by Amber Malloy
Table of Contents
Books by Amber Malloy
Title Page
Legal Page
Book Description
Dedication
Trademark Acknowledgements
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Epilogue
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About the Author
Totally Bound Publishing books by Amber Malloy
Spies R Us
Spies R Us
Kill Shot
Perfect Stats
Winning Her
Hard Knox
Perfect Stats
HAWK
AMBER MALLOY
Hawk
ISBN # 978-1-83943-534-8
©Copyright Amber Malloy 2021
Cover Art by Louisa Maggio ©Copyright August 2021
Interior text design by Claire Siemaszkiewicz
Totally Bound Publishing
This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Totally Bound Publishing.
Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Totally Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.
The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.
Published in 2021 by Totally Bound Publishing, United Kingdom.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors’ rights. Purchase only authorised copies.
Totally Bound Publishing is an imprint of Totally Entwined Group Limited.
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book”.
Book three in the
Perfect Stats series
Hawk thought he had everything he wanted until Lexington Waters showed up. That’s when he discovered he needed so much more.
Tech Guru Lexi Waters needs to snatch her company out of the grasp of her greedy ex-husband. The only problem is the restraining order that keeps her away from the business she built from the ground up. With no money left to her name, Lexi is forced to go back to Chicago and face the first man to ever let her down—blues legend Sugarfoot Moe Waters, her father. While she’s stuck fixing up his crappy bar, the last thing she needs to deal with is a pushy, arrogant professional hockey player—Hawthorne Maze, aka Hawk. Hopefully the gorgeous distraction won’t derail everything she has worked so hard for.
From the outside looking in, Hawk’s life seems perfect. Professionally, he’s at the top of his field, and personally, he has his pick of any groupie. Orphaned by teenage parents, he only knows is that his mom is white and his dad black. Other than that, there are only two people he considers family—his childhood friend Gavin Knox and geriatric bar owner Moe. He thinks he knows everything about the famous blues artist, but the sudden appearance of his hot-ass daughter is not only unexpected but also unwanted. Contemplating retirement, Hawk needs to figure out what to do next, but fate keeps throwing the sexy egghead Lexi in his path.
Dedication
To my child prodigy motorcycle-riding gremlin of an old man.
Thanks, Dad.
Trademark Acknowledgements
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Little Orphan Annie: James Whitcomb Riley, Harold Gray
Betty Boop: Max Fleischer, Grim Natwick
Inglewood Center:
Wired: Condé Nast
Macintosh: Apple Inc.
NASDAQ: Nasdaq Inc.
Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood: Bennie Benjamin, Horace Ott, Sol Marcus
Mortal Kombat: Midway Games, Williams Entertainment, Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment
Conan the Barbarian: Robert E. Howard, Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox
Chicago O’Hare International Airport: City of Chicago
Harley-Davidson: H-D USA LLC
Silver Surfer: Marvel Characters Inc.
Reese’s Pieces: Hershey Chocolate and Confectionary Corporation
Bloomberg Television: Bloomberg L.P.
She Moves Me: Muddy Waters
Papa Was a Rolling Stone: Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong
Penny Lane: Pennie Lane, Paul McCartney, John Lennon
Strange Fruit: Abel Meeropol
Vanity Fair: Condé Nast
Jessica Rabbit: Disney Enterprises Inc.
Crayola: Hallmark Cards Inc.
The Three Stooges: Columbia Pictures
Garrett Popcorn: Garrett Popcorn Holding Company
Starbucks: Starbucks Coffee Company Corporation
Olympics: United States Olympic Committee
Black Panther: Marvel Characters Inc., Disney Enterprises Inc.
The Matrix: Warner Brothers
Cha Cha Slide: DJ Casper
The United Center: United Center Joint Venture
Willy Wonka: Roald Dahl
iPhone: Cisco Technology Inc.
Microsoft Word: Microsoft Corporation
Broken Clocks: Solána Rowe, Cody Fayne, Jaylen Maloy, Thomas Paxton-Beesley, Adam Feeney, Ashton Simmons
Trip: Ella Mai, Varren Wade, Quinton, Dijon MacFarlane
Wonderwall: Noel Gallagher
Champagne Supernova: Noel Gallagher
iTunes: Apple Inc.
King Kong: Edgar Wallace, Merian C. Cooper
Basic Instinct: TriStar Pictures, Guild Film Distribution, UGC
Napster: Shawn Fanning, Sean Parker
Brown Sugar: D’Angelo, Ali Shaheed-Muhammed
Nespresso: Nestlé Nespresso S.A.
FaceTime: Apple Inc.
NikeTown: Nike Inc.
Netflix: Netflix Inc.
Doritos: Frito-Lay North America Inc.
Wonder Woman: : DC Comics General Partnership, Warner Brothers Motion Pictures
&
nbsp; Fortune 500: Fortune Media Group Holdings
Violin Concerto: Florence Price
Velcro: Velcro Industries B.V. LLC
Michelin: Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin SCA
LAX Airport: City of Los Angeles
Beverly Wilshire: Four Seasons
M&M: Mars Incorporated
Star Trek: Paramount Pictures Corporation
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Josh Whedon, 20th Century Fox Television
Dumpster: Topcoat Technologies Inc.
Flashdance: Paramount Pictures
Nice for What: Aubrey Drake Graham, Shane Lindstrom, Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Dennis Coles, Robert Diggs, Gary Grice, Marvin Hamlisch, Lamont Hawkins, Lauryn Hill, Jason Hunter, Russell Jones, Clifford Smith, Corey Woods, Orville Hall, Phillip Price
NFL: National Football League Association
Simple Things: Miguel
Dr. Who: BBC Studios
Boy Scouts: Boy Scouts of America Corporation
Xbox: Microsoft Corporation
Tomboy: Crown International Pictures
Weird Science: Universal Pictures
Sixteen Candles: Universal Pictures
Jeopardy!: Merv Griffin, CBS Media Ventures
In Your Eyes: Peter Gabriel
Say Anything: 20th Century Fox
I Can’t Wait: John Smith
Ambien: Sanofi Societe Anonyme
Fenty: LVMH—Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton
Nanny McPhee: United International Pictures, Universal Pictures
The Real Housewives: Scott Dunlop, Bravo
Top Chef: NBC Universal Television Distribution
The Stepford Wives: Ira Levin
Gatorade: PepsiCo
Game of Thrones: Warner Brothers Television Distribution
Target: Target Corporation
The Bachelor: Warner Brothers Television Distribution
Let’s Stay Together: Al Green, Willie Mitchell, Al Jackson Jr.
Frankenstein: Mary Shelley
Can You Stand the Rain: James Harris III, Terry Lewis
Apple: Apple Inc.
WWF: World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc.
I Like It: Randy DeBarge, El DeBarge, Bunny DeBarge
Boom Boom: John Lee Hooker
Uber: Uber Technologies Inc.
Slow Blues: Duke Ellington
Sinnerman: Les Baxter, Will Holt
Rolex: Rolex Watch USA
The Wizard of Oz: L. Frank Baum
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde: Robert Louis Stevenson
The Flintstones: Hanna-Barbera
X-Men: Marvel Characters Inc.
James Bond: Ian Fleming
Air: Johann Sebastian Bach
What a Wonderful World: Bob Thiele, George David Weiss
Hulk: Marvel Characters Inc.
Prologue
June
Stepping into the dimly lit dive, Hawthorn Maze, aka Hawk, propped open the door to his favorite dingy blues bar and hoisted the Keating Cup above his head. Greeted by a wave of cheers, he took that moment to soak up his well-deserved glory.
Ten years ago, the Chicago Northern Royals had been the team to beat. In the span of a decade, the hockey darlings had bashed their way through the earth’s crust and straight to its inner core. Career-ending injuries, along with drugs and the occasional sex scandals, had plagued them. The champions had no longer been considered a threat. They had become merely the butt of a joke on late-night talk shows.
Hawk had taken a huge leap of faith joining the crew of misfits. More than once he’d wanted to cut his losses and retire, but after three long years, he’d finally gotten what he wanted…no, desired. The Royals had entered the playoffs as underdogs and left championship winners.
Downright fanatical about their sports teams to a psychotic degree, the city of Chicago celebrated the win with a loony fever. Everyone, even the mayor, was left with a major sports hangover.
For one whole day, the first-string players were allowed to take the trophy home. Unfortunately, his teammates hadn’t gotten the memo that explicitly excluded them from attending his day with the award. Five of the Northern Royal rookies sat in the booth taking selfies and ussies. Since kicking them out would look bad, he chucked the trophy on top of his right shoulder and made his way around the bar.
Raised in Ontario, Canada’s foster system, Hawk had picked Moe’s Blues Bar to celebrate his ‘trophy day’ and invited all the people he loved for support.
Moe’s was a hole in the wall that never got too much foot traffic. That’s why he’d initially fallen in love with the dump in the first place. He considered the blues bar his home away from home.
Hawk hadn’t even told the press where he would spend his day with the Keating Cup. However, a few reporters waited for him in the back. He could probably thank his teammates for that shit.
“Congrats, Hawk.” Simone, the light-skinned bartender with the crazy-cool one-sided mohawk, reached across the bar to slap his hand.
“Where’s Moe?” He asked after the blues legend and bar owner, Sugarfoot Mosely—the father figure in his surrogate family.
“A little under the weather. He sends his apologies and wants me to give the whole bar a round.”
“Cool, just make sure my teammates over there are long gone when that happens.”
Simone threw him a wink and turned back to pouring the beers on tap.
Accepting his much-earned accolades from the regulars, Hawk headed over to the booths. He shook a few patrons’ hands before he stopped in front of his teammates.
He patiently waited for the fans who surrounded the young’uns to thin out before he broadened the grin on his face. Leaning closer to the obnoxious interlopers, he stopped himself from choking the little shits.
“What’s up, assholes? Why are you here?” He barely wanted to see them during the season. The idiots wanted all the shine without any of the sweat it took to win. Hawk had to deal with them half of the year. The other six months were all his.
“We didn’t want you to look pathetic,” the youngest and most obnoxious of the bunch said. Baby-faced brats, mostly from Sweden and Canada, stupidly stared back at him.
“No family and no first string… The press will dub you Little Orphan Annie.”
The group of degenerates drunkenly laughed at his family-less status.
“Well, I didn’t invite the paps, much less you fucks, sooo see your way out.”
“Come on,” Swedish meatball number two said. “We’ll take a couple of pics then go off to a real bar.”
“Yeah, this one is full of old people—and it sucks.” Smug as hell, the rookies actually thought they could poach his moment.
“Hawk!” The bar went wild, which meant the people he’d actually invited had arrived.
“Sorry we’re late… Traffic.”
Hawk turned away from the moment stealers to slap hands with Gavin Knox, his childhood best friend. Along with him came Andre, their college bud and all-around asshole extraordinaire, plus their families, to celebrate his championship win.
“Ah shit, it’s the football players,” the Northern Royals defenseman snorted. “The has-beens.”
“Did a bench warmer just insult me?” Andre Burnett, former running back for the Mavericks, stepped forward.
“Oh, hey, you just admitted to watching the game.” Hawk laughed at the former running back’s slip-up. Disgusted that a half-black man would pick such a girly sport, Andre never missed a chance to poke fun at hockey.
“Hell, I don’t watch that shit! Look at them.” Andre snorted. “You can tell they don’t see any action.”
“Do you want a taste of this, old man?” The rookie scrunched up his face with a baby cub growl.
Andre folded back the sleeves of his dress shirt. “Come on, Macaulay Culkin. Let’s cash that check your ass can’t write.”
“Ignore them.” Hawk waved the press over. “They were just leaving.” He waited for the little jerks to scoot out of
the booth.
“You’re missing a prime opportunity to increase your followers, dude,” Sweden muttered on his way past.
“In football, the kiddies knew their place,” Andre stated.
“That is a blatant lie.” Knox disputed Andre’s claim.
“Everyone get close and shut up,” Hawk demanded.
As the press crowded around their mosh-posh little gang, he hopped into the center. Knox moved to his right with his two toddlers and his wife, while Andre’s brood of five flanked his left side.
“On the count of four.” Since all of them were pros at the media game, everyone plastered smiles on their faces.
“One…two…three… Champions!” they screamed.
Chapter One
As Lexi Waters’ advanced coding class put the finishing touches on their latest assignment, she flew her fingers across the screen of her phone a million miles per hour. Drowning out the click clack sound from more than a dozen girls pounding away on their keyboards, she polished off her last text.
“Okay, girls!” she hollered over the noise while pushing away from her desk. “We’ve got fifteen minutes left, but I wanted to say…uh—” Flashing lights drew her attention toward the window. A police cruiser turned into the community center’s parking lot. Shit! Standing up, she slid her phone into the back pocket of her jeans before she stepped in front of her students.
“Girls, code has been one of the biggest joys in my life, and you guys will never know how much you truly mean to me…” Lexi took in each one of the girls’ faces, wanting to commit every detail to memory. “I’ll be taking a little time away, which means I won’t be able to teach the class.” Groans filled the room at her announcement. Lexi had been with some of these girls since their tween years.
Do not cry. Do not cry. Swallowing the emerging lump in her throat, she encouraged herself to keep it together for a smidge longer.
“Miss Tracy will be taking over for the foreseeable future.” Lexi steadily ignored her phone buzzing in her back pocket. “She will help you tie up the loose ends on your video game concepts, starting with the plot all the way down to character development.”