Chapter 38 Hunter
Hunter
Hunter: Hi, Baby Girl. I miss you.
Hunter: Did you get the flowers I sent? I might have gone overboard, but nothing is ever enough when it comes to you.
Hunter: Ryder insisted on sending some healthy food options, but I snuck in some goodies too.
Hunter: Let me know what you think about the cupcakes coming later today. They're from my favorite bakery.
Iwas going to die of sadness. Actually die. Waste away on my own couch like some tragic fucking Victorian heroine while my girl ignored me and Ryder pretended he wasn't one second away from putting his fist through a wall.
It felt like forever since Scotty ran off. Every hour without her felt empty and wrong. Every time I checked my phone, my chest tightened at the sight of those unread messages. Not a single blue checkmark. Not even the courtesy of opening them to let me know she'd seen my desperation.
Millie, however, had plenty to say.
Something along the lines of Send one more goddamn flower arrangement, and I swear to God I'll murder you both with my bare hands.
Sixteen flower arrangements in a day hardly qualified as excessive.
I ignored Millie and sent a few more texts to Scotty because clearly the solution here was to double down and keep texting until she either answered or blocked me.
Hunter: Do you want us to send anything else?
Hunter: Or come over?
Hunter: Are you ready to see us yet? Please say yes.
I stared at the screen, thumb hovering like I could force a response out of it if I didn't move, my leg bouncing without me meaning to, everything in me wired and restless and getting worse the longer this dragged out.
I hated it. Hated not being there. Hated that her sobs were the last sounds we heard before the call ended, and now here I was, doing nothing but waiting, as if that could possibly fix a damn thing.
Ryder was just as wrecked as I was. Neither of us managed more than a few minutes of shut-eye, despite trying. Instead, we'd spent those dark hours tangled together in bed, the empty space where Scotty should be like a physical ache between us.
Millie called this morning to let us know Scotty finally fell asleep just after sunrise, and she very firmly told us not to come over until Scotty said she was ready.
That was hours ago.
I wasn't a patient man on my best day, and this was very much not my best day.
Hunter: I hate this, Scotty.
Hunter: Hate being away from you. I know you're hurting. But we're hurting too.
Hunter: Wanna hurt together?
Jesus fucking Christ.
I stared at that one for a second, then typed again because apparently humiliation wasn't enough to stop me.
Hunter: If you message back, I'll let you peg me.
"There," I muttered, dropping my phone into my lap. "That should do it. Nothing says romance like offering up your ass in a time of crisis."
Ryder snorted as he walked past with a mess of fairy lights in his hands, and for the first time all day, it actually sounded like him instead of the version of him that was coming undone.
"If it gets her home, she can peg me too," he offered.
That got a real laugh out of me, the kind that actually loosened something in my chest. "This has to be true love. You won't even let me top you."
"That's because you look so fucking good with my cock in your ass, Babe," he growled. He glanced at me, and for a second, some of that hardness softened into something warmer and sadder. "When our girl gets home, we can show her exactly how well you take me."
"Fuck yes," I hissed because there was absolutely no universe where I wasn't on board with that.
Just thinking about it made my cock twitch.
My Baby Girl loved watching me with Ryder.
She loved Ryder and me together. Wanted us together.
Wanted all three of us together. Wanted all of us tangled up in each other like that.
She was perfect. Absolutely fucking perfect.
I nodded at the lights in his hands. "What are you doing with those?"
"Getting a few things set up in the nest," he said, coming over and sitting beside me on the couch. "We'll take her to one of those fancy nesting stores when she's ready, but I wanted her to have some stuff in there when she comes home."
"We need all the things," I agreed, bobbing my head excitedly. "Blankets. Pillows. Soft things. More of our shirts. Hoodies. Underwear? Do you think she likes weighted blankets? What if she hates it here? What if she wants a house? Fuck, what if she wants a garden? I should call a realtor."
I already had a property website open when Ryder snatched my phone away from me.
"Hey," I complained, growling at him playfully. I needed my phone for… things. Like aggressively texting Scotty until she came back to us.
"We have our whole lives to figure that shit out, Hunt," he said, leaning in and popping a kiss on my lips. "Right now, we focus on getting her back."
"You really think she'll come back?" I hated how small my voice sounded.
Hated even more that I had to ask it at all.
What Ryder and I had was everything I'd ever wanted.
Until Scotty showed us what we were missing, and now the hole she left behind felt like a physical wound.
If she walked away from this—from us—I didn't know what the fuck I was supposed to do.
"Yes," he said firmly, like there was no question about it. "In fact, fuck this. We should go over there right now and bring her home. Remind her how fucking much we want her."
"But Millie threatened to strangle us if we showed up before she called," I reminded him, even though I was already off the couch and reaching for my coat.
He dragged his jacket on. "How much damage can one tiny Omega really do?"
We both stopped.
Millie was a menace.
"I'll buy her a car or something," he muttered.
"I'm telling her it was your idea," I teased, throwing the door open only to find Coach's scowling face staring back at me.
He looked like absolute shit. Like he hadn't slept and was running purely on anger and caffeine and whatever the hell else fueled a man dumb enough to show up here after hurting our Omega.
"How the fuck did you get up here?" I snarled.
"Why the fuck weren't you at practice today?" he shouted, face already turning red. He shoved a paper bag at me so hard it crumpled against my chest. "And what the fuck is this? Did you have it delivered to my house?"
I looked down, saw the ridiculous shape of the chocolates printed on the bag, and burst out laughing.
"Fuck, I wish I did come up with this," I snorted, pulling one of the dick-shaped chocolates free and holding it up between two fingers. "This is fucking incredible. Accurate too. You are a fucking dick, Dick."
"You think this is funny?" he snarled, his Alpha pheromones turning the air pungent. "You two can't just blow off your responsibilities and ignore my calls because you're pissed at me."
I leaned back against the closed door behind me like his anger didn't faze me. I popped the chocolate into my mouth because if I had to stand here and listen to this, I needed something tasty.
"Did you forget you fired us last night?" I asked around the mouthful of chocolate. "Why the fuck would we go to practice?"
He scoffed. "You know I didn't mean it. I say shit all the time in the heat of the moment."
"Yeah," I muttered, mostly to myself, tearing open the bag properly. "Like telling your daughter to fuck off."
"What the fuck did you just say?"
"You heard me," I snapped, not even bothering to look up from the bag as I grabbed another chocolate. "You hurt Scotty."
"Talking shit in the locker room when everyone's blowing off steam after a game is one thing." Ryder stalked forward, his voice dropping to a growl that sent a chill racing down my spine. "But you don't take out your anger on her. Not ever."
Coach's jaw tightened. "Leave Scotty out of this."
Ryder let out a sharp, humorless laugh. "Like fuck we will. Do you even know where she is right now?" he snarled, closing the space between them. "Do you care?"
"Of course I fucking know!" Coach shouted. "Of course I fucking care. It's also none of your goddamn business."
"It is our business!" I shouted back, pushing off the door. The bag of chocolates swung in my hand as I stepped forward. "She's ours."
"She wouldn't have run off if she cared that much about you," he fired back.
"She's not here because of you," I roared, grabbing his shirt and slamming him back into the wall.
"Let fucking go of me," he snapped, trying to push me off.
I ignored him, tightening my grip. "She is fucking hurting. And we can't even be there for her because of you, Coach. She's so worried about ruining our careers and—what—disappointing you? That she's hiding at her friend's place instead of being with two men who would give her every-fucking-thing."
"I am so fucking angry at the two of you," Coach roared, jabbing a finger into my chest the second I loosened my hold enough for him to move. "You took advantage of her."
"No, we fucking didn't," Ryder growled. "We didn't force her to do anything.
We didn't push her into something she didn't want, but I'm also not going to stand here and lie to you.
We didn't try to stay away. We didn't pretend we didn't want her.
We were all in with Scotty from the moment we met her, and we would've waited as long as she needed. "
"Still would," I bit out.
Coach looked like he had a hundred more things to say, a hundred more things to yell, but I was done. Completely done standing here while Scotty was out there hurting.
I let go of Scotty's dad and grabbed Ryder by the back of the neck, dragging him with me toward the elevator before this turned into something that ended with security getting called.
"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" he shouted after us.
"None of your fucking business," I growled, jamming the elevator button with more force than necessary.
The doors opened almost immediately, because apparently the universe was willing to do one nice thing for me today. We stepped inside, and just before the doors shut, Ryder slapped a hand against them to keep them open.
"I don't want to play for a prick like you," I spat out. "I quit."
I nodded in agreement. "We both quit. Trade us, or we can just enjoy some downtime with Scotty until you're forced to trade us. Either way, we're done."
Before the elevator door closed, I thought I saw a flicker of regret on Coach's face, but it was probably just wishful thinking.