Heart of the Hunter (20 page)

“Ladies,” I said from the doorway.

They both stopped and looked up at me like they had been caught doing something they weren’t supposed to be doing. They had no reason to. I was the one who didn’t belong.

“Hi, Hunter,” Kelly said as she stood up and walked over to me. I reached out to touch her side and she caught my hand as she turned back toward Grace. “I was just telling Grace here about the awful mess I found myself in last night and how you got me all sorted out.”

I looked down at Kelly and forced my hand onto her side. I didn’t give a fuck what her friend thought. This was my fucking girl and I would touch her if I goddamn felt like it. Hell, I’d take her into the bedroom and pound her so hard we broke the bed if I wanted to.

Grace looked up at me with judgmental eyes.

“Yes. It seems you have quite a knack for getting my Kelly out of trouble. Or at least, she always seems to find trouble when you’re around. Which is it, young man?”

I won’t stand for your shit for long, lady. Watch that mouth.

“Grace, that’s enough,” Kelly said.

Grace shifted in her seat but kept talking. “I’m just saying is all. I call them like I see them.”

I could feel my hands balling into fists and I was starting to breathe heavily. Kelly must have sensed that I was about to fucking go off and she slid herself around my side, tucked her body under my arm, and placed her hand on my chest.

“Grace. Please. There’s no reason to be like this. If it wasn’t for Hunter, those guys at the diner might have gotten what was on their filthy minds. If it wasn’t for Hunter, I could have been stranded on the street in the middle of the night. I think we owe him a little more respect than this.”

I just stared at Grace, doing my best to convey that I was seconds away from snapping her neck and Kelly was the only reason I wasn’t. She wasn’t picking up on it though.

“Well, maybe so, but it seems to me he’s got just what he wanted out of the whole situation,” Grace said, motioning to Kelly hanging off my side. She gave a disapproving look in our direction. “I don’t know what your intentions are here, Hunter, but you’ve got a long way to go before I think you’re good enough for my Kelly.”

Between the kid and Grace, I was about to lose my fucking mind. I kept looking around the room for something to throw, but my gaze found Kelly’s eyes and I could feel myself calming down. This girl was better than any pint of booze I had ever drank down, and twice as intoxicating.

Kelly turned back to the judge and jury in the fucking nightgown.

“Grace, he’s just here for breakfast. Put the claws away, please.”

“Young lady. I don’t know what has gotten into,” Grace protested, but Kelly cut her off.

“Please. It’s just breakfast. Right, Hunter?”

She turned her head up and gave me a look like she wanted to drop to her knees and swallow my cock right on the spot. I thought twice about letting her do it and then lifted my head toward Grace.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said through my rising anger, “just breakfast.”

Grace shuffled in her seat a bit and then finally walked over toward us.

“Fine. Breakfast. You smell like you could use a good meal anyhow. Get into a little drink after saving the world last night, did we?”

She patted my shoulder and made her way to the stove. She was driving me nuts.

“Yes, ma’am, I’m afraid I did. It was a hell of a day and a friend passed through town. We blew off a little steam.”

I fucked the shit out of this sweet young thing next to me as well. I can give you a play by play if you think that little heart of yours can handle the thrill of it all.

“Well, I think that’s a ridiculous way to spend one’s time, but that’s just me. There’s some coffee over there if you haven’t quite
woken up
yet.”

She started puttering in the fridge and I was thrilled she had shut the fuck up. Kelly smiled at me and ran her hand across my cock as she moved to the coffee pot and poured me a cup.

Goddamn you, woman. I’m going to fuck your brains out as soon as I fucking can.

“Yeah, what’s that smell?” the small voice piped up from behind me again. “Kelly, Grace, what’s that smell? It stinks like Dennis when he comes to church on Sunday morning.”

“Why don’t you ask our guest, Lucas?” Grace said smugly from the fridge.

I looked down at the kid as he passed.

“Adult things, kid. Nothing you have to worry about.”

What a fucking nightmare.

Grace getting in my shit, this fucking kid eyeing me up and down like some overprotective father, how was I going to get through it without smashing something?

What in the sweet fuck had I gotten myself into?

A circle of bastards surrounding me with guns drawn felt more comfortable than this. I walked over to the breakfast table, pulled out a chair, and sat down. I wished I had a bottle of anything with a kick.

Why the fuck was I here and what in the fuck made me think it was worth it?

Then it hit me. Or, more accurately, swayed her sexy hips toward me and sat her round ass down on my cock, wiggling her way into it as her brother and Grace went about their business not knowing any better.

Chapter 38

Kelly

I
COULD FEEL HUNTER’S THICK
cock growing against my backside and I started to get a warm sensation spreading out from between my legs. I had never been in such a constant state of arousal as I was around him. Even with my little brother and Grace in the room, all I could think about was pulling off his pants and putting him back inside me. I was never in control with him. It made me feel better than I ever had.

I stood up and brushed my hand along Hunter’s chest.

“So, Lucas, what do you have going on at school today?” I asked.

He just looked up at me, confused.

“Kelly, I told you last night. There’s no school today, remember? I told you.”

I didn’t remember. I had been in such a fog last night that I couldn’t focus on anything.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Luke. I just forgot for a moment. What’s going on again?” I lied so he wouldn’t feel bad.

Lucas just kept unpacking his backpack not realizing that anything was off.

“I don’t know, something about cleaning, I guess.”

“They are finally repairing that disgusting old bathroom they make the young men use, remember?” piped in Grace from the stove. “You booked this day off from the diner months ago, Kelly.”

I remembered now. I couldn’t believe I had forgotten, but then again I couldn’t really believe anything about the last twenty-four hours of my life.

“Oh yes, of course. Well, what are we going to do today, Luke?”

Please say you have plans with friends. I need today. I need today to get myself together and be with Hunter. To figure out just what that means.

“I don’t know,” Lucas said. “Maybe we could go for a drive outside of town? Maybe we could go swimming?”

Back to reality it is, I guess.

As much as I wanted it to be just me and Hunter, the fact remained that it wasn’t. Lucas was my brother and he still needed me. I still needed him. I glanced over at Hunter who must have picked up on my thoughts and was standing up to head toward the door.

“Listen. It looks like you all have your hands full here today. Why don’t you let me get out of your hair and I’ll see everyone around?” He looked right at me, “Kelly I have to get going, but I will be back.”

He said the last words clearly and stared into my eyes as he spoke them so I was sure he would return for me. He didn’t have to convince me. I knew he would come back, but I just didn’t know what I was going to do about my old life when he did. I couldn’t leave, but I knew he wouldn’t stay. All the heat and lust I had been feeling just moments before had morphed into sadness and anxiety.

Suddenly, Grace spoke up from the counter as she was sliding eggs onto four plates.

“Young man, hush.”

Hunter stopped in his tracks and glared over at Grace.

Dear god, Grace, stop pushing him. And Hunter, please just stay. Please.

“You’ve come all the way here on Kelly’s insistence and apparently we owe you some thanks,” Grace continued. “Now, I’ve just cooked you a fine meal, somewhat against my will, and I’ll be goshdarned if you don’t sit down and eat it!”

Hunter looked at me with a smile. “Yes, ma’am. My apologies.”

He sat back down as Grace placed his plate in front of him.

“I gave you an extra big helping. It looks like you can put the food away,” Grace said, smiling at Hunter. “Plus, it will soak up that devil juice in your stomach.”

Hunter tensed up again as he shoveled a fork full of eggs into his mouth.

I mouthed the words,
I’m sorry
, to him and he just stared back as he chewed his food. I had made a mistake bringing him here. We should have taken a day to let things settle. I was forcing myself and my life on him and that was something he wouldn’t stand for. We wanted each other, needed each other, but could that really be enough?

I walked over to him and put my hand on his shoulder. He put his fork down and moved his hand to my lower back, running his fingertips under my shirt and sending cool shivers shooting up and down my spine that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I knew then more than ever that what we felt was enough. His touch ignited a fire in me and I knew he felt it too. I was his.

“This is some fine food, Grace,” he said as he gazed up at me with his beautiful, blue eyes. He was tolerating this. For me. I wanted him even more and I wondered how that was possible.

“Oh, hush. It’s just some eggs and bacon. I’m glad you’re enjoying it though.”

Hunter slid his hand down my backside. Then he went back to his food.

Grace went from the stove toward the hall.

“Kelly dear, can you help me with the sofa bed please?”

“Coming, Grace. Can you two boys play nice in here for a minute?”

Lucas shrugged his shoulders and Hunter just shook his head.

Everything was going to be okay. For now.

Chapter 39

Hunter

J
UST KEEP EATING, PAL.
Finish your fucking food, say your goodbyes, and get the fuck out of here. You shouldn’t have come in, you fucking know that, but here you are and if you’re going to make it out of here you have to fucking remain calm.

I looked across the table at the kid as he crammed his food into his mouth. He ate like an animal, but fuck it, so did I. I could hear Kelly and Grace chattering back and forth in the other room and I could only assume it wasn’t anything good. How the fuck was I going to get this girl out of here? Was I just going to stay there in that little piece of shit town forever?

No, of course I wasn’t. I couldn’t. Not with my old man barreling down on me with the fury of south Boston behind him.

Goddamn it, Kelly. Why did I have to fucking meet you? I was just fucking fine before you came into my fucking life.

“So are you, like, Kelly’s boyfriend or something?” the little voice from across the table asked me.

“Fuck do you care?” I said, barely looking up from my food.

“She’s my sister,” he answered back without skipping a beat. He wasn’t scared of me at all.
Yet
.

“You sure swear a lot. Didn’t your parents teach you not to swear?”

This little kid was getting on my nerves. Just because his sister made me come like a fucking geyser didn’t mean I had to put up with this shit.

“No parents, kid. None that I knew anyway. Must have missed that lesson.”

Lucas got real silent and stopped eating his food.

“Me too. I mean, I had parents. But they died. I don’t really remember too much about them, but I remember enough.”

Fuck
.

Kelly never mentioned that her parents had died. She never mentioned them at all. I just assumed the good little girl had a good little life. It never even occurred to me that she didn’t have the fucking perfect parents living around the corner. That explained why Grace was hanging around. It also explained why her little brother was there, eating breakfast with me.

Fuck me.

I had never even stopped to ask a single thing about her life. I’d only thought about my own. Turned out she’d had her own share of hardships to overcome.

Goddamn. That pussy fucking blinds you, pal.

“What happened to your parents, Hunter?” the kid kept going. I didn’t want to be having this fucking conversation and I couldn’t think of a way I could get out of it without upsetting this lovely little family meal time.

“I don’t know, kid. Never knew them.”

He sat there and his eyes dropped down to the table.

“You’re lucky.”

“And how do you figure that, pal?”

He kept his glance firmly planted on the table in front of him and then spoke calmly.

“Because then you don’t have to miss them.”

Fuck me. I felt like I should give this little fucker an Oscar. You’re even melting my heart here, pal. Jesus, I’ve got to get the fuck out of here.

I struggled to change the subject since all I wanted was for him to shut the fuck up.

“So, what do you do in school, buddy? You got a favorite class, or you more of a sports and girls type of guy?”

Lucas looked up and his mood seemed to brighten a bit.

Thank fucking God. Babysitting is not fucking high on my list of talents, Kelly. Get the fuck back here.

“I don’t know. The school part is okay,” the little guy said, and then he paused and looked around to make sure Grace and Kelly weren’t too close by. “But I like the sports and the girls better.”

You grimy little fucker. A man after my own heart.

“I’ll tell you a little secret, pal, but don’t let Grace know,” I gave the kid a smile and leaned across the table a bit. He leaned in too and looked around for the old broad. “I never went to school for anything other than girls or sports either.”

Lucas sat back in his seat and smiled.

“So what do you do, Hunter?”

Goddamn you with the questions, kid. I’m still half drunk and trying to eat here.