Chapter Fourteen #3
“He said you were here. I thought it was a trap,” Hunter whispered, sounding exhausted again as she rested her cheek on the lip of the tub. “But I had to come. I had to be sure.”
I frowned in confusion as I took my time scrubbing the dirt from her inner thigh beneath the water. “Who said I was here?”
Hunter’s eyes found mine briefly before she looked away and then closed them with a sigh. “Ocean.”
Exhaling past my longing and guilt, I once again avoided the subject of him and became hyper-focused on my task: taking care of Hunter.
Nothing I did could undo the last five and a half weeks for her, but I could try.
A couple of hours later, Hunter and I were huddled together on my bed watching TV and eating pizza—vegan for me, carnivore for her—like nothing had ever happened.
We were both wearing robes after bathing.
Hunter’s hair was still damp from my washing it.
She now wore two long braids with her hair parted down the middle.
“Are you ever going to tell me what happened to you?” Hunter asked out of the blue with her gaze still on the TV. “What did Ocean want with you?”
Knowing that I couldn’t avoid it any longer, “He wanted me to marry him.”
“What?” Her eyes flared wide with shock, and then she not-so-subtly looked down at my hand. Her relief was palpable at the sight of my empty ring finger. My guilt quadrupled.
“He asked me…and I said yes.” Hunter flinched and then recoiled once my confession sank in. Her beautiful mouth opened and closed several times, and then her breathing deepened.
“Apparently, Roshaun stole a lot of money from Ocean, and he had no way to repay him except for… me.”
“What does that mean?”
I sighed. “Ocean has to marry so that he can take his father’s place in the Fola.”
“Okaaaay,” Hunter said slowly. “But what does that have to do with you?”
“Ocean needed a wife, and I needed to keep my brother alive, so I…I said yes,” I confessed.
Hunter pinched her nose, and the move weirdly reminded me of Ocean whenever he got frustrated. I never realized before how alike they were. “So wait, he asked you to marry him or told you that you had to?”
I thought about it for a moment before I shrugged. “Both.”
After hearing that, Hunter had finally reached her tipping point and exploded. “Coby Perry, have you lost your mind?” she shouted.
“I had to say yes, Hunter! He was going to kill Roshaun!”
“So? Coby, I know you love your brother, but I told you he was a snake. He damn sure isn’t worth you sacrificing yourself to the mafia!”
“That’s not for you to decide, Hunter. He’s my brother.”
“Yeah, well, he doesn’t fucking act like it.”
“You’re right.” I nodded. “He doesn’t. Roshaun stopped being my brother a long time ago when our parents died, and he was forced to become my guardian. Roshaun gave up everything for me. The least I could do was save his life.”
“By getting married to a stranger? A dangerous one at that?”
Exhaling slowly, I prepared myself to make Hunter possibly hate me forever.
“Ocean isn’t a stranger, Hunter. I’ve sort of been seeing him for years.
Nothing serious,” I quickly added at her look of alarm.
“We never even spoke to each other until the night he took me, but we weren’t strangers either. ”
“How?” Her voice cracked as she stared at me through wide eyes glistening with tears.
“I would sneak away on the nights I told you I was doing Pilates to see him at the Diamond Lounge. Ocean was the silent investor in Roshaun’s club.”
“You lied to me?”
“I knew if I told you about him, he would end up being like all the others, and I wanted to keep him for a little while longer.”
“What the fuck does that mean, Coby?”
“Hunter, don’t play dumb.” I sighed. “You know how it goes. It would have been fine for a while, but then either you would have gotten jealous, or he would have. None of the men we date has ever been able to understand that you’re my soulmate and what it means.
It’s always been easier for you to accept because you don’t let yourself form attachments, but I’m not you, Hunter.
I want to fall in love. I want marriage and babies. I want something that lasts forever.”
“And you think Ocean Kilpatrick can give you that? Do you know what they call him in the streets? Somehow, I doubt he’d win any husband or father of the year awards.”
I smiled a little as I thought of him. “You’d be surprised. Ocean’s actually kind of…sweet.”
“Sweet,” she echoed incredulously.
I shrugged. “Well, he is to me. I think I lo—” Suddenly, Hunter started touching my head. Her hand moved to several different spots before she leaned into my space to peer into my eyes. “Whaat are you doing?” I asked nervously.
“Checking for a bump. I suspect you must have hit your head during your escape. It’s either a concussion or Stockholm syndrome.”
I tugged her hand away from my head. “I’m fine, Hunter. I know how it sounds, but I don’t care. I know what everyone says about him, but he’s different with me. Softer.”
Ignoring that she said, “By the way, how did you escape?”
“I didn’t. He brought me back.”
Hunter’s expression soured even more. “He what?”
Unsure of how much detail I should share, I downplayed it a lot when I said, “I told him I couldn’t marry him and that I wanted to go home. He brought me back.”
“And you…believed him?” She frowned at me like I was the dumbest bitch alive.
“Why wouldn’t’t I?”
“Because a man like Ocean Kilpatrick doesn’t lose, Coby. There’s no way he just accepted you not wanting to marry him.” She was full-on hyperventilating now as she stood from the bed and started pacing.
Feeling the need to defend him, I argued, “You don’t know him. He’s a better man than you think, Hunter. You just have to—”
“Coby!” Her shout shut me up. “Do you know why I looked like I’ve been through hell when I found you tonight?
” All I could do was shake my head. “It’s because I have.
And not just today. I’ve been running from your fucking fiancé for a goddamn week!
He put the word out, and now everybody is gunning for me.
Coby…there’s a bounty on me for half a million dollars,” she said with tears streaming down her cheeks.
“I couldn’t even turn to friends because with that much money on the table, I didn’t know who to trust. As for the ones I could, it would only mean putting them in danger, so I’ve been sleeping in Deborah,” she said, referring to her ’93 Ford Thunderbird. “At least, I was. She’s… she’s gone.”
It wasn’t the first time Hunter had been forced to sleep in the cranky old bitch.
The last time had been shortly after we met.
I remembered thinking how cool Hunter was for already having her own car at fifteen until I learned she’d been living in it and had no one else.
It hadn’t been easy convincing Shaun to let Hunter move in with us.
It wasn’t until my brother met her for the first time that he finally gave in, elevating him from my bossy older brother to a hero in my eyes.
Hunter lived with us until we both turned eighteen and moved on campus at the university.
Not long after that, Hunter and Roshaun fell out for good, but I still remembered when they got along.
“Wait, what do you mean gone? What happened to her?”
“Prince Charming happened,” she answered acerbically. “He sent one of his goons after me, and I got caught slipping. Sacrificing Deborah was the only way I could get away.”
“Hunter, I’m so sorry. I know how much she meant to you.”
I nodded. It hurt too much to think about Deb, so I quickly moved on.
“I only came back here because I was getting ready to leave the city,” Hunter went on to explain, “but then I found you here, and it was like you never left. I just…forgot about it all.” It was silent for a moment while Hunter gathered herself.
A week of running from a man with more power than God had obviously taken its toll.
“So no,” she said once her voice was steady once more.
“I may not know Ocean, but I’ve known men like him all my life.
He didn’t go through all of that trouble backing me into a corner just to give up because his fiancée was homesick. If he let you go, it’s for a reason.”
I started to wonder if she was right until I remembered something she said earlier. “But he told you I was here, right? Ocean could have easily grabbed us both the moment you showed up, but he didn’t. Why?”
“I don’t know, Coby. Maybe you’re right,” she admitted while still looking ready to bolt. “But my gut is telling me that I am. I can’t explain why. I just feel it.”
“So what do you want to do because I’m with you no matter what,” I assured her. “Where you go, I go.” And then I smiled. “Ride or die, bestie.”
Hunter shakily returned my smile, but all it did was highlight the dark circles under her eyes. “Ride or die,” she whispered.