44. Hunter
Chapter forty-four
Hunter
“You’re safe,” I tell her, planting a kiss on the top of her head before walking to the door to let my brother in.
It’s been just over six weeks since Asher’s accident and we’re all relieved by the recovery he’s made.
He hasn’t made any comments about getting back to rock climbing though, which may be even more relieving to us than his all clear to drive last week.
Still, it doesn’t stop me from pulling Asher into a back-slapping hug when he walks in the door. I’m grateful that he was there for Ellie when I wasn’t around. We don’t say anything about it, but I know he knows what’s left unspoken.
I hand Asher my keys and wave at my dad who’s sitting in his truck in the driveway.
They’re picking up new bookshelves for the Milky Way Café that’s fine.
Control.
“You think she wantsss this?” he gestures at me and the house. “Playing pretend with some wasshhhhed-up soldier?”
He laughs and I steady myself to keep from flinching. He may be drunk, and is someone whose opinion I care nothing about, but still his comment hits a little too close to home. It certainly hasn’t felt like pretend lately, but we haven’t made it real either.
“I know everything there is to know about Ellie,” Dylan says. I stare just over the edge of his shoulder, because the look on his face is enough to make me lose it. “Evvvverything.”
The insinuation almost makes me snap. I can just imagine this man’s hands on Ellie and it tears my heart open and makes me want to break something with my bare hands.
Preferably Dylan’s face.
“You always were her little errand boy. How’s it feel to be all grown up, errand boy? Shacking up with my wife, pretending that my baby is yours. That baby will never be yours. It will always be my DNA. It will look like me and you’ll hate it.”
I was resolved to stay silent until the police got here, but at the sound of Dylan calling Audrey “it,” a part of me snaps. “You don’t even know her name, do you?”
Dylan grins like he knows that he got to me. “I know how that baby got here, soldier, or haven’t you figured out how to get my wife to—”
“Don’t talk about Ellie that way,” I say, my voice low but firm.
Dylan laughs, like this is a game we’re playing.
My gaze is trained on the street, willing the police to get here faster. My ears stretch to catch a hint of a siren or the crunch of tires on the gravel, but there’s nothing there.
Meanwhile, Dylan’s still talking. And I’m trying to zone out, trying to not get looped into this game of manipulation that he’s playing.
Because all that matters right now is that I stay between him and Ellie and Audrey. The cops will be here soon.
“One day when she gets bored of your good ole boy schtick, she’ll come running back to me. Wanting me to take her back. And I’ll make her beg.”
I clinch my jaw, and my nostrils flare as fury gathers deep inside me, like a storm ready to unleash.
“And when she comes back”—he steps closer to me, like he’s tempting fate—“I’ll remind her what happens when she disobeys me—”
My fist connects with his jaw, bone crunching beneath my knuckles. As the police sirens whir in the near distance, Dylan crumples into a pile of filth at my feet, right where he belongs.
So much for control.
An hour later, all our statements have been taken, and Dylan’s been cuffed and taken to jail. The police told us plainly that he’d be kept overnight but would likely be released the next day, and that if he contacts Ellie again, it’s important to document everything but not engage him.
“He might try to press charges against you,” one of the cops, Bradley, warns me. “It might not work out for him this time, but if you engage a second time he’ll have a real case against you.”
Bradley also divulged that Dylan claims that I’m keeping his child from him, and that he might be trying to build a case against us in order to get custody of Audrey.
Even with my name on the birth certificate, Dylan could try to shove his way back into Audrey’s life if he establishes paternity and takes us to court.
I’ve never seen Ellie’s face as pale as at that moment.
God help us.
Ellie fields calls from her parents and Cleo while my family descends on us.
Grandma DeeDee arrives with enough taco bowls to feed an army, Rosie drops off her “emotional support” cake pops, and my mom rocks Audrey against her shoulder like she can soothe all the broken things in this world if she just holds her long enough.
And then, as quickly as they came, they’re gone again, leaving us to wrestle with the heaviness of the day—albeit a little lighter from their help.
Ellie and I eat dinner mostly in silence. My mind won’t stop going over the encounter, and I’m sure Ellie’s is too.
Part of me knows Dylan wanted a reaction. Wanted me angry. Wanted me reckless.
But when I remember the crack of my fist against his jaw and the way he hit the ground …
I regret nothing.
But I get the sense that Dylan won’t stop until he gets his way, or he’s in prison. And as much as I want him to be put away ASAP, it’s a much longer process than that.
I look across the table at Ellie staring blankly into her dinner.
And suddenly I know.
“I think we need to leave Starlight Valley.”
Ellie glances at me, her gaze sharp as her spoon hovers over her bowl. “He’s not giving up,” she says, part question and part statement.
I shake my head. Ellie closes her eyes, her blonde lashes fanning over her cheeks. A single teardrop leaks from her eye and I reach over, brushing it away.
“I’m doing everything I can to keep you safe,” I tell her. Then, I fill her in on my investigation—something I’d been trying to shield her from these past couple of months. But now there’s no way around it. Ellie needs to know exactly what we’re dealing with.
“You must think I’m an idiot,” she says when I’m done.
“You believe the best about people,” I say, taking her hand. “That’s one of your best qualities.”
She scoffs. “Pretty great quality that landed us here.”
“You can’t let one bad experience define you, Ellie.”
“How about five years of bad experiences?”
“We’re here now and I can’t regret that.”
“But what if …” she trails off, never finishing her sentence. She shakes her head and the worry etched between her brows transforms into determination. “We need to keep Audrey safe. That’s all that matters.”
I give a quick nod. “I’ll make some calls.”
Thirty minutes later, and we have a plan. A safe house, a couple of hours from here, will be ready for us tomorrow. Connor was able to set it up with his network. For tonight, we’re gonna head to a hotel in that direction.
Ellie and I are in our room, packing. We decided it would be best to head out while Dylan’s stuck in a jail cell and can’t follow us.
Ellie’s emotions have understandably been swinging from one end of every emotional spectrum to the other. She’s choking back tears as she folds her clothes.
“Hunter,” she says. “This isn’t what you signed up for. When we got married, it was just supposed to be—”
I drop my clothes on the bed, walking over to her. “This is exactly what I signed up for, Ells.” I hold her shoulders in both hands, bending to meet her eyes. “To have and to hold. For better, for worse.”
Tears glisten in her eyes as she chokes out, “But … why?” We’ve had this conversation before, but never like this, not when we’re running away from her ex-husband.
I step closer and cradle her face in my hands. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Hunter but this is—”
“No, Ellie,” I say, gripping her tighter. “I’m in love with you.”
Her brown doe eyes blink up at me; her perfect lips poised in a little “O.” And I don’t even have a chance to consider whether this is the right time, the right place, the right thing to say. She has to know.
“I always have been, I always will be.” I press my forehead against hers and feel her sigh against me.
I am willing her to say something—anything. Fear pulses through me. Have I just ruined things with Ellie? Right when she needs me most, did I just throw a grenade on our relationship?
“Are you … surprised?” I ask when she still hasn’t responded. I draw away and search her eyes. Maybe it really was the wrong time.
“I mean.” Ellie shakes her head. “I had hoped but …”
“Hoped?”
Her voice is soft and sweet when she says, “I’m in love with you too, Hunter.”
Bliss. Utter peace and happiness floating on the clouds where Dylan is nothing but a speck of dirt beneath us.
I cradle Ellie against me, my lips finding hers. With everything happening around us, this kiss is life-giving. The taste of her is the ammunition I need to keep going—to fight for her, for Audrey, for us.
She wraps her arms around me, her hands twisting in my shirt, pulling me closer. The thrill of Ellie wanting me, and not just needing me, is intoxicating. It fills my senses, until everything is Ellie, Ellie, Ellie.
She tastes like vanilla and sugar and … like a dream come true.
She hums against my lips, and I have to pull away to keep my sanity. I rest my forehead against hers.
“You’ve been the girl of my dreams for as long as I can remember. You have no idea …” I can’t take the time to formulate the words to describe how she’s making me feel.
I kiss her with something just short of reverence and do my very best to fuse us together in this moment.
All I know is that if Dylan comes near Ellie again without handcuffs on, I’m not sure how much control I’ll have left.