Page 107 of Sweet Ache (Driven 6)
I shift out of my chair and stand to wrap my arms around her. She leans back and raises her eyebrows in approval when her eyes dart over to Hawke. “What is it with you and hot men?” she whispers with a devilish smirk on her lips.
“You must be Hawkin,” she says as she releases me. I turn to face Colton. He angles his head and looks at me before watching Rylee take a seat next to Hawkin and start up a conversation.
“The paper flattened out enough, I take it?” he asks in that gruff voice that tells me he’s trying to be a hard-ass but at the same time is glad I figured my shit out and got the outcome I wanted.
“Yeah,” I whisper in his ear as I pull him into a hug. “Thank you.” He just squeezes me a bit tighter in response.
“Remember what I said?”
When I lean back and stare at him, his warning about having a talk with Hawkin should things work out comes flooding back. As much as I dread the idea, I know that it’s Colton’s way of showing he loves me. “Go easy on him.” My request earns me a wry chuckle.
Rylee doesn’t break stride in chatting up Hawkin about his upcoming tour when we take a seat at the table. I’m far from blind and so I catch the intermittent glances that Hawkin and Colton share, each one laying claim to my protection.
As the topic comes to a close, Hawkin shifts his attention completely to my brother. “So Colton, lay it on me, man.”
Holy shit. Both Rylee and I startle and whip our heads at Hawkin, who’s going boldly where no man has gone before. And the fact that Colton chokes on his sip of beer makes it that much sweeter.
Colton sets his beer down and his eyes are locked on Hawkin’s. “Wanna get something off your chest, man?”
I roll my eyes at Colton’s testosterone-laced question and love how Ry quirks her eyebrow at him in a come on gesture.
“Nope.” Hawke shakes his head a couple of times, and I love that he’s not backing down and is playing Colton at his own game. That I mean enough to him to take a stand. “But I think you do.”
Silence stretches, and both Rylee and I are fighting smirks over the invisible battle the two men that we love are waging. “Q’s need to protect you from me is a first and tells a whole helluva lot about what she thinks of you…. But no bullshit, man, no one’s ever going to be good enough for her, so sorry—but I’m not sorry because that’s the breaks. You’ve got a lot to prove.” Colton pauses to reinforce his words. And as much as I hate this, I love this. Love that Colton is laying down the law and being a big brother, and that Hawkin’s letting him. Colton glances over to me and then back to Hawke. “My sister’s a big girl, she can take care of herself, but flat out, if you fuck with her again, you’ll have to
deal with me.”
“Colton!” I kick him under the table and enjoy the grunt he emits in return.
“Nah, it’s cool,” Hawke says as he stands and reaches across the table and holds out his hand. “I understand. Deal?”
Colton eyes Hawke’s hand for a moment, working his tongue in his cheek before standing to shake his hand. Their hands grip tightly, gazes lock, and trust is passed from begrudging brother to a worthy lover.
I glance up at my sister-in-law across from me and she mouths, “So he’s the one, huh?”
I nod subtly and feel stupid for the tears that suddenly spring to my eyes when I realize that she’s absolutely right. Hawkin is the one. He’s my one. I guess I believe in fairy-tale endings after all, so long as I can write my own ending….
And I sure as hell am going to make sure this ending counts for us.
Epilogue
HAWKIN
“You didn’t have to come here with me,” I tell her as we stand at the nurse’s station. I look over at her, blond curls piled on top of her head, pink lips, hand in mine, and fuck, I just stare. She’s absolutely gorgeous.
And I don’t understand why under these fluorescent lights surrounded by the medicinal smell, it hits me. I’ve looked at her hundreds of times before—naked, clothed, blushing, moaning, pissed, sad, sleepy, coming—and yet maybe it’s me that’s changed because right now as clichéd as it sounds, it’s like I am seeing her for the first time. When I brought her here before, I was trying to prove a point. She called my cards to the table, thought I was cheating on her, and little did I know that taking her to see my mom would shift my whole goddamn world off its predetermined axis.
But now, the first time I’ve brought her back here since that day, things have changed. I’ve changed.
Every woman is beautiful in some way or another, it just takes the right man to see it in them. I guess I’ve finally become that man now because when I look at her, I’m absolutely smitten.
And that’s a fucking scary thought for me.
But I’ve realized that the burdens I’ve carried on my shoulders for a lifetime weren’t mine to bear. Hunter and I will both continue to live with demons from the day our dad sealed his fate, but my brother’s problems are not mine to deal with. I can’t fix things for him anymore. Fuck yes it hurts having him out of my life, but looking at Quinlan I know how much more it would hurt if I hadn’t made it to her house in time.
His love is supposed to be unconditional but what I see in Quin’s eyes and know from the guys is ten times more absolute than I’ve ever felt from him.
She smiles softly at me, telling me with her eyes that she remembers what happened the last time we were here together, and that she was there for me then and will be here for me now. She reaches out and links her fingers with mine. “I know I don’t have to be, but one, you had to put up with my brother the other day. And most important, I want to be,” she says, answering my question. “I need to get all the time with you I can. You’re going to be gone for way too long. Like, three days before I join you in Seattle, and I’m gonna miss you like crazy … You’re going to be sick of me by the time your flight leaves.” She presses a soft kiss to my lips and I can’t describe the feelings that stir within me at hearing her say that.
