Heart of the Hunter (40 page)

I wasn’t going to fuck up now with this slut. One final thing and I’d be on my way.

“You mind if I take a seat?” I said, indicating the spot next to her.

She looked around. There were only two other passengers on the bus and both of them were toward the front. She took a deep breath. “Sure.”

I sat next to her but gave her lots of space. I didn’t want to crowd her. I flexed the muscles in my chest and arms to give her a hint at what was under my shirt, but I gave her room.

“You’re good at
giving
orgasms or
having
them?” she said.

She was bold. I’d give her that. “What do you think?”

She looked at me, sizing me up. “Could be either.”

“I’ll tell you what,” I said. “You tell me which you’d rather see, and I’ll show you something you’ll never forget.”

Her cheeks turned pink. She was embarrassed. Her eyes were wet. I was fully aware of the power I had over her. She was fooling around, flirting. She wasn’t doing anything that bad, but she still pissed me off. I might not look it, but I was taken. She should have left me alone when I’d told her to. I’d make sure she remembered this encounter for the rest of her life.

“I don’t know,” she said.

“Come on, don’t be such a chicken.”

“You want to do something right here, on this bus?” she said.

She was playing coy. I knew she was a slut. She’d have done anything I suggested.

“If you want me to leave you alone, I can go back to my seat,” I said. I knew what she’d say, but giving her an out was part of the game.

“You can stay.”

“I’ll tell you why I’m sitting next to you,” I said, my voice low. “I’m going to be honest, because you seem like an innocent girl.”

She was anything but innocent.

“I’m not
that
innocent,” she said.

“You ever had sex in a public place?”

She hesitated before shaking her head.

I sighed. “I really should let you go. This isn’t fair.”

My cock was hard. She was looking at me with her innocent brown eyes like she’d let me do anything I wanted.

“Stay,” she said again.

“I shouldn’t. I’m just horny because I haven’t blown my load in a long time.”

She looked a little scared but her words were firm. “I don’t want you to leave. I want you to show me what you were going to show me.”

“After it’s done, we’ll never see each other again.”

She thought about that for a minute. Then she said, “I don’t care.”

“You might tomorrow.”

She shook her head. “I won’t. Teach me something. Where I come from, the men are so timid. Show me something different, something real.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure,” she said, nodding.

I looked at her body. She was all woman. I looked down at my crotch. Her eyes followed mine to the raging bulge inside my jeans. She gasped.

I nodded. “Imagine what lies beneath.”

“Okay.”

“You want to touch it?”

She didn’t answer, but her eyes told me she wanted it. She wanted to open my belt and the button on my jeans. She wanted to put her hand inside and grab the girth of my shaft.

“I know you want to,” I said.

“Is it big?”

I shrugged. “I’ve been told it is, but how would I know?”

“I think it’s
really
big,” she said. “I can tell from the bulge in your pants.”

“You’re not exactly an expert,” I said with a smirk.

She looked at me. She wanted to kiss but I didn’t lean in. I didn’t want her to kiss me. I didn’t want her lips anywhere near me. I was toying with her, playing a game. There was no way in hell this chick was going to ever see my cock.

Her eyes were locked on the throbbing bulge in my pants. I knew she wanted to look inside. She was dying to see it. She was dying to pull it out and wrap her pink lips around it.

“I promise you, you’ve never seen anything this big before,” I said.

“I’ll bet.”

“You want to stroke it for me?”

“I want to make it come.”

“You sure?”

“Can I?”

I smiled.

“Spit on your hand,” I said.

She wet her hand with saliva. She was ready for me. I knew what she wanted. She wanted to rub that spit over the purple, throbbing head of my cock. She was trembling with anticipation, practically vibrating with lust for me. I leaned back in my seat and sighed. I looked down at my own lap, my penis still safe inside my pants.

“I’ve got to go,” I said.

“What?” she said. “No.”

“I’ve got to get off this bus.”

“Why? Please stay. I’ll do whatever you want.”

“That’s the problem, sweetie,” I said. “I know you will.”

“I’ll go all the way.”

“You’d make me come, wouldn’t you?”

“I swear I would.”

My heart wouldn’t allow it. All my heart could think of was Faith. She was my soulmate. She was the only woman to know the taste of my cock.

I grabbed my pack from the luggage rack, walked up to the driver and told him to stop the bus.

“We can’t stop here. We’re on the highway.”

“This is an emergency,” I said, showing him the handle of the gun under my shirt.

He jammed on the brakes.

The woman called to me from her seat. “What did I do?” she said. “Please, don’t get off now.”

The bus came to a halt and I jumped to the ground. That was too close. I was getting desperate. It had been so long since I’d tasted Faith’s pussy. So long since I’d laid my claim on her. If I didn’t get back to her soon, I’d die.

Once off the bus, it pulled away in a cloud of dust. I climbed the guardrail and walked into a stand of trees a few hundred yards from the highway. No one could see me from the road.

I opened the buckle on my pants and pulled out my rigid shaft. It was so hard it was throbbing in agony. I sat on my backpack and began rubbing my hand up and down on it, as if it was a piece of wood I was polishing. I felt the first pre-orgasmic throb and Faith’s face flashed before my eyes.

I continued, my hand sliding up and down, over and over. I felt the surge building in my groin, like a river rising against a dam. The rains had started. It wouldn’t be long before the flood.

I thought back to my first time with Faith. The memory of that glorious, mysterious night was always enough to take me over the edge. She hadn’t been shy. She’d known exactly what she wanted from me. That’s the thing about women. I knew so many men who treated them like they were some sort of delicate flower. The truth is, women know what they want, and if they find a man who will cut through the bullshit and give it to them, they’ll take it. They’ll take it all. And they’ll ask for more.

That’s how it was with Faith. Somehow, she’d known what she wanted the moment she set eyes on me.

My cock was close to exploding. I stroked fast. I looked down at it, bulging in my hand.

And then it started. Fuck me.

“Oh, God,” I gasped.

I clenched my muscles.

The first spurt flew from me like a stream from a hose. It landed on the grass a yard in front of me and slid over the green blades like something from nature. I kept pumping.

Another spurt flew from my cock and landed closer than the first. I kept pumping. The next landed on the ground with less force. Soon, it was just pouring over my hand like lava flowing down the side of a volcano.

“Faith,” I gasped.

The love of my life. Nothing I ever did would recreate the feeling I’d had with her. I’d made her mine. Then I’d lost her.

I’d told her I was bad to the bone. That wasn’t the half of it. The moment she saw me, she should have run. Meeting me was a curse.

I prayed she was still waiting for me.

Chapter 23

Jackson

I
WAS EXHAUSTED WHEN I
finally got off the bus. After twelve years of wandering, it was strange to be back in the Socorro Valley. It felt good to be home, and at the same time, everything felt foreign. I took in a deep breath of the air. I swear to God, I could smell the salt of the Pacific. It’s different from the Texan coast—fresher, deeper water, bigger ocean. It was the smell of home.

But I wasn’t the man who’d left. I hadn’t set foot in the valley since the day of my father’s death.

That was the day everything changed.

That was the day destiny took over my life.

It was the day I met Faith.

I had my pack on my back as I walked out of the bus station. It was eight in the evening and darkness was setting in. I could have phoned the Brotherhood to come get me, but I didn’t want to return like that. I hadn’t told them I was coming. I figured I should make my own way back to the house.

They knew I was alive, they all did, even Faith. I’d sent her one short letter eleven years ago. It was just a few words, but enough to give her hope. I’d spoken to the Brotherhood a few times during the years too. They would have told her I was still out there. And then there were the periodic killings of Los Lobos members. It wouldn’t take much to follow my trail if you knew where to look.

The one thing I was grateful for was that no one at Los Lobos ever put together the dots. They hadn’t figured out about the Brotherhood. They hadn’t connected Faith’s disappearance to the killings. Everyone I cared about had remained safe.

But a phone call wasn’t the way to return. Not after so long. It just didn’t feel right.

I thought about hitchhiking as I walked along the side of the highway. It was a steep road that sloped down the mountainside and it wasn’t safe for walking. There were a lot of hairpin bends.

But I wanted to walk. I enjoyed it. After being on that bus for two days, it felt good to stretch my legs. And after being away from home for so long, it felt good to be surrounded by the familiar mountains of my childhood.

And then it happened.

I was on one of the blind bends on the road when a black Mercedes Benz came coasting around the corner at high speed, it’s headlights blinding me. It was headed straight for me. I didn’t think. I just jumped. Somehow, the driver had the reflexes to jam on the brakes. The car skidded to a screeching halt. I was down in the ravine next to the road, my leg bloody from the gravel, but the car hadn’t hit me.

It was close, but I’m a lucky son of a gun.

I know a lot of drivers who wouldn’t have stopped. The lady driving this car at least had the decency to get out and check on me.

“Oh my God,” she cried as she ran over, her fancy heels clinking on the road. “Are you all right?”

I’ve said it before. There have been moments in my life like forks in a road. Moments that change everything. Fate seems to come down from the heavens and reach directly into my life. This was one of those moments. I could feel it in my bones, even if I didn’t know what was happening.

I pushed myself up from the ground and got to my feet.

“Goddamn it,” I said, “I hate for a lady to see me flat on my face.”

“Flat on your face? I was afraid I’d killed you.”

“No such luck,” I said. “But you gave it a good shot.”

Her car was pointed at us, the bright lights glaring, and all I could see was her silhouette. She had a good figure, a sexy skirt and blouse, she looked professional. I wouldn’t have minded taking her back into her Benz and punishing her for almost killing me. I tried to see her face but the lights were too bright and I had to shield my eyes.

“Let me help you out of that ravine,” she said.

And then it struck me. That voice. The voice I’d been longing to hear for twelve years. It was her.

It was Faith.

I couldn’t believe it.

My heart pounded in my chest. It was like seeing water after crossing a desert. It was like seeing sunlight after being trapped underground. God, it was like tasting life itself.

Even shrouded in darkness, I knew it was her. I’d know that heavenly voice anywhere. It was Faith. Standing right in front of me like an apparition from heaven. After all this time, there she was.

My hands started to shake. My mind went completely blank. I felt dizzy. It was too much.
It was her
. Suddenly, I lost my balance and was falling back into the ravine.

As I fell, thoughts flew across my mind. I wasn’t prepared for this. I didn’t want her to recognize me. After all that had happened, all I’d put her through, I couldn’t just appear like this. It would be too much of a shock. I didn’t even know if she wanted to see me.

I hit the gravel with a thud.

“Oh, gosh,” she cried. “You’re hurt. You’ve got to let me take you to the hospital.”

Thankfully it was dark. I’m not sure she’d have even recognized me even if it was light. I looked much different than she remembered. I was older. I was beaten and battered, scarred and bruised. I had the scraggy beard of a lumber jack, long, unwashed hair, a Lakers ball cap. I deepened my voice and prayed she wouldn’t recognize me.

“Lady, you’ve done enough,” I growled.

“I’m just trying to help.”

“If you want to help, try slowing down.”

I was being rude, but I had no choice. I had to get rid of her. I couldn’t let her know it was me. I needed time to work my way back into her heart. I had to approach it properly. I couldn’t just show up like this.

I climbed back up the rocks but remained in the shadows so she wouldn’t get a good look at me.

“Well,” she said, breathlessly. “Are you hurt? Let me at least take you to the hospital. It’s not far.”

“Only if I can drive?” I said, still trying to get rid of her.

I could see her now, dimly, but it was enough to get the general impression. She was
so
fucking hot, every bit as beautiful as the moment we’d said goodbye. She still had the face of an angel. She’d matured gracefully. Her eyes reflected the car headlights like glass. Her features were delicate and kind.

She took my breath away. It was the face I’d been dreaming about for twelve years, and there she was, right in front of me. I stayed out of the light. I couldn’t let her see that it was me.

Tears came to my eyes. I hadn’t shed a tear in years.

“There is nothing wrong with my driving,” she said. “What were you thinking, walking out here at night? How do you expect people to see you?”