Heart of the Hunter (99 page)

“He said he loved me,” Elle said, feeling pathetic.

“Men often say things like that without realizing what it means,” Grace said.

“He said he wanted a future with me.”

Kelly and Grace put their arms around her as the tears fell over her cheeks. She was heartbroken. Whatever Grace might try to tell her about being brave and not letting her emotions get out of control, she was heartbroken. If Forrester didn’t come back, she would die. That’s what she felt, and that’s what she believed.

“He was right outside,” Elle said, her voice a high-pitched wail.

“He was, but he left,” Grace said.

“Why? Why did he change his mind. Why did he change his mind about
me
? What did I do wrong?”

“You did nothing wrong, child.”

“He said he wanted a baby,” Elle said, her voice almost inaudible from anguish. “He said he wanted me to give him a baby, and we made love without protection,” Elle said. “I know it was very fast, I know we’d only just met, but I really felt a connection with him. I thought it was the real thing. I
wanted
to give him a baby.”

“Shush now,” Grace said soothingly.

Elle’s mind was overpowered with grief. She couldn’t think straight. All she could do was sit on the bench and cry, her small body shaking with anguish. She couldn’t have been more upset if someone had died. To her, this was death. The pain was as intense as any death.

“I was a fool,” she said, and she didn’t even know if she believed her own words or not.

Forrester said he’d be back. She was overreacting. But he’d said he’d be there for breakfast. It was almost eleven at night. The day was over, he’d checked out of his hotel, and he hadn’t even said goodbye.

She looked into Grace and Kelly’s faces and decided to tell them something she’d never told anyone.

“My own mother couldn’t love me,” she said.

“What?” Grace said. Kelly’s mouth opened in surprise.

“No one will ever love me. It’s my curse. I know it’s true. I try not to give in to my fears, I try to stay positive and be brave, I try not to feel sorry for myself, but sometimes, I really honestly fear that I’m cursed never to be loved. My own parents never loved me. Why the hell would a guy as amazing as Forrester?”

Chapter 28

Forrester

W
HEN FORRESTER LEFT THE DINER
parking lot that morning, his only intention was to go back to the hotel and regain his composure. He’d clear his mind, gather himself, and go straight back to the diner to meet Elle as promised.

But Forrester never made it to the hotel. He pulled out onto the street. Despite what the letter had said, he was still more certain of Elle than he’d ever been of anything. He wanted her, he wanted to create a family with her. He didn’t care what an old man’s letter said. Sure, it hurt, but he was a man now. He could rise above it.

That’s what he was thinking when he came to a stop at the intersection. There was no traffic. He waited for the light to turn green. He saw a group of guys walking down the sidewalk and recognized them as Phil and his cronies, the troublemakers he’d taken care of more than once.

Then he saw in his rearview mirror, a big black Camaro approaching down the street. The car must have been doing at least fifty. It was much too fast. Forrester kept his eye on it, waiting for it to slow down, but it didn’t.

He knew enough to see what was going to happen. The car was going to ram into the back of him. He put his foot on the gas and ran the red light, then he picked up speed as he drove down the street toward his hotel. He made it about half way before the Camaro rammed into the back of his truck. The impact caused him to spin out and slam into a fire hydrant.

“What the fuck?” Forrester said to himself when the truck came to a halt. He was dizzy. There was a ringing in his ears.

He wiped some blood from his forehead, he’d smashed it against the steering wheel, and he tried to get his bearings. Two men got out of the Camaro. One of them was Gris, and the other was in a sheriff’s uniform.

Instinctively, he reached for the glovebox, but already, police squad cars were surrounding him from every direction, their lights flashing, their sirens blazing.

“Step out of the vehicle with your hands raised,” he heard over the police loudspeaker.

What the hell’s going on
, he wondered.

And then a bullet came through the back of the truck, smashing the window.

Holy shit.

Forrester stepped out of the truck and immediately, the four troublemakers, the sons of the most powerful politicians in the community, were on top of him. They punched him, kicked him to the ground, beat him with whatever weapons they happened to be holding, and finally, one of them stomped down on his face and knocked him out with the heel of his boot.

When he woke up he was in a police holding cell somewhere in Stone Peak. He was the only prisoner, and sitting on a bench outside the bars, staring at him, was the sheriff. He was a balding man, about fifty, with a handlebar mustache. Forrester realized he was also Phil’s father.

Forrester tried to sit up but two of his ribs were cracked. He winced from the pain.

“Don’t feel too good, does it?” the sheriff said.

Forrester didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure what this was all about, but he wasn’t going to give anything away until he found out.

“You know,” the sheriff continued, “I always knew you’d amount to no good. Coming out of a woman like your mother, and that son of a bitch, your father, you really didn’t stand a chance of becoming a real man.”

Forrester’s mouth was filled with the metallic taste of blood and he spat.

“An animal. That’s what you became. Doesn’t surprise me one bit, Forrester Snow.”

“I’m glad to hear I didn’t let you down,” Forrester said.

The sheriff laughed. “You know, I knew your father back in the day. He always was a mean son of a bitch.”

“You don’t have to tell me that.”

“I knew your mother too.”

Forrester looked at him. He didn’t mind anyone badmouthing his daddy, but his mother was a different matter. He waited to hear what the sheriff had to say.

“Don’t worry,” the sheriff said. “I’m not going to say anything nasty, although I should.”

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t,” Forrester said dryly.

He had a headache. Gris and the boys had really taken their opportunity to get their revenge.

“I knew her well,” the sheriff said. “She was a good woman. Would have made a good wife to someone. I asked her myself.”

“You proposed to my mother?”

“I did, but I was too late. Your daddy already had his claws in her. She didn’t stand a chance after that. Things were a lot different for women in them days. It was a shame. He killed her. I mean, there was nothing we could pin on him. In the eyes of the law, it was the childbirth that killed her, but I knew he could have done something to help her. He could have called for a doctor. He could have treated her better when she was pregnant with you.”

“My daddy always said I killed her,” Forrester said.

The sheriff looked at him, long and hard. “Maybe you did. Maybe you both did it, your daddy and you.”

Forrester spat again. “Maybe,” he said.

“In my experience, son, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Whatever evil was in your father, I bet it’s festering within you too.”

“Maybe it’s the good that was in my mother that favored me,” Forrester said.

The sheriff smiled. “Maybe,” he said. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see about that.”

The sheriff stood up. Forrester touched his ribs and recoiled in pain. “I think I need to see a doctor,” he said.

“You’ll be fine. Nothing a few days in the slammer won’t fix.”

Forrester shrugged. He’d been through worse things than a few nights in a jailhouse. He didn’t think the town of Stone Peak could hold him for too long without reason. Elle would be looking for him. His hotel would report it if he didn’t show up. Plus, he always had the Brothers to look out for him. They wouldn’t notice straight away, but within a few days, Lacey and Faith would notice if they didn’t hear from him.

“I need to make my phone call,” Forrester said.

“That ain’t going to happen, son.”

“What? I have a right.”

“Not if you’re unconscious you don’t.”

“But I’m not unconscious.”

“Sure you are.”

“What? Please. I just need to make one call. It’s nothing legal. I need to call a girl. I need to let her know where I am. She’ll be looking for me.”

“You should have thought of that before you embarrassed my son and his friends.”

“You can’t do this,” Forrester said, trying to rise to his feet. He couldn’t get up. The piercing pain in his ribs was too bad.

“Just tell her where I am, Sheriff. It’s important.”

The sheriff shrugged. “She’ll think you skipped town on her, son. We went to the trouble of checking you out of your hotel and impounding your vehicle. It’ll be like you were never here. By the time you get out, she’ll have moved on.”

“You can’t do this,” Forrester yelled, but the sheriff just walked out.

Forrester yelled after him but it did no good.

Fuck,
he thought.
How long would they keep him there? How long would Elle wait before she thought he’d run out on her?

He couldn’t bear that thought. He knew she was sensitive. He knew she had abandonment issues. He knew she had her guard up. He was the one who’d told her to trust him.

Now he’d abandoned her. The one thing he’d promised never to do. And right after asking her to give him a child.

He was so mad he wanted to punch the wall, but he contained himself. He could hear the sheriff talking to someone out in the front of the police station, and he tried to hear what it might be. He couldn’t make out the words but he found out soon enough.

It was Gris.

He came through the door and sat down on the bench the sheriff had been sitting on.

“Well, well, well,” Gris said, “we meet again, fucko.”

“What are you doing here?” Forrester said.

“Oh, I just wanted to let you know what you’re up against.”

“Looks to me like I’m up against the whole town.”

“Well, you should have thought of that before you went around making enemies. You guys come in from the big city and think the same rules apply up here in the mountains. Now you see that they don’t. It’s a whole different ballgame up here.”

“Just say what you came to say and get out of my face,” Forrester said.

“Still up for the fight, aren’t you? Still ready to go.”

“Fuck off.”

Gris nodded toward the door, and Forrester looked up and saw the sheriff there. The sheriff pressed a button and the lock to Forrester’s cell opened. Gris slid it aside and stepped in.

“I always knew you were the type to kick a guy when he was down,” Forrester said, and with that, Gris’s fist came down toward his face.

Forrester moved his head to the side and the fist missed by an inch. Then Forrester grabbed Gris’s arm and twisted it. Gris reacted by bringing his foot up and smashing it down on Forrester’s already injured ribs. Forrester cried out in pain as Gris freed his arm.

“You want some more of that?” Gris said. “I could punch those ribs all day.”

“Do whatever you want,” Forrester said. “I’ll come find you after this is over and make you pay for whatever you try.”

Forrester was in no position to be making threats, but it was enough to give Gris pause.

“I’m here to tell you,” Gris said, “that you’re going to lose Elle.”

“What the fuck do you know about it?”

“I know enough. She was my girl for three years. You learn a lot about a girl in that time.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, so let me tell you about the girl you think you want. Her own mother didn’t love her.”

“I’m not the kind of guy who’d hold that against her,” Forrester said.

“Maybe you’re not,” Gris said, with a sneer on his face that drove Forrester wild, “but she is.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“She’s harder on herself than anyone else could ever be. She’s convinced no one will ever love her. I’m sure when you came along, you gave her reason to think differently, if only for a few days, but now she’ll realize it was all a con. You’re gone, just like everyone else, and I’m the only one who’ll be left. By the time you get out of here, she’ll be all mine.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Forrester said. “You know as soon as I get out of here I’m going to find her.”

“No you’re not.”

“Why the hell wouldn’t I?”

“Because you’ll harm her even more if you do. Don’t you think you’ve hurt her enough already?”

“I’d be hurting her more if I didn’t come back for her.”

“Are you sure about that?” Gris said. “Let me tell you a little story. When Elle was born, her mother wasn’t exactly an angel. The father was long gone, and Elle’s mother was left all alone. She didn’t know what to do. She had no money, no support, and no options.”

“So what did she do?”

“She did the only thing she could do. She wasn’t exactly a whore, but she’d turned a few tricks in her day. She was determined never to go back to that life, but she owed her old pimps money.”

“And?”

“And she offered them the only thing she had to offer. She offered them her baby.”

“What?”

“Yes, it turned out that the guys who pimped her were about the only outfit in all of Nevada who’d accept a child as payment for her debt. She thought she was solving two problems at once, stupid bitch. She’d get out of her debt, and she’d find a place for her baby.”

“So she sold her baby to the pimps? I don’t fucking believe it,” Forrester said.

“Come on, fucko. You know how the world works. It’s not all daisies and unicorns. There are some bad men in the world. Pure evil. The group Elle was sold to was called
Los Lobos
.”

“Los Lobos,” Forrester gasped, a flash of recognition in his voice.

“You heard of them?”

“I’ve heard of them,” Forrester said grimly.

“Then you’ll know that what I’m saying makes sense. Those men bought and sold women like they were cattle. They liked nothing more than to put a little girl into slavery in the sex trade.”