As soon as I saw him come around the corner of the kitchen, I knew that this man was never leaving me. Even as a purely evil and sadistic person held a knife to my throat, I felt safe looking into the powerful blue eyes of the man I loved. The man who loved me back and would demolish anything in his path so long as I was safe and we were together. No one else could give me that feeling. No one but him. I wrapped my arms around him and the tears came. Not out of sadness, but out of pure joy and relief.
I slid myself off Hunter and pressed my lips to his cheek as he cradled my head in his hand. He turned his face toward mine and planted a kiss on my lips, digging his fingers into my hair. As I pulled back, I looked deeply into his clear blue eyes and saw the look I had been waiting my whole life to see. It was the same look he’d given me in the diner when we first met, and I knew it was the way he would look at me for the rest of our lives. I pressed my lips to his and then let my face run along the coarse hair that covered his jaw.
I moved around Hunter and took Lucas in my arms, pulling him close to me and cradling him. There was nothing to be said. Nothing that could be said. For a child to witness something like that was unimaginable. He had already seen so much pain in his short life, and now this.
“Lucas. Lucas, baby, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry. You are so brave, baby. You are so incredibly brave.”
I could feel tears streaming down my face as Lucas squeezed me back. I pulled myself away and took his head in my hands and looked down at him.
“Lucas, are you all right? Let me check you out.”
I searched frantically for wounds, but I didn’t see any. Any blood on him was not his. Relief washed over me as I kept weeping and holding him tight.
“I’m fine, Kelly. I wasn’t going to let them hurt you. I was scared, but I wasn’t going to let them hurt you.”
I couldn’t believe how calm he was and the words that were coming out of his mouth.
“Lucas, it’s not your job to protect me, but you were so brave. I’m so sorry.”
He just looked up at me with all the sincerity in the world.
“You’re my sister, Kelly. No one is ever going to hurt you.”
I felt the tears gushing harder. This boy, my sweet brother, I couldn’t believe it. The fire in his eyes was real. He was too young to have seen this and to be acting like it was all okay. How could he just be okay?
“Lucas, you need to know,” I started, trying to explain everything, but Hunter put his vice grip hand on my shoulder to stop me.
“Luke. Look at me, pal.”
Lucas’s eyes turned from me and stared up at Hunter.
“Luke,” Hunter started. “I don’t know what to say to you. Your sister is right. It’s not your job to protect anyone, all right? That’s my fucking job.”
Luke’s gaze dropped toward the ground in embarrassment, but Hunter wasn’t done.
“Hey, I’m not done talking here, pal. Look at me.”
Luke slowly brought his eyes back to Hunter.
“It’s not your fucking job, understand?” Luke nodded slowly. “Now, that being said, you fucking saved my life. You saved your sister’s life.”
Lucas lit up like he was receiving a medal.
“I was down, pal. I was down and I was hurt. That’s not something I’m used to. If you hadn’t had the balls to do what you did, we wouldn’t be sitting here. You’re a fucking champion, kid. Tough as fucking nails.”
Hunter reached over and squeezed Luke’s shoulder as he smiled bright.
“All of this, this shit. This is my fault, okay? And I promise you will never have to save my ass again. All right, tough guy?”
He pulled his hand away from Lucas’s shoulder and lit another cigarette.
“Don’t worry, Hunter. I’ve got your back. You’re my boy,” Luke said.
I turned to Hunter.
Lucas’s words had caught him off guard and Hunter choked on the smoke as he let out a deep and hard laugh. I would never get tired of hearing that laugh, even if it only happened rarely.
“You’re goddamn right, kid,” Hunter chuckled. “I’m your fucking boy.”
Chapter 54
Hunter
THERE WASN’T A THOUGHT IN my entire fucking head. I sat breathing in the sweet smell of another battle won and taking the smoke deep into my lungs. I didn’t have a care in the fucking world.
It was a completely new feeling to me.
I stood up and looked down at the broken and bloodied body of my old man. That sorry excuse was the only family I had. Until I showed up in this nowhere town, that is. Until I met Kelly.
I watched as she and Lucas pulled themselves up and held each other tight. This was family. These were my people now. They always had been. We had been apart until fucking yesterday, but now, here we were. Together. And that was the way it was going to be until we drew our last breaths in this fucked up world.
Suddenly, Kelly shot up.
“My God, Grace, Grace, oh my God.”
She and Lucas both took off, running to the front of the house.
“Hey. She’s fucking fine,” I started to yell and then stopped myself. I had checked Grace’s pulse on my way into the house. She was fine. Well, maybe not fine, but she was breathing. That was the most any of us could hope for.