Hawke: A Bad Boy Fighter Romance (With bonus book Sons of Flame MC) Read Online Free PDF Page A

men I dated, as if he had the right. And maybe for a little while I thought I might be interested back. How could I not? You’d think that falling in love with your best friend would be the best thing that could possibly happen. Nobody knew me quite like Jason did; maybe not even Nic. It just never happened.
    Once, that had confused me. It didn’t anymore. And Jason never spoke up anyway, so I tried not to read into his weirdness too much. He’d dated other girls, and knew how to pursue someone; I figured that if he was interested he would have said something. I waited, back then.
    But that’s the thing about teenage interest. It doesn’t last. Eventually, I was relieved that he hadn’t made some kind of move. Nic was still waiting, though. She had this idea that men should always be the first to make the move. Dinner, flowers, professions of love, hell, poetry; the works. And a girl like her could get it.
    Me? My track record was not dinner, or flowers, or poetry. I guess Jason thought I deserved those things, but I liked my men, on balance, just a little bit dangerous. That hadn’t always been the case, but it was the running theme of the last few years. Men who were strong, and aggressive, and took control a little. Very probably, it had something to do with my being, by necessity, constantly in control. It just felt good to let go sometimes, let someone else drive for a little bit.
    Poor Jason was not that. Unbidden, I had a kind of anti-fantasy about him; how he’d probably ask if he could take off my shirt, ask if I was okay, ask to take off my bra, check in again, get my spoken and maybe written consent every three minutes. At least, he was likely to make sure we both got equal time and attention. And, I’ll admit, a man with Jason’s sense of detail and fairness probably put in his hours learning how to work a woman’s body. He’d make someone happy, at some point. Maybe Nic, if she ever grew some balls and said something instead of waiting for him to sweep her off her feet. I doubted Jason could sweep a floor if it was wet for him already. Poor guy.
    I couldn’t help smiling at him as I imagined all this, and imagined that same methodical way he had of doing everything applied to one thing after another. Maybe I didn’t need a third glass.
    Too late, a third one arrived. Time to cut myself off. “I’ll take my check when you get a chance,” I said.
    “Leaving?” Jason asked. He dabbed his mouth, tucked his napkin away, and caught the waiter’s eye before the kid left to get his check, too. “You’ve had a bit,” he said. “I should walk you home.”
    “I’ll get a cab,” Nic announced. “When I go.”
    “You should call one beforehand,” Jason said, handing her a card from his pocket. Prepared for everything.
    “You have a cab company’s card in your pocket?” Nic wondered as she turned it over, one eyebrow dropped.
    “Public drunkenness,” he explained. “If they’re not disturbing anyone, we just encourage them to get a ride home before they do.”
    She handed it back to him. “I’ll Uber.”
    “Uber is unregulated,” he said, “not like a yellow cab. Anything could happen.”
    “I’m touched for your concern,” she said a bit coolly. “But I can take care of myself. Mace, keys, krav maga, the works.”
    “You do krav maga?” I asked, shocked. When had she picked that up?
    “Well,” Nic said, giggling, “either that or Kriya Yoga… which one involves stretching?” Yeah, she was buzzed.
    “Right,” I said. “I live two blocks away, Jas. You should make sure Nic gets home. Plus you live closer to her. Really,” I said when he started to protest. “I grew up here, people know me; I’ve treated half the criminal populace in a ten-mile radius. Who will keep them limber the next time they get their legs broken or their kneecaps busted if they put me out of commission?” It went without saying that I also had mace, and knew how to slip my keys between my fingers