Heart of the Hunter (15 page)

I turned the engine and the truck fired up.

“Who are you texting?” Kelly asked. “I didn’t really take you for the type with friends.”

I put my phone back in my pocket and lit a cigarette.

“I’m not.”

She just kept staring at me like she was actually waiting for an answer.

“My business is my fucking business,” I said without looking at her. “And why exactly do you care? You fucking jealous, Kelly?”

She scoffed and shook her head.

“At least you’re calling me by my name now. No more
sweetheart
or
darling
. I guess that’s a step in the right direction.”

You’re getting a little bold there, baby. Be careful, running that sweet mouth of yours.

I took a long drag of the cigarette and filled the cab with smoke.

“And what direction would that be, sweetheart?”

I put my arm on the back of her seat so she could feel it sitting behind her and stared at her.

She smiled and cocked her head, looking at me with those big beautiful eyes.

“You tell me,
darling
,” she said, straight as an arrow.

I pulled my arm away and flicked my cigarette butt out the window.

I would if I could, Kelly.

I had no fucking idea where we were going. This was the same girl as earlier, but there was something different about her. Same girl, with the same fucking body to kill for, but she had an edge to her now. Maybe I knocked a screw loose when I almost put her head through the wall this afternoon. I had no idea what it was, but I fucking loved it and I was having a hard time not filling her with my cock right there.

I ripped on the wheel and squealed the tires, making a quick turn and peeling off toward the auto shop. We could start there.

Chapter 27

Kelly

I
COULDN’T BELIEVE I HAD
gotten in the truck with him. I could smell the whiskey seeping out of his skin. I hated when men drank too much. Not to mention the fact that I’d spent the better part of the day trying to get him out of my head.

What are you doing, Kelly?

I had no idea. There was no way that this night ended in any way that was good for me. I knew it, but I just didn’t care.

What was this feeling?

Today made absolutely no sense to me, yet it was as if it had happened exactly as it was meant to. All the uncertainty and danger that Hunter brought into my life somehow managed to make my future more clear, like not knowing what lay ahead was okay as long as he was showing me the way. I didn’t know anything outside of the present moment, and the feeling I had of being held there by the gravity of the beast in that truck with me. My initial reaction was to worry, to be terrified of him and where he was taking me, but the reality was that I didn’t feel that way. I knew I should, but I didn’t. I felt good sitting next to him. I felt safe, even though I knew I wasn’t. As I stole glances at him from the passenger seat, I could see him slide in and out of darkness each time we passed a streetlight. I would see his broad shoulders extending out of his shirt. The way he rubbed the hair on his strong jaw as he stared straight ahead, not caring what could come at him at any moment. This was his world and I was by his side.

I watched the way his massive hands gripped the wheel and caressed it as he slid them around when he made a turn. The way the muscles in his tattooed forearm flexed every time he tightened his hold on it. I wished his hands were on me, moving across my body and wrapping around me, keeping me firmly where he wanted me to be. My mind kept flashing back to earlier in the day, to when he held me in those hands and sent me spiraling into some alternate life where I wasn’t me anymore, but his to do with as he wanted. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes so I could take in the relief I felt just by being next to him.

For as long as I could remember, my life had been about making sure everyone around me was safe and happy and that I was in complete control. My life had spiraled when my parents died and from that moment on my only focus was keeping things level. Everything was spinning and I did my best to keep my feet on the ground and not fall. When I was with Hunter, I knew I wasn’t in control. I couldn’t focus on anything else around me other than him. When he touched me, everything in my life melted away and all I could see was him. All I felt was him.

Even as I sat next to him, not saying a word, it was like we were the only two people in the world. He would disappear into darkness and then show himself to me again when the light hit. I knew he could break me whenever he vanished, but I knew he would show up again to put me back together. He left me shattered on my kitchen floor earlier, but he had reappeared tonight to put the pieces back in place. He showed me a side of myself I never even knew existed, and as much as I wanted it to not be true, I knew that was who I was now. When I met him in the diner, I felt his fury pulse through me, and when he took me in the kitchen he made me his. When he put his mouth and hands on me, it was as if my body was exploding in every direction at once, and when he put himself inside of me, he brought everything rushing back to the center. The room had gone black except for our bodies crashing together. The energy between us built and built until neither of us could take it anymore and it erupted into pure ecstasy and release. As I held onto him and he pushed himself deeper inside of me, it was like we had gone to another planet together, and then come free-falling back to earth. I had been stunned. It had all happened so fast and then he was gone before I could even begin to process what had just taken place. I felt weak, but also a sense of calm like I had never felt. It was as if everything was right where it should be as I gazed up at his intense eyes and held myself against his body. I felt like I was thrown into another place and it was where I was always meant to be. It was just the two of us and he held me close to keep me from slipping away. He took me as his, as if I had always been his, as if I always would be.

Then he left.

He left me sitting on the floor in a trance, just trying to make sense of this new world he had drawn me into.

His world.

When he walked out my door, he’d left me all alone, dazed, and lost. I had tried to find my way home, but I knew there was no going back. I was now in Hunter’s universe and there was nothing I could do to escape. I felt scared and shaken, but a part of me knew he would always be there to rescue me. I wanted to be back in my old life, but a bigger part of me couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. My eyes were open and I never wanted to close them again. No matter how hard I fought it, I would always be expecting him around every corner. It was more than a want, more than just a feeling. I needed him to be there and I knew he would be.

Tonight, just as unexpectedly and furiously as he entered and left, there he was again.

I wasn’t scared this time. I wanted to be taken wherever he was going.

I knew that’s where I needed to be.

Chapter 28

Hunter

I
PULLED THE TRUCK IN
front of the garage and threw it in park. Once again, Kelly had taken my plans and turned them on their head. I was out the door of this goddamn town and then, all of a sudden, she shows up on the only road that was going to let me leave. She was just sitting there, looking more fuckable than ever, waiting for me.

You’ve got some shit luck, pal. Might as well roll with it.

This girl was like a hangover I couldn’t shake. She kept showing up just when I thought I kicked her to the curb, and she brought with her this sick fucking need I had to keep her around. It made no sense. I never let a chick get to me. They
didn’t
get to me. I loved pussy as much as the next guy, maybe more, definitely more, but this was something else. With Kelly, I had this compulsion to make sure she was all right. More than that, I had a need to know that she was mine to have. I had no problem walking out her door earlier and leaving her there, broken, but I knew I was the one who did it and I could put her back together again. When I saw her sitting there in that fucking busted heap she called a car, I needed to make it right. I never thought I had any fucking morals to speak of, but with her, I knew she wouldn’t be okay until I helped her.

And I needed her to be okay.

My head was fucking spinning and I knew it wasn’t just the Jack Daniels I had been pouring down my throat since I left her that afternoon. No amount of whiskey was taking away the thought of her or the desire I had to rush back to her and put her back together, to make her understand that she was mine. I had been fighting it from the moment I saw her, and it was time to stop. She wanted me around, she needed me around, and she was going to learn just what a fucking mistake that was soon enough. I was going to ruin this girl’s fucking life and she was practically begging me to do it. Did I really want to drag her into this fucked up existence that was my world? Was it already too late? Was she already in too deep?

Yes. She was. And there wasn’t a fucking thing either of us could do about it.

I made the decision and now we both just had to fucking deal with it. Whatever that meant.

I was drunk as fuck and couldn’t think about any of that shit right now. It was time to get this fucking car running and get out to that farm with Deacon. She would still be here when I came back around. Whenever the fuck that was.

Fuck, Hunter. Maybe this whiskey is clouding your head a little more than you thought. Straighten yourself out, asshole.

I lit up a cigarette and turned to Kelly.

“Go in through the back and slide open the door, would you? I’ll get that piece of shit running and then be on my way.”

“
Please
,” she whispered from the seat next to me. “Open this door,
please
. You called me by my name and now you can use some manners instead of barking orders at me.”

The fuck did you just say to me?

There was something so infuriating about her. It was enough to make me want to kick her out of the car and drive off without her.

I took a drag of my cigarette and turned around quickly so my face was close to hers, close enough that she had to look into my eyes. She could practically taste the whiskey on my breath, and had to take in the smoke as I exhaled through my nose.

“You fucking listen here, sweetheart, because I’m only going to say this once. Just because I fucked that sweet little pussy earlier doesn’t mean you get to run that pretty mouth. Just because I stopped two fucks from grabbing you at the diner, and pulled your ass off the street tonight, doesn’t mean I won’t kick you out of this fucking truck and leave you sitting on the ground. I did it once and I’ll fucking do it again. You fucking know it. So, when I tell you to do something, you fucking do it. Are we fucking clear?”

Her eyes were wide and she was breathing heavily.

I took my hand and ran it down her cheek to her chin and grabbed it tight. She gasped and I could see her tits moving up and down with every nervous breath she took. My eyes moved from hers, down to her legs, and up her body until I met her stare again. Why was I being such a jerk to her? She was right. She deserved to be spoken to with respect. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Fuck, she was a goddamn angel from God and I knew it. Something passed between us at that moment. I sighed.

“Now, pretty fucking
please
. Get out of this truck and open that fucking door.”

I let go of her face and she moved back against the door, reaching for the handle, but never looking away from me. She got out and walked quickly around the back of the shop.

“The back door is wide open, darling. I kicked it in earlier for you. Go on in.”

I leaned back and slowly smoked my cigarette, letting the smoke fill my lungs, and then breathed it out, filling the inside of the truck.
This girl was mine
. She was my girl and I’d be goddamned if I let anyone else think otherwise, especially her.

I saw the lights come on and watched as Kelly slid open the door and stood to the side as I pulled the truck and her shit car into the garage.

She looked terrified. Maybe because she knew I could destroy her if I wanted to. I stared at her as I drove the truck by and she stared right back. She was licking her lips and her chest was heaving.

She wanted me
.

She wanted everything I was.

What the fuck?

Even as she found out more and more about what an animal I was, even as she saw the kind of pig I had become over the years of abuse and violence, she still just wanted me. It made no fucking sense.

The more I broke her, the stronger she got. She begged me for more without even letting a word out of those wet, pouty lips. The more I tried to leave, the harder I treated her, the deeper she got pulled in. The deeper she got pulled in, the more I needed to have her. It was like we were both drawn to each other’s brand of crazy.

Kelly shut the door behind me and walked by my window so I could see her whole voluptuous body move past, swaying from side to side and making my cock rise. I almost thought she’d intended to do that to me. She walked to the water cooler and poured herself a glass, taking it down in three big gulps.

Was this bitch trying to seduce me? Was she trying to play me? Oh, hell no.

I stepped out of the truck and slammed the door, making her jump and drop the glass. It shattered on the floor and spread out in every direction.

“Clean it up,” I said, calmly and firmly. “I’ll get started on this car.”

Kelly paused and looked at me, a million thoughts flashing through her pretty little head. What was she going to do? Was she going to challenge me? Was
she
going to stand up to
fucking me?

No.

She grabbed the broom and started to sweep up the mess.

I lowered the car and popped the hood.

Neither of us said a fucking word.

Chapter 29

Kelly

A
S I STOOD SWEEPING UP
the broken glass, I kept raising my head to look toward Hunter. He had his back to me and every muscle in it moved as he worked on my car. Every now and then, he would emerge from under the hood and push the hair out of his face or take a drink from the whiskey bottle he had brought from the truck and now kept on the work table next to him. I had seen people drink a lot before, but never like this. He didn’t seem to get drunk. He never stumbled or got clumsy, just worked away and acted like I wasn’t even in the room. In a word, he was an infuriating pig.