Broken Beautiful Hearts(19)

Reed backs up and steps off the porch. “Can I just talk to her for one minute? I’m trying to make this right.”

“You want to make things right? Tell the truth. Peyton doesn’t deserve to be harassed because of your lies.”

“Who is harassing her?” Reed’s voice sounds deeper—and colder—his anger simmering just beneath the surface. “Tell me who it is and it won’t happen again.”

“Are you going to push them down the stairs, too?”

Why is she provoking him? If she pushes him too far, he could snap.

Mom starts to close the door. “I’m reporting this little visit to the police. Don’t come near my house again.”

Reed tries to say something, but Mom slams the door so hard that a framed piece of my little-kid artwork falls off the wall and hits the floor.

“Did he leave?” I ask.

“He’s probably still outside somewhere.” Mom paces, twisting her wedding ring back and forth on her finger. “I need to call Hawk.”

If we’ve reached a Hawk-level situation, Mom is panicking.

Mom’s older brother is an all-around badass. He was in Dad’s Force Recon unit, but Hawk was the only Recon operator in their unit who made it home from Iraq. My uncle said goodbye to the military, and now he’s a private security consultant.

His specialty?

Risk assessment and crisis management.

“Mom, this isn’t a crisis.”

“Someone is threatening you. Reed is calling constantly and now he’s showing up here. I’m afraid to leave you alone when I go to work.” She takes out her cell phone. “And what about school?”

“This will blow over.”

“Do you honestly expect me to let you go back to school on Monday so we can test that theory?” she asks. “You’re going to have to transfer or we’ll get you a tutor.”

“I can’t just transfer to another school. Reed screwed up my knee and lied to everyone about it. He tested clean, and now people think I’m the liar. If I run away, he wins.”

“This isn’t a game. There’s no winner. If your father were here, he’d say the same thing.” Her voice cracks.

But he’s not.

My chest tightens, with the familiar longing for my dad. “Mom, you’re overreacting.”

“It’s better than losing my daughter.” She dials my uncle’s number and retreats to the kitchen.

I spend the next twenty minutes eavesdropping on Mom’s call with Hawk.

“I don’t need the risk percentages,” Mom says. “If you think he’s dangerous, that’s all I need to hear.”

Not good.

I pace in the hall outside the kitchen, but Mom’s side of the conversation isn’t giving away much.

“Are you sure it won’t be too much trouble?” she asks. “You’re on your own and you have the boys.”

My pulse ramps up.

Mom can’t be thinking what it sounds like she’s thinking.

I storm the kitchen the moment she hangs up. “I’m not going to stay with Hawk.”

He lives in Mom’s hometown, in Tennessee, with his twin sons. The last time we visited was six months before Dad died. I haven’t gone back since then. It’s too hard. Now Hawk visits Mom whenever work brings him near DC.

“Your uncle agrees with me. Staying here is dangerous. Someone is threatening you, and we have no idea if Reed is involved. And Reed is stalking you.”

“Fine. I won’t go back to school until this dies down. I’ll do the home tutoring thing. But I can’t leave. It will look like I’m running away.”

“I don’t care how it looks.”

“But I do.” I’m not letting Reed’s lies force me out of my school—or DC.

Mom crosses her arms. “It’s not your decision.”

“A small town like Black Water probably doesn’t even have a physical therapist. I can’t lose my scholarship. I won’t let Reed take that, too.”

“There are two state universities less than forty minutes from Black Water, and a major city an hour away. Hawk is going to make some calls, and I’ll call Dr. Kao in the morning.”

She has it all figured out.

“I can’t live with Hawk. He’ll want to talk about what happened to Dad.”

My father died in a cave-in, in a tunnel underneath an abandoned building. Hawk was on the roof of another building nearby, keeping watch and listening on the two-way radio. He heard everything. He was also at the recovery scene and, later, he read the autopsy report.

But I don’t want to know the details.

“Hawk is your uncle and he loves you. He’s not going to talk about what happened to your dad unless you have questions,” Mom promises.

“I won’t. Ever.”

Mom touches her wedding ring. “One day you might want to hear the whole story.”

My chest tightens like a hand is squeezing what’s left of my heart. “I already know how it ends.”





CHAPTER 8

Black Water

MOM ORGANIZED MY temporary move and transfer to Black Water High School in less than forty-eight hours. The threatening phone calls were a serious motivator. We received three more calls after Mom got off the phone with Hawk. Mom reported the threats to the police, but there wasn’t much they could do, so we just unplugged the phone again. The police suggested filing for a restraining order to keep Reed away from me, but Reed was out of control. It would take more than a piece of paper to intimidate him.