Chapter 34

Kelly

As Hunter laid out the details of his life for me, I felt a sick feeling growing in my stomach. I had never thought such things, let alone heard someone talk about them in the first person. He spoke about them like they were just something that he did, like grocery shopping or going to work in the morning. He calmly talked about hurting people, torturing them, and murdering them, like they were the same as him changing the battery in my car. Something he could just choose to do for money. I felt dizzy. I didn’t want any of it to be true, but I knew it was. What made me really sick though, wasn’t just the fact that he did those things, but the fact that a part of me had always known this was the truth. From the moment he walked into the diner, I knew there was a dark power that he possessed deep inside. He had tried to cover it up, but somehow I saw it and, for whatever reason, that power had a hold on me. At the same time, even as he told me every disgusting detail about the night he killed someone and drove off with his father’s dirty money, I saw a layer to him that he couldn’t even see. He was a bad man who did unspeakable things, maybe even enjoyed them, but he wasn’t evil. He could pour whiskey on his soul all he wanted, but there was a part of him that cared, no matter how much he wanted to act like there wasn’t. He was violent, he was powerful, he had certain abilities, but underneath it all there was a good man. A man with integrity. And I just wished he could see that being one, didn’t mean the other did not exist.

“So there you have it, sweetheart. That’s who’s in your sleepy little town, and that’s the storm that is heading my way.”

He threw his cigarette to the ground and immediately brought another to his lips and lit it.

I looked at him. His arms bulged as he cradled the lighter to his face, stray hairs fell across his weathered, beautiful face. I didn’t care what he had done. I didn’t care what he would do. I just knew that I was meant to be by his side. And he knew it too.

“I don’t care,” I said bluntly.

He looked up and blew out a cloud of smoke.

“You don’t care about what, Kelly?”

“Any of it. I don’t care. I don’t care what you’ve done, who you’ve done it to, or who you’ve done it with. I don’t care about any of it. I only care about you, Hunter. I care about,” I paused for a second, not wanting to say out loud what I was about to admit to him. “I care about us. I said it because you made me, but it’s the truth. I’m yours. Remember? I know who you are. I always have. And I don’t care about any of it except you.”

Hunter leaned against the car and smoked his cigarette while he stared back at me, smiling his same sly smile.

“You know,” he started as he took a drag and then blew out the smoke, “it’s a damn good thing you’re such a pretty girl.”

He ditched the cigarette and walked toward me. I stood up and started to back away until I felt my legs hit the chair I had been sitting in.

“And why is that, Hunter?”

He stopped just in front of me and ran his hand along my jaw, tucking the hair that had fallen on my face behind my ear. He looked deeply into me with his piercing, blue eyes.

“Because you are incredibly fucking stupid.”

He pulled my face toward his and placed his lips on mine, kissing me like only he could kiss me. Every feeling of love, hatred, desire, need, and violence poured out of him through his kiss and I could feel myself being pulled further into him and his world.

As he moved his warm, wet tongue in and out of my mouth, I could feel his hands move into my hair and then across my shoulders and down my back, pulling me close into his body. He held me there in his arms and we fell into each other. I never wanted this moment to end. I wanted to stay right there with him forever and never have to worry about anything else.

He pulled himself away from me, looked into my eyes, and I knew he was never going to leave me. At the same time, I knew that I could never leave him. We were bonded together by something stronger than the two of us. A whole chain of events had occurred to bring us together and nothing could tear us apart.

“Jesus, the sun is coming up, darling. I better get you home so you can get ready for work. Or is Grace running things on her own today?”

I laughed. I hadn’t really ever heard him joke around before.

“No, no, I’m working. Grace doesn’t. Oh no. Grace. I completely forgot.”

“What? Jesus, Kelly, what the fuck?”

“Grace. Grace is staying at my house. I was locking the diner and giving Dennis back, giving you back, your keys and then I was supposed to go straight home. Shoot. Oh lord, I hope she’s not up. She’ll have a heart attack if she realizes I’m not home.”

“Kelly! Christ! Your house is like four fucking blocks away and it’s very early. I doubt she’s up and rattling around yet. Your car is good to go. I’ll drive you home.”

“Okay. You’re right. It’s more I just want to be home before Lucas wakes up. He would freak if he got up and didn’t know where I was.”

Suddenly I felt Hunter clench. It was like every muscle in his body tightened at the same time. He looked like he was physically in pain.

“Hunter. What’s wrong? Why are you doing that?”

He pulled me close to him and snarled at me through clenched teeth.

“Who, the fuck, is Lucas?”