AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Give me your phone.”
Jesse closed his eyes and blew out a hard breath, before he handed his phone to Hawk.
Dialing his mom’s number, Hawk kept his voice calm as his mother answered, “Hello? Jesse, are you there? Is Sunny okay?”
“Mom, it’s Hawk.”
She made a strangled noise full of relief. “Oh my goodness, Hawk! How is Sunny? Is she all right? I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for hours.”
“Yes, she’s fine.”
“Oh, thank God.”
She sounded so genuinely relieved, he prayed she wasn’t responsible for the videos. The knowledge that his own mother would sell him out was something he couldn’t bear right then. She may be flighty, but she loved him unconditionally. It didn’t make sense for her to sell such disturbing footage to a tabloid.
“Mom, did you share the video of my wedding with anyone yesterday?”
He waited for her immediate denial, for her to protest that she’d never do such a thing.
Her silence was a blow to his heart.
Jesse led him into an empty room while he talked, and Hawk asked again, “Mom, did you share the video of my wedding with anyone yesterday?”
“I didn’t know she’d be recording it,” his mother whispered in a broken voice. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think she’d ever do anything like this. She said it was just a way for her to see the wedding. I didn’t mean any harm.”
It only took him a few seconds to figure out what his mother meant.
“Liberty. You were live streaming the wedding to Liberty.”
“I’m so sorry,” she wailed. “I had no idea that she’d sell your wedding.”
“Bullshit!” he roared, so pissed he wanted to trash the room, but knew that would get him thrown out of the hospital. “Bullshit! She’s fucking done it before, Mother! You know how she is, and yet you are once again blind to reality.”
“Hawk! I—”
“I’m through with you, with your lies, with your bullshit. You want to enable my sister to fuck over everyone around her? You want to support her in her quest to kill herself with drugs? Fine. I’m done. Lose my number.”
He gave the phone back to Jesse, who turned it off once is started to ring. “You okay?”
“No, I’m so fucking far from okay. My wife’s seizure was sold for public consumption by my crackhead sister because my mother is dumb as fuck.”
Jesse gave him room to pace as he said, “I can’t believe she did that.”
“It’s typical,” Hawk snarled. “No matter what Liberty does, no matter how many times she screws everyone around her over, my dumb fucking mother always gives her another chance to hurt her even more. I don’t fucking understand it, but I’m done with her. I’m not going to let their bullshit touch Sunny anymore.” He gave a pained groan. “Fuck, Sunny. How am I going to tell her about all this, man?”
Jesse blew out a harsh breath through his nose. “I don’t know. Should you even tell her? She has enough to worry about without adding this to it.”
“You’re right, but I don’t want to lie to her. And what if she finds out on her own? I’m sure at some point she’ll check her phone.”
“Yeah, or she’ll turn on the TV.”
He had to fight back his anger again. “It’s on TV?”
Wincing, Jesse nodded. “In the gossip world, it’s big news. Hawk DelRay marrying unknown woman who has a seizure during their wedding reception? Tabloids eat that kind of shit up.”
“I’m going to kill my sister.”
“Let your lawyers handle it another day. Right now, your focus needs to be on Sunny.”
“Right…right. I need to take care of her. Shit, she’s hungry. I need to get her food.”
Jesse stopped him from leaving with a hand on his arm. “Slow down. I’ll get it. You go back to Sunny’s room. Last thing we need is more of the bottom feeders getting video of you downstairs. I’ll also alert the hospital about the media feeding frenzy that might be coming your way.”
“She’s going to be so hurt,” Hawk mourned. “She likes my mom.”
“Look, I know right now you’re pissed at your mom, and rightly so, but she didn’t do anything malicious. At least not on purpose.”
“No, but she should have known better.”
After telling Jesse what he needed, they parted ways and he slowly walked back to Sunny’s room. He couldn’t help but worry that she’d regret marrying him, regret the unending publicity that came from being in his life. Guilt gnawed at him, twisting his stomach further until he felt physically ill. By the time he made it to her room, his palms were sweaty from the stress.
When he entered, he found Sunny frowning down at her phone with Anya at her side, both of them glaring at the screen.
His heart sank as he said, “I’m so sorry.”
Sunny looked up, then fiddled with her IV lines as she tried to stand. “Hawk! You look terrible. What happened?”
