Page 9 of Hawk
“Gideon?” I close my eyes briefly, take a breath and ask, “Is there somewhere we can talk that’s a little quieter?”
He releases an annoyed, exaggerated sigh and turns to walk without telling me where he’s going. I don’t know if I’m reading his body language correctly, but I guess I’m about to find out because I follow him to the back of the building and out the back door. He walks to a back door, pushes it open and steps outside in the alley. I move Lilly to my other shoulder to give my arm a rest then look around, scoping out the place. It stinks back here. There are dumpsters, trash everywhere and a stream of something constantly oozing and it doesn’t look like water.
“Make it quick,” he says. “I have a celebration to get back to. Unlike you, those people in there are actually happy to see me.”
“And you’re happy about seeing people who have you constantly in and out of jail?”
“You don’t know what you’re—look…if you don’t have nothing to say, I’ll be on my way.”
He heads back for the door and I blurt out, “I need help, Gideon.”
He stops, turns to look at me and says, “Yeah, I heard that part. Help for what?”
“I need a place to stay. Me and Lilly have been sleeping in a car for a few months. I can’t have her in a car.”
“Lilly, huh?” he says and glances at her. Her face is still nestled into my neck at the moment. “That sounds like a problem you need to take up with her father. You made it clear you wanted nothing to do with me and for two years, you stuck to that. Now, that I’m out, all of a sudden you need my help. And why do you need somewhere to stay, Ivy? You let some man put his hands on you.”
The look of shock on my face is unmistakable. How did he know?
He says, “Yeah, you’ve been seen around town with a black eye. Tell you what? Give me the name of the bastard who did this to you, and I’ll take care of him.”
“No. I don’t want to get you into any trouble, Gideon.”
“I have my ways of finding out, darling, even if you keep those pretty lips of yours closed.”
“You know what—forget it. That’s not why I came here,” I say, my eyes tearing up.
Lilly rouses and sits up and stretches her little arms in the air and starts whining and carrying on. She’s a good sleeper, but when she’s awake, she’s awake. She’s whimpering, rubbing her eyes before she looks at me and then she looks at Gideon.
Grimacing, he looks at me and then looks at her again.
“Ivy?” he questions after he’s figured it out. I knew he would without me having to say a word. I gave birth to her, but she looks just like him.
“I wanted to tell you before, but—”
He backs away from me and kicks some trash on the ground out of sheer frustration and anger. Then he looks at me. “She’s mine?”
“Ye-yes. She’s yours.”
He interlocks his fingers at the back of his head and just holds it there for a moment. He asks, “Did you drive here?”
“Yes.”
“Walk around the building to the front and wait for me in your car. I don’t want you to take her back in there.”
“Okay.”
I begin walking around the building as he requests.
Lilly is still unsettled and rightly so. She has no idea where we are and for the last few weeks, she hasn’t had a stable home due to my mistakes. I think that is what gets to me the most. I’m her mother. I should’ve never put her in this position. She deserves so much more.
“Shh. It’s okay, Lilly. You’ll be fine now,” I tell her as tears slide down my eyes. “You’re going to be okay, baby girl.”
Chapter 3
Gideon
I don’t believe this, but I have no choice but to when that little girl looks just like me. I have a daughter. A friggin’ daughter. I go back inside the clubhouse, looking for Loki, but when I see him thoroughly enjoying himself with the ladies, I decide to slide out of here without anyone noticing me.