As I made my way around the building to the back door of the garage, I got the same sinking feeling I did when I left the diner the morning before. It was the feeling I got when I left her alone, unprotected. Something primal inside me. Something was wrong. She was all alone and something was fucking wrong.
I hurried into the garage, hurried through the office, and I sprinted toward the front. Looking out the window, I was ready to throw open the door and create a fucking bloodbath in the streets.
But everything was fine. Kelly was sitting in the front and laughing as Lucas goofed around in the back seat. I could feel myself relaxing. I stood there for a moment and just looked at them. It felt good.
I broke my stare away from them and headed back into the shop.
Fuck, Hunter. Fucking focus, you dick. You’re a fucking family man now, asshole? Get your head back in the game.
I grabbed the whiskey bottle from the table and took a swig as I made my way to Dennis’ tow truck.
Let’s not forget why we’re here, you big fucking ape.
I ripped open the door and felt around under the seat until I had it.
I pulled out the duffle bag and unzipped it to make sure everything was still in there. It was. My steel, my pistol, ammo, and a bottle of booze. Between that and the girl in the polka dot dress outside, what more could a man ask for?
I closed Dennis’s truck, threw the half empty bottle of Jack into the bag with the rest, and made my way back out of the shop.
As I walked to the sidewalk, I could see Kelly’s face light up as she saw me.
I put the duffle in the trunk with everyone else’s bags and climbed back into the driver’s side.
See, darling? I always come back.
“What did you have to get?” Kelly asked, only half interested.
I lit another cigarette and rolled the car windows back down as I peeled the car out onto the only road out of town.
“Essentials, baby. Essentials.”
The mountains loomed around us, beautiful and majestic.
Chapter 42
Kelly
THE SUN WAS POURING THROUGH the window and warming the side of my face as Hunter pulled the car off the highway and down the long dirt road that led to the farm. I could see the house starting to show itself in the distance, the snowy peaks of the mountains looming beyond it. It was a beautiful valley, bathed in the spring sun. It was perfect. I had always imagined having a place like this. A quiet home in the mountains to settle with a good man, nobody but us and the life we shared. Never in a million years did I think it would come true, let alone with somebody like Hunter.
I looked over at him as he hauled away on his cigarette and wheeled the car down the path. I took in his overwhelming presence. His one arm hanging out the window and the other gripping the wheel, the tattoos that started on his neck and continued down his perfectly sculpted torso, and his piercing blue eyes that looked ahead like he knew exactly what was in front of him. I clung to the moment and drank him all in. He was nothing that I ever pictured for myself, but as I sat there with him, I knew he was who I had been waiting for my whole life. No matter what lay ahead for him or me, he would be there to hold me in those huge arms and carry me through it all, the good and the bad. I felt a calm come over me that I hadn’t felt in years and did my best to hide the smile that was starting to spread across my face. He had come for me and he was never letting me go.
“This place is awesome,” Lucas said excitedly from the back seat. “Is this your house, Hunter?”
“It is now, kid. It belonged to somebody I used to know. He doesn’t need it anymore.”
Hunter just kept his eyes on the road ahead. I couldn’t help but wonder how he came to know about this piece of land and just exactly who it really belonged to.
“So, how did you know this person? How did you get this place?”
He kept staring straight ahead.
“Old business associate of the old man.”
“You sure he won’t be coming around?” I asked nervously.
Hunter just laughed as he pulled the car up to the side of the house and put it in park.
“Fucking positive.”
I could feel myself starting to breathe heavily. I trusted fully that Hunter would not put me or Lucas in harm’s way, but I was beginning to understand that this might not be the quiet piece of heaven that I had dreamt about all these years. This was the man I had always wanted, but the life he brought along with him was far from peaceful.
“Hunter, are we? I mean, is it okay for us to be here?”
He looked back to Lucas in the rearview mirror.
“Hey, pal, why don’t you grab your shit from the trunk and go take a look around this place?”
Lucas threw open the door and bolted around to the back of the car.
“Not too far, Luke. Stay where I can see you,” I shouted to him out the window.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, Kelly. I know.”
He ran to the side of the house and then took off toward the barn. It was only fifty yards, but I felt a sinking feeling starting to build in my stomach. I opened my mouth to tell him not to stray so far away, but felt Hunter’s hand grip my thigh.