Hawke (Carolina Cold Fury Hockey #5)(12)

“So you do know the reason?” I push at her.

“I do, but again…not my place to say,” she hedges.

I let out an exasperated breath, slide my gaze back over to the arena, and try to figure a way to get her to just f*cking tell me. With a soft hand to my shoulder, my attention is brought back to Gray.

“Look,” she murmurs. “Why don’t you just talk to Dave yourself?”

Huh? Hadn’t thought of that.

“I don’t have his—” I start to say, but Gray cuts me off.

“Go back into the executive offices. See my secretary, Charlene. She’ll give you his phone number and you can give him a call,” she says with a smile, and then turns back to Ryker. “Ready to go, baby?”

“Yeah,” he says as he leans in to open her car door. As an afterthought, he says, “Hey, man…want to get together sometime this weekend? Me, Garrett, Alex, and Zack. Get a beer or something?”

“Sure,” I say with a grateful smile toward both of them. “And thanks, Gray.”

She nods and then I turn from them, trotting back into the arena.

In just five minutes, I’m calling Dave on his cellphone.

He answers on the second ring.

“Um…hey, Dave…it’s—”

“Hawke Therrien,” he says, and I can hear the smile in his voice. “How the hell are you?”

“I’m good,” I say as I walk back toward the player parking lot. “Saw Vale today…said you’d retired and just thought I’d give you a call to see how you’re doing.”

“Well, that’s mighty nice of you,” he says gruffly. “Been following your career. You’re a f*cking star, boy. Always knew you had it in you.”

I can’t help it. The affection in his voice…not just for a boy he trained, but for the boy that became a man that was in love with his daughter at one time. And I feel like shit for letting so many years go by.

“Yeah, I appreciate that. It’s really good to hear your voice. Nice to be able to catch up, even if it’s from a very long overdue call.”

“I get it,” he says. “You get busy and all that.”

“Not much of an excuse, really,” I say lamely.

“Listen, why don’t you come on by and let’s visit a bit. Vale’s at her second job and it gets lonely sitting in this apartment all by myself.”

I freeze in midstep. “You’re here…in Raleigh?”

“Well, yeah. Didn’t Vale tell you?”

“No,” I say quietly into the phone. “No, she didn’t.”





Chapter 4


Vale


I pull into my apartment complex, beyond exhausted. I had three clients to train at the gym tonight and haven’t eaten dinner. As if to prove its displeasure with me, my stomach emits a snarly grumble as I turn off the ignition. At least I had the presence of mind this morning to put a roast in the slow cooker for me and Dad, and nothing sounded better to me than wolfing down some food, taking a hot shower, and collapsing into bed.

Sucks having to work two jobs, but what the Cold Fury pays me isn’t enough to cover everything. When Dad and I realized we’d need to do a fast relocate to this area, I did a mad scramble to put in applications anywhere I could think to get a job. While there’s a nice selection of collegiate sports teams in this area, the pickings for a coveted AT position were slim, so I also put in applications at all the area gyms. My certification as a strength and conditioning specialist earned me several offers, but the pay was even worse than the Cold Fury because it was commission-type work, and without a solid base of clientele, there was no way we’d be able to make it. Luckily, though, the offer came down from Gray Brannon, and after I accepted it, I was fortunate to still be able to take on a part-time position at Xtreme Fit gym just a few miles from our apartment. It meant hitting the gym early each morning before I started work at the arena, and most nights after work I was back there again, but it meant the bills were paid and there was money left over for pot roast.

My legs are heavy as I walk the stairs to the second floor. I wanted a ground-floor apartment, but there weren’t any available and the waiting list is long. So far, though, it hasn’t been a problem for Dad to navigate the stairs, and I hope that remains true.

The minute I unlock the door and open it, I inhale deeply, willing the scent of slow-cooked meat to permeate and hopefully give my stomach a promise of something good to come. Instead, I smell…is that pizza?

I step inside and my eyes immediately go to a pizza box on the coffee table, then slide over to a pair of long legs encased in dark jeans. My gaze travels up and I see Hawke sitting on the sofa with a beer bottle in hand, watching me with harsh eyes.

“What are you doing here?” I blurt out as I remove my key from the lock.

“He came by to visit me,” my father says jovially, and my head snaps over to him as he sits back in his recliner. He also has a beer bottle in his hand.

My blood pressure spikes, my vision goes hazy from anger, and I stalk up to him. “What are you doing, drinking beer? You can’t have that.”

Dad just chuckles and holds it up for me to see. “Relax, Vale. It’s nonalcoholic.”

I expect the anger to quiet but it doesn’t. I look back pointedly at the pizza box and then back to my father. “And pizza? What about the roast I put in the Crock-Pot?”