Baked (Love Burns #3)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

H unter could feel Rachel pulling back. With every day that passed she became more distant. He saw it every time she didn’t meet his eyes. He saw it when she barely managed to spend five minutes alone with him before she was inviting friends or family inside his hospital room. And he saw it when he told her he loved her, and she remained quiet.

She’s getting ready to run.

He really wanted to be wrong, but that nagging feeling in his gut wasn’t going away. It was only getting worse. So much so, it was beginning to ache more than the bullet hole in his side.

Today was supposed to be a good day. He was being discharged. Finally. But instead of enjoying his last few hours in the stiff hospital bed that had been his home for the past week, he found himself massaging his temple in the hope that it would control his temper.

Rachel had spent the past ten minutes trying to convince him to stay with his parents. That wasn’t going to happen. That’s not what he wanted. He wanted to go home. To his home. With her. But it was becoming increasingly apparent that wasn’t going to happen.

While she was in the middle of yet another lame excuse as to why his mom was in the best position to care for him, he finally snapped.

“What the fuck is going on, Rachel?” he barked.

“What do you mean?” She wasn’t fooling anyone with those wide eyes.

“I mean , why the hell are you trying to get me to move in with my folks? I’m a thirty-eight-year-old man, for God’s sake, I don’t need my mommy looking after me.”

The tight clasp she had on her hands perched on her lap got tighter. He could have sworn he saw her nails dig into her skin.

“But you’ve just had surgery, Hunter, and you’re gonna need help for a little while.”

“And you don’t wanna do it.” It wasn’t even a question. He knew she didn’t.

When her head dropped, so did his heart. He was right. She was done. She was going to run.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

“Baby, please talk to me.” He gentled his voice. “What’s going on?”

Her head was still down, her eyes strategically averted. “I don’t think it’s gonna work ... with us.”

He was going to be sick. Those words hurt far worse than any bullet.

“Why?” he managed to croak out.

She went quiet, but there was nothing quiet about the thoughts currently spiraling in his head. How could she be done already? He’d only just begun loving her. This was just the beginning of a future they could finally have now.

When she spoke again, it wasn’t a bullet he needed to be worried about. It was the knife she was about to plunge into his chest that was going to leave a mark.

“I-I just can’t do this anymore, Hunter. It’s over. We’re over. I’m sorry.” He watched her choke back a sob. “I’m sorry for everything.”

That was the last thing she said. In a blink of an eye, her chair scraped back against the lino floor, and she was out the door. Leaving him cold, empty, and angry as hell.

“Rachel, wait!” he hollered out of the room, but he was met with silence.

He wanted to chase her. Demand an explanation. But the machine he was still hooked up to had other ideas. So did his hospital gown.

Fuck my fucking life.

This was not the end. It couldn’t be. He wouldn’t let it be. She loved him; he knew she did. And God knows he loved her more than life itself. Something had to have happened over the past few days. Something he had to fix. You couldn’t just go from madly in love one minute to tearing down a hospital corridor the next. It just didn’t make sense.

Once he was free of this hospital bed, he’d find out exactly what had happened and sort it out. He had to. There was no other outcome that he could fathom right now.

***

T hree days without Rachel, and Hunter had finally had enough. He just couldn’t take it anymore. Not seeing her beautiful smile, not hearing her fairy-like voice, and not wrapping her in his arms every night felt like the end of the world.

Could you be any more dramatic?

He could. Three days without Rachel proved that. He’d been giving her space. Understanding, she needed time to process what had happened. But now he was done waiting. He needed to see her.

He still wasn’t cleared to drive, so that was out. But he could use his phone. He pulled it out a second later. Leaning back into the couch cushions, he held his breath as the ringing sliced through his ears.

When the ringing came to a stop, his heart rate kicked up, only to plummet again when the automated voicemail recording played.

She’s screening your ass.

Was that true? There were not enough curses in the world to convey what he was feeling, but he tried anyway.

“Fuck it.” He swiped on his phone again.

This time, someone actually answered.

“What’s up?” Luke’s deep voice filled his ears.

“I need you to come pick me up.” Hunter got straight to the point. “I need to see Rachel.”

The line went quiet. Another test to his patience.

“Luke? Did you hear me?” he prompted when his friend still hadn’t replied.

“Look, man,” Luke started, preparing Hunter for something he no doubt didn’t want to hear. “I can’t take you to see her, ’cause Rachel’s not in Woodvalley. She skipped town.”

“She fucking what?” Hunter roared, jolting up from the cushions.

He heard Luke sigh down the line. “The day you were discharged, she up and left town. Closed the bakery and just took off. No one’s heard from her since. Libby and Cat have been trying to reach her, but they said she’s not answering their calls.”

Hunter’s mind immediately went to her safety. What if more guys came looking for her? What if Den and Rudy weren’t the only men her father owed money to?

“Did you speak to Cody? Shit. What if she’s in trouble?” Panic crawled up his spine as all the what-ifs just kept coming.

“Chill, man, of course I spoke to Cody. Den, Rudy, and her dad are all locked up. No one’s coming for her. She’s free. She’s not in danger anymore, I swear it.”

You would think that would make him feel better, but it didn’t. He felt no less calm. “Then where is she?”

“Honestly, I think she’ll be back,” Luke was quick to reply.

“Oh yeah, and what makes you so sure?”

What if she’s gone forever?

“Well, first off, the sign on Fairy Baked says Closed until further notice . Which means she’ll be back, if only to sort out the store. Plus, I get the feeling she just needs some time to clear her head. A lot of shit went down. And you should have seen her in the hospital, man. She wasn’t okay. She was spurting off all this crap about how it was her fault you got shot and weird shit like she didn’t deserve you.”

“What?” Hunter was on his feet now, ignoring the sharp burn in his side and pacing the room. Well, more like limping slowly up and down the room. “And you didn’t think to mention that to me earlier? Maybe, I don’t know, around the time she dumped my ass?”

Un-frigging-believable.

“Uh, no, dude, I didn’t. Maybe I just wanted my friend to focus on getting better after his major fucking surgery . Have you already forgotten that you’ve got a big-ass hole in you?”

His friend’s typical sarcasm was followed with genuine concern. It was enough to stop Hunter mid step. He was still pissed, but it was nice to know his friend had a heart lurking beneath that steel-enforced wall he’d erected around himself.

“I love her.” The words came out as hopeless as he felt.

“I know you do.” Luke’s voice was unusually quiet. “She’ll be back.”

“I can’t lose her.”

“You won’t. She loves you; I know she does. You’ve just got to give her time and be patient.”

Hunter hoped like hell his friend was right, but as he hung up the phone, doubt crept in.

Doesn’t deserve me, my ass. I’m an ogre, and she’s a goddamn fairy princess.

As he stared down at the blank screen, he contemplated his next move. He needed all the help he could get if he was going to win his honeybun back. And that’s exactly what he was going to do.