Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“Do you even remember what the letter said? It could have been a prank?” Darlene asked.
“Yeah, only why am I suddenly feeling like it’s not, and I could have saved Diana?”
She got to her feet, as did Darlene.
“Stop it,” Darlene said. “You don’t know why Diana is dead. You don’t know what caused it. You have to stop this.”
Nikki pressed her hands to her face.
“From what I heard, Diana had a lot of male attention and a lot of issues. It might have been drugs. For all you know, Diana might have done this on purpose. She might have broken into your trailer, took a deadly concoction of drugs, writing you that note to torment you. There are any number of reasons. You’ve got to stop this.”
Nikki felt the tears seeping out of her eyes. She felt so sick.
“I don’t know what to do,” she said.
“I know what you do. You drink that hot chocolate, and you take a deep breath. You’ve got a full day of work. Did you bring your makeup?”
Nikki nodded.
“Good. Then you get your face on, and we work.”
“How can you do this?”
Darlene shrugged. “It’s not the first dead body and I don’t think it is going to be the last I’ve ever dealt with. This is club, Nikki.”
“What does that even mean?” Nikki asked.
“You decided to pick the club over the cops. The club has your back. Hawk is going to make all of this go away, but you made your choice today. It’s club or nothing.”
Chapter Seventeen
Hawk knocked on Ethel’s door and stood back and waited. Within seconds, she answered.
“I’m so pleased you came,” Ethel said.
This surprised him. He stepped over the threshold and quickly glanced around. “Where is she?”
“She’s upstairs. What happened?”
“It’s nothing. I’m going to go to her.”
Ethel nodded. “Dinner’s nearly ready. You’re invited.”
He would only stick around if Nikki wanted him to. Making his way upstairs, he glanced toward the closed doors. He didn’t have a clue where Nikki was hiding, so he took a quick guess, and to his surprise, he guessed right.
Stepping into the bedroom on his right, there was Nikki sitting on the edge of her bed. Her hair was still wet from the shower, and she continued to look straight ahead.
“Nikki? Baby?”
She looked up and frowned. “Hawk?”
He went straight to her, taking the seat right beside her, pulling her in close, and then kissing the top of her head. “It’s going to be okay.”
She didn’t touch him, just stayed perfectly still within his arms, and he didn’t mind that. All he wanted to do was hold her, breathe in that scent he’d missed.
Hawk couldn’t believe how royally he had fucked up. It wasn’t even funny. How could he have even thought for a second there was a chance of him ever being able to live without this woman? It was laughable.
He just held her.
In her moment of need, she hadn’t called the cops, her mother, or Darlene, not even Diana. He knew the last one wouldn’t have been much help but that was beside the point. She had called him, and that meant something.
“How do you know? Someone killed my ex-best friend and placed her in my trailer. Whoever did that knows where I live, and what’s more, they said I’m going to be next.” She pulled back. “There’s more. I forgot to tell you but … there was a note attached to my windshield that looked exactly like the one on the table today.”
He frowned. He was aware of one more as well, but he hadn’t told Nikki about it, nor had Darlene. Someone was targeting Nikki.
“I told Darlene about it today, but she wondered if it could have been Diana messing with me? You don’t think she would have been that cruel, do you?”
He reached out and stroked some of her hair back. “I don’t know, Nikki. You tell me.” He marveled at the fact she wasn’t even accusing him. After all, he’d given her that instruction what felt like weeks ago. Why had Diana still been in town? He’d not seen her and she certainly hadn’t caused Nikki any trouble. No, that had fallen to him, and the truth coming out.
“I don’t know. I don’t know if Diana would have done that. I don’t even know if she is capable of that. She must be, though, right?”
“I don’t know,” he said.
“Do we know what killed her?”
“I’ve got a few guys who are dealing with this,” Hawk said.
Nikki gasped. “You’re not going to get into trouble, are you? I didn’t even think about that when I called you. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
Could this mean Nikki might forgive him? Was there even a slight chance of it? He didn’t know if this could mean what he thought it could, but instead of getting his hopes up, he pushed back her hair and looked into her eyes.