Hawk (A Stepbrother Romance #3)(16)

May resented it, too, I could tell.

"Where's Hawk?" she asked, as she flipped channels and played with her phone.

"I'm meeting up with him later."

May's head shot up and she turned around, leaned on the back of the couch. "Omygod," she breathed, all one word. "Are you finally going on a real date?"

May had been ribbing me about Hawk since she was what, nine? When she was old enough to understand why boys and girls were together, at least conceptually. She grinned at me and hopped up off the couch.

I sighed. There was no denying it, this time.

"Yeah. I think we are. He asked me to dress up."

"When are you supposed to meet him?"

"He said he'd pick me up at six."

May looked at her phone. "Jesus, Alex! It's four thirty. We need to get you ready."

"Why? I took a shower, I just-"

"You can't go on a date with hair like that. What are you wearing?"

"A dress?"

"Show me."

I sighed, knowing there was no escape from this. May pulled me by the arm into my room, threw my closet open and started rummaging until she found my dress. It wasn't frumpy exactly but it wasn't the sexiest thing in the world.

"This is it?"

"Yeah," I held it up. "What's wrong with it?"

"It's too long and it doesn't show your boobs."

"May!"

"He needs to see your boobs."

"Stop saying boobs."

"Fine," she sighed, exasperated. "You can wear the old lady dress. We can make it sexy. Where are your stockings?"

"I have some leggings in my drawer…"

Taking that as permission, she began digging through my clothes until she came out with a pair of red leggings.

"Wear these, they're cute. Where are your shoes?"

Without waiting for an answer, she started digging through my closet and lining up my entire array of footwear.

"Do you have anything besides hiking boots?"

"Well…"

"Don't say running shoes," she snapped. "Here we go."

May pulled out the heels I wore to the prom. Prom wasn't a big deal for me. I wore a cheap dress and didn't take a date. I'm not sure why I went.

Hawk didn't either. We spent most of the night sitting on the bleachers together.

I was afraid to dance.

Later I would wish I had.

"Okay," May looked over my ensemble. "Now we need to do your hair and makeup and stuff."

"Makeup?"

"Yeah, come to my room."

That's how I ended up sitting on May's bed while she first did my hair, straightening it with an iron before weaving it into a French braid. May then started applying makeup. I expected to have to clean it all off before Hawk arrived, figuring she'd make me look like a clown since she was so young, but as I watched her apply what little I had to work with, I was surprised how much better she made me look. After I put on the dress and leggings I felt… well, girly.

"You look great," she said, handing me my shoes.

I slipped them on and wished I hadn't. It took too much concentration to wear heels. I wobbled my way out to the living room and waited on the couch, feeling like I was a little girl playing dress up. May and I watched Jeopardy, and waited for Hawk.

We waited, and we waited, and we waited. At six thirty I frowned and May muted the television.

I texted him, no answer. I called him, no answer. The clock ticked on. I called him a few more times.

At seven forty-five I changed into sneakers and I went looking for him without changing. By the time I made it to his street, I was sweating like a pig and my outfit was ruined. I jogged up the front steps of his house and pounded on the front door for half a minute before I heard the knob turn and the door swung open. Lance, Hawk's brother, answered the door.

"Where's Hawk?"

He shrugged. "He's not here."

Then he closed the door in my face.

When I pounded on it again, no one answered.

So I did the most Alexis thing possible in that situation: I sat on his front porch and waited, and waited, and waited. It was full dark, almost eleven at night, before I stood up and started walking home, only to stop when Hawk's father, Tom, pulled in behind the house and rolled his car up into their garage, a detached barn that stands in the back yard. He had four other men with him, men I didn't know. I thought about going around back to ask him where the hell Hawk was, but I looked at his companions and changed my mind.

They were big guys, with hard faces and big, ham-sized hands, to a one. They looked dangerous. My instincts told me something was seriously wrong. I left.

By the time I got home, I expected my mother to be ready to tear me a new orifice, but she wasn't home.

Only May.

"Did you find him?"

The door slapped shut behind me and I just stood there. I walked past her, walked into my tiny bedroom, and flopped face down on the bed.

"He's gone," I murmured. "Lance said he wasn't there."

"I've been calling him the whole time," May said, in a soft voice. "He doesn't answer."

I rolled over, sat up, and summoned all my willpower.