Chapter 12
TWELVE
HUNTER
Slade and Colt were already sitting in our usual booth when I walked through the door at Lazy Daze.
I didn’t see Amy, but her car was in the lot.
It had been three days since our conversation on the porch.
Shelly had stepped out to interrupt and remind Amy that I was a complete asshole.
Not that she ever needed reminding about that.
We hadn’t gone on a job in a few days. The boss was dealing with shuffling in new people and getting rid of old, namely Nelson, his ex-right hand man.
While we waited for our next job, I’d carried my tools down to Amy’s father’s boat.
She’d mentioned wanting to fix it up, and working on engines was the one thing that could keep my mind out of the black hole that kept wanting to swallow it.
The hard, cold reality was that I missed Amy so much it hurt.
I shifted between wishing I’d been a real guy with a real job and a future and wanting to fall into an abyss and get sucked down into hell where I belonged.
It was the darkest my mood had been since I was fourteen.
Back then, my dad had beaten me so badly, I’d actually plotted how I might kill him.
It had only ever been a fantasy, a macabre plan that had him in the bathtub with me tossing in a radio or hairdryer, something that would fry him up good.
It'd been one of the darkest periods in a life that had never seen too much light.
Slade and Colt were staring at me as I slid into the booth. “Shit, is my hair on fire or something?” I asked.
Slade grinned at Colt before turning to me. “No. But it might be soon.”
Jade came over with a beer and tequila shot. “Thought you might need this.”
“Yeah? If you say so.” I threw the tequila back.
All three of them were staring at me. Amy came out of the office.
She wasn’t wearing her apron and had put on the green, curve-hugging dress I’d always loved, a dress that I’d nearly ripped off of her more than once.
She glanced our direction and paled the second she saw me.
“What the fuck is going on?” I reached up to my head. “Did I forget to tuck my horns in? Or are all of you just nuts?”
Jade looked at Colt. “You didn’t tell him?”
Colt lifted his hands in surrender. “You didn’t give me time.”
Jade scurried away as if I really had sprouted horns. I took a long drink of beer. Something told me I was going to need it. I slammed the mug hard on the table. “One of you asswipes should tell me what the fuck is going on.”
Slade leaned forward with a small, almost gleeful smile as if whatever was happening was entertaining to him.
“Well, brother dearest, it seems Amy’s new boyfriend is coming to pick her up here.
She’s off for the night, and they’re going out— on a date,” he added unnecessarily and with another heap of glee.
Colt looked over at him. “Fuck, Slade, should I get you a tub of popcorn? You look excited like you’re about to settle down to a good movie.”
“What can I say? It’s boring here tonight. No hot single girls and the beer is sort of flat. But now my big brother has walked in to provide some entertainment.”
Colt turned to me. “Seriously, bro, maybe you should just head back out. Thought you were going to play poker tonight.”
“It got cancelled.” I stared across the room at Amy. She was trying her hardest not to look my direction.
Colt elbowed me. “Might be better if you take off, don’t you think?”
I was trying to tamp down my anger and figure out what the hell I was going to do.
The thought of Amy with another guy wasn’t just a suggestion, an irritating idea that I kept brushing out of my head to keep from going fucking nuts.
It was a real thing, and the real guy was coming to meet her.
And I had only myself to blame. I moved to slide out of the booth, thinking I needed to go somewhere else and get fucking plastered.
“What the hell? Why is Rincon here?” Slade asked.
I looked across the room. “What the fuck?” I got up and walked toward him. Colt and Slade followed. Our deliberate movement across the bar made every other patron sit up and take notice. They knew that trouble usually followed when the three Stone brothers moved in one direction together.
Rincon’s mouth dropped open when he caught sight of us.
He looked equally shocked to see us. He was dressed up as if he was off to an expensive nightclub or snob-filled party.
He glanced around almost nervously as if we were the last people he wanted to meet in a public place.
This particular public place wasn’t exactly his style either.
“So, this is your usual haunt?” Rincon asked. He nodded as he took in the shabby decor and faded leather seating. “Guess that makes sense.”
“Maybe you should explain why you’re here,” Colt said.
“Don’t worry, boys, not here to tread on your territory. I’m just here to pick up my date.” He leaned to the right and looked past me. “And there she is now.”
We all turned.
Amy was walking toward us looking as if she might fall down in a dead faint. Even her lips were white. “What are you guys doing?” she asked all of us but looked straight at me. “This is my date. Remember,” she said pointedly to me. “Please, Hunter.” Her voice had dropped to a whisper.
Rincon looked confused. “You know these guys?”
“Yes, they’re my neighbors.”
Rincon nodded. “Ahh, the neighbors.” He laughed. I’d always fucking hated his laugh, but now I just wanted to smother it with my fist. “I never would have guessed. Well, Amy, we should get going. The club gets really crowded after midnight.”
Amy pulled her pleading gaze from my face and smiled weakly at Rincon. “I’ll just get my coat.”
I grabbed her arm. “Yes, I will help you get your coat. Excuse us,” I said without making eye contact with Rincon. Amy stumbled along next to me, having to take two steps to match every one of mine.
We got to the office, and I slammed the door shut. Amy swung around to face me. The color had returned to her face, and it was the color of rage. “We had a fucking deal. You were going to look the other way when I started dating someone.”
“Don’t know where the fuck I was when this deal was made, and looking the other way isn’t going to happen, especially when you’ve hooked up with a guy like Rincon.”
“What? You mean rich, nice looking, well-mannered?”
“No, I mean a fucking drug dealer.”
Some of the color left her cheeks again. “How do you know that? You’re just making that up because you’re pissed.” She shoved her small hands at my chest and tried to slide past me, but I caught both her wrists.
She blinked back some tears as she glared up at me. “You’re either in my life one hundred percent, or you’re out of it . . . completely. I can’t stand this anymore.”
“His money comes from running cocaine over the water.”
Again she tried to free herself.
“I know this because we’re the boat running his cargo. Colt, Slade and I are his crew.”
She blinked up at me, looking surprised and hurt. I swallowed the dry ache in my throat.
“Fuck,” she said with sad surrender. “I just can’t win.” A tear fell down her cheek. The sight of it made my chest sink as if a pallet of bricks had dropped on it. I released her wrist and went to wipe the tear with my thumb.
She slapped my hand away. “No, you don’t get to do that.
You don’t get to do shit that just makes my heart ache more.
” Another tear fell. It was killing me to watch.
“You don’t get to be nice at a time when I’m trying my hardest to hate you.
” She punched my chest, and a sob bubbled from her lips.
“You don’t get to do that.” She fell against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her.
Her shoulders shook a few times. Then she sucked in a shaky, deep breath.
“The worst part of everything always going to shit,” she muttered without pulling her face from my chest, “is that I can’t even go to my best friend about it.
Because he’s a big part of everything going to shit.
” She looked up at me. “There needs to be two of you. Then I can stay mad at one of you and talk to the other about how I’m mad at you. ”
I smiled. “Trust me, the last thing this town needs is two Hunter Stones.”
There was a sharp knock on the door. “Amy,” Rincon called.
She stepped out of my arms. “I’m going to go out with him, Hunter.
I need this. For the first time ever I feel like I’m part of the real world, not just the little sheltered world I built between my house and yours.
And oddly enough, since you work for him, it seems I’ve finally found someone who you can’t intimidate. ”
Rincon opened the door. He shot me an angry scowl. “What’s going on, Stone?”
I shook my head. “Nothing, just a little neighborly chat.” I stepped aside. It felt as if I was digging my heart out of my chest and handing it to the asshole.
He held his hand out for Amy. She hesitated before taking it.
I kept my arms straight down at my sides. My fists were tight as steel as they walked out.