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Chapter Five
Betty
The next morning,I practically dance through the front room as Hawk sleeps in, twirling around in the nightie he graciously gave me last night. Of course, he then stripped that same nightie from my body almost immediately after I tried it on, but I didn’t mind at all. It’s the prettiest little piece of pink chiffon, something he said he picked up in France and has been holding onto it until he could give it to me, and I absolutely love everything about it.
I’m still nearly giddy with joy when the Grimm’s Microchips van arrives, because I know it’s not packed full of computer parts, it’s packed full of my life. My life with Hawk! Everything I’ve been waiting for and dreaming about these past five long years is finally coming true. I clasp my hands together in pure delight as the van stops, then one of Mr. Grimm’s most trusted enforcers unfolds from the driver’s side and steps into the morning sunshine.
As if on cue, Hawk comes trotting down the stairs. “You stay right here, honeybee. Don’t come outside.”
I don’t miss the undercurrent of warning in Hawk’s voice, but I’m too happy to read into it. Hawk takes his assignment to protect me very seriously, but this is one of Mr. Grimm’s men! They’ve all treated me with nothing but kindness and respect since I first started working for Mr. Grimm. Still, I don’t mind staying perched at the window, watching as Hawk goes out to greet the man. They open up the panel van and begin unloading several neatly stacked crates…crates I didn’t pack.
For the first time, I experience a moment of disquiet. Who went through my little apartment and took down all my things? Did they get everything? I know Mr. Grimm uses professional movers routinely to transplant his operatives, so surely they got everything, but did they pack it safely?
I can’t hear what Hawk and the other man are saying, but a moment later they’re heading for the cabin, and I retreat to the kitchen while the two of them deposit boxes in the living room. For some reason, I don’t want the new man to see me at all, especially given Hawk’s warning. I don’t like feeling scared, but…
The door shuts again. I venture back out to the front room, but another vehicle is now driving up the lane—a car I recognize. It’s Lewis Grimm, and beside him in the passenger’s seat is—
My eyes flare wide, and I clap my hands again. My globe! He’s bringing my globe. It wasn’t at the apartment because it was getting updated, and it must have been delivered after the impromptu moving job was finished. I’m beside myself with joy at all the places I want to show Hawk on its shiny surface. Places we can visit together, now that he’s back!
Bouncing with excitement, I watch Hawk turn to Lewis and see the expression on his face. Oh, no, he’s angry—they’re arguing now. But why? Why can’t he let Lewis drop off my globe and leave? Lewis is holding it all wrong, too. He could break it.
“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” I mutter, but the two keep talking, and I push off the couch, frustrated. I swivel my gaze from the window to the stairs, then I’m on the move. I dash upstairs and immediately head for the second bedroom, a sparsely decorated space with a bed, a desk, a dresser and a TV—nothing more. It also has an open window to take advantage of the light morning breeze, and I quickly cross to it. I can hear Lewis and Hawk perfectly, and I was right. They’re fighting.
“—never should have come back. You were garbage before you left, and you’re garbage now,” Lewis snaps, and I bite my lip. I’ve never heard Lewis talk like this before. Then again, Mr. Grimm usually sends me on errands whenever his son is due into the office.
“I asked you a question. Who gave you permission to come up here?” Hawk says, and his voice is also different, but in a way I have heard before. Cool. Absolute. Deadly. The voice he uses when talks to people on the phone sometimes. “And why do you have that globe?”
“Forget the fucking globe!” Lewis lifts the precious piece up a little higher, as if to throw it to the ground, and I clap my hand over my mouth. But Hawk moves at the same time, somehow managing to pull it from Lewis’s grasp.
“Thanks for this. You can leave now. And you can let your father know I’m very close to resolving that little problem he asked me to look into.”
That stops Lewis cold. “What?” His gaze darts to the cabin, and I shrink back. “You don’t work for us anymore, you asshole. I thought you learned that lesson five years ago.”
“Then why did your father bring me back? You don’t think the timing of that isn’t interesting?” Hawk taunts him. “But it’s all good now. I’ve got my guy. I’m just finishing up the details.”
“You ain’t got shit.” I watch Lewis’s face turn red, but I don’t understand what they’re talking about. I’m simply happy my globe wasn’t smashed. “Whatever you think you’ve found, you’re wrong.” He looks at the other driver, who’s been watching their fight with an expression of absolute unconcern, leaning up against his van. “Let’s go, Josh. We don’t need to waste our time taking out the garbage. It’ll rot on its own up here.”
Josh waits until Lewis turns around and stalks back to his car, then he and Hawk exchange a quick grin, and he gets back in his van. He and Lewis drive away, and I’m all the way downstairs and back into the living room when Hawk walks through the front door.
“My globe!” I say cheerfully, as Hawk sets the piece down. His face is still dark, and I babble to keep his mind off Lewis. “I’m so excited to show you everywhere I’ve learned about since you’ve been gone. There are so many places to see—I never realized Bali was so close to Australia—see?” I spin the globe to the Indian Ocean, but Hawk only scowls at me.
“You’re not traveling to Bali,” he says abruptly. “That entire area is a security nightmare.”
“Well—New Zealand then. Have you ever seen the pictures—”
“Bad infrastructure. Not enough exit points.”
Before I can argue, Hawk fixes me with a stare of his own. “Just how much do you know about Mr. Grimm’s personnel?”
“You mean like Josh?” I reply, referring to the enforcer-turned-delivery man. “Very little. You know that. Mr. Grimm keeps me on the outside.”
“He wanted to keep you safe,” Hawk says, and there’s something different about his voice now, something almost seductive. “Because you’re a good girl, and he wanted to keep you that way. But that doesn’t mean you don’t know things…probably more than you realize.”
“I…um, I guess so.” Hawk is moving again, stepping around the boxes, and I suddenly get the feeling he’s almost hunting me. It’s both unnerving and exciting, but I instinctively edge away.
He gestures to a large wing-backed chair. “Have a seat, Betty. There’re a few things I need to ask you.”
“You do?” My mouth has gone dry, but I step toward the chair, then settle on the very edge of the seat. I’m unaccountably nervous, which is insane. I know Hawk won’t hurt me. But he’s so much more intense here, even more than when he made love to me last night. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, honeybee. Open your legs.”
“What?” I’m still wearing my nightie with no panties beneath, which he has to know. But he’s not acting like he’s merely going to pick up where we left off early this morning. “I thought you wanted to ask me questions.”
“I do want to ask you questions.” He grins. “This just happens to be the most comfortable way for me to do that.”
He lifts my nightie and places his hands on the insides of my thighs, and they open beneath his gentle weight. I don’t feel exposed in a bad way, but I definitely feel exposed. I narrow my eyes at him. “Is this the way you interrogate all your subjects?”
“Only you, honeybee,” he chuckles softly. “Only you. Are you ready for us to begin?”
