Chapter Fourteen #2
Ocean dipped his head, and then we shared a long look before he broke the connection and stepped away to hold open the back door for me.
There was a thick pile of snow on the ground while more white flurries continued to fall from the sky.
The roads were already cleared at least, so once we climbed inside the bulletproof Denali, Paul, who still looked a little banged up, drove off immediately.
The drive was over too quickly.
I still hadn’t been able to sort all the things I wanted to say to Ocean before the SUV stopped in front of a familiar brown building.
Yes, I love you.
No, I don’t want you to kill Hunter.
Yes, I wish it could be different and that I could marry you, have your children, and live happily ever after.
Now that some of my anger had faded, I was thinking so much more clearly, but I feared it was too late to turn back. I also didn’t want to. I needed to see Hunter. I needed to talk to her and tell her everything that happened. If this was the only way to do it and keep her safe, so be it.
Ocean would just have to understand.
And hopefully, one day, forgive me for leaving him.
After staring out the window at my building, I turned to Ocean to find him watching me. “I—” He held something out to me, and I looked down to see him holding my phone. I managed to steady my hand as I accepted it from him, but I couldn’t stop a lone tear from falling. “Thank you.”
“Have a nice life, Coby.”
I flinched at the coldness of his dismissal, but he thankfully had already turned his head to stare out the window, so I slowly climbed out of the Denali with my heart in my throat.
I was too busy fighting back tears to hear the car door open and slam shut, or the footsteps quickly approaching from behind, until my arm was caught in a tight hold and I was turned around.
I barely got a chance to glimpse his face before Ocean was coaxing me into a drugging kiss with my face caged between his hands. I would remember it for as long as I lived. My tears fell freely now, pouring into my mouth and his, but he just kept kissing me long past us both needing air.
Ocean kissed me until we were forced to stop or die.
I think I would rather die.
“Go,” he begged me. “Go now before I change my mind.”
Change it! I wanted to scream at him. I may have been his weakness, but mine was Hunter. It always has been. I couldn’t turn back now, even if it meant I would never be happy or fall in love again.
Ocean had my heart, but Hunter was my soulmate.
Right now, my soul was dying. I couldn’t even be whole for Ocean without her, so I pulled away from him and turned to walk down the path to the walk-up apartment building.
It was nothing special, but it was the home I shared with Hunter. That made it everything.
Every step felt as if I was being torn in two. I wanted to turn back, and I wanted to keep moving forward.
“Coby,” Ocean called out to me. I spun around to see a plea in his eyes that made my stomach ache so bad that I unconsciously pressed my hand to it.
His gaze dropped to follow my movement, and then he seemed to collect himself before shaking off whatever it was he was about to say.
“If you’re pregnant…” He paused to swallow, the knot in his throat bobbing.
“I want you to come straight to me, do you understand? It doesn’t matter what we are or aren’t to each other.
I’ll take care of you and my baby.” My eyes widened because I hadn’t even thought of the possibility that I could be pregnant right at this moment.
And still, he was letting me walk away with his child because he thought it was what I wanted.
“Coby,” he urged when too long passed without a response.
“I understand.”
Ocean didn’t leave right away. His eyes roved all over me like he knew this would probably be the last time we saw each other.
And then he slowly backed away so that he could drink me in a little longer.
I still didn’t move when he reached the Denali and climbed inside.
Not even when it drove off slowly, and I was stuck staring at the red taillights until it disappeared around a corner.
It wasn’t a ploy.
Ocean had let me go.
I glanced up at the sky to see if pigs were flying because it seemed more believable.
A part of me that I should have probably listened to still didn’t want to believe it. The other half of me that still belonged to Hunter brushed aside my paranoia and raced up the stairs to our apartment while my heart pounded excitedly.
I could barely breathe by the time I reached my door, but that didn’t stop the grin from tugging at my lips at the sight of our door with our names decorating the front.
Pale pink letters and the sun for Hunter, dark pink letters and the moon for me.
Yin and Yang. Luckily, I still had my key tucked inside my clutch, so I unlocked the door and stepped inside.
“Hunter?” I called out.
The apartment was quiet and yet unrecognizable as I looked around in horror.
There were weapons, pictures, and liquor bottles taking up almost every available space, including the floor—more than what she had before—and blood-soaked rags covering the counter and coffee table that made me gasp and cover my mouth.
Was Hunter hurt?
I ran to the back of the apartment, checking her room first, which looked like it hadn’t been slept in a while, and then mine. I always made my bed every morning, and the day Ocean kidnapped me had been no exception.
My bed was in shambles.
It looked like it had been slept in and more than once, and I knew Hunter must have been sleeping in my room to feel close to me. I knew she would take my being gone hard, but I never imagined it would be this bad.
It was decided.
I was the shittiest friend in the world. While Hunter was going through all of this, I was busy falling in love. I should have fought harder to get back to her, but I had given in to my own selfish whims.
With no choice but to wait for her return, I started cleaning up. It took me hours to get the apartment back right. By the time I was done, it was nighttime, and I was exhausted. I dragged myself into my room just to stare at the unmade bed.
My lips started to tremble as I wondered where Hunter could be, and then I remembered I had my phone now. I left my phone in the kitchen, so I turned to get it and screamed when I saw someone standing in the doorway.
“It’s really you,” the shadow croaked. “You’re really here. What happened?” Light suddenly flooded the room, and I cried out when I saw Hunter leaning against the door jamb with a bandage around her thigh. “Did you escape?”
“Hunter? Oh, my god! You’re hurt! What happened? Who did this to you?”
Hunter gave no indication that she heard me. She just stared at me as if I were an apparition, so I closed the distance between us and pulled her into my arms, but she didn’t hug me back. I wanted to cry. “It’s me, Hunter. I’m here. I’m back, and I won’t leave you again, okay?”
Finally, I felt her arms close around me, and then she nodded against my shoulder. “Okay,” she said hoarsely.
I pulled away so I could get a good look at her, and it became horrifyingly clear why I hadn’t recognized her immediately.
Hunter’s long, beautiful hair was tangled, her lips were horribly dry and cracked like she hadn’t had a drop of water in weeks, her skin was smudged with dirt and blood, her clothes were filthy, and she smelled like she hadn’t bathed in days.
She’d even lost weight and a lot of it.
Her tantalizing curves had been diminished so much that I wondered about the last time she’d eaten.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “Where were you? Where have you been?”
Hunter smiled sadly. She looked so exhausted. “Shouldn’t that be my line?”
Swallowing past the thick knot suddenly lodged in my throat, I guiltily skated past that disaster and ushered her into my room. “Come on, bestie. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
I sat Hunter on the toilet inside my bathroom while I filled the tub with warm water and prepared a bubble bath for her. Hunter was quiet, and every time I looked back to check on her, she was just staring at me like she didn’t think I was real.
While the water continued to run, I helped Hunter stand and undress and swallowed my cry of anguish at all the cuts and bruises marring her beautiful body. None of them looked too serious, but it still made my heart hurt.
“Hunter…I…I’m so sorry.” My vision blurred suddenly, and I blinked furiously to clear it. “I never meant for anything of this to happen.”
“I know that, Coby. No one asks to be kidnapped. It’s not your fault. I’m just sorry I couldn’t find you sooner.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I pleaded. “Please don’t be sorry.”
“All right,” she said, sounding more like herself. “Let’s agree that neither of us should be sorry. We both know who’s to blame anyway.” It was silent for a few moments, and then she inhaled and finally asked the question plaguing her. “Did he hurt you?”
“No,” I answered quickly. “Not once.” But that was a lie.
Because he hurt me when he let me go. I obviously couldn’t tell Hunter, so I changed the subject.
“Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up. No offense, bestie, but your armpits smell like chopped onions.
My eyes keep watering. I thought a bitch was just happy to see you, but now I know what it really is. ”
“Girl, fuck you,” Hunter retorted with a smile and a laugh.
I helped her into the tub, then grabbed a fresh sponge from under the cabinet and returned to Hunter’s side.
The bubbles covered most of her body from the shoulders down, but I’ve seen Hunter naked a thousand times.
She wasn’t shy about her body. Content to just be together again, we didn’t speak for several minutes as she allowed me to bathe her.
The bathroom was silent except for the trickling of the water and our neighbors arguing on the other side of the wall.