Free Edge of the Heat 3 by Lisa Ladew Page B

didn’t need a man to keep her safe.
    Idly, Vivian thought about Emma carrying a gun now. She wondered if she should get a gun. Maybe Hawk would teach her how to use one. Yeah right, and maybe Hawk would get down on one knee and propose to her. She laughed out loud at the thought and heard the clickety clack in the other room stop. She covered her mouth and giggled again, silently. Sorry to disturb you Hawk.
    After a few beats, the keyboard noise started up again and Vivian picked up her tablet. Well, he’d have to talk to her sometime today. She had some things she wanted to discuss with him about Norman.
    She looked at her tablet one last time, and put it down for the day. God hates a coward. It was time to talk to Hawk.
    She walked into the computer room and sat down behind Hawk on the short, black, leather couch.
    He ignored her and kept typing.
    “Hawk, I need to talk to you.”
    “What?” Clickety clack, clickety clack.
    Vivian waited. She didn’t want to compete with whatever was on the screen.
    He kept typing and the room filled up with the noise.
    “Hawk. Can you listen to me please?”
    He stopped typing. Vivian waited, but he didn’t turn around. She felt her blood getting hot. Did this man have no common manners? Had no one ever told him that it was rude to expect someone to talk to your back? She tried to push through.
    “Uh, I’ve been thinking about Norman, and remember that RV that he had us in? Where did it come from? I mean, I’ve seen pictures of his house, and he didn’t have RV storage, so he had to store it somewhere, right? What if he’s got a drive-in storage locker in Westwood Harbor? They can’t auction those things off for a few months after no one pays for them. And I’ve heard that people live in them sometimes. If he had a combination lock on one he wouldn’t even have needed a key - all he would have needed to do was get there.”
    Hawk didn’t say a word. Didn’t move a muscle. Didn’t say “that’s a stupid idea,” or “leave the detecting to the detectives.” Nothing. He just ignored her, like he’d been doing for days. No, for weeks now. No, actually for months. Since the first day she’d met him, he’d never properly looked her in the face once, or shook her hand, or given her a hug. Nothing. Vivian felt her blood go right past the boiling point. It went nuclear.
    She stood up. Fury making her breathe heavily, she shouted at his back, “You know what? I’ve had enough of your shit! I am not some goddamn, insignificant bug you found on your shoe! I am a living, breathing human being and I deserve the respect you’d show anyone else, even a goddamn criminal! I have never been anything but nice, and decent, and caring towards you, and yet you act like I don’t even exist. Well that’s it, I’m done trying to be nice to you Hawk Kinkaid. You sit in here and you do your work, and you keep acting like I don’t exist. I’ll make it real easy for you. I’m leaving in the morning! I’ll give Craig the address and he can drive up and get you when you are ready to go home. But when you do, you just stay away from me, understand?”
    Hawk’s chair swung around slowly and he stared at her, open-mouthed. But he still didn’t say anything.
    Vivian fled to her room and started looking for things to pack.

Chapter 15

H awk sat in his chair, stunned. She was right. Every word she’d said was right and true. He was an ass. A jerk. The lowest form of life. He’d been treating her like crap, for no reason other than he liked her, and that she reminded him slightly of someone who’d once hurt him very badly. But that didn’t excuse it. Didn’t excuse it for a second. You don’t treat other people like crap because of your own fucked-up feelings that you’ve never dealt with.
    Hawk sat in the chair and stared at the doorway, wishing she’d come back in. Wondering how he could fix it. Hoping she wouldn’t leave. God he was bad at this! He hadn’t been in a