The sun was trying to slide up out of the bay when Kat opened her eyes and felt the panic in her chest. She had to get back to the house before morning. David was still sleeping next to her on the sleeping bag. They’d finished off the bottle of champagne and made love again before passing out only a few hours before. She hated to wake him, but she didn’t want to send him home without saying good-bye. “David, wake up, baby. I’m late.”

David slowly opened his eyes. Kat could tell that he was trying to process where they were. When it hit him, he sat up straight and said, “Damn, sorry, baby. I need to get out of here too and get this place secured. It will be back on line at six a.m. What time is it?”

“Around five,” she said, looking at her phone. There were no texts or calls from Hunter, so that was good.

“Okay, let’s get you back and then I’ll clean up here.”

“I can get me back,” she said, already pulling on her clothes. David watched her tuck the .22 back down in her boot and while she laced it he said:

“This guy Hunter is chasing, is he dangerous?”

She shook her head. “Hunter said he’s just some unlucky schmuck with poor hygiene and no good sense.”

“Okay, be careful anyways, just in case.”

“I will.” She finished dressing and took his face in her hands. Glancing down at her ring, she smiled. “I can’t stop looking at the ring.”

David smiled. “Lucky ring.”

“I can’t stop looking at you either.” She leaned down and kissed him. Their kiss turned into a passionate one and David’s hands started to slide up underneath her clothes again. It was hard, but she had to step back. “I can’t, baby, I’m late.”

He smiled again. “I know. Go. Be safe. I love you.”

“I love you so much.” She squealed, like an actual girl, and said, “I’m engaged.”

“Me too,” David said with a grin.

“Don’t ever tell anyone I squealed like that. I’ll cut you.”

He laughed. “I know.”

“Bye, baby. Thank you.”

“Thank you for saying yes.”

Kat practically floated down the spiral staircase and out onto the wet sand that her boots sunk down into. The walk down the cliff was trickier than the trek up had been. It was still dark and even more slippery now that the tide had come in. She almost made it safely to the bottom when her leg suddenly fell through a hole, or something. She cried out in surprise, and then again in pain when her hip got caught in the hole. It took her several minutes, but once she got her bearings again she said, “Fuck!” and fished out her phone. Her first impulse was to call David, but the sun was almost up. It would make more sense for Hunter to rescue her if anyone happened by. She sighed and pressed in his number.

“Where are you? It’s almost breakfast time.”

“It’s only five-thirty. I was on my way back, but I’m stuck. David is going down the other way toward the parking lot and I didn’t think it would look good if anyone saw him…”

“Wait, slow down. What the fuck is going on?”

“I fell through a hole. I’m doing the fucking splits here and it’s not comfortable. Come get me!”

“Where are you?”

“Near the bottom of the cliff.”

“Shit. Okay, I’ll be right there.” Kat could hear the irritation in Hunter’s voice and she felt bad. She hoped this didn’t mess things up somehow. If Claire or any of the guests saw her, she had no idea how she’d explain her predicament, or why she was out there in the dark. She willed Hunter to hurry and she was relieved when she saw him approaching at a sprint only minutes later. When he got close enough to see her he stopped and, surprisingly, laughed his ass off.

“What the fuck are you laughing at? Help me.”

“You look funny as hell. Can I get a picture?”

“Hunter, I swear I’ll kill you…”

“Okay, okay. Here. He got close enough to hold his hand out to her. She took it and he pulled, but as they pulled her out, the rocks around the opening fell in as if to fill in the hole around her and keep her captive.

“Damn it! This isn’t working.”

“Shit.” Hunter let go of her hands and bent down to begin moving the rocks around her leg.

“Hurry!” He looked up and furrowed his brow at her but he didn’t say anything before going back to work. She was getting annoyed again when she saw a shadow moving across the sand not far behind the cottage where Claire lived. Her first thought was that it was Claire and panic filled her chest. “Oh, shit!”

“I’m going as fast as I can!” Hunter snapped.

“No,” she said, pointing at the shadow that was now advancing onto the beach in the moonlight. “Look, over there.” Hunter groaned and turned his head and then he said:

“Fuck! It’s Larry. I left my fucking gun upstairs.”

“In my boot!” Hunter began tearing off Kat’s boot. It hurt, but she didn’t say anything. He finally pulled out the gun and took off after Larry. Kat was helpless to do anything but watch. Larry saw Hunter when he was about six feet away and started sprinting toward the water. Kat decided since their cover was obviously blown now, she’d text David. As she was doing that, she watched Hunter dive into Larry and they both rolled across the sand. She was pissed that she was stuck, but it was kind of fun to watch. The sun was up just enough that she could still only see their shadows, but fists were flying and limbs were all over the place. Kat was almost ashamed of herself for what she thought as she was waiting for David to text back. Hunter is going to play hell getting all that sand out of his ass crack.

* * *

Hunter finally got Larry onto his back and as he pressed the little gun to the other man’s temple he was tempted to pull the trigger. He was soaked with wet sand and fucking freezing. “Stop moving, asshole, or I’m going to put a bullet in that little brain of yours.” Hunter shoved the gun harder against Larry’s head and the other man finally froze.

“Who are you? What do you want?”

“You know damned good and well who I am. I’m here to take you back to jail, asshole. You know, the place you were out on bail from when you skipped out and left my boss holding the tab?”

“Oh, shit! You’re a bounty hunter?”

“Of course, I’m a bounty hunter, what did you think? You’ve been running from me for weeks, asshole.”

“You’re the guy from the bar the other night.”

“Yeah, and I still have the knot on the back of my head as a souvenir. I’m tempted to leave one on yours.”

“No, please…we didn’t know you were a bounty hunter, honest. We thought you worked for them!”

“Them who? What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Chaos, the street gang.”

Hunter drew his brows together. “Despite the fact that I obviously look like a member of a street gang,” he said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. “What the fuck would make you think I was working for them?”

“You’ve been following me. We just thought they paid you…”

“Wait. Slow down. Who is we?”

“Can I get up out of the sand? It’s cold and I’ve had the sniffles…” Hunter couldn’t help it, he pulled the gun back slightly and hit Larry in the head with it. It was just a tap, but the other man cried out. “Don’t hurt me!”

“Then stop acting like a sniveling little asshole. Who is we?”

“Me and…nobody. Just me.”

“You and Claire?”

“No! Leave Claire out of this. She doesn’t know anything.”

“She knew enough to crack a pipe over my head.”

“She thought you were going to kill me. It was my fault. I snuck out and went to that bar. She came to find me and you were attacking me, naked, in the street…Please. She’s my baby girl. I’ve only had her for a little while. None of this is her fault. She’s a good girl. She only wants to help. It’s me. It’s all me. Take me to jail.”

“If Street Chaos wants your ass, jail is the perfect place for them to get at you. That’s why you ran…fuck, I thought you were just stupid.”

“It’s okay. I’ll ask for protective custody. Take me to jail and just leave my Claire alone.”

“Hunter!” Hunter kept the gun on Larry and turned his head slightly to see David, carrying Kat. She didn’t look happy about it but her ankle was twisted at an odd angle.

“Shit! Kat are you okay?”

“Peachy,” she said. “Can I kick that asshole in the head with my good leg, though, since ultimately this is his fault?”

“Later. David, take her up to the house. I heard Claire in the kitchen when I came out here. Tell her I have her daddy and we need to talk.”

“No! Please! Leave her out of it.”

Hunter sighed. He honestly wished that he could, but he wasn’t going to admit that to Larry. David started up toward the Inn with Kat in his arms and Hunter slowly got up off Larry. Still pointing the gun down at him he said, “Get up.” Larry’s body was pushed down into the sand, so he had to struggle to sit upright. Hunter’s patience was shot and again, he imagined himself blowing the idiot’s brains out before he finally got to his feet. Once Larry was upright, he put a hand on the small of his back and groaned.

“You got my back all twisted up. I have a bad back.” Hunter waved his hand in front of his face. He was right about Larry’s breath, it stunk.

“Jesus, man, a little oral hygiene goes a long way.”

“I have gum disease,” he whined.

“Come on, let’s start walking up to the house.”

“Aw man, Claire’s not going to be happy. Let her live her life, please. She’s a good girl.”

“So you said.”

“She is. She’s nothing like me. She’s like her mama. Her mama was so beautiful…”

“Walk!” Larry started walking and Hunter walked behind him with the gun pointed at his head.

“You should have seen her mother. She had the prettiest eyes I’d ever seen.” Hunter didn’t doubt that. He wasn’t looking forward to the look in Claire’s gorgeous eyes when she found out he was a fake…a liar…everything a woman like her wouldn’t want. He caught himself and almost laughed. “A woman like her.” He didn’t know what kind of woman she was. All he knew was she had a hell of a swing and she was spawned from a guy that didn’t know how to use a toothbrush.

“How’d you ever get a looker like that, Larry?”

“Celine…her name is Celine.”

“So, what did Celine see in a guy like you?”

“I wasn’t always such a loser, you know? I had dreams like everyone else once upon a time. I had a job and I was making pretty good money. I didn’t have this bad back or bad teeth back then, and I was a pretty sharp dresser.” Hunter rolled his eyes and Larry said, “It’s true. Anyways, I went to this big party one night. A friend of mine from work invited me. I thought it was gonna be just a bunch of people hanging out, you know. It was a lot more than that. They had these bowls and they were full of all these pills…different shapes and colors and sizes. I didn’t do drugs, any drugs. I hardly drank. But that night I’d been drinking a lot and the more I drank, the more them pills didn’t look so scary. I guess I took a bunch of them. I guess Celine did too. That was the night we met…and the night we made Claire.”

“So, you didn’t really know Claire’s mother?”

“Excuse me! How is that your business? Dad, why are you talking to him about Mom, and why are you pointing a gun at my father? Who are you?”

Claire had appeared from around the side of the house as they approached it. She was wearing a pair of pink yoga pants and a black, long-sleeved Under Armor shirt that hugged her impressive figure. Her long, dark hair was hanging straight down her back, almost to her waist, and Hunter had images of himself burying his face in it while his hands hugged those curves the way that lucky, fucking shirt was. Her gorgeous green/blue eyes were shining with accusation and anger. Hunter never had a hard time getting women, and he might even be a little arrogant about it sometimes. But even he knew that his chances of having this one were equal to his chances of winning a Nobel Peace Prize someday.