Hawke
“Whose phone are you calling from?” my dad asks.
“Mine.”
“You have a phone I don’t know about?”
I keep my smile to myself, drying the sweat on the back of my neck with a towel and toss it into a bin. “Of course, I have a phone you don’t know about,” I reply.
Jaxon Trent doesn’t raise idiots.
“I can trace it,” he tells me.
“You can, but you won’t find me.”
I hear an exhale over the phone and can just picture my father shaking his head like he does when he realizes the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. I wouldn’t say I’m smarter than him, not by a long shot, but any solution to a problem I come up with will have the least number of variables. My father is different. He likes variables. Loves surprises. I don’t.
“Get home,” he says, his voice harder and more urgent. “Goddammit, Hawke. You hit a cop.”
“I can explain.”
“It’s online!” he barks. “People are making up their own explanations. It’s too late.”
I know. And I know he’s right. The longer I hide, the worse it looks. But I don’t tell him that getting myself out of trouble isn’t all I’m interested in. I have cousins in this town. Little ones who will have to go to school with the shit Reeves is quietly pumping into every pool party, skate park, and soccer mom. My dad and Madoc can help, and I might let them, but I’m not ready to make that decision yet. Not until I know what I’m doing.
“I’m okay,” I assure him. “I’m safe.”
“Your mom is frantic.”
They’re probably home from Chicago by now. I’m sure they rushed out of there as soon as they got wind of what happened.
A pang of guilt that I probably should’ve felt with my dad finally eats away at me when he mentions my mom. She never really did anything to make me feel like I needed to protect her, but I always do.
“I’m in Shelburne Falls,” I tell him, knowing he’ll tell her, “and I’m not leaving. But I’m not coming home. Not until after Grudge Night. I need time. I’ll turn myself in then.”
In eight days.
He’s quiet for a moment, and voices echo from down the hall. I turn toward it, watching the door to the gym.
“One decision can change your life, Hawke,” my dad says in my ear.
He’s done nothing but raise me with that thought in mind in everything I do.
“What do I tell the police when they come looking for you?” he asks, just as Dylan, Kade, Stoli, and Dirk burst through the door.
“In about two minutes, you mean?” I tease my dad.
Home is the first place they’ll look.
“Just tell them the truth,” I reply, turning away from my friends and cousins. “You talked to me. I’m around. You don’t know where.”
He won’t have to lie.
“And the girl?” my dad asks. “Who is she?”
I look behind me again, seeing the Rebel enter the room and looking pissed. He saw her on the video? How much footage is online? Jesus. I need to go back to the monitors and do a deeper sweep.
“She’s a nobody,” I tell him.
And I hang up, sticking my phone into my pocket as I turn around and grab my water bottle.
“I knew I should’ve kept this place to myself,” I grumble, not meeting Kade’s eyes.
“I just had to make sure you were serious.” He casts the Rebel a look. “What the hell are you thinking?”
I’m not sure I was thinking at all. I texted him and Dylan a bit ago to let them know the situation. Of course, they rushed over.
The Green Street punk advances on me. “Open the door.”
But I ignore her. Looking at Kade, I uncap my water. “I was thinking that I might not know what I can use her for, but I’ll keep her for a rainy day. I never throw anything away. You know that.”