Free Heart's Duo (Ugly Eternity #4) by Charity Parkerson Page A

her words against her. “You should try to spend some time with Benton while you’re here.” She shot a nervous glance in Hawke’s direction. Hawke didn’t look surprised and Joss refused to back down now. “If you could see the way the two of you look at each other when you think the other isn’t paying attention, you’d figure out what the rest of us already know.” He chuckled because he couldn’t stop it from happening. “No one gets as furious with someone as he is with you unless they care.”
    In a move that shocked the shit out of him, Sophie leaned forward and hugged him. Judging by her expression, it surprised her too. He wished he felt nothing as her scent enveloped him, but he did. If there was anything Joss knew with one hundred percent surety, it was that he was an idiot—through and through. A part of him had wanted Sophie from the second he set eyes on her, and that part didn’t want to give her up. The rest of him knew it wasn’t meant to be. He had to let it all go. She squeezed him harder as if she felt him slipping away. Lowering his voice for only her ears, he spoke into her hair, watching the red stands waft away with each exhaled word.
    “If I’d been born a different man, you would’ve been the one.”
    Sophie being Sophie, she set him free like no one else ever would. “Go away before you make me cry.” He would. In truth, he should’ve done it a long time ago.
    * * * * *
    Long after Joss left, Sophie eyed the doorway, ensuring he didn’t intend to return before saying anything. Of course, if she was being honest with herself. It took her that long to force her throat to work. “I feel like such a conniving little bitch. If I’d just asked you what in the fuck was going on between you and Maddox, maybe—I don’t know—I might’ve stayed out of it.”
    A low chuckle rumbled from Hawke’s chest. “Yeah…probably not. Joss is right. You’re the big sister. Meddling is part of the job description. Not that it matters. It’s a hard thing to admit you’re insecure in a relationship, and I was.” Hawke shrugged. “Saying it aloud made me feel weak, and I didn’t want to feel that way. Chances are good, even if you’d asked, I wouldn’t have told you the full story. I felt like the biggest idiot in the world for taking Maddox back only to have him turn into this person I didn’t know. When I walked away from him the first time, I promised myself I wouldn’t be his doormat again, and there I was—except this time he had twice the power over me because I didn’t want to lose Addison. By the time we were over for the final time, I think I hated him more than I ever loved him. You didn’t do that and Joss didn’t either. It was me and it was him. We were destructive from the very beginning.”
    Sophie nodded, completely understanding. “Oh, but what a delicious ride, huh? The passionate ones always burn you to the ground until there’s nothing left, but you never forget them.”
    Hawke eyed her as if she’d shown too much of herself. There was a reason she’d never asked him too many pointed questions about Maddox. It opened the floor to him to ask about her life. No one knew her. She wanted it to stay that way. “I guess we don’t know as much about each other as I’ve always liked to pretend,” Hawke said, almost as if he’d read her thoughts.
    “Yeah. I guess not. Sometimes, it’s kind of ugly in my head, and the things I do to escape aren’t the things you share with a brother.” She flashed him a quick smile. “Even when your brother is as awesome as mine.”
    Hawke smiled back, warming her heart. “To be fair, apparently, we have the biggest freaks on the planet for parents. I think we were doomed from the start.”
    Sophie laughed in spite of herself. “Sheesh. Imagine what our kids will be like. Scary. Hey, can I ask you a personal question?”
    Hawke snorted. “This is new. I don’t think you’ve ever asked permission before.”
    Sophie