Page 123 of Brutal Little Secrets

I cling to Hawk, not because he’s going too fast, but because I like the way his body feels against mine as we ride to the high school. He parks and waits for me to climb off before setting the bike on the kickstand.

He takes our helmets and puts them in his storage bags. When he reaches for my hand, I look around. We’re the only ones here, but I don’t want to out us. He smirks and puts his hand on my back to usher me into the school.

We make our way to the black box room, and Hawk moves to turn on the lights. My mind is already on practice mode, and I sit down at the table to pull out my notes for today. As I pull my script and highlighters out of my bag, Hawk sets down a new package of highlighters next to mine.

I glance up at his smirk and then down at the highlighters. These are the fancy kind they don’t sell at the dollar store. The tips are see-through.

“What are these for?” I ask, not touching them.

“They’re for you. I’ve watched you throw away twice as many as these during rehearsal. Figured you needed some new ones.” He lifts the package. “These are supposed to be long lasting.”

He hands me the package.I’m about to make a fool of myself over highlighters.Those words race through my head before I hug Hawk.

“Thank you.”

He hugs me. When I sit back to look at the highlighters, he smiles and touches his knuckle to my cheek. “I love making you smile.”

I blush and glance up at him. “I’m afraid it’s pretty easy and not at all expensive to make me smile.”

“That’s one of the reasons I love you.”

Hawk sits down next to me and leans back in the chair with his feet up on the desk. I pull out the highlighters almost reverently and open the purple one to draw a line. Fucking perfection. A thrill goes through me.

“This is obviously the best seat in the house.”

When I glance over at him, he winks. I shake my head. “You should do some warm-ups.”

“I’m the only one here, baby girl.”

“Hawk,” I chastise. My cheeks heat at the endearment that most definitely doesn’t belong in rehearsal. I glance at the door. People will arrive at any moment.

“Sorry, Annie.” He puts his feet down and stands to stretch. His shirt lifts, and my gaze snags on his abs. Fuck, he looks yummy.

He chuckles, and I look up to find him watching me. He leans forward and wipes at the corner of my lip. “Got some drool there.”

I swipe at his hand but can’t help my smile.

Mia walks in and looks at the two of us. “You know, if I didn’t know, I’d know.”

Hawk smirks. “I’m going to go get you a soda, Annie.”

Mia walks over to me as he heads out into the hallway. “So did everything go as planned last night?”

She sits in the seat next to me.

“Not exactly,” I hedge. “Did you get the message to get out before the police arrived?”

She grins. “Fortunately, we were finished with round one and recharging before round two. So we got out of there in time.”

I would have felt like shit if Mia had gotten caught up by the police at Chase’s party.

“How was your night?” Mia wiggles her eyebrows.

My gaze lifts as the doors open and Hawk comes back in, talking with Mark Green. My cheeks flush.

She smiles and pats my hand. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell.”

Hawk comes over and puts the soda on my table before walking with Mia back to Mark. I focus on what I need to do today. Where we are in the play. What we still need to accomplish. I wish Keira was here. She keeps me on track.