Savage Collision: A Hawke Family Novel (The Hawke Family Book 1) (42 page)

“Shh.” I try to comfort her, but, frankly, I don’t have a clue how I’m going to convince Abello to let this go. There’s no way he can let Danika live with a chance she might publish the story, and he will assume both Gabe and I are involved and helping her at this point. “Danika, was what you told Matteo true? Does no one else know about your story?”

She sniffles and looks up at me with her red-rimmed eyes. “Yes, I never told anyone what I was working on.”

My mind races and a plan begins to form. “What about your notes? Where are they?” If I can get my hands on them, maybe, just maybe, we have a chance at keeping ourselves alive.

“At my place, I keep them in notebook. It’s probably on my desk.”

I nod and kiss her head, holding her close to me as I run through the plan mentally.

I’m a lunatic. It’s the only explanation for why I think this might actually work, but, right now, I feel like there aren’t really a lot of options. The police can’t keep us safe from someone like Abello. He has so many men on his payroll; he has people in every precinct of the city. Even if we left town, where the hell would we go? Would we really be able to leave our families behind? He would find us anyway. With his connections, it wouldn’t even be hard.

“I need to go talk to Gabe. Are you going to be okay here alone for a little bit? I’ll be right across the hall.”

She nods weakly. “Yeah, I need to call Nora and my mom anyway. They will be freaking the fuck out by now.”

I kiss her again, taking my time to show her through actions what I can’t in words. I will fix this.

Savage heads to Gabe’s with a promise he’ll return as soon as he can, and an order not to leave the condo unless it’s to come to Gabe’s because I need something.

I agree, reluctantly. Even though I know it would be dangerous and stupid to leave the building, the thought of being cooped up here for God knows how long while Gabe and Savage try to figure this out is giving me cabin fever already.

Wandering back to the bedroom, I climb onto Savage’s bed and recline against the headboard, staring at my phone in my hand. I have multiple messages from Nora, Caroline, my mother, my editor, and pretty much everyone I have ever met asking if I am okay. I barely listen to them before I hit the “Delete” button. I don’t want to have to discuss what went down with everyone. If I did, I’m not sure I could maintain the level of calm and control I have managed so far today.

The only reason I’m not currently in a corner sobbing and generally becoming a mental patient is because of Savage. His strength and reassurances have grounded me, and the breakthrough we had concerning our relationship has cemented us in a way I didn’t think possible. All the magnificent hormones racing through my body from the multiple orgasms can’t hurt either.

Taking a deep breath, I mentally prepare myself for the call with my mom and Nora. I’m doing this three-way, no way in hell I am going to do it twice.

As soon as the phone starts ringing, I feel like I’m going to vomit. I need to tell them right off the bat I’m not getting into details with them. There’s no way I would survive discussing that, especially without Savage here.

“Danika? Oh, my God! Are you okay?” Nora screeches into the phone.

“Yes, I’m okay. Hold on, I’m going to get Mom on the line.”

“No, don’t call her. I’m at her house. I’ll put it on speaker.” I hear her scream for our mother, and can picture her running down the hallway in my mom’s tiny ranch house at breakneck speeds just like when we were kids. Rustling follows and then my mother is screaming when Nora tells her I am on the phone.

I groan and drop my head back against the headboard, clenching my eyes shut and enjoying my last second of peace and calm before my mother’s inquisition begins.

“Danika! Are you okay? What the hell happened? We got a call from Gabe saying you were okay, but…”

“Mom…” I interject, the tension between my temples swelling infinitely.

“…then this morning on the news we saw pictures of you and Savage and you were covered in blood! They said something about three dead…”

“Mom! Stop.” I don’t mean to snap at her. Really, I don’t, but she never stops. She never listens, and if she starts drilling me about what happened I know I will lose it. I can’t lose it. I can’t. I’m too strong for that.

Keep it together.

After a sharp intake of breath, Nora whispers something to our mother before responding. “Are you okay, really?”

I sigh, pressing on my temples to try to ease some of the pressure. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m at Savage’s and will be here for a while, I think, but I’m fine. I promise.”

Nora tells our mother she will be right back and I hear her footsteps and a door slam. “Sorry, I needed to get away from Mom. You’re at Savage’s? What’s going on? Are you two back together?”

“Yeah, we are. We talked, and things are good.”

I don’t know how else to explain it to her. I have no intention to giving her any of the salacious details. It’s awkward enough having my sister work for my boyfriend. The last thing that needs to be tossed in that mix is her having knowledge of our deep, dark secrets.

She releases a sigh. “Thank God. You two were fucking miserable asshats the last couple weeks. I swear to God, if you didn’t figure this shit out soon, Gabe and I were ready to lock you two in a room and leave you until you got your shit together.”

“Gee, thanks, sis,” I say, sliding off the bed and making my way to the bathroom. A long, scalding-hot bath sounds amazing right now. I grab what I need and walk down the hallway to the guest bathroom and its enormous whirlpool jet bathtub.

“I’m just being honest. It was awful watching both of you torture yourselves. It was clear neither of you wanted this breakup, or whatever it was. I’m just happy you worked it out. I could have done without the heart attack I had when Gabe called to tell us what happened and then saw you on the news.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” I switch on the water and sit on the side of the tub as the steam rises around me. The eucalyptus bath salts sitting on the edge of the tub look beyond inviting so I dump some in as the tub fills.

“What are you doing now? You need me to come over?”

“No, Savage is over at Gabe’s for a bit. I am going to take a long, hot bath and just try to relax.”

“Okay,” she says, and I hear the disappointment in her voice, “but let me know if you need me.”

I know she wants to be here to support me, and I love her even more for it, but I’m too on edge right now to deal with her. Especially when she doesn’t, and can’t, know the whole story.

“Maybe tomorrow, Nora. I’ll call you.”

“Okay, I love you.”

“Love you, too.” I hang up and slide my phone onto the counter before I strip and step into the tub. The hot water sears my skin, almost to the point of intolerability, but I sink down into it anyway, letting it continue filling around me.

Dropping my head back against the headrest, I close my eyes and try to concentrate on the sound of the rushing water. Maybe it will wash away the images in my head, the ones that, even after what happened with Savage this morning, I can’t seem to shake.

He promised things would get better. He said it gets easier, more bearable.

I hope he’s right because the thought of going to bed and closing my eyes, being with my thoughts and the vivid memories all night, terrifies me. It’s different in the daylight, easier to make it through with distractions like Savage. But nothing will ever get better if he and Gabe can’t find a way to deal with Abello.

The cops told me they didn’t have enough on him to arrest him, just like I didn’t have enough to write my story. So, Savage is right. They’re useless as far as protecting me is concerned.

But something inside tells me not to underestimate Savage, or Gabe for that matter.

They’ll figure something out. They have to.

Gabe stares at me from across the coffee table.

“You want to do what?” he asks, his jaw dropping open in disbelief. “Are you fucking insane?”

His response shouldn’t surprise me, I guess. My plan isn’t exactly foolproof, but I can’t think of any other feasible way to get out of this clusterfuck.

“You have a better plan?”

“Than blackmailing the head of the fucking mob and then relying on him to keep a promise not to come after us? Yeah, I think I can come up with something better than that, Savage. For fuck sake, you can’t trust this guy. You, of all people, should know and understand that.”

“Oh yeah, and what’s your plan? Take him out with your damn rifle?” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I regret them. He recoils and presses his lips together in a tight line as his blue eyes go ice-cold instantly. It wasn’t fair, and I know it.

Low blow, Savage. Nice work.

I know what a toll his job took on him. Maybe I don’t understand the full extent. I doubt he will ever open up enough to talk to me about what went on over there, but just knowing it got bad enough he went to a shrink tells me all I need to know. A good friend doesn’t throw something like that in your face. I’m such an asshole.

“Gabe, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.”

He drops back in the sofa and leans his head back, effectively avoiding any eye contact with me. “Yeah, you did.”

The silence lingers between us and I try to determine something, anything to say. I could deny it, but I would be lying. As much as I hate that what I said hurt him, I also know he’s good, really fucking good at killing. And whether he likes that fact or not, it’s still true, and it would still solve all of our problems.

He scrubs his hands down his face before finally returning his leery gaze to me. “I can’t kill him, Savage,” he murmurs, his voice barely loud enough to hear.

Gabe doesn’t break. Ever. He’s been my best friend, my brother, my rock, since I was too young to realize how important it was. He’s been with me through the hardest days of my life, and risked his own life to save Danika’s. And I know he would do it again, without me ever asking. He doesn’t break, but he is bent right now, after what happened last night, so far I’m afraid anything I say may push him over some invisible edge.

“I know you can’t. I didn’t really mean that was an option. I just meant it might solve our problem.”

He nods slowly, then reaches for his beer on the table and tips it back, draining what’s left in the bottle. “You really think it could work?”

“What? My plan?”

“Yeah.”

I’ve been thinking about this nonstop since we rescued Danika. A hundred different ideas have battled around in my head, and I’ve rejected every single one of them. This is all I have, all we have, our only chance at surviving this.

“If I was just some random guy off the street whose girlfriend got in over her head? No. Not for a fucking second do I think it would work. But, Abello knows me. He knows I don’t fuck around, and he knows my word means something. And I know him. I don’t think he wants to hurt me, either directly, or by going after Danika or you. I think if I presented this option, another way to him, he will take it rather than face the consequences of taking us out.”

Just the thought of him coming after Danika or Gabe makes me so angry, my skin heats and my heartbeat races. “I’m not going to let him fuck with us, Gabe. It took me too long to get to where I am, to finally be happy, I’m not going to lose it now.”

“What about my dad? You know he won’t just let this go if Abello follows through with your plan.”