Chapter 2
Hunter Everett
The dirt road leading back to the cabin was dark, the moon hidden behind a thick bank of clouds. I moved through the trees, silent, taking my time. No point in rushing—by now, I knew the mission by the Resting Warrior guys to rescue Kenzie Hurst was over. The fact that there was no gunfire, no movement, just the quiet hum of insects and the distant hoot of an owl, confirmed it.
Still, I didn’t walk up to the cabin like I belonged there. Old habits died hard. I circled wide, keeping to the shadows, my steps practiced and sure. The scent of pine and damp earth mixed with the faintest trace of something burned—maybe from the fight that had gone down earlier. I took it all in, searching for any sign that something was off.
But there was nothing. The battle was over.
I exhaled slowly, letting my shoulders drop, but the tension didn’t leave. My mind was still back at the motel. Still on Jada and whether I should’ve left her there. Hell, whether I should’ve gotten involved at all.
The woman was confused as hell, her memory complete shit. Maybe she had a concussion, but she had no idea who she was, where she belonged, or what she’d done.
I knew, though, and that was the part I hadn’t told her.
Jada wasn’t just some innocent woman caught in a crossfire of bad guys. She was the reason we’d all been here. The reason Kenzie had been kidnapped. The reason I’d shown up at that cabin in the first place.
Lucas and the Resting Warrior Ranch team had needed help, and I’d stepped up. That was how it had started. I’d been passing through Montana, checking in on my cousin Lucas the way I did from time to time, when they’d pulled me into this mess. The guys at RWR were good men—former SEALs running a place meant to help soldiers put themselves back together. PTSD, therapy animals, counseling. The kind of thing that might’ve done me some good if I’d ever been willing to stick around long enough.
But I never had been. And I wasn’t now. I’d signed on to help them because I’d been trained for this. Because my Army Special Forces instincts still ran deep. Because I never could resist a fight.
And because part of me had wanted to.
A twig snapped in the distance, barely more than a whisper of sound, but I stilled. Listened. The wind shifted through the trees, carrying the scent of rain, but nothing else moved. Still, I waited a beat longer before stepping out of the shadows and heading for the cabin.
Alan Ard, Kenzie Hurst’s ex-boyfriend, hadn’t even been paroled from prison twenty-four hours before he’d gone after her. And he hadn’t come alone. He’d brought muscle—men who had no qualms about doing dirty work. Killing Kenzie had been the plan all along, and he’d used Jada Banks to get Kenzie to the cabin.
That was until Lucas and the Resting Warrior Ranch team had stepped in. They did what they did best—neutralized the threat. And this time, I was with them. I took down two of Alan’s guys myself. Quick, clean. The kind of thing that still came easy, no matter how much time had passed since I’d left the Army. One moment, they were a threat. The next, they weren’t.
I had no problem with ridding this world of men willing to rape and kill just because they could.
But Jada had been a different story. We all thought she was one of the bad guys. We all knew she’d been involved in taking Kenzie. And yet, when I’d found her, she was fighting. Not against us . Against one of Alan’s men.
Something in me had made the decision about helping her before I even realized I’d done it. Saving her from that thug had been a gut instinct, and I didn’t regret it.
But that should’ve been all I did. I should’ve left her there. Let Lucas or the Resting Warrior guys decide what to do with her. Or hell, the police. They’d be here soon, no doubt. And regardless of what she could or couldn’t remember, she’d had some sort of hand in Kenzie’s kidnapping.
So, taking her to that motel? I had no idea why the fuck I’d done that. Getting involved at that level went against every principle I had, whether she’d needed the help or not.
But somehow, I hadn’t been able to not help her. Yeah, the double negative was as confusing as the choice itself.
The cabin loomed just ahead, a faint glow spilling from the windows. I kept to the shadows, moving soundlessly until I reached the edge of the porch. Peering through the window, I spotted Lucas and Daniel Clark, the leader of Resting Warrior, inside, their expressions grim as they spoke in low tones. I could barely hear them, but what I couldn’t hear, I could make out by lip-reading.
“Jensen and Kenzie are en route to the hospital,” Lucas said, arms crossed over his chest. “They’re both banged up pretty good. Jensen took a knife to the neck and shoulder, but Kenzie saved his ass. Knocked Alan out cold before he could finish the job.”
Daniel shook his head. “Damn. She’s tougher than she looks. Alan is tied up on the south side of the cabin. He isn’t going anywhere. The cops will be here soon to take him back where he belongs.”
Lucas scrubbed a hand down his face. “Two of Alan’s men are dead.”
My kills.
“Two more beaten unconscious,” Daniel added, glancing toward the door like he expected someone to walk in and confess. “Hunter did that.”
Lucas nodded. “Yeah. My cousin doesn’t pull his punches. I’m worried about him.”
Daniel didn’t argue. “We all are.”
I clenched my jaw. They thought this would weigh on me. That I’d regret it. But I never did. Dead enemies couldn’t come back to haunt you.
Daniel let out a breath. “Where is Hunter now?”
“I don’t know.” Lucas shook his head. “You know him. He doesn’t stay in one place for long. He did what we needed him to do, and now, who knows when we’ll see him again.”
“No home, no address, no roots,” Daniel murmured. “I don’t know how he lives like that.”
“He gets by. Takes jobs when he needs to. Stays off-grid. I’ve tried getting him to settle at the ranch, but he won’t.” Lucas sounded resigned, like he’d had this conversation before.
I knew how they saw me. A ghost. A shadow. And they weren’t wrong. I existed in the margins, slipping between places without leaving a mark. It was safer that way. No attachments. No expectations. No chance of losing something I couldn’t afford to lose again.
Lucas sighed. “We’ll take responsibility for the bodies when the cops get here. Given the circumstances, it won’t be a problem. That way, Hunter doesn’t have to be mentioned at all.”
Daniel nodded. “Good. Last thing we need is him being charged with fleeing the scene.”
I wasn’t worried about that. If it came down to it, I knew how to disappear permanently. But I appreciated that Lucas had my back. He always had, even when I didn’t make it easy. Because we were blood. Daniel didn’t know me nearly as well, so his willingness to stick up for me mattered even more.
“Our only loose end seems to be Jada. The car she drove here is still outside. No sign of her anywhere, though.” Lucas’s tone turned grim. “Kenzie said Alan beat the shit out of Jada, tasered her, and injected her with some kind of memory drug. She’s worried that Jada may have some permanent damage—if she’s out wandering these woods, it could be dangerous.”
Daniel stiffened. “Jesus. But honestly, I’m surprised Kenzie cares at all about what happens to Jada, given that the woman had been stalking her and kidnapped her.”
Lucas shrugged. “Evidently, Jada stopped Alan from killing Kenzie, and that changed her thinking. Kenzie says Jada’s not the villain here. She was manipulated and used.”
Silence stretched between them. I could almost hear the gears turning in Daniel’s head. He was a strategist, a man who liked to see the whole board before making a move. “And what about that memory-loss drug? So now Jada has no memories? None at all?”
Lucas nodded. “Apparently, nothing. That’s how it works. Kenzie said Alan injected Jada after he knocked her out cold. That’s when Kenzie ran. She didn’t stick around to see what happened when Jada woke up. Alan and his goons immediately took off after Kenzie. So, there’s no way to know what Jada did or didn’t know before she disappeared.”
This made so much sense now. Why Jada was so confused, didn’t know her own name. Hadn’t been able to answer any of the questions that thug had been asking her—because she legitimately hadn’t known the answers.
Daniel cursed under his breath. “Fuck. Permanent?”
“Kenzie thinks so.”
“Jesus. No wonder Kenzie is willing to let it go. Sounds like Jada will be paying a bigger price than Alan. Hell, I’d rather go to prison than lose every memory I’ve ever had.”
The distant wail of police sirens cut through the night, shattering the uneasy quiet. Time to go. I had to get back to that motel and figure out what the hell I was going to do with the woman I’d stashed inside.
I slipped away from the cabin’s perimeter, moving fast, my steps silent against the forest floor. No one saw me or even suspected I was there. Like Lucas and Daniel knew, I was a ghost.
And for me, Jada was the problem now. Not Alan. Not the bodies. Not the aftermath of what had gone down here tonight.
She wasn’t innocent. But neither was I. I should walk away, let the cops find her, let someone else deal with whatever mess she’d made before she’d forgotten who she was.
But somehow, I felt responsible for her. Protective. It wasn’t something I was used to, and it didn’t sit well in my system. It was like emotional indigestion.
I made my way back to the diner where I’d hot-wired the car earlier that night. It was parked in the shadows behind the lot, exactly where I’d left it. I wiped it down and returned it to the lot where I’d taken it, then found a trucker heading toward Denver who was willing to give me a ride without asking a lot of questions.
I spent the ride in silence, my thoughts tangled. Jada had no past. No future. No defenses. I didn’t do attachment. I was nobody’s savior.
But she had nothing—no memories, no resources, and no way to protect herself from what might still be coming for her.
An hour later, I stood outside her motel room door, my fists clenched. I’d made my decision. I couldn’t help her. She wouldn’t want the help of someone like me anyway, not once she knew what I was really like.
I reached into my pocket, pulled out an envelope of cash, and slid it under the door along with a note. Two words:
Lie low.
Then I turned and walked away, disappearing into the night.
It was better for everyone this way.