Mine Now (The Phantom Vipers MC)

15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Hunter

I take the eggs from the carton and begin making them when I hear the sound of my bedroom door closing softly. If she wants to leave so bad, then there is nothing I can do to stop her. She isn’t my responsibility, even if I think she is stupid for wanting to go back to that asshole. It’s her choice. Her life. And I’ve got enough to deal with today without trying to save someone who doesnt want to be saved. Today is the anniversary of my daughter’s death and I’m trying really hard not to let that effect my judgement.

The thought slams into me like a truck, like it always does. A tightness grips my chest, making it hard to breathe.

Six years.

Six years without her laugh. Without her little hands gripping mine. Without the sound of her tiny feet running through the house.

I clench my jaw and focus on the eggs. Keep moving. Keep busy. Don’t let it pull you under.

The last thing I want is for Blake and Charlie to see me like this. To see what this day does to me.

Because today, I am weak.

And I don’t have the strength to pretend otherwise.

I toss the empty shells into the trash and plate the eggs and some toast. Blake and Charlie come around the corner with their bags on their backs, fully dressed. A pang forms in my chest. I don’t want them to go. “Don’t you want to eat first?” I motion toward the food.

Charlie nods and drops her bag in the hall before climbing onto the island stool. “Thanks, Mr. Hunter. We are going back to Daddy today, did you hear?” How can she want to go back to that hellhole? I just don’t understand. She sounds excited. Excited? It makes my stomach churn. I just don’t get it. Back to a man who hurts them both. I know abuse warps people, makes them think they don’t have a choice, but… she’s just a kid. She doesn’t know any better.

And Blake—Blake does know better.

She’s choosing to go back anyway. I give her a small smile. “I heard, sweetheart.” I look over her head at Blake and motion for her to follow me out back while Charlie eats. One last chance to talk some sense into her.

She does so begrudgingly.

I hold out my pack of cigs to her, and she shakes her head. “No, thank you.”

That doesn’t stop me from grabbing one and lighting it up, though. I take a long drag and blow it in her face.

She scrunches her nose and raises her brow. “Was that necessary?”

I smirk and do it again.

She swats the smoke away this time before huffing and taking a seat. “Why do you want me out here?”

Right to the point. Only problem is, I don’t really know what the point is. To keep her here longer than she wants? Maybe to try and talk some sense into her before she leaves the house. To relish in her presence since it seems to keep the dark thoughts away. I take another drag and clear my throat. “I think you are making a mistake.”

She scoffs and folds her arms across her chest in a defensive manner. “What I do is none of your business. You are ready to get rid of me anyway.”

I stare at her for a moment. What? I want nothing more than for them to stay with me. To keep them all to myself. “Is that why you are going back? Because you think I don’t want you here?”

She quickly shakes her head.

“Listen, I am a forty-two-year-old man, and I don’t fucking have time for games. If I didn’t want you here, then I would’ve asked you to leave or never brought you here in the first place. Don’t go back to your abusive husband because I didn’t beg you to stay when you said you wanted to leave.” I let out a heavy sigh and run my hand down my beard. “What I am trying to say is, I don’t own you, Blake. You are free to do as you wish when you wish. You are an adult. If you want to go back to your shitty life, then so be it. But don’t put your blame on me for the reason you want to leave.”

I just need to get some space. As I head toward the house, I can feel myself getting angrier by the minute, and she doesn’t deserve it. The weight of today and the fact that I just can’t stand the childish way she would choose to go back to that life because I didn’t beg her to fucking stay.

I am almost to the back door when she speaks.

“Wait.”

I slowly turn back toward her and wait for her to say what she needs to say.

She gets up from the chair and closes the distance between us until she is standing a few feet away.

Too close. Not close enough.

“You’re right, and I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve me being a brat for no good reason. I didn’t mean to throw it in your face like that. I just couldn’t help myself.” She fiddles with her fingernails. “I just… when you didn’t tell me what to do, it confused me. I’m so used to being controlled that when you said I could go, it made me feel like you didn’t want me around.”

My chest tightens at her words. This is just her trauma speaking.

Before I can respond, she continues, her voice quieter, almost like she’s talking to herself.“I’m scared, Hunter.”

She turns away, wrapping her arms around herself.

She looks so damn small.

“Terrified, actually.” Her voice cracks, and something in me clenches. “Craig is unpredictable. But I know I can find a way to placate him if I go back now. I just know it.”

Placate him.

I grind my teeth so hard my jaw aches. She’s already thinking about how to make herself small again, how to twist herself into something he won’t hurt. As if that will ever be enough.

I place my hand on her shoulder, and she cringes, so I drop it. “He never hit you before the other day, right?”

She nods and turns toward me again.

“Then, how do you know you can control him if you’ve only dealt with it this one time?” I run my hand through my hair. I don’t know why I give a flying fuck.

Except… that’s a lie. I do know.

Because what if she doesn’t survive it this time? What if Charlie doesn’t?

“What if you go back, and he kills you? Or even worse, kills Charlie too?” I can feel the anger coursing through my veins again at the mention of the child’s name. That is why I fucking care so much. Because that child in there, so full of light and joy, looks so much like my Elizabeth that it hurts. I don’t want her harmed in any way. Not another child. Not again

Blake looks at me with wide eyes. “He would never kill us, Hunter. He isn’t a bad man.”

I let out a bitter laugh, but there’s nothing funny about any of this.

She actually believes that.

“He put his fucking hands on you, Blake. That alone makes him a bad guy.” I try to reign in my temper; I feel rising even more. “How does this man have you so brainwashed that you don’t think you are worthy of something better?”

She clenches her fist by her side. “I’m not worthy, Hunter. Don’t you get it? I mean, for Christ sake, look at me.” She points down at herself. “I am disgusting. I’m fat. I’m ugly. Hell, nobody else would want me. I have been told that for so long that I believe it.” Tears begin to seep from her eyes, and my heart breaks in two. “I just don’t want to be alo—”

I crash into her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and pulling her against my chest. “Stop! Stop.”

I feel her body tremble against me as she sobs into my shirt. I rub her back in a soothing motion to try and calm her. How can she not see it? How does she not see her fucking beauty? Goddamn, what I would do to make her mine.

With a heavy sigh, I release her after she stops trembling and take a step back. “If you were my ol’ lady, I’d show you exactly how wrong you are about yourself. Because you’re breathtaking.”

She stares at me in stunned silence, and I see her nibbling on the inside of her cheek. I brush my thumb along the cheek she is biting, and she makes eye contact with me. “I think you’re making a horrible mistake going back to your husband, Crash. But if it is what you truly want to do, then I’ll escort you down there.”

Her eyes widen. “What? No! You can’t do that, Hunter. Craig will be furious.”

I scoff and take another step toward the door. “He’ll already be pissed off because you left him in the first place. Besides, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you when you walk out of my door.”

She nods slowly in contemplation. When she looks toward the woodline, I make my exit.