Wednesday (Timeless Series #3) (9 page)

I explored the house further and searched for the piece of shit that was my father. Every room was empty, and the guest room had all the broken pieces of furniture my dad tried to hide from the police. It was safe to say he wasn’t there.

But when he came back, I would deal with him.

***

My phone had been off for a while. I didn’t want to talk to anybody. Right now, all I cared about was killing the fiend that took my mother’s life away. If I spoke to anyone, they might try to stop me.

I didn’t even want to speak to Francesca.

I stayed in a hotel a few miles from the house. This place was my hometown, but it didn’t feel like home. Now it was a ghost town, a place I never really knew. I’d spent so much time trying to get out of this place that I didn’t realize I should have stayed behind.

I didn’t try hard enough to save my mother. All I had to do was drag her out of the house when my father was at work and throw her in the back of my truck. I could have taken her somewhere safe. We could have started over. And when he came after her, I could have protected her.

But I didn’t do that.

I let her die.

***

I turned on my phone to make a call. The second it was powered on, it rang with Francesca’s name on the screen. She must have been calling nonstop in the hope I would turn on my phone at the right moment.

I sighed in irritation, not wanting to listen to her at the moment. I just wanted her to go away. “Yeah?”

“Hawke?” The panic in her voice rattled my ears. “Where did you go? I came to your apartment and you were gone. I’ve been so worried about you. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Okay?” I released a maniacal laugh. “I’m not okay. I’ll never be okay.”

She paused, the fear transferring over the line. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” I laughed again, not sounding at all like myself. “I’ll tell you what’s wrong. My mom is dead. She was beaten to death. That’s what’s wrong.”

Another stretch of silence. “Oh my god…”

“That pathetic excuse for a man killed her. And I let it happen.”

“Hawke…”

“Now that I’ve gotten you up to speed, I have to go.” My thumb moved for the END button.

“Wait, wait. Are you in South Carolina?”

“Where else would I be?” She did nothing to deserve my hatred, but I couldn’t control it. My entire world was upside down, and I couldn’t distinguish friend from foe. All I felt was numb. I knew this day would come, and despite that foresight, I still hadn’t prevented it.

“Where are you, exactly?”

“Don’t come down here. I just want to be alone.”

“Hawke, please.”

“Are you deaf?”

Francesca didn’t flinch at my hostile behavior. Normally, she would scream back but this time she let me get away with it. “Save me some time and tell me. Otherwise, I’m going to waste time and resources looking for you.”

“Good luck with that.” I hung up then made the call I wanted to make in the first place.

On The Line

Francesca

I banged my fists on the door as hard as I could. “Axel! Open up!” I tried calling them but both of their phones were on silent while they slept. “Come on.” I threw my fists harder, bruising them in the process.

Axel opened the door in just his sweatpants. “Shit, what the hell?” His hair was messy and his eyes still contained the distant memory of sleep. “Do you have any idea what time it is?”

“Emergency.” I was slightly out of breath from throwing my body against their front door. “Hawke.”

“What?” His attitude completely changed when he heard what I said. “What happened?”

“His mother died.” I breathed through the stitch in my side until the cramp went away. “His father killed her.” I still couldn’t believe it happened. Hawke feared this day would come, and unfortunately, he was right. “He took off yesterday, and I haven’t been able to find him. But I finally got ahold of him and he’s in South Carolina.”

“Oh shit.” He crossed his arms over his chest, disbelief on his face.

“He’s out of his mind. When I talked to him on the phone, it was like I was talking to a completely different person. He’s…I don’t even know.”

“Poor guy.”

“I’m worried about him. We all need to see him, talk him off the ledge.”

“The ledge of what?”

“From murdering his father.” I shouldn’t say it out loud but it was the truth. I wouldn’t put it past Hawke to do something like that. When his temper flared up, he was more hostile than a nuclear bomb. He lacked self-control.

“Let us get dressed and we’ll go.” He stepped back inside his apartment.

“Please hurry.”

***

“Do you know where he is?” Marie asked from the front seat.

“He wouldn’t tell me.” He’d completely shut me out. Now I was just an annoying stranger to him.

“Let’s think,” Axel said. “Where would he be?”

“He might be at the hospital,” Marie said. “That’s where his mother passed away.”

“But that was twenty-four hours ago,” I argued. “They’ve moved her body since then.”

“Do you know where his dad lives?” Axel asked.

“No…” He never told me.

“Well, he has to sleep somewhere, right?” Marie asked. “He’s probably staying at a hotel somewhere.”

“And it’s probably near the hospital.” Axel slammed his hand on the wheel, thinking back to when we all lived in the area. “And there’s only one hotel in that location. He must be at the Marriott.”

“God, I hope you’re right.” I had a feeling it wouldn’t be that easy.

“Let’s get his room number from the front desk,” Axel said. “We’ll go from there.”

***

To our luck, he had checked into the hotel. Once we knew what room he was in, we ran down the hallway until we found it. My heart was pounding so hard I could barely contain it. It was about to explode and pop out of my chest at any moment.

I knocked on the door lightly, hoping he would assume it was room service or something.

No response.

“Knock again,” Axel whispered.

I rapped my knuckles against the door but didn’t hear a sound from inside.

“He must not be here.” I wanted to grip my skull and scream.

“What’s he doing at five in the morning?” Marie asked.

I didn’t want to think about it.

***

We waited outside his room for him to return.

“Try calling him again.” Axel sat on the ground with Marie across his lap. She was sleeping.

“I did. His phone is off.” I paced in front of the door. I hadn’t slept in forty-eight hours but the need for rest left my body. Hawke was in serious pain and my body couldn’t relax for even a second.

“Come on, Hawke…” Axel stroked Marie’s hair.

I was absolutely terrified Hawke would go to jail for murder. It was gonna happen. I could feel it.

The elevator at the end of the hall beeped before the doors opened. I immediately turned and hoped I’d see Hawke step out.

And he did.

He was wearing the same clothes I saw him in the day he left. He carried himself differently, like an invisible weight sat on top of his shoulders. His eyes were downcast to the floor. He didn’t look up until he was closer to the door.

When he saw me, he didn’t look pleased. Somehow, he looked even angrier than he sounded on the phone a few hours earlier. The sight of my face didn’t soothe him like I hoped. In fact, he looked murderous. “What did I say?” His aggression came out like a blunt axe.

He was suffering more than I could imagine, and I kept that into consideration. When I lost both of my parents around the same time, I wasn’t myself either. I was pissed at my father for voluntarily leaving, and I was angry at the world. No one understood his reaction more than I did. “We love you and want to be here for you.”

“Well, I don’t want you here. You wasted your time.” He pulled the key out of his wallet and headed to the door.

“Hawke.” I placed myself between him and the door. “I understand what you’re feeling—”

“Shut your goddamn mouth. You have no idea what I’m going through. Your father may have killed himself, but he didn’t murder your mom. It’s not the same thing.” His eyes were wide like a serial killer. He wasn’t himself at all.

I didn’t put him in his place because it wouldn’t get me anywhere. I needed to keep him calm, not escalate the fight. “Then explain it to me. I want to listen.” It was hard to believe that we were madly in love and happy just a few days ago. Now that felt like another lifetime.

“I don’t give a shit what you want. I want you to leave—and not come back.” He shoved me aside with his massive arm so he could get to the door. The push wasn’t hard but he would never do something like that if he was himself.

“Whoa, hold on.” Axel rose to his feet, his patience non-existent. “She’s trying to be there for you and that’s how you treat her? I don’t care what happened to you, Hawke. No one talks to my sister like that.”

I appreciated that defense but it would just make things worse. “Axel, take Marie and meet me in the lobby.”

Hawke breathed hard and stared Axel down, like he might rip his head from his shoulders.

Axel didn’t move.

“Please.” I understood Hawke better than he did. I could talk him off the ledge.

Axel took Marie’s hand and walked away.

When they were gone, I turned back to Hawke. “It’s just me.” I kept my voice gentle, hoping that would coax him out of his rampage.

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” His voice was ice-cold. “Frankie, I just want to be alone. I didn’t ask you to come down here. I don’t want to look at you or talk about how I feel. All I want is solitude.”

Watching him brush me off so coldly stung. He should run to me, not away from me. But his emotional state put him on a completely different level. He wasn’t the man I knew. “Then let me be alone with you.”

He got the door open but didn’t let me walk over the threshold. “Go back to where you came from.” He walked inside and let the door shut behind him.

I caught it before it could close and let myself in, uninvited.

Hawke turned around and glared at me. “You want to get killed?”

“You wouldn’t hurt me.” I knew he was a different person at the moment but that didn’t change anything. The man I loved was still in there. He wouldn’t raise a hand to me no matter how upset he was. The only damage he would ever do would be from his words.

“You’re sure about that?” He turned and faced me head-on. “My father and I aren’t any different. We have the same name, the same appearance, and we have the same unbridled temper.” He closed the gap between us and looked down at me with ferocity in his eyes. “I’ll break your neck and put you in the ground. Leave before it’s too late.”

I took a step closer to him. “You aren’t your father.” I tilted my head slightly and exposed my neck to him. “I’m calling your bluff, Hawke.”

“You shouldn’t.”

I stared down at him without blinking. “You protect people, not hurt them. And you’re the greatest man I’ve ever known. You wouldn’t hurt anyone. And you certainly wouldn’t murder anyone.”

“Yeah?” He reached behind his back and withdrew a pistol. “You really think so?” He waved it in front of me.

The sight of the gun made my heart race but I still wasn’t scared. “Then shoot me.”

He clenched his jaw and stared me down, irritated he wasn’t getting his way.

I grabbed the barrel and pointed it at my chest. “That’s the only way you’re getting rid of me.”

Like I suspected, he quickly pulled the gun away and stepped back, terrified that it was ever pointed at me to begin with. He shoved it into the back of his jeans. “Please leave.” Now his voice came out calm, like he accepted defeat.

“No.”

“Then be quiet.” He pulled his shirt off and undressed. He put the safety on the gun and set it on the dresser.

I stood there and watched.

“I’m going to sleep. Let yourself out.” He got under the covers then turned off the lamp.

I stood there for a few moments before I undressed and got into bed beside him. When my body hit the mattress, he turned over and faced the opposite direction, closing himself off from me all over again. I didn’t kill his mother but he was treating me like I did. “I’m so sorry about your mom, Hawke.” I ran my hand up his back.

“Don’t touch me.”

I pulled my hand away and held it to my chest.

After a long pause, he spoke. “The police think it was an accident. She fell down the stairs and crashed into the dresser. When I corrected them, they didn’t believe me. My father is off the hook—just like that.”

I held on to every word and tried not to make a sound.

“She lost so much blood she went into cardiac arrest and died.”

I closed my eyes as the pain washed over me.

“And that asshole walks free.”

It wasn’t right.

“So, I’m going to do what the justice system won’t. I’ll take care of it myself—and stand by and watch him die.”

I knew he was upset and heartbroken. No one could blame him for that. But this wasn’t the answer. “You have every right to be angry, Hawke. But killing him isn’t the answer.”

“Yes, it is. But I should have done it a long time ago. She might still be here.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“It is my fault,” he said coldly. “I knew this day would come, but I didn’t stop it.”

“You did everything you could—”

“It wasn’t enough. I’m putting a bullet in his brain the second he shows his face. I don’t care if I go to jail for the rest of my life. It’s worth it.”

“Hawke, you don’t want to carry that on your shoulders for the rest of your life. You aren’t a killer.”

“Yes, I am.”

“It won’t change anything. It won’t bring her back.”

“No. But at least it’ll give me a smile.” He kept his back to me and never turned over. He kept the entire world between us, making sure I couldn’t infect his space.

He was too far gone to be helped. I didn’t know what to do. Normally, he looked me in the eye but I couldn’t even get him to do that. Of all people, I could always bring him back from the brink of insanity.

But now I had no power at all.