Page 83 of Cryptic Curse

Belinda pouts and grabs a handful of her winnings.“Can I at least take some to bed?”

I smile and nod.“Go ahead.But don’t tell Vinnie and Raven I let you.”

She scurries over, throws her arms around me in a quick hug, and then darts past Natalie with a smirk and a napkin full of orange contraband.

I look at Hawk.

His eyes haven’t left me.

“I guess that’s the game, then,” Hawk says.

I nod.“I guess so.”

He crosses his arms.“Except…I need to put my clothes in the dryer.”

Right.I forgot about his clothes.Which means he’s staying a while longer.

And that’s fine with me.

“We could…”

“What?”he asks.

“We could wait over in my wing of the house,” I say.“We can bring your wet clothes and put them in my dryer.”

“You have your own dryer?”

“Yeah.I don’t use it a lot.The staff does my laundry.”

He chuckles lightly.“Yeah, I get it.I grew up a Bellamy.We had staff for everything.”

“Yet your mom can pull together a huge dinner by herself?”

“She had a little help from you.”

My cheeks warm.“I didn’t do much.”

He shakes his head.“You did a lot.But yeah, my mom was always hands-on as a wife.”

“And as a mother?”I ask.

He withdraws his hand sharply, looks down.

“Hawk?”I tip his chin up, bring his eyes to mine.

And he looks like I just punched him in the gut.

27

HAWK

Fuck.

Kick to my stomach.

She never had to worry about me.

That’s what Mom always said, like it was praise.Like being the one who didn’t get caught drinking or ditching class, who held his breath during every argument just to keep the peace—like that made me easy to forget.