Page 47 of Out of Reach

Seeing that there was no arguing with him, Jude gave in.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Hawk

“Did they catch Prescott?” Hawk asked Mal.

“No. He disappeared like smoke.”

“Fucking unbelievable.” It was so damn frustrating.

Zion had been held for a couple of weeks in a little house in Hackensack where Hawk suspected he’d been through some shit, judging by the way he cringed anytime someone new got close to him. He’d spent nearly an hour in the bathtub when they reached the hotel, and now, wearing one of Mal’s shirts and a pair of his sweatpants, he sat on one of the beds wrapped in a blanket, Jude by his side. Zion was young and pretty, with hair nearly as light as Jude’s and big gray eyes. He wasn’t very tall—maybe five-eight or five-nine.

Ever since they came off the ship and Mal had talked him through being examined by the paramedics, Zion had latched onto Mal like a baby possum to its mother. Hawk had only brought Mal to the other side of the hotel room to talk to him, and Zion looked like he wanted to run after him. If Hawk hadn’t felt so bad for Zion and what he’d been through, it would have been funny.

Someone knocked on the door.

“Must be room service,” Mal said, headed that way.

“Make sure you look through the peephole,” Zion called out.

Mal did and then opened the door to the waiter and the cart. Hawk tipped the guy, and after he left, the four men sat down to eat. Zion gulped food down like he was starving, but Jude wrinkled his nose at it. The doctor at the hospital had pronounced him fine after taking his blood and examining him, but it bothered Hawk that he wasn’t eating.

Spearing a piece of steak on a fork, he held it up. “Please eat,” he said, doing his best to make puppy eyes at him.

Jude sighed but obediently took the morsel into his mouth and chewed. He allowed Hawk to feed him a few more pieces plus some cooked carrots before refusing any more. Hawk called it a win and dug into the food on his own plate.

The minute Zion finished eating, he ran into the bathroom and threw it all up. Jude followed him, and after the toilet flushed and the two of them came out, Jude made Zion lie down on one of the beds and rest while he entertained him by showing him memes. Hawk motioned Mal to go out on the balcony where they could have some privacy.

“I want to take Jude back with me to North Carolina. Zion has a sister in New York, I think. I’m guessing he’ll want to go there. You think you can escort him? I kind of doubt he’ll go without you.”

Mal smiled. “Yeah, I’ve become his security blanket. I don’t mind accompanying him home. I want to make sure he’s okay, anyway.”

Hawk nodded. “Okay. Jude and I are flying back in the morning.”

“Sounds good.”

Hawk thought Jude and Zion would sleep together in one bed and he and Mal in the other, but after about twenty minutes of tossing and turning and some intense whispering, Jude said into the darkness, “Hawk, come switch with Zion. He can’t sleep.”

Hawk was more than happy to do so. Wrapping his arms around Jude underneath the blanket, he whispered in his ear, “You okay?”

“I will be,” Jude said. “Just kind of rattled. Thanks for rescuing me.”

“Well, that was really the FBI. I just waited nervously outside. They wouldn’t let us help.”

“Yeah, but you told them where we were.”

“After you called me and told me where you were,” Hawk reminded him.

Jude stopped arguing and settled more comfortably in Hawk’s arms. He was asleep within minutes.

***

Hawk had thought he might have trouble convincing Jude to come back to North Carolina with him, but Jude seemed fine with it. They took an early plane and were at the mansion for lunch. Jude was a little subdued, but Hawk supposed that was natural after what he’d been through. Jude swore Prescott hadn’t done anything to him other than scare him with words, and that was a relief. Hawk suspected the real reason Jude wasn’t himself was because he’d learned that Prescott hadn’t been caught. Hawk had tried to keep it from him, but within Jude’s first week in North Carolina, he’d managed to see it on the news, even though Hawk had done his best to keep him away from his phone.

West caught Hawk after a workout. “I’m putting you with Logan at the casino this week on regular security duty.” Hawk opened his mouth to argue, but West cut in, “It’s your turn. Evenings and nights. We’ll look after Jude.” He slapped Hawk on the back before walking away.

Hawk didn’t like it. Prescott was out there somewhere and might come after Jude, but after he went to Jase, who assured him that the FBI had a couple of men parked at the end of the road, he felt better about it.