40. Hunter
Forty
Hunter
I didn’t go to sleep.
Ella burrowed into me, weighed down by exhaustion, her warm breath ghosting over my bare skin. She fell asleep in minutes, as if her body had finally surrendered to the day.
I watched her long enough to be certain she wouldn’t stir when I moved.
She looked so peaceful, and for a moment, I hated the thought of leaving her side. But there were debts to collect, and I wasn’t the kind of man who let the balance go unpaid.
When I slid free, the mattress dipped, but she didn’t wake. I took the steps slowly, the silence stretching between each one until I stepped outside into the crisp night air.
Peace stayed behind with her. There was only unfinished business out here, and I was done waiting to settle it.
The drive was short, and Carver’s truck sat crooked in the driveway as I strode up to his front door. When he opened the door, his body went rigid and his eyes darted around like he was looking for an escape route.
“What the … who the fuck are you?” he barked. Fear and aggression oozed from his every pore.
Without a word, I shoved him back and stepped inside.
“Motherfucker, what do you think you’re doing?!” he sputtered, but I could feel the tension radiating off him.
Carver walked backward into the kitchen until he slammed against the counter. I followed him, unfazed.
“Who—what are you doing here?” he snarled, puffing his chest, trying to mask fear with aggression.
Without bothering to answer, I let my gaze sweep over him, slow and deliberate. Every twitch, every shallow breath told me how well my presence had landed.
“Wait, you, uh, you’re the guy from the diner, right?” he stammered, trying to grasp something familiar.
I tilted my head, my face void of any emotion. “I’m here for you. And for your choices.”
He swallowed and took a step back. “Choices?”
“I know what you did to Ella,” I said evenly. “Every little heinous lie that ever left your worthless fucking lips. Every post, every screenshot you forwarded, every time you laughed at her.”
His mouth opened, then snapped shut. “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t lie to me. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“Look, I’m so—”
“I’m not here for apologies,” I said, stepping forward, just close enough to make the space between us feel too small. “I’m here because you thought you could hide things. You thought nobody would notice what you did to her. You were wrong.”
Carver’s eyes nervously flicked toward the table. I pulled a photo out of my jacket pocket and placed it on the table.
It was a screenshot of him messaging his mistress. A conversation he’d thought no one would ever see. His jaw dropped, and his face twisted into a grimace of panic.
“Ever wonder why people get caught?” I asked in a low voice.
“Because they leave traces. As it so happens, I have every trace you’ve left.
Every lie. Every secret. Tonight, you fix it.
Or it all goes public. Your little gambling habit.
The debt you’ve accumulated with less-than-trustworthy people.
Wonder what your wife would say about this?
But then again …” I scoffed. “Nothing beats the side piece you’ve been hiding for years now, does it? ”
He blinked. “Fix it? I—I can’t …”
“You can,” I said. “You’re going to call your wife.
Every text, every photo, every message you’ve hidden, you’re sending it all to her yourself.
You’re going to let her know exactly what kind of man you are.
Either you send it yourself, or you let me send it, and she’ll hear about it from a stranger. Your choice.”
He swallowed hard, trembling as he fumbled for his phone. Within minutes, each word of his confession burned his pride and eroded his control as he read it aloud, his voice shaking.
If not for Ella, there would have been bloodshed. Instead, he would walk away unscathed, but he wouldn’t be able to enter a room again without people whispering.
By the time I stepped back into the cool night, a satisfied smirk tugged at the corners of my lips. Breaking bones was easy … but breaking legacies lasted longer.
Listening to a man read his own obituary had become an unexpected hobby of mine. Who would’ve thought? I didn’t linger, though, because there were two more motherfuckers on my shit list.
After making Mason nearly retch, forcing him to confess he’d been taking credit for his coworkers’ fruits of labor, I left him trembling over the phone, the taste of his lies thick in his mouth.
And because I’m kind, and you shouldn’t kick a man when he’s already down, I didn’t tell him the authorities had reopened his DUI case. That’d be a nice little surprise for tomorrow.
There were no theatrics or yelling, just the quiet collapse of a man who realized exactly what he’d done to my girl and what the consequences entailed.
There was one more to deal with now. One more head of the snake: Stetson, the ringleader.
Before I could knock, his door slammed open. Stetson’s body radiated tension. His eyes were wild, and his hands were flexing at his sides.
“You again?!” he barked, chest rising and falling like he was trying to inflate himself with bravado.
I merely shouldered past him and stepped inside, letting the air settle between us like a weight pressing down on his chest. Every muscle was tense, and every line of his face betrayed him.
“You know, I could’ve made this so much worse,” I said lightly. “But I chose to give you at least a choice. Actions have consequences. You fucked around with my girl, now you’re going to find out what it’ll cost you.”
Dread flickered across his face as he jerked back. “What the fuck are you talking about, man?”
Silently, I let him work it out for himself. Let him understand that yes, I knew what he’d done, and yes, I was dead fucking serious.
I took a few papers out of my jacket and put them on the table. They were bank statements and screenshots, all of which included timestamps. Each one was evidence of the donations he’d quietly pocketed from the church over time.
“Every dollar you thought you stole without anyone noticing,” I stated. “I have it all. Every discrepancy. So, unless you do exactly as I say, your wife, your pastor, your congregation — every single person — will see it. Every last cent accounted for.”
He swallowed hard, and his body trembled, although he tried to conceal it. “I—I don’t know what to—”
“You know exactly what to do,” I said, stepping closer.
My shadow fell over him, pressing down. He could feel it in his chest, in his stomach. I wasn’t threatening; I was simply pointing out what was going to happen.
“Call them. You’ll tell them yourself what you’ve been hiding, or I’ll make it public in ways that will destroy everything you’ve built. Tonight.”
His fingers shook as he grabbed the phone. Each call cracked his composure, each confession gutted him. He tried to hold his head high, but the truth of what he had done to those who trusted him landed like a hammer.
By the time I stepped out into the cold night, Stetson was left with only himself, unraveling under the weight of his own decisions, all of which were tied back to what he had done to her.
They’d tried to ruin her life carelessly, but ultimately, they were the ones who ended up paying the price.
By the time I got back in the truck, the night was thinning into morning.
When I climbed back into bed, Ella stirred, murmuring my name like she felt me there even in her sleep. I pulled her closer, pressing my face into her hair. Her heartbeat was steady against my chest.
I’d told her no one would ever treat her this way again. Tonight, I made sure of it.
***
By the time Ella and I made our way down the hall the next morning, the house smelled like bacon and coffee. Sunlight weakly spilled through the curtains, touching the walls, as if trying to pretend nothing had changed.
But I knew better. The whole town was already burning under the weight of its secrets.
Ella was still half asleep, her hand brushing mine as we moved toward the stairs, when her mother’s voice stopped us in our tracks.
It wasn’t her normal morning tone. This was sharp and rushed, the kind of whisper people use when they want to contain the gossip but can’t help feeding it.
“—I’m telling you, it’s all people are talking about. Carver’s wife threw him out last night. She found the gambling slips and said he’d been hiding debt for years. Mason’s suspended from the plant. They dug up that old DUI, and now the county’s sniffing around his contracts. And Stetson …”
There was a pause, heavy with satisfaction. “Stetson’s wife is gone. Packed up, took the kids to her sister’s. The church board held an emergency meeting. Those nasty little clips are all over the congregation. He won’t be able to walk into Sunday service without everyone looking at him sideways.”
As it turned out, Stetson had quite a few kinks himself, despite publicly shaming my girl for hers. Among those was a pretty extensive degradation kink he vicariously lived out online with a Domme.
What a shame someone had sent some of the videos he recorded for her to the local church. Quite the scandal, if I do say so myself.
Ella stiffened. I felt her body jerk beside mine as her breath caught in her throat. I moved without thinking, clamping my hand over her mouth before she could make a sound.
Her eyes flew to mine, wide, stunned, demanding answers I wasn’t going to give her here.
Down the hall, Darlene’s voice dropped in pitch and took on a fierceness I hadn’t heard from her before. “It serves them right, after what they did to her. But don’t you dare say a word to Ella. She’s been through enough. I don’t want her dragged into this all over again.”
The floor creaked as she shifted. A cupboard slammed shut, followed by the scrape of a chair across the kitchen tile.
I held Ella against me for a moment longer, feeling her pulse race against my palm, before letting her go. She sucked in a shaky breath, the disbelief written plain across her face.
She didn’t need to say anything. I could see it all in her eyes: the realization, the questions, and the sharp edge of knowing yet not wanting to know.
I gave her a slow, deliberate smirk, the kind that made it clear I wasn’t sorry and never would be. Then, as casually as anything, I stepped past her and strolled into the kitchen.
Her mother looked up, startled for half a second, before her expression smoothed over. “Morning, Hunter. Coffee’s on.”
I poured myself a mug like I hadn’t just overheard her gossiping about my nightly adventures. Bacon sizzled in the pan, and the radio hummed some forgettable country song.
Ordinary morning sounds, disguising the fact that reputations were collapsing a few streets over.
Behind me, Ella lingered in the hall. Silent. Probably trying to process what she already knew to be true. She didn’t have proof, but she knew.
No words were needed. She could see how far I’d gone, how obsessed I was with her, and that I wouldn’t stop at anything. At long last, she understood.
I’d keep my promises and protect her. Ella wasn’t just mine in theory: she was mine through every action I took in a world trying to break her spirit.
Her lips parted and a quiet half-smile formed as she allowed herself to feel it.
Through the look she gave me, I felt it too: her trust, her appreciation, and her love. It was a love sharpened by her understanding I meant everything I said and my willingness to do whatever it took for her, without hesitation or compromise.
And the crazy thing was, not only did she accept my brand of love, she embraced it, craved it even. My Blaze was truly made for me.
Ella stepped fully into the kitchen then, brushing past me, and our eyes met again. Everything between us was understood without a single syllable.
People like me weren’t supposed to get things like this, this deep trust and unconditional love. But she gave me both, and in return, I gave her everything.
Even the parts of me that should’ve been locked away.