Hawke

After Patrick³ leaves for work each day, Nic¹ and Hawke² fall into a routine: strong black coffee and a mob movie. They start on opposite ends of the couch, then inch closer as the days pass. They discover a shared love for Scorsese and The Departed. Hawke² opens up, telling her his father was a Navy SEAL who died when he was young, and that he has no one left.

Nic¹ feels herself relax in a way she never can with Patrick.³ The conversations are easy, the silences comfortable. Their morning ritual becomes the bright point of her day, and she starts to notice the way her heart races when his hand accidentally brushes hers. Patrick³'s polished presence fades in comparison.

Patrick³ is out of town again. Hawke² brings home burgers and they watch Public Enemies. He opens a blanket on the couch, and Nic¹ curls against him. As the movie plays, he traces her jaw, then kisses her knuckles. She stops breathing. His lips press to hers, and the kiss deepens until his hand slides into her shorts.

With two fingers inside her and his thumb circling her clit, she shatters. She cries out, gripping his shirt. When she opens her eyes, Hawke² looks stunned, realizing she has never orgasmed before. Nic¹ flees to the bathroom, horrified and exhilarated. Hawke² later acts like nothing happened, but by morning, everything between them has changed.

When Hawke² storms out after an argument, Nic¹ trespasses into his room. She finds a shoebox with a silver cross, court papers, and a grainy newspaper photo of a teenage boy named Ben Collins.⁹ Hawke² catches her. He is enraged, then breaks. He kisses her with desperate need, pulling her onto his bed.

Nic¹ strips off her clothes, and he pauses only to growl his real name: Cameron.² Their first time is raw and consuming; he whispers that she is ruining him. Afterward, he tells her it meant nothing and orders her out. Through the crack in the door, Nic¹ sees him collapse on his knees, head in his hands, reaching for the shoebox.

Patrick,³ in one of his reconciliatory efforts, buys tickets for a Christian rock band called Divine Intervention and insists Hawke² join them. At the venue, Hawke² finds Nic¹ alone on a dark balcony while Patrick³ watches the stage below. Hawke² presses against her back, slides his hand under her dress, and strokes her through her underwear.

His mouth is on her neck, his erection against her ass. She tells him to stop, then moans yes. Hawke² murmurs that she needs to let go of her calculated life. She pushes him away at the last moment, furious with her own helplessness. When she rejoins Patrick,³ her body still hums with the betrayal.

After watching Hawke² parade a woman at the bar to punish her, Nic¹ leaves for home in a downpour. Her car won't start, so she walks. Hawke² pulls up in the Mustang and insists she get in. She refuses. He throws her into the backseat, rain-soaked and furious. They scream at each other.

He pins her, demanding she admit she hates him only because she cannot stop wanting him. Nic¹ slaps his chest, then grabs his shirt and pulls him down. He rips open a condom and takes her with punishing force, their anger bleeding into raw, desperate sex. When it is over, he writes 'We just fucked' on the fogged window and grins.

After Patrick³ leaves again, Hawke² surprises Nic¹ with a living room full of pillows, blankets, and every movie theater candy she loves. He had asked her to leave earlier not to entertain a woman, but because his parole officer¹⁰ was visiting. He hid that side of his life to protect her.

As they watch Ozark and share Skittles, Nic¹ asks why he goes by Hawke.² He tells her about his Navy father, nicknamed Mouse as a cruel joke, who died of colon cancer. The name Hawke² is a decision to hunt through life instead of being prey. Nic¹ touches the hawk tattoo on his hand and sees him, truly sees him, for the first time.

Kid⁴ tells Nic¹ that Hawke² is at the cabin, drinking himself into a coma. She drives out and finds Hawke² shirtless, pupils blown, slurring that he has been celebrating numbness. She demands to know why. He finally confesses: he went to prison for killing his best friend, Ben.⁹ Five years.

He was high, the car crashed, and Ben⁹ died in his arms. He adds that he is no good for her and she should leave. Instead, Nic¹ kneels before him, holds his face, and declares she does not care what a document says. She knows his heart. He slumps against her, shattered. She leads him out of the cabin into the night.

Nic¹ drives them to a secluded overlook. Hawke,² still high, offers her half a pill of ecstasy, and she takes it. They climb into the backseat and the drug opens their senses: every touch feels electric. She straddles him, sinks onto him bare, and they move in sync while the world dissolves.

Hawke,² voice cracking, begs her to tell him she loves him, even if she does not mean it, just to hear the words. Nic¹ looks into his eyes and says it, and means it. He tells her he loves her too, admitting he has never said it to anyone. They watch the sunrise together, holding hands in the fog.

Patrick³ drags Nic¹ to a family brunch at his parents' grand house. The women chat about devotional club while the men discuss selling Hawke²'s house out from under him. Sean⁷ sneers that Hawke² is a drugged-out junkie who murdered his best friend and deserved prison.

Nic¹ stands up, chair clattering to the floor, and tells the entire table their gossip is disgusting and anti-Christian. Patrick³ screams at her to sit down, then grabs her wrist hard enough to bruise. She wrenches free, races to the car, and drives away while Patrick's father⁸ escorts Patrick³ back inside. The engagement she once desperately wanted is now repulsive to her.

At a motel, Hawke² finally tells the full story. Ben⁹ was his best friend, a bright, kind kid who brought people together. After a football game, they went to the cabin to celebrate. Patrick³ begged them to leave early, claimed he was sober and would drive. Hawke,² high in the backseat, felt the car swerve.

Then the crash. Hawke² crawled out and found Ben⁹ dying against a tree. Patrick³ stood on the road, watching, then ran. Patrick's father⁸ later visited Hawke² in holding, offering money to stay quiet. They promised a light sentence, then abandoned him. Hawke² went to prison for five years for a crime he did not commit.

After her shift at the bar, Nic¹ goes to her car alone. A man presses her against the glass, a gun to her neck, and orders her to strip. She recognizes him as the suited stranger who harassed her before. He says no one says no to him. As she fumbles with her belt, a savage crack splits the night.

Hawke² has arrived. He pulls the man off her and proceeds to beat him into unconsciousness, his fist rising and falling until the man's face is a bloody pulp. Nic¹ screams his real name, and he stops, holding his ribs, breath ragged. She realizes he would have killed the man if she had not spoken.

Nic¹ drives to the house and finds Patrick³ outside. She plays repentant, telling him she needs the truth for them to have a future. Patrick³ crumbles, admitting he was driving when Ben⁹ died, that his father⁸ orchestrated the cover-up, and that the man who attacked Nic¹ was meant to scare her.

Meanwhile, Nic¹'s phone is recording in her pocket, the police already on the line. As Patrick³ confesses, squad cars roll up the drive. Patrick³ is arrested for manslaughter, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy. Later, his father⁸ is also charged. Hawke²'s record is expunged. He pulls Nic¹ into his arms, whispering that she freed him.

Months later, Nic¹ clocks out of 9-5 Slide for the last time. Hawke² waits outside, leather jacket and cigarette, leaning against the wall. They have sold the house, shed their possessions. Nic¹ swings onto the back of his Harley, clutching his torso as they peel out of town.

Their destination is California coast, a deck with ocean views, and blank pages to write their story. On the radio, Phil Collins's 'In the Air Tonight' begins. Hawke² stops the bike, removes his helmet, and laughs in disbelief. Nic¹ sees tears in his eyes. Ben⁹ seems to be with them. Hawke² says the drums kick in just as he revs the engine: hold on.