Dream Spinner (Dream Team Book 3) by Kristen Ashley (top 10 novels txt) 📕

it was the kind of deal she’d sniff out in a flash and stick her nose in), Axl left his workstation and took the steps up to Hawk’s space.

He knocked on the doorframe even if Hawk was already looking at him.

The man was standing because he rarely ever sat. Axl didn’t know what he was doing, but whatever it was, it was on his phone because he had his cell in his hand and that hand was up.

“Yo, Axe,” Hawk greeted.

“You got a minute?”

In answer, Hawk tipped his head to the chair opposite his desk and tossed his phone on the top of it.

Since Hawk rarely sat, the men who visited him didn’t either.

But for this, Axl closed the door behind him after he entered, moved to a chair, and put his ass in it.

Hawk watched this, and he hesitated, but then he joined him, sitting behind his desk.

“Is everything cool?” Hawk asked.

“I got a sitch. Personal. And I was hoping you might talk it through with me. Maybe have some insight.”

“Hit me,” Hawk invited.

And there was one of the bennies of working for Cabe “Hawk” Delgado.

He was a good boss, generous with his knowledge, gave credit where it was due, didn’t get in your face if you fucked up and held up your hand that you did …

And he had time for you even when he didn’t.

“I met Hattie’s dad last night.”

Hawk’s lips thinned.

Right.

His boss might not be in on their chats, but not much happened with his crew that Hawk didn’t know about.

So he knew about Don Yates.

“I got blindsided,” Axl told him.

“How?” Hawk asked.

“He loves her, Hawk.”

Hawk held his gaze a beat before he sat back in his chair.

Yeah.

This was going to be a conversation.

Hawk’s voice was lower when he inquired, “He loves her, and he hits her?”

Axl shook his head. “I got no excuse for that. Or the verbal abuse he keeps doling out. What I know is, recently, he called her a whore.”

“Jesus,” Hawk clipped.

“She didn’t tell me that. She told Ryn, Ryn told Boone. And I got it from Boone. But before … ” He paused, then got to it, “I can’t step in with her dad. She knows their relationship is dysfunctional. She feels beholden. I could only have her back. Until I heard that. Then I shared I was going to have to have words with her father.”

“Good,” Hawk murmured.

“Then I got there, and the man was practically beaming, he was so fuckin’ happy Hattie brought her boyfriend over to meet him.”

“Fuck,” Hawk grunted.

“So we sat down. He gave me the ‘What do you do for a living’ and ‘How’d you meet my daughter’ gig. I answered. All was good. Then I told him I couldn’t have him upsetting Hattie like he did by calling her a whore. He tried to explain it by saying he was in a bad mood. I told him, in future, if he was in a bad mood, he needed not to take that out on Hattie.”

“On your first meeting,” Hawk noted.

“On our first meeting,” Axl confirmed.

“Which happened … what? How long have you been seeing her? A few days?”

“Yep.”

“You laid down the law with your woman’s father the first time you met him after you’ve been with her a few days,” Hawk laid it out.

“Yep.”

“Christ, Axe, you don’t fuck around,” Hawk muttered.

“This isn’t really something you fuck around about.”

“No, it isn’t,” Hawk agreed.

It was time to give Hawk the fullness of it.

“She goes every night to make him dinner and clean up after. She runs errands for him. He’s a part of her day-to-day life. And the man I saw last night wasn’t the picture of health, but he could see to himself, even with the errands. What I told her was that I was there to support whatever she felt she needed to do. But full transparency, my hope was that she’d find her way to helping him move on without him infiltrating her life on a regular basis the way he does. Now, I’m not certain.”

“Men do this,” Hawk stated.

“Sorry?” Axl asked.

“We see another man and the shit he’s in and we don’t realize we put ourselves in his shoes. Without knowing where your thoughts have turned, you’re thinking, if I had a daughter and I loved her and I fucked up with her in immense and arguably unforgivable ways, I would not want the door closed to redemption.”

“That makes sense,” Axl said.

“Is Hattie an only child?” Hawk queried.

“Yeah.”

“And her father is ill?”

“Diabetes that he doesn’t manage very well.”

“So she’ll manage it for him,” Hawk deduced.

“Correct. But he has a nice house. A newish car in the drive. She says he has a job where he works from home and makes good money. She started dinner, he was down to finish it and clean up after so we could get on with our plans. She’s had to skip a few nights with him last week, but neither he nor his home looked neglected in any way. He doesn’t walk freely, but he can have groceries delivered. He can also drive through a pharmacy.”

“It’s bullshit.”

Axl nodded once. “It’s control. She knows it. We’ve had some talks. She’s thinking on things and part of what she’s thinking is she wants to pull back from him so she can get her head straight about what he’s done to her and how it continues to affect her.”

“And now that you know he has genuine healthy feeling for her, you’re not sure that’s the right path.”

“That’s why I’m talking to you. I honestly don’t know where to go from here. Again, Hattie and I are new. We’ve talked about the mental abuse, but not him hitting her. But needless to say, because there was both, it seemed cut and dried.”

“And now it’s complicated.”

“Now it’s complicated,” Axl affirmed.

“Have you spoken to her about where the dad might be at?”

Axl shook his head. “No, I didn’t want to give her hope because even with all that, she wants what everyone wants.