Savage and Byron watch me. Even another sip of the strong scotch doesn’t help quell my frustration.
The sliding glass door opens, and Stone steps out, his eyes darting across all of us as he comes to join and stands beside his brother. “What’s going on out here?”
Savage gives him a half-grin. “I’m pretty sure Luca and Byron just decided they want to adopt Jude.”
Stone’s eyes widen slightly, and his gaze cuts between us.
I rub my hand at the back of my neck as I pace back and forth, back and forth, my Italian loafers scraping along the concrete pool decking. “Do you think it’s possible?”
He crosses his arms over his chest and nods. “Yeah. I mean, HSD already approved you for temporary emergency custody. You’ll have to jump through all the hoops, but since the father won’t be a problem anymore…” He trails off slightly. “I think we can make it happen if that’s what Jude wants.”
I freeze mid-step and whirl to face Byron. “Shit. What if he doesn’t?”
Byron’s shoulders slump slightly, and he rests his elbows on his knees, steepling his fingers in front of his face. “I hadn’t even thought of that. He was so scared of us last night, petrified of the whole situation. He barely even spoke two words to Nora other than when she told him she needed to know to make sure he was okay. He wouldn’t even speak to us unless absolutely necessary. He’s spent the whole day in the damn closet with Allie. Maybe this isn’t what’s best for him. Maybe he should—”
“No.” Savage’s interjection carries through the night air. “He’s a Hawke now. This is what’s best for him, and you both know it. We all do. We can take care of him, all of us. Together.”
His insistence relieves some of the tension in my chest.
I’ve seen what the Hawkes can do, how they bring people under their wings and make them part of the family. I’ve experienced what it’s like to seek their forgiveness and receive it. I’ve felt the love that radiates from everyone in this house, and Jude will, too. Eventually.
“You’re right. From the moment I saw him, I just felt…God, this is going to make me sound like a fucking pussy.” I shrug. “I felt complete. Like this is what has been missing.”
I glance at Byron, hopeful he doesn’t take that the wrong way and think that our relationship somehow hasn’t been enough for me.
But he just smiles. “And here I thought I was the only one who felt that way.”
“Definitely not.”
And I should have known better than to ever doubt Byron would be one hundred percent on board with me on this.
We’ve created a fantastic life together, and with the Hawkes, we’re building an empire that will last for generations. But we’ve never had anyone to leave any of it to. We’ve done it for ourselves, for everyone else’s kids, thinking we could never have our own. And this feels…right.
Stone walks over and claps me on the back. “Then we’ll start on the paperwork tomorrow.”
“That easy?”
He offers a half shrug. “Nothing’s ever easy about being a parent, which you two are about to fucking learn.” He barks out a laugh and shakes his head. “You have no idea what’s in store for you.”
“Gee, thanks.”
He squeezes my shoulder. “I’m just trying to prepare you, bud. Parenthood is”—he grins—”the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me. Besides Nora, of course.”
“Of course.”
The glass door slides open, and Nora’s blonde head pops out. “Oh, there you are. What are all you guys doing out here?” She steps out, rubbing her bare arms. “It’s fucking freezing. Come inside. We’ve given up on Pictionary, and I think we’re going to play Clue, try to track down the killer.”
She says it with a playful glint in her eye, but I can’t help the tension it brings to my chest. Byron stands and comes over to me, leaning in as Stone and Savage make their way back toward the house.
“You did the right thing. Don’t ever think you didn’t.”
I let my eyes meet his, hoping he can’t see how gripped by fear I really am right now. “What if you’re wrong? What if Jude finds out and never forgives me? Never forgives us?”
“Then we’ll have to live with that, knowing it was what was best for him.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I usually am.” He grins at me. “That’s why you married me, right?”
I smirk, remembering the night we met at that dive and I took him back to my hotel room. “Amongst other reasons.”
“Will you two hurry up?” Nora scowls from the open door, motioning us in.
Byron brushes his lips across mine. “One quick game, then we get him out of here and back home.”
Home.
Our home—where he can feel safe, for maybe the first time ever.
I follow Byron in and slide the door closed behind me, then join everyone in the living room, including Nana, Storm, Skye, and all the kids, who are already splitting off into teams since there are far too many of us to play otherwise.
The bickering and laughter mingle with the Christmas carols still piped through the speakers and fill the house with so much warmth, it almost brings tears to my eyes.
This is what the Hawkes are all about, and Savage was right—Jude is one now.
Forever.
We don’t let people go.
And we never give up on them.
* * *
I hope you enjoyed the Hawke Family Christmas novella and the brief introduction to the second generation of the Hawkes.
The Hawke Family Second Generation Series is now LIVE! You can start it FREE right now with Night Hawke, available at all retailers. Get yours here to see what happens with the next gen: books2read.com/NightHawke
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