6. Hunter
CHAPTER SIX
hunter
I’d told Emma I was leaving to buy a ring, but I wasn’t just yet. First, I had to get a security camera system for her house.
I beelined through Lowe’s, straight to the home security section, shaking my head as I thought about the predicament we’d put ourselves in. I still felt inclined to tell Haley that Emma needed her, but I had to trust Emma to call her.
When Sarah and the boys moved in with Colt and Sammy, we’d uninstalled the security system since Emma insisted she didn’t need it. I’d disagreed—of course—but was overruled.
They all should have listened to me, dammit. This was the perfect reason why.
I’d make this Josh guy leave. The fact that he’d made a comment about them needing to get remarried in the same breath as announcing her father’s death infuriated me. Even with our rocky history, I needed to make sure Emma was safe.
In some ways, I was probably worse than him. The obsession was sinking in and I was trying to shake it free. This was why I didn’t date unless it was casual, but nothing about this arrangement felt casual with her.
Sparks. It was the perfect nickname for her. Not only because she’d tased me the first time we’d met, but also because she sparked something inside of me that I’d never felt before.
“Hunter?”
The voice was somewhat familiar. I turned around and saw the face of a woman I recognized, but couldn’t put a name to. “Uh…”
“It’s Louise,” she said with a broad smile. “Remember me?”
Oh yeah. Vaguely.
I’d gone to high school with her and we reconnected briefly last year. And by briefly, I meant we had a one night stand, she started acting a little strange, and I told her I wasn’t interested in anything further. I was honest about it, but she still seemed to pop up sometimes. Now, I went out of my way to avoid her.
“Yes,” I said quickly. “I remember. Nice to see you, Louise.”
I ducked down an aisle with plumbing fixtures and realized she was following me. I glanced over at her again.
“Did you need something?” I asked bluntly. I picked up my strides, heading to the end of an aisle and looping around to the one with cameras.
She struggled to keep up. “Just wondering if you’re seeing anyone, I guess. I know it’s been awhile but?—”
“I am actually,” I said. “We’re pretty serious too. Engaged.”
“ Engaged ?”
Fuck.
“Oh, hey Hunter.” I turned around to see Cam standing behind a blue shopping cart with a birdhouse, three huge bags of birdseed, paint, and other random items in it.
What was it—national go to the hardware store day? Why the hell was everyone here?
Sometimes I hated living in a small town.
Cam raised a brow, his eyes sliding to the wall of cameras.
Dammit. Panic rolled through me at the thought of lying straight to his face. I forgot about Louise standing there and the way she was staring at me like she’d seen a ghost.
For a moment, I thought about telling him what had happened with Emma, but I promised to keep her secrets.
I’d told her I’d go along with this fake engagement.
For better or worse, right?
“I thought you had enough of these,” Cam teased as he approached. “Also, I thought you were meeting with Emma today? Or did you already meet up?”
I flexed my hands, annoyed. “Yeah. I met with her.” I met with her, she found out her dad died, and now we’re engaged because her ex-husband is an asshole.
He walked around the shopping cart and braced one hand on the end, the other on his hip. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I glanced over at Louise and she gave a partial wave, crossing her arms and wandering down the aisle a few feet, but still within earshot.
Cam snorted. “You can’t lie to me.”
Oh, I definitely could.
I just hoped Emma was ready for all the consequences of this ruse.
Here we go . I couldn’t believe I was going along with this. “Emma and I are engaged. I’m buying her a home security system.”
“What?” Cam blurted out. He barked a hard laugh and then his expression warped with confusion when I didn’t laugh with him. His skin started to flush red, his blue eyes sharpening into two daggers. “Wait. You’re not serious.”
“I am,” I said.
“No,” Cam said. His knuckles whitened as he gripped the edge of the shopping cart harder. “No, you’re not. What the fuck do you mean you’re engaged ? You aren’t even dating. You can’t even stand each other.”
“Well, things happen. We’re together. Engaged,” I said shortly. “Getting married.” Fuck, this was a disaster.
“But Emma hates you.”
“Not as much as you think.” He was going to kill me. They were all going to kill me, and rightfully so. This was exactly why I’d made sure to keep Emma at arm’s length. Exactly why I’d gone out of my way to stay on her shit list for three years. “We’ve been… dating behind everyone’sbacks.”
There was a flicker of hurt there, and I felt the guilt that followed. I never lied about things like this, not to Cam. We had our differences, but he was my brother, and I loved him.
“You’re lying,” he whispered.
“I’m not,” I said. “I’m going out to buy the ring after this.”
He stared at me for a moment and I saw the temper flare up. Shit, I didn’t want to fist fight my brother in the middle of a Lowe’s.
Cam moved fast though, grabbing a bag of birdseed and smacking me with it in the gut. I grunted as the weight of it knocked the breath out of me. The bag ripped open and seeds scattered across the aisle. Cam lunged forward, throwing the first punch. I let him hit me in the jaw because I felt like I deserved it. But then I grabbed his shirt, and we tumbled into the shelves, knocking shit to the floor.
“Goddammit,” he snarled, punching me in the stomach.
My boots slipped over the seed and I fought to remain on my feet. The two of us nearly toppled to the floor. I grunted and landed a punch back, only to hear a shout down the aisle.
A couple of strangers ran up and pried us apart. I shoved them away and cursed under my breath, wiping blood from my nose as I stepped back from Cam.
He jabbed a finger at me. “Family meeting. Half an hour. If you’re not on my doorstep, I’m going to slash the tires of the vine-trimmer.”
I scoffed as he wheeled his shopping cart around and stalked off, shaking his head.
“Don’t tell Haley yet!” I shouted.
“I’m fucking telling her!” he yelled without looking back.
I breathed out, shaking my head furiously. Dammit, this was already a mess. I shouldn’t have told Cam. I could have probably made sure no one knew about this situation at all if I would have kept my damn mouth shut.
Hindsight was twenty-twenty, but there was no going back now.
I ignored the sidelong glances and mumbles from other people in the store. My jaw ached as I quickly grabbed a camera set off the floor and headed to the front.
Cam shot me a dirty look as we both went through the self-check out, and headed for the door. It was pouring rain outside, but I still followed him to his truck. Thankfully, I almost always wore boots, so running through the puddles didn’t get my socks wet.
“Listen,” I said, trying to keep up with him. The fucker could move faster than me sometimes. “Cam, goddammit.”
He spun around. Rain soaked the two of us as he shook his head angrily. “What the fuck , Hunter? Why would you keep that a secret? Emma is already part of our family.”
I blurted out the only thing that would soften his anger. “I love her.”
His eyes grew wide and his mouth fell open, but no words came out.
“Call off the family meeting,” I pleaded. “If you haven’t sent the text out already, don’t. Emma and I want the space to tell everyone on our terms.”
“This is insane ,” he sputtered. “This is the craziest shit I’ve ever heard, Hunter. And I’ve heard some crazy shit. I’ve been through some crazy shit. But this takes the cake.”
I clenched my jaw. “Are we gonna keep standing out in the rain, or what?”
He threw up his hands, looking around the parking lot. Water rolled down his face as he sighed. He scrubbed the scruff along his jaw and shook his head. “Fuck. Alright. Haley is at Sarah’s right now. Come over so we can talk.”
“Alright,” I said, relaxing a fraction. At the end of the day, I knew Cam, and wasn’t surprised he was giving me a chance to talk first. “I’ll meet you there.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He shook his head as he got in his truck.
I crossed the parking lot and slid into the seat drenched, putting the bag of cameras on the floorboard. I blew out a breath and decided to text Emma.
Me : Ran into Cam. Told him we’re engaged. Not happy.
Emma : Damn, that was fast. Does Haley know?
Me : I don’t think so. Not yet… I’ll keep you updated. We should probably get our story straight.
Emma : Keep it simple. No need to make this bigger than it needs to be. We just need to do this while Josh is here and then it’s over.
Me : Great.
She sent back a thumbs-up and I smiled like an idiot. It wasn’t even flirting, but…
We were texting. Texting wasn’t breaking my rule, was it?
Cam honked at me and I sighed, starting up my truck. I flipped the windshield wipers to the highest setting and slowly backed out, following him over to his house. The weather made for a slow drive, but eventually we both parked in his driveway. I hopped out and hurried inside behind him.
“Boots off,” he muttered. “I’ll grab an extra T-shirt and jeans.”
“Thanks.”
He ran upstairs as I kicked off my boots. I should have known that telling him would mean I’d end up here, but maybe it was for the best. Maybe I could get ring advice from him.
Ideally, I could ask Haley…
I had to remember this was all fake. It wasn’t like I could drop a lot of money on a ring for Emma to sell this lie. Well, I could—but did I want to? We were rushing into it so fast, my head was spinning.
Cam came back downstairs a few minutes later, shoved a set of clothes in my hands, and stalked towards the kitchen with tense shoulders. I used the guest restroom to change, and found him with a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.
“You have to tell me everything,” he said. “The only reason I’m not calling Haley right now is because I’m assuming Emma wants to tell her, and I’m not ruining that.”
“There’s not much to tell,” I said simply.
He slid a glass to me. “Not good enough. Emma is Haley’s best friend, she’s like a sister to me. You’re lucky I didn’t knock you the fuck out.”
“First of all, you could fucking try.”
He narrowed his eyes on me. “Do you want to test that theory?”
Damn, he was really mad. I’d underestimated how big of a deal this would be to everyone.
They’d be devastated when we broke it off.
I buried the guilt under a gulp of whiskey. “Alright,” I exhaled, my throat burning. “We’ve been dating for a few months. We’ve kept it quiet because we knew everyone would be up in our business.”
“But she hates you,” Cam said. “And you hate her. She’s been here for almost three years and I’ve never seen the two of you interact in a positive way. Even at holidays, the two of you stay as far away from each other as possible. Hell, even Davy and Jake talk about the two of you like you’re mortal enemies. Jake literally drew a comic where you were Godzilla and she was Mothra and you were fighting.”
I chuckled. Jake was pretty damn funny. “It was easier to keep it up while we figured things out,” I said.
He shook his head, still not buying it. “I don’t know man. Are the two of you in trouble? Is there something wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” I lied. “We just realized we couldn’t keep it a secret anymore… because of the festival. And Colt suggesting we work together.”
Cam pressed his lips together silently.
Fuck, was he even believing a single word? “We hooked up at your wedding.”
His mouth fell open. “That’s more than a few months ago! Are you serious?”
“Yeah. Had a one night stand. Didn’t talk about it for a while. Then hooked back up.”
“Is that why all her dates fail?”
“I’m certainly the reason for that.” It felt good to get that off my chest, even if it wasn’t the whole truth.
“Damn. This is crazy. Sammy, Colt, and Sarah were a surprise but this is like… This is something else. I really thought the two of you would never like each other. We all did. I can’t believe you lied to all of us.”
I sighed. “I’m sorry, Cam. You know I’ve always been private about who I date.”
“No, you just don’t date,” Cam snapped, leaning over the counter. He studied me with a sour expression. “And I know that’s a fact. You only do casual hookups. If you treat Emma this way, I will be bound by my wedding vows to Haley to bury you for hurting her best friend.”
“I won’t hurt her,” I said. “I just want her to be safe and happy. Hence buying cameras.”
“I thought Emma didn’t want cameras around,” Cam said. “We had a whole conversation about it.”
“She changed her mind.”
“Hmm.”
“Look,” I growled. “You can disapprove all you want, but this is happening. Now, are you gonna help me pick out a ring?”
“I thought you proposed already? Please don’t fucking tell me you proposed to Emma without a ring. There’s no way she said yes, unless you have her under a spell.”
My jaw set. “She said yes.”
Cam scrubbed his face. “This is the craziest shit I’ve ever heard. Yeah, brother, I’ll help you pick out a ring. Better yet, we should ask Haley. Or Alice. Or Sarah. Oh god, they’re going to be livid.”
“Do you think Sammy will try to punch me, too?” I teased.
“I hope he fucking does. You deserve it. This is a big deal. This changes a lot.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“Everything, Hunter. Why are you being so fucking annoying about this?”
“I said I love her. What else do you need?”
Cam scowled. “This type of thing isn’t just about love. I love Haley more than anyone else. But sometimes, I have to be her friend, sometimes I have to be able to talk things out, even when things are hard. She’s seen me at my worst. She’s literally brought me wipes for my ass after food poisoning because I shit so much. I’ve held her hair while she projectile vomited all over the place. It’s knowing we can both fart in bed and then laugh about it later, before having mind-blowing sex.”
“Okay, noted. I didn’t need to know all of that, though.”
Cam sighed. “My point is, I don’t see how this will work. Why get engaged if you didn’t even pick her out a ring first? If you didn’t even tell your family about the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with? Are you ready for that kind of relationship when you’ve never dated someone for more than three months? Oh my god, wait. Did you get her pregnant?”
I glowered. “Okay, now maybe I should punch you.”
“Why else would this be happening so fast?!”
“We live in a modern era, Cam. Plan B is a thing,” I said. “No, Emma isn’t pregnant. And no, we haven’t done this the traditional way.”
Dammit, I was really fighting for my life.
Cam shook his head and poured us each another glass. “Okay. Well. Congrats.”
“Now you’re being a dick,” I said. “You didn’t even mean that.”
“I have a hard time meaning it when I’ve never even seen the two of you smile at each other.”
“We do more than smiling.”
“Stabbing, too?”
I fought a laugh. “I never told you about the first night Emma and I met.”
He cocked his head, clearly interested now. “No, you didn’t. Do go on.”
“Okay, well. I was driving down the old country road. It was almost midnight. I see a sports car pulled over on the shoulder, clearly stranded. I pull over to help, as usual. I get out and ask her if she’s okay, she says she ran out of gas. We didn’t recognize each other. So I go to get gas out of the back of my truck, and she pulls her stun gun on me .”
Cam’s shoulders relaxed and he chuckled. “Yeah, that sounds like her.”
“So I’m laying there on the ground, thinking what the fuck just happened? She runs up and we start bickering. Then we each realized who the other was.”
“Damn. So then what?”
So then I became super obsessed with your wife’s best friend. “So then I drove her to Sarah’s house. She’s been unforgettable ever since.”
My brother scrutinized me for a few seconds and then hummed. “Alright. I’m buying it now. But, be prepared for even more interrogation once everyone finds out.”
“I’m ready,” I said.
I absolutely was not ready.