Page 35 of Cryptic Curse (Bellamy Brothers #7)

HAWK

I should’ve gone to Daniela.

But she told me not to, and I don’t want to be pushy. The last thing I want to do is pressure her.

But God, I want to protect her.

I don’t think I’ve felt this strong of an urge to protect someone ever. Not even the way I protect Eagle.

Not even the way Ted Tucker protected me.

I roll the earring around in my gloved palm.

“Who was that on the phone?” Falcon asks me.

“You mean who was I texting?” I blink. “Just…an appointment I have.”

I don’t like lying to my brother, but he has enough on his mind.

“What’s that in your hand?”

“Also nothing.”

* * *

Seventeen Years Earlier…

“Why do you wear that earring?” I ask Ted.

He shrugs. “Because I like it.”

“My dad says earrings are for girls,” I say.

“No,” Ted says. “Lots of guys wear earrings. Lots of guys wear necklaces and bracelets too.”

I frown. “But why do you wear that particular earring?”

“The star?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’m a Texan, for one.” Ted gives me a grin.

“Right. The Lone Star State.”

“Born and bred,” he says.

“Me too. We were all born here. My mom and dad too.”

He wrinkles his forehead. “Your mom wasn’t born in Mexico?”

“No. Her parents were, but they came here before she was born.”

“So you’re all native Texans.”

“Yeah,” I say, “and we love the Lone Star State, but we don’t wear star earrings.”

“Well,” Ted says, “that’s only one of the reasons why I wear a star earring.”

“What’s the other reason?”

Ted fiddles with the star as he unscrews it, takes it out of his earlobe, and holds it out to me.

He places it in my palm.

It’s light.

“Is it real silver?” I ask.

He chuckles. “It’s actually white gold.”

“Where’d you get it?”

“I bought it for myself when I graduated from high school. With some graduation money.”

“So…you were going to tell me the other reason why you like the star.”

“Yeah.” He looks up. “Because it reminds me of the stars in space.”

Stars are professional in space, aren’t they?

That’s what Ted said when I told him Dad said the earring was unprofessional.

Instinctively I look upward too. Of course it’s broad daylight, so I don’t see any stars.

“It’s amazing how we can see so many of them here on the ranch,” Ted says. “When you’re in a big city, the light of the city filters them out.”

I simply nod.

“But they’re always there. Even when you can’t see them. Even when they burn out, the light still reaches the earth for millennia.” He sighs. “Because they’re so far away, it takes their light that long to get here.”

“Yeah, we learned that in science class.”

He smirks at that. “Yeah, but science class can be boring. You need to think about it, about the miracle that it truly is. That the stars continue to shine even after they burn out. It’s a metaphor for so many things.”

“Like what?” I ask.

“Like life, Hawk,” he says. “Don’t ever forget that even after you’re gone, your starlight will shine on the people whose lives you’ve touched.”

His words hit me hard.

I’m young. Just a kid of twelve. I don’t think about death. About legacy.

But my grandfather died. My father’s father. We all went to his funeral.

“I guess I never thought of it that way,” I say.

“I’m surprised you haven’t,” Ted says.

“Why would you say that?”

He gently pokes my forehead. “Because you’re a thinker, Hawk. You think about everything.”

He’s not wrong. But how did he know that?

“I see it in your eyes,” he says, as if reading my mind.

“I see you weigh the pros and the cons of every decision you make. I see it when we play board games, and I see it when I teach you something about how a game is played, how it sits in your mind, becomes part of your overall strategy. Above all, you want to do what’s right.

Not just for yourself, so you can win the game, but what’s innately right. For the universe.”

“That’s some heavy shit,” I say.

He raises an eyebrow. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear you say a curse word.”

“Oops. Sorry.”

He laughs. “There are worse things, I suppose. And yeah, it might be some heavy stuff to talk about with a boy your age. But am I wrong?”

I shake my head. “You’re not wrong.” I hand the star back to him. “Where could I find an earring like this?”

“Hell, I got this a long time ago, from a jeweler in Houston. But it can’t be hard to find.”

“Never mind.” I kick at the ground. “My father would never let me wear it anyway.”

“Who says you have to tell him about it?”

I scoff. “He’d see it in my ear, for one.”

Ted chuckles. “He doesn’t have to see it. You don’t have to wear it. All you need to do is know it’s there. In fact, you don’t even need the earring. Your star can shine inside you.”

More heavy shit. Stuff , sorry.

But I like this guy. I already have a big brother, but Falcon is a bona fide teenager now, interested in girls and dating and hanging out with his friends. He’s not much of a brother to me these days.

Ted is a grown man, but I feel like he’s my big brother. Or my cool uncle with an earring.

“Why do you think my dad doesn’t like earrings?” I ask.

“That’s hard to say.” He crosses his arms. “Maybe he truly does just think they’re only for women, but he’s wrong.”

“He doesn’t really understand me,” I say.

Ted smiles. “Oh, I think he understands you more than you know.”

“He doesn’t,” I say. “Neither does my mom. I seem to be so darned forgettable.”

Ted chuckles.

And I give him a stink eye.

“Oh, I’m not laughing at that, Hawk. I’m laughing because you sound exactly like I did when I was your age.

” He sighs. “I was the middle kid too, and yeah, I pretty much felt invisible a lot of the time. But then I realized that my mom and dad both had their own lives. And you need to remember that too. Your dad has a huge business operation here. Not just the ranch, but all of his other holdings. All the land he owns. And your mom is overwhelmed with five children. It’s easy for the middle child to fall through the cracks. It’s normal.”

“But it isn’t fair.”

He tousles my hair. “No, it’s not fair. Very few things in life are fair, Hawk.”

I roll my eyes. “They’re fair for Falcon. He gets to be oldest. They’re fair for Eagle. He gets to be the youngest.”

“Tell you what,” Ted says as he screws his earring back into his ear. “You can always depend on me, okay?”

“Like as a father?”

“Let’s say as a friend.”

“That’s great.”

Before I know what I’m doing, I give Ted a hug.

Then I hear a throat clear in the distance.

Ted releases me.

My father stands, watching us. “Go on outside,” Dad says to me. “Ted, I need to have a word with you in my office.”

* * *

I shove the earring in my pocket.

I shouldn’t be surprised that I found it.

That day…

That terrible day…

Then my phone starts ringing.

Daniela again.

Fuck.

I knew I should’ve gone over there.