Hawk

14 - I'll grovel until the end of time

Hawk

“Oh, Brother, you are in so much trouble.”

“Shut up, Wrench!”

However, he's right.

What the hell have I done?

I could kick myself!

Since when do I act like such a dickhead?

“There goes your plan for tonight.”

My plan to ask Brooke to marry me.

I look at Roman, and he’s shaking his head at me, even he knows I did wrong here tonight. Don’t ask me why I went off the way I did because I don’t know. I saw that guy staring at Brooke, then he winked, and she smiled, and something inside me snapped.

I wasn’t angry with Brooke. I never could be. But Brooke is too good for me. She’s beautiful and everything a woman should be. Every day, she grows stronger. She’s trying to move on from what happened with her father, and I go and act like a jealous prick. No wonder Brooke thinks I don’t trust her. It’s not Brooke I don’t trust; it’s other men.

But, of course, men are going to look at her and admire how beautiful she is, but I have nothing to worry about because she’s mine.

I take off after Brooke; I can’t let her leave alone in the dark. Anything could happen to her, and I would never forgive myself!

She’s not too far ahead. She’s waiting by the car. She has her head in her hands, and I hate that I’ve upset her like this. Brooke thinks so much of me, and I’ve let her down. Quite badly, in fact. But I will do anything to put things right.

“Brooke!”

She looks up at me slowly. She isn’t crying, but she looks utterly disappointed in me.

I stop in front of her, but I don’t touch her. God, she’s sex.y as fuc.k right now. Her arms are folded in front of her, and her eyebrow is raised. My strong, pissed-off little lady. I groan inwardly, I want her right now, but I can’t have her. Those stupid six weeks aren’t up yet.

But you know what they say: angry se.x is the best se.x.

“Baby, I’m so sorry,”

“What good does sorry do, Hawk? You had no right to behave the way you did tonight.”

“You’re right, and I’ll admit that. I love you, Brooke, so damn much.” I let out a huge breath and run my fingers through my long hair. “I know you’re disappointed in me right now, and I don’t blame you one little bit. I’m disappointed in myself. But I don’t want to lose you because of my stupidity.” Not that it wouldn’t serve me right if she did leave me.

Brooke rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “I’m not going to leave you, Hawk, but you can’t do this every time a man looks at me. You made me feel ugly tonight.”

Fuc.k!

Gently, I take Brooke’s face in my hands and lift her head. I want to look in her eyes. I never meant to hurt her or make her feel anything but beautiful. My dad was right; women don’t like the jealous type. He’s never been that way with my mom, and men always stare at her. Dad told me it makes him feel proud when other men notice how beautiful his wife is because he is the one she goes home with. However, he is always cautious because you can never be too careful.

I don’t want Brooke to feel trapped with a man who can’t control his temper when another man shows her some attention. It’s not like she’s going to run off with them; she’s all mine, and I should be proud to have her on my arm and know all they can do is stare and envy me for being her man.

“I hate myself for making you think you are anything but beautiful, Brooke. I’m also sorry for behaving like a Neanderthal. I was jealous and stupid, but I love you, baby. I love you so much, and I promise this won’t happen again.”

Brooke looks at me, beautiful big blue eyes staring right into me. “I love you, too. You don’t need to do these things, Dante, I am all yours. I will always be yours. No other man will ever turn my head because you are everything to me.”

I pull her to me and kiss her. I’d never been in love before I met Brooke; I had no clue what it felt like. However, I’d known Brooke two days before I knew I was in love with her. I lost her once, and I can’t lose her a second time because it would finish me off.

“You are everything to me, too, beautiful.”

She looks up at me, and I smile because she has that effect on me every time. “Can we not do this ever again?”

“Well, that all depends,” I ruined the night I had planned for us, and I’m not sure she’s completely forgiven me for being a dickhead, but I don’t want to wait another moment.

“Dante, don’t make demands after the way you've acted. You should be on your knees begging for forgiveness.”

I drop to one knee in front of her, her hand in mine. She’s looking at me expectantly, and I fall even more in love with her.

“I'm sorry, Brooke, for everything I’ve done tonight. For the way I made you feel and for acting like a jerk. If you want me to grovel at your feet for the rest of our lives, I will. I’ll rub your shoulders when you’re tired, dance with you in the rain, and make love to you in all our special places,” And there have been a lot since we met. “Even when we’re old.”

Brooke starts laughing, and it makes me laugh too. I’m not good at this romantic crap, but I try for her because she deserves it and much more.

I slide my hand into the pocket of my jeans and pull out the ring box that contains a diamond ring. I look at it for a moment before looking up and seeing her wide eyes and shocked face.

“Brooke, you are everything a woman should be. You love so easily, and you are one amazing mother. Gabe is a lucky boy to have you; I’m lucky to have you, and that’s why I want to know,” I open the box and hold it up to her. “Will you marry me?”

“Are you crazy?”

“For you.”

I watch Brooke’s throat move with the effort to swallow. She finally looks away from the ring and at me with a smile on her face – a smile so perfect it melts my heart.

“Of course, I’ll marry you!”

With joy in my heart, I slip the small diamond ring onto Brooke’s finger, get to my feet, and wrap her up in my arms so fast I’m not sure I didn’t crack her ribs.

Her little feet dangle off the ground as I hold her to me, my face in her hands as she kisses the hell out of me. She laughs against my mouth as my brother and Roman, who I’m guessing have been watching us for some time, cheer and holler.

I won’t wait to marry this woman. We’re going home in a couple of days, and I want to marry her by the end of the month.

Why wait?

She’s my one and only, and I am hers, and soon enough, she’ll be my wife.

What to do about her father, now that’s the question, because he won’t stop until he has Brooke back. I’ll kill him first, but there’s always the possibility that he could kidnap Brooke and hurt her.

Don’t think about that right now, Hawk. The woman you love just agreed to be your wife. It’s your time to be happy. Hank Webster can wait.

Yeah, but not for long.

* * *

Brooke has laughed every day this week; she loved every minute of our time with my grandparents. I took her to the lake and told her stories about when I was a kid. She gets on with my brother like a house on fire. They’ve become good friends.

We arrived at my grandparents’ house the other night after I asked her to marry me, to a “Congratulations” party set up by my grandmother. Because she knew Brooke would say yes. It made me laugh, but she was right. We partied most of the night away. I had no idea my elderly grandparents had so much stamina.

They danced, laughed, drank, and told stories. It made me feel guilty that my parents were back home and would have loved to be here for this. I put a call into them and let them know I’d asked Brooke to marry me. My mother screamed down the line so loudly I thought my eardrum would burst! They were both happy for us, and Mom can’t wait to go dress shopping with Brooke.

I was a little worried that Brooke would be upset that her mother wouldn’t be there for her, but Brooke said that as long as her sister was there, she didn’t care about the rest of her family. The only trouble is I’m not sure Marnie will be able to sneak away from her husband to attend the wedding. If I can make it happen for Brooke, then I will.

“What are you doing out here all by yourself?”

I lift my head and smile at my brother.

I’m standing on my grandparents’ porch with a bottle of beer in my hand, looking out at the night sky. Brooke is asleep upstairs with Gabe; my grandparents went to bed an hour ago. Roman is out somewhere, probably with some girl he picked up at the bar. Wrench was out with him, but I guess he’s had his fun, hence why he’s home so early.

It’s not often that the three of us, Wrench, Roman, and me, get to spend time together like this. I wasn’t expecting Roman to be able to get time off work to be here. But Shepard was okay with it because the man thought the three of us needed to spend time away from things.

“You’re back early.”

Wrench shrugs, comes to stand beside me, and bumps his shoulder with mine, making me laugh. He used to do that a lot when we were kids. It would drive me crazy, and we’d end up fighting, as kids do.

“So, why are you out here?”

“Just thinkin’.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

I shake my head. There’s nothing to talk about; I’m just thinking about the future with my beautiful wife-to-be, and it’s a bright future — one filled with love, happiness, and even another kid or two. Just the thought of watching my kids running around our yard, the yard of the house I’ll eventually buy for my family, makes me smile to myself.

I can see Brooke smiling at me. She’s older in my vision, and Gabe is around the age of seven. His dark hair blows in the slight breeze as he plays ball with his younger brother. Yeah, I see a little brother in Gabe’s future.

“There is something I wanted to ask you.”

“Oh, yeah?”

I nod at my brother. “Think you’re up to being my best man?”

His eyes widen, his mouth agape, and I can’t help but chuckle. “I thought you’d ask Roman or Stryker.”

I narrow my eyes. “Why would you think that?”

Wrench turns his body and leans back against the wooden beam holding this old porch. “Just thought you would. You three have always been close. I just never seemed to fit in with the three of you.”

What the fuc.k?

I stare at Dominic, my baby brother; he’s not looking at me; he’s looking down at his feet, and his arms wrapped across his chest.

Have I really pushed him out and made him feel like we’re not close?

Our parents raised us to be close and to look out for one another. I know whenever we visited our grandparents, I took off to spend time with Pops and Roman, leaving Dominic behind, but I had no idea he felt this left out.

“Wrench,” He looks at me. “You know you mean the world to me, right?” He doesn’t answer, just looks at me, and I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut. “Dom,” I grab the back of his neck and pull to me.

Fuckin’ hurts that he feels like this.

“Don’t go all puss.y on me, Hawk.” He laughs while pulling away from me. “I was just saying, that’s all.”

“You mean the fuckin’ world to me. Ain’t no one I’d rather have up there with me, Wrench.”

He looks at me and smirks. “Guess I best be your best man, then.”