In Between Seasons (The Fall) (11 page)

“Are you going to teach m
e how to fire a gun too?” I asked
,
rotating my shoulder.

“I didn’t hurt you did I?”
he asked
as he rubbed my shoulder with his hands.

“Guns?”
I repeated
as I shook my head trying to concentrate.

“Eventually
,
but
this is more important. Anyone can aim a gun
and
fire
,
but
not everyone can judge when someone will shoot
and
dodge the bullet. We
and
all
of
the tribes have limited armories
,
so
hand to hand combat is much more prevalent. Hands
can kill just as easily as guns,
”
he clarified,
letting his hands drop from me.

“Do you want to teach me this because I might need to defend mys
elf against your father?” I questioned as I turned
to face him.

“I realize
d
that I need you to be able to protect yourself just as much as I can protect you. Just in case…”
his voice trailed off.

“In case?”

“My father
always has a reason for coming—
usually it’s because another tribe is getting stronger than he likes.”

“I forgot that everyone is our enemy
,” I said,
sighing.

He tilted my chin up,
“But we aren’t.”

“So what are you going
to teach me first, oh wise one?
”
I asked as I tried to regulate my breathing against his touch.

“Basics for when
someone may catch you off guard,” he
t
urned
me so my back was to him,
“Say someone grabs your arm from behind. You turn, grab their hand with yours
and
twist just right,”
h
e explained
,
showing me the motions,
“You can dislocate their shoulder. It won’t kill them or permanently injure them
,
but
it causes a hell of a lot of pain
and
disables them from attempting anything else.”

“How am I going to pra
ctice this?” I asked
,
cringing at t
he thought of doing it to him
.

“
About a quarter mile that way is
the training dummies. You can dislocate as many of their shoulders as
you want,
“he
nodded
into the distance
over my shoulder, and I was instantly relieved.

I could feel every muscle in my body screaming out in agony as I rolled over in the bed. Training with Hunter was hard, but I was doing my best to keep up with him. He seemed genuinely impressed with what I could do, and for the first time ever I
didn’t feel like I couldn’t walk in a straight line without getting hurt. Hunter was encouraging even when I did something stupid, or fell straight on my butt, which was often. He kept a firm military face when he chastised me, but the shine in his eyes showed his amusement. When I opened my eyes and looked up at Hunter putting on his sneakers I saw that he had already put on his emotionless façade in preparation for his meeting with his father. I tried to smile at him, but I knew it came out in a grimace as I felt the fear boiling up inside my stomach. 

“Good luck,” I finally managed to choke out.

“I’ll need it with my f
ather,
” Hunter
replied
as I
squeezed his knee with my hand.

“It’
ll be fine,” I reassured him as I sat up in the bed and pulled my knees to my chest. I wanted to believe the words too, but Hunter’s silence said how he felt.

“I’m jus
t afraid of what I might hear,” he responded as he ran his hands through his hair and flopped back on the bed at my feet.

“Do you want me
to stay in here all day?”

“These gu
ys can’t keep their mouths shut. I have
no doubt
that
he already knows you’re here. So there
’s no reason to trap you in the bedroom all day
,
”
he answered, stretching his arms back, and then standing.

“Sho
uld I make dinner for three
?”

“That’s a good idea;
suck up to him with your great cooking. I like it.
Use the main kitchen
and
we can
eat in the private dining hall.”

“Chicken parm with garlic bread?
”
I suggested
.

“You’re going to make me fat,
”
Hunter teased, patting his stomach.

“Yeah
,
I might believe that if I hadn
’t seen you with your shirt off,” I laughed.

He lifted his shirt half up,
“I think I’m getting fat.”

I rolled my eyes as I took in the distinct shape of his hips against his jeans
and
his flat stomach.
I knew the blush was already heating up my face,
“If only I was that fat.”

“Hey, I’ve s
een you with your shirt off too,” he reminded me, his lips curling
in a smile.

He still ha
d his shirt half-up, and his arms were placed so his forearms flexed, and I knew I needed to retaliate, or end up drooling all over myself.
I stood
and
pulled my shirt off throwing
it into the laundry basket, “I’m getting fat too,
”
I sighed,
my hands on my hips.

Hunter blinked twice
and
turned,
“Go take a shower
,
you smell.”

I had started cooking dinner unnecessarily early, and taken my time with everything. The dinner was going to be perfect, so Hunter’s father would have no cause to complain about something other than my presence.  Every time I thought about his father it sent my stomach reeling, and my blood pressure sky rocketing. The thought that pounded in my mind was the fact that this man had ordered me to be killed. For how much he hated my father, they sure did have a lot in common.

“I
thought we might find you here,
” Hunter said
,
coming into the kitchen.

“Hi,” I replied,
reminding myself to breath as I turned to see Hunter with his father next to him.

“Dad, this is the woman I told yo
u about—Kate, this is my father,” Hunter introduced us with
his eyes stiff
and
dark.

“Nice to meet you,
” I s
aid
,
drying my hands on the wash
cloth that was on the oven
and
holding my hand out to his.

“
You as well
,
Kate,
”
h
is father replied
,
shaking my hand with one solid pump.

His eyes were narrowed at me
,
and
I felt as
though my insides were bubbling again. It was obvious his father was no trained fighter, and was fed well. He wasn’t a fat man, but he certainly wasn’t going to be protecting himself. His hair was much darker than Hunter’s, almost to the point of being black, and his eyes were just as dark. The only similarity that I could see in their appearances was their thin lips and solid jaw lines.

“You’re eyes are so fami
liar,” he dropped my hand
,
“What tribe are you from again?”

“Hunter didn’t tell you
that
I don’t know?”
I replied
.

Hunter’s father
nodded his head
with his
lips pursed,
“He did
,
but
how could you not know?”

“They never told me
. Everyone went b
y first names,” I explained, and I had to put my hands behind me because I was clenching them into fists.

“I told you Dad, she had no idea ab
out the world she was living in,” Hunter cut in,
his voice rigid in displeasure.

“Well, you sure ran away into hell, huh darling?”
h
is father questioned me
,
his lips in a stoic line.

“Well…”

“The name is Allan
,” he added with an arrogant smirk
.
He was handsome in
Satan
-like way.

“Well, Allan
I prefe
r the truth to an elaborate lie,
”
I clarified,
locking my eyes with him
before turning back to
the stove
. His eyes
were a black
soulless pit.

“Sh
e’s a pretty one, Hunter,
” Allan
commented,
and
I could feel the tension building in Hunter even though I couldn’t see his face.

“Yes,”
Hunter replied
.

“From a peaceful tribe you said?”

“Yes,”
Hunter repeated,
his voice deepening.

“There’s no such thing son
,
but
you’re a smart man
,
and
I trust you’re not j
ust thinking with your cock,” Allan ridiculed
, and
I dropped the spoon I had been stirr
ing the sauce with,
“You okay, darling?”

I wa
s trying to keep my voice level as I answered,
“
The s
auce jumped
and
burnt my hand, S
ir.”

You son of a—.

“Do me a
favor?” I asked,
shutting the door to Hunter’s apartment behind me.

“Yeah?” Hunte
r replied
as he sat on the bed
and
took his sneakers off.

“Never
call me darling again?”

He looked up with a smirk,
“Didn’t enjoy his company?”

“How d
id you come out of
that
?”

“Good question,” he ran
his hands through his faux hawk,
“You grow up with something that you can’t stand
and
you learn how to not be like i
t. It seems to me that you mastered that talent too.”

“Thank God,” I retorted as I sat
on the love seat
and
crossed
my feet under me.

“You got pretty feisty for a second there with h
im though,” he
stood from the bed,
“I quite enjoyed that.”

“I couldn’t tell from the massive amount of tension that was oozing off of you. I thought you might explode at any point
during dinner,” I observed
as he sat down next to me
and placed
his hand on my knee.

“There w
as one point where I almost did,” he reached
into his pocket
and
pull
ed
out
a drawer handle
,
“Cracked t
his thing right off by accident.
”

“I bet I know what comment did that one in.”

“The one that made sauce spontaneously jump
and
burn you?”

“Are you sure you haven’t killed me yet becaus
e you want to seduce me?” I teased
,
smirking as if it was a joke
,
but
my stomach was doing a jig.
I had to admit that with each moment I spent with him my physical attraction to him was being outweighed by the emotional one. It was making it hard to not be impossibly happy at our impossibly slim odds
of ever being together.

“If I had wanted to seduce you by now I already would have
,
don’t you think?” h
e replied
,
winking at me as he reached around me
and
grabbed the remote.
I knew he had done it purposely
,
so that the heat of his body washed over me and frazzled my nerves.

“
Maybe I’m not that easily seduced?”
I managed to say.

“I gue
ss I’ll just have to try harder,” he joked
,
but
I still felt that he was stressed.  He stood again
and
began pacing the room
with
hi
s hands raking through his hair.
His
jaw
was clenched
so that it
accentuated
his strong chin.

“What’s wrong?”
I questioned.

“A lot of things,” Hunter retorted.

“What did he tell you?”

“He thinks that you’re father is planning something big
and
seeing I failed to find out what the secret weapon was he had a few words for me. Are you not telling me about the secret weapon because you’re afraid I’ll use it against you? Because I swear to you
that
I
won’t…I just want to protect the
both
of us
. As far as my father’s concerned he can rot in the hell
that
he’s created,” Hunter explained as his green eyes met mine, and he shook his head in disgust.

I leaned my head back against the couch
and
closed my eyes,
“I really have no clue Hunter. You know I would tell you. I’ve been betrayed by everyone I trusted. It wouldn’t matter to me if I told you.”

He sat on the bed
with
his head in his hands before looking
up
at me,
“You think I’m going to betray you too?”

“That’s not what I said.”

His eyes searched mine
,
and
I stood
going
to him. He wrapped his arms around my waist
and
put his head on my stomach. I ran my hands through his
hair.

“What else is bugging you?
”
I probed.

“I don’t know how this is going to end
,
but
I don’t feel a
s though it’s going to end well,
”
Hunter explained
with his breath coming out in a
n
agitated sigh.
I knew that I should feel the bubbling in my stomach of fear, but with him so close to me I couldn’t give in to it. I couldn’t let my feelings mix with his and make him more desperate. He needed me to be strong at that moment.

“So your
father really despises mine
?”

“Don’t fool yourself
;
the feeling is mutual,” he answered
as I pulled away from him
and
flopped back on the bed to stare at the ceiling.

“What else does that mean?”

“I’ve got to promote some of the trackers to hunters
and
send them out on
missions to your home,” he explained,
turning
and
leaning on his arm. The muscl
es in his arms bulged with the
flawless lines
that formed his veins
against his soft skin, but for once it didn’t distract me.

“It’s not my home anymore,
” I said.

“And where is your home?”
Hunter asked.

“Where’s yours?”

He stared at me fo
r a second before looking away,
“They’re going to hate me even more once I promote them.”

“I didn’t think
it bugged you if they hated you
?”

“It doesn’t—
what bugs m
e is the fact that when I do I’
m committing to leading them right into their death
s
.”

“What if you don’t promote them?”

“T
hen I’ll be heading back there,” he explained.

“So you have no choice?”

“Pretty much, my d
ad gave me my orders. Now I have
to carry them out,” he sighed
,
and
his shoulder muscles tense
d
under his t-shirt.