Hope
"Well if it isn’t Bonnie and Clyde 2.o," Teagan snarled when Hunter and I finally arrived at their place a little after eight-thirty that evening. "Thanks for the support, guys," she continued to rant. "Expect the same kind of support from me when you get married."
"Don’t listen to her," Noah called out from beneath a mountain of paper swans. "She hasn’t been fed."
Teagan turned her death glare on her husband. "Hey, Noah," she growled. "Guess who else won't be fed if he doesn’t start supporting his wife?"
"Thorn…"
"And I meant that in a sexual way," she added. "Think about that."
"Jesus Christ," Hunter groaned. "You two are batshit crazy." Shaking his head, he stepped over piles of boxes of handmade paper swans that were scattered around the living room floor, and sank down on the couch beside Noah.
"Don’t sit on my swans!" Teagan screamed, looking horrified.
"Swans?" Hunter reached beneath himself and retrieved a discombobulated looking paper swan. "These are ducks, Teagan," he told her. "And fucked up ducks at that."
Looking comically wounded, I watched as Teagan pressed her fingers to her temples and attempted some deep breathing exercises.
"Ignore him," I told her, casting a warning glare in the direction of the two men who were snickering on the couch. "They are definitely swans."
"Really?" she asked, looking up at me with those big brown eyes of hers – that puppy dog expression that got her out of trouble on more than one occasion.
"I promise," I coaxed, wrapping my arm around her slim shoulders.
"I made a batch of doves, too," she announced, sounding much brighter now. "They're in the kitchen. Hang on, I'll go get them."
With that, she whizzed past me, a flurry of movement, moving faster than any woman at her late stage of pregnancy should have been able to.
Hunter's phone began to ring then, distracting me from paper animals, and I turned and watched him answer it.
"Yeah."
Pause.
"Tonight?"
Another pause.
"Location?"
Heavy exhale.
"I'm on my way."
My heart sank as I watched Hunter end the call and stand up.
When he turned to look at me, I knew.
He had to take care of business.
"I need to go out for a bit," he told me, blue eyes locked on my face, gaging my reaction.
"Do you have to?" I whispered as that familiar swell of fear rose up inside of me.
It was the same fear I felt every time I watched him leave after one of those phone calls.
The same fear that stayed with me until he walked back through the door in one piece again.
Noticing the worry in my voice, Hunter walked over to me. "You've got nothing to worry about," he whispered, just to me. "Everything's gonna be fine." He smiled down at me. "Same as always."
"Can't you just…not go?" I knew I was repeating myself, asking him not to leave, but this horrible feeling of dread had settled in the pit of my stomach.
"That's not the way this works, HC," he groaned, looking pained. "I can't not go."
"I'll go with him," Noah announced, jerking off the couch.
"No, you fucking won't," Hunter shot back. "Sit your ass back down."
"If you have to go, then take Noah with you," I urged, feeling a little better knowing that he wouldn’t be alone. "Please?"
Hunter stared hard at me for the longest moment before releasing a low growl. "Fine." He turned to look at Noah and said, "You're an asshole for this."
Noah grinned. "Happy to help."
"I'll be back in an hour," Hunter said, tone much softer now that his attention was focused on me. He pressed a kiss to my lips and said, "two, at the most," before turning around and walking away.
"Hunter?" I called out as I watched him walk out of the room with Noah.
"Yeah?" he replied, casting a glance over his shoulder.
"Stay alive." Forcing a small smile, I tightened my hold. "Please."
I watched him smile that dirty, boyish grin I'd grown to love.
"Sweetheart, you've got nothing to worry about," he teased. "I'm bulletproof."
Then he was gone.
And the worrying began.