Chapter 16 #2
“Wait. What’s going on?” My brother’s inanimate voice rang out into the night from my father’s phone. “Who’s talking? Is that that huge behemoth of a dude Serenity was playing pool with at Stella’s engagement party?”
For the love of all that was holy. Leave it to my big brother to make a tense situation awkward as hell. It was like a gift or something.
Stella leaned into my dad and lifted up on her tiptoes to see the screen better. Her voice was somewhat hushed, but not enough that every single person in the area couldn’t hear what she was saying.
“His name is Hunter McCann, and yes.”
“Someone give him that fucker’s name,” Spencer called out. “He’ll take care of that shit, and I’m willing to bet no one would ever find the body.”
I couldn’t keep my mouth shut for another second. “Shut up, Spence! You aren’t helping.”
That had been a mistake. At the sound of my messed-up voice, Hunter went from pissed to fire-breathing. He closed the rest of the distance between us, ignoring everyone around like they didn’t even exist.
I flinched when he reached out for me, causing the hand traveling in my direction to stop, midair. His jaw muscles ticked, the cord in his neck strained. “You don’t ever have to be scared of me, Wildcat,” he husked in that deep timbre of his that always made me melt. “Not ever.”
“Sorry,” I croaked. “It’s just been a long night. It’s not as bad as it looks, believe me.”
If only I didn’t sound like I’d suddenly taken up smoking three packs a day.
“It was him, wasn’t it?”
I didn’t have to ask what him Hunter was talking about.
With a resigned sigh, I nodded my head, because I knew refusing to answer would only prolong the inevitable.
I had a gut feeling Hunter was the type of man used to getting what he wanted.
So if he wanted to know who hurt me, it was only a matter of time.
His hand resumed its earlier journey, gently grabbing hold of the blanket and pulling it aside, giving me nothing to hide the damage that had been done to my neck beneath.
The instant the bruises were revealed, Hunter let out a hiss between his teeth, my mother burst into tears, and Stella let out an uncharacteristic string of curse words that was more fitting for Spencer.
“That’s it,” my dad declared, his fist white-knuckling around his phone so tight I worried he’d shatter the damn thing. “I’ll pack you a bag. You’re coming home with me and your mom.”
A whole new type of panic set in then, making my back shoot straight and my eyes go wide. I shot a horrified look in Stella’s direction, silently praying she’d help me get out of this somehow.
“Uh, Dad, you know what? That’s not necessary. She can come stay with me and West. We live closer.”
My shoulders slumped on a relieved breath. It wasn’t that I didn’t like spending time with my parents. I absolutely did. In small doses.
With everything that had just gone down, my father would have spent the next few days pacing and raging every time he looked at me and saw the bruises before taking to the front porch with a shotgun like we lived in the Wild West or something.
Then my mom would have cried and fussed and helicoptered until I went crazy.
It was best for everyone involved if I let them coddle in short spurts.
I opened my mouth, ready to agree quickly so we could all move on, when Hunter spoke up, directing his penetrating gaze to the paramedic who’d been working on me earlier. “What’s the verdict? Does she need to go to the hospital?”
The woman looked back at me, her expression thoughtful as she scrutinized me. “Well, it doesn’t look like she has a concussion, just a nasty knot. The real problem is her throat. It’s going to be hurting her for a while. There isn’t much the hospital can do for that besides pain management.”
“And I don’t need that,” I insisted. “I feel fine. Nothing a couple Tylenol won’t fix. I’ll be good as new before you know it.”
He nodded resolutely, coming to a decision in his head I hadn’t been privy to. He turned on the group, giving me his back. “Gypsy, Stella, Eden. Go pack her a bag with enough stuff to last her at least a week.”
“What—”
He kept talking. “Linc. Do me a favor and take her back to my place.”
My chin jerked back in bewilderment, the movement sending a stab of pain through my neck. “Wait. What? Why? Stella said—”
Hunter whipped around on me, skewering me with a look that said it was best not to argue. “This isn’t up for debate. You’re staying with me for the foreseeable future.”
My mouth dropped open. I looked around the group, but everyone seemed resigned to take orders. Hell, even Stella nodded her head.
My mom came over and placed a kiss on my temple before hugging me from the side. “It’s for the best, sweetie. You’ll be safe with him, I’m sure.”
She didn’t even know Hunter! How could she possibly know that?
“But—”
“Stay with her until I get back,” Hunter said to Lincoln. “Got some shit I need to take care of.”
“Hunter,” Micah said, his tone admonishing, “don’t go off and start shit we won’t be able to cover, damn it.”
“Fucking hell.” Lincoln raked a hand through his blond hair. The man looked like he belonged on a Viking ship, not corralling a bunch of former military commando types. He jabbed his finger at Hunter, semi-repeating, “You heard them. Don’t make this harder, you got me?”
Hunter simply nodded before spinning on the heel of his motorcycle boot and disappearing the way he came.
“Marco,” Lincoln clipped, jolting my attention back to him.
“Yeah, boss.”
“Follow him. Make sure he doesn’t do anything that’ll get him arrested.
“On it.”
Marco disappeared as well, and I was left with one question only.
“What the hell just happened?”