little bird // r.keene

xx. clean?

Wren and Hawk strode hand in hand towards the bookshop, Hawk had no clue as to where they were going but was excited to find out when Wren began to walk backward in front of him.

"Okay, so just promise me you won't tell anyone?" She asked as she stopped walking in the middle of the sidewalk but they couldn't be there, there were no houses nearby.
"Why shouldn't I tell anybody?" He asked playfully, taking a step towards her and closing the gap between them.

Wren seemed to think about this but she knew the answers, she hesitated before blurting, "Because if you do, and it gets out, I could potentially get in some trouble." She told him and Hawk cocked a brow.
"What do you mean?"

"You'll see." She replied and stood on her tiptoes in order to kiss his cheek. Hawk just smiled as he watched her turn on her heels to begin walking again but instead she turned right, walking into a bookshop. He looked up at the sign.

The Bookshelf.

He followed Wren in when she suddenly stopped in her tracks. He was so caught up in the warm light of the room, illuminating the rows and rows of shelves, housing endless books, that he very nearly walked right into her back.

"You need to leave." She snapped, and at first, Hawk thought she was talking to him. All until he followed her eyes to where there were two men stood on either side of the counter in the middle of the room. The one facing them, behind the surface was an old man, when he saw them his mouth spread into one of the widest smiles Hawk had ever seen.

"Ah, Wren, look who's here!" He smiled, walking out from behind the counter, one hand clutching a walking stick, whilst the other waved her, both of them, over. "Oh and you brought a friend. How lovely, I'm Mr James." The man exclaimed as he walked over to the two teenagers still frozen in the doorway of the shop.

Wren seemed to snap out of her trance at that moment and her eyes trailed from the man in the dark jacket, who was yet to turn around to Mr James. "What is he doing here?" She asked, her voice low and as coarse as sandpaper. "He can't be here, Noah, you know that." Hawk watched as Mr James' smile faltered.

"He's clean." Mr James said innocently, "Talk to him, Wren." Wren's eyes snapped from Mr James back to the man and Hawk's stomach twisted. He knew, whoever this man was, Wren had accounted for his arrival.

She swallowed before breaking away from Hawk's side and approaching the man. She didn't care what Mr James thought he knew about this man. She didn't care Hawk was there, when she probably should have....

Wren was blinded with rage when she stopped to the left of the man and he finally turned to face her.
"Come for another beating?" She asked, calmly and quietly, venomously.

"Wren..." Leo Evan's began and Mr James lowered his head in guilt at the reunion between father and daughter. He would have thought she would have been happy but it wasn't his fault. Wren had told him in the past she had visited her father and left on a happy note, no more, no less. Mr James didn't know, but he felt like he should have.

"Get out." Was all she said, "Get out, Leo." She snapped, staring up at him. It was a lie, he wasn't clean at all, she could smell the alcohol pouring off him. In fact, the alcohol was probably the only thing that gave him the courage to walk in here in the first place after what Wren had done to him in the alleyway all those weeks ago.

"Listen to me." He snapped back, his voice firmer this time. "I need money..." He whispered, so only she could hear but Hawk caught it and he felt his heart sink to his stomach.

"Do you still keep your unregistered gun under the left side of the mattress? Do you still keep that scratched out photo of mom pinned above your nightstand? Do you still keep wads of money neatly stacked under the floorboard just above the stairs?" Wren asked her father, the only difference was her voice actually was a whisper, leaving Hawk and Mr James only each other for confirmation about what she had said to make her father's face drop like it did.

"Do you?" She reiterated, "Get out or I make a phone call. Understand?" Wren ordered in a normal voice.
"You do that and you're getting dragged out of here. You understand me? They'll cart you off somewhere far away, so I never have to fucking see you again!" Hawk had heard enough, he strode forward, too quick for Mr James to comprehend before he grabbed Leo by the collar and pressed his back to the counter, getting between him and Wren.

"You heard her, get the fuck out, asshole." He uttered, before pulling Leo towards him only to shove him back again. "You hear me? Or should I repeat myself?"

"So you're the boyfriend?" Leo asked, as if he didn't have a care in the world, "She comes with a lot of baggage, I must warn you lad. But not to worry, she'll drop you soon enough. That's what she does, when things get tough, she packs up and leaves... Just like her mother." Leo pondered out loud and Hawk raised his fist but Wren caught his arm, pulling it towards her.

"Hawk..." She said firmly, Hawk tore his eyes from the man he still held by the shirt and looked over to Wren, who lightly shook her head. He lowered his fist but still gripped Leo's shirt. Wren made eye contact with her father, "Leave and never fucking come back or I'll call the police and before you just repeat yourself, I don't care if I get put in the system and a group home, before I know it, I'll be 18 and I'll just come back. But you?" Wren welcomed a wicked smirk, "You'll be in prison a lot longer than I will be in a home. I don't care what happens to me... As long as you have it worse..." Leo didn't respond. It was, what felt like, a long time before he did.

"You've changed."
"No I haven't. You just never bothered to get to know me."

The room was silent as Hawk slowly let go of him and without a word, Leo stormed out of the shop, the bell above the door ringing as he left.

Wren felt a large breath escape her. She felt her arms fall slack and her fingers were icy cold. Hawk reached out for her but Wren just looked to Mr James.

"Little bird." Hawk remembered the nickname, the name she asked him not to call her the night of the party, "I'm so sorry. I didn't know." Mr James was ready to ramble but Wren just shook her head.
"It's okay Noah," She told him but Mr James knew, he knew when she called him Noah, something was wrong, even if she wouldn't admit it. "As you said, you didn't know. If he ever comes back in here, you call the police, do you understand?" She asked and Mr James nodded, Wren offered him a light smile. A fake smile to make him feel better before turning to Hawk.

"Hawk, Mr James. Mr James, Hawk." At the sound of Hawk's name he turned to Mr James and held out a hand for him to shake, which he did. When both of them turned around, Wren had disappeared up the stairs to her room. Mr James clutched his walking stick with both hands.

"I messed up, my boy." He mumbled to Hawk.
"Her dad?" Hawk asked quietly, tearing his eyes from the stairs, in which Wren had disappeared up, to Mr James, who walked behind the counter to sit in a large leather armchair behind the till.

"Indeed. He was never the nicest man to her or her mother growing up. So now when he turned up here, telling me he was clean and wanted to see her. I believed him without a second thought. I'm afraid, Hawk, I am as gullible as I am old." Mr James sighed, "Go comfort her. I'm afraid I have done enough for this evening."

Hawk hesitated, not wanting to leave this man drowning in his own guilt but his heart was tugging him up the stairs to find Wren. He took a few steps to the stairs before turning to look at Mr James. "You meant well, she knows that."

"Thank you, my boy, thank you." Was all Mr James could say before Hawk vanished after Wren.