Page 19 of Out of Reach
Covering his skipping heart with his hand, Hawk could only blink up at those deep brown eyes.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Jude asked, crouching and tentatively pushing Hawk’s hair off his sweaty forehead.
Pushing himself to a seated position, Hawk fought a wave of dizziness.Man, I must have really clocked myself.
“Here, let me help you up.” Jude held out a hand.
Grasping it, Hawk let Jude tug him to his feet. He wanted to hold onto that hand and never let go.
“I’m fine,” he muttered, grabbing the towel he’d brought with him and running it over his hair, face, and neck. His memories of their breakup had been so vivid, it felt as though they’d happen yesterday. They’d left him raw and vulnerable, and he didn’t know how to act.
“I just wanted to tell you I was back from dinner,” Jude said into the dead silence.
Clearing his throat, Hawk started for the door. “How’d it go?”
“You weren’t listening?” Jude asked.
“Yeah, I was. I just wanted to hear your take on it.”
Together, they left the gym. Pausing at the elevators, Hawk frowned, looking around. “Andi and Sean let you come down here alone?”
“Sean walked me down and scoped the place out. If you really did listen in at dinner, you know Sam isn’t out to kill me.”
Remembering what Prescott had said, Hawk shook his head. “What kind of a psycho puts a hit out on somebody to get them to call them?” He punched the elevator button.
“We talked everything out. Sam’s not going to control my career anymore. He just wants to be friends.”
Hawk gave a derisive snort. “Yeah. And you agreed for us to spend this weekend with him.”
“I figured you’d want to snoop around before going back to North Carolina,” Jude said as they stepped onto the elevator. “Should I have said no?”
“No, it’s fine. I guess I can make use of our time there.”
The doors slid shut and the elevator began its ascent.
Hawk would rather poke around Prescott’s penthouse in Manhattan, but he supposed he might find something at Prescott’s weekend retreat that might incriminate him.
Once on their floor, Hawk unlocked the door to the apartment. Seeing his coworkers relaxing in the living room watching television, he motioned for Jude to go in.
“Some bodyguards you two are,” Hawk said, shutting and locking the door.
“From what we heard tonight, Prescott wanted Jude back, not dead,” Sean said, eyes not moving from the screen.
“Says you,” Hawk muttered.
“Says Slade, too. I just got off the phone with him,” Andi said. “He wants you to continue digging into Prescott’s past while you can, though.”
Hawk only grunted. He wasn’t sure how he felt about any of it, but he didn’t have an argument. At least he wasn’t being taken off the case yet.
“I guess we’ll go to our room,” Sean announced, flicking off the TV and standing up and stretching. “Hope Andi can keep her paws off me tonight. I’d hate to have to tell Tara what a skank her wife is.”
“As if,” Andi said, punching Sean in the arm. Hawk was sure it had hurt.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Jude
Four a.m. and Jude was wide awake, staring at the man lying beside him. Hawk’s chest rose and fell rhythmically in sleep. It reminded Jude of all the times he’d lain awake at night after Hawk had come home from a deployment and watched him until the wee hours of the morning. He’d always missed him so damn much while he was away. Sometimes he’d thought Hawk had missed Jude, too. But other times, like when Hawk would so blithely disregard something that Jude said, he’d had to wonder.Better to leave before he does, he’d told himself until he finally got up enough gumption to actually do it.