Hunter

I woke to wet fingers slapping my forehead.

Opening my eyes, I looked up to see Josh, who was supporting himself with a hand on my head, leaning over, face so close to his mother’s they were touching noses. “Wake up!” he yelled.

Lulu’s eyes popped open. She blinked a couple times before a huge smile spread across her face. Shit, the woman was gorgeous. She grabbed Josh around the waist and pulled him closer, tickling him. Our son lost it, laughing his ass off and wriggling like crazy. Lulu chuckled and I couldn’t stop the huge-assed grin that spread across my face. I could get used to waking up like this every morning. My woman, my son tucked in beside me, safe—happy.

Having to leave her last night had sucked, but we’d gotten a line on Pierce. The stupid fuck still hadn’t left New York. He either had some seriously big balls or was fucked in the head, because he’d been spotted at the funeral yesterday. He’d stayed back, obviously disguised, but he’d been there, outside the church. The cops had gone after him, but he’d gone underground. He’d screwed himself, not running, not getting as far from Lulu as he could, when he could.

The guy’s only hope now was staying low and waiting for the dust to settle, then making a break for it. I wouldn’t let that happen, though. I had too much to lose now. And that sick fuck was a threat to the two people that mattered most to me.

Lulu quit tickling, and Josh scrambled off the couch and over to his toy cars. She shifted to her side then lifted up on her elbow, looking down at me. Her eyes shone, bright and beautiful. She was looking at me in a way she hadn’t for a fucking long time. Some of that pain that she wore like armor was gone. She still had a way to go, but there was a lightness there that made my gut clench. Shit, she took my breath away.

The last week she’d been grieving—hell, she’d been in shock. As much as I wanted her straining beneath me, I’d have to be the biggest kind of asshole to expect that from her. So I let her be.

I’d give her all the time she needed. But waiting for her to make that shift, to finally turn to me for more than comfort, was fucking hard. Not pushing like I wanted to nearly killed me. I’d gone three years without this woman, and not a night passed in all that time that I didn’t dream about her, even when I hated her for what I thought she’d done. I’d still craved her. So when she slid her fingers across my jaw to cup the side of my face, I stilled. And when her gaze dropped to my mouth and she ran her thumb below my lower lip, I sucked in a sharp breath.

“Morning,” she whispered, then leaned in and pressed her mouth against mine.

It wasn’t a peck. No, she moved her mouth against mine in a way that had my heart pounding in my chest and my dick throbbing against the zipper of my jeans. I dropped a hand to her hip, pulling her in closer, the other thrusting into her soft hair and taking over, sliding my tongue across her lower lip, nipping. She opened for me, gave it back, tongue moving against mine in a way that told me just how hot she was for me.

If I didn’t put on the brakes now, though the idea made me want to growl in frustration, no way could I stop from taking this further. Jesus, I didn’t fucking want to, but I couldn’t let this get out of control. So I slowed things down, and it seriously fucking hurt to do it. My cock wasn’t thanking me for it, that’s for damn sure. I gave her ass a squeeze, because I couldn’t help it, and ended the kiss. “Morning,” I said against her soft, now sexily swollen lips.

Her smile got bigger, brighter. Beautiful.

“I like that, babe,” I said.

“What?”

“That smile you got going on this morning.”

Her fingers flexed against my shoulder, then she bit her lip. She glanced away then back, holding my gaze. The bright in her eyes turned liquid.

“You put it there. It’s only fair I share it with you.” Then she leaned in, shoved her face against my throat and started breathing heavily, doing her best to hold it together.

Fuck.

I ran my hand up and down her back. Jesus. Did she have any idea what that meant to me? Any idea at all? “You keep saying shit like that, Lulu. I’m gonna want to take you to my bed and fuck you. Look into your eyes while you come, telling me again and again how I put that smile there.” I slid my hand down her smooth thigh then up under my T-shirt that she’d claimed to sleep in—which fucking pleased me to no end—and cupped her ass. “You in my bed, looking at me like that, saying shit like that to me. There’ll be no going back. I’ll keep you there, you know that, right?”

She stilled, just for a beat, and then she moved in closer, tits soft and warm against my ribs, and kissed my neck. I felt it like she’d pressed her lips to the head of my cock. “I want that.” She kissed me again. “I want all of it.”

Now it was my turn to go still. Her voice had come out muffled, since her mouth was against my skin. So I wrapped my arms around her back and shifted to my side, so we were facing each other. “What did you just say?”

She wrapped her arms around my neck. “I want it.” Her eyes locked with mine. “All of it.”

“You want it all?” My voice came out a shaky rasp when I repeated her words. I didn’t give a fuck. It wasn’t a question, because she’d said it now, which meant there was no going back.

“Yeah,” she whispered.

“You know what you’re saying?”

“Yes.”

“You’re giving us another shot. You’re in my bed every night. You, me, Josh, we’re a family.” A tear streaked down her cheek. I brushed it away with my thumb. Another fell straight after, and I swiped that one away as well.

She slid her hands into my hair, holding me captive with her beautiful gray eyes, and damn near destroyed me with her next words. “Yes. If you’ll have us.”

“Fuck, Lulu.” I cupped the back of her head. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

My other hand was still up the back of her shirt. I smoothed it down her side then around and back up over her soft belly, to cup one of her full tits. Its softness overflowed my hand. When I swiped my thumb over a stiffened nipple, she moaned softly.

Lulu’s knee was bent over my hip, and she wriggled against me. Fuck. I wanted her naked under me, now. Her cheeks were flushed, breath coming in little pants. “Hunter . . .”

It was at that moment our little spider monkey scrambled onto the couch. He leaned in close and wrapped his arms around my neck, so we were nose to nose. He’d obviously been trying to get our attention for a while, which had failed for obvious reasons.

“Pancakes!” he yelled.

“I think you’ve created a pancake monster,” Lulu said, giggling beside me.

“No shit,” I mumbled and grinned over at her, heart so full I thought it might actually burst.

“Shit!” Josh mimicked.

Lulu’s smile vanished, and she narrowed her eyes. That was my cue to haul ass and go make the damn pancakes. I did it with a stupid-assed grin on my face the whole time.

After that, I had things to do, plans to make and shit to buy.

Lulu and I had lost more than enough time.

Tonight was the start of our lives together.

Lulu

I stared across the room at Hunter, phone to his ear. “Where?” he growled down the line. “He has to be there somewhere.” He was silent a moment. “Right.” Then he disconnected.

The happy bubble I’d been in burst and my fingers curled into tight fists. “Someone’s seen him, haven’t they?”

Hunter dipped his chin. He was hiding something, trying to protect me. I didn’t want to be kept in the dark. As much as I wanted to close my mind to it, I couldn’t, I refused to, not this, not anymore.

“What aren’t you telling me?” I persisted.

Hunter shoved his fingers through his hair, searching my face, no doubt wondering if I could handle the latest addition to this nightmare.

I stood and crossed the room to him. “I can take it, whatever you don’t want to tell me. I’m strong, you said it yourself. I’m done sitting in this apartment, letting things just . . . happen to me . . .” My anger rose. I wasn’t angry at Hunter; I was angry—furious—with Pierce. I was also done being his goddamn victim. “Tell me, Hunter. I won’t fall to pieces. I deserve to know.”

A spark of something warm ignited behind his eyes, something beautiful. It took the breath right from me.

“There she is,” he muttered.

“What?”

“My Lulu.” He slid his hands in my hair and leaned in, kissing me softly. “Is she back for good, or just a visit?”

My heart squeezed, but I refused to let him distract me. So I ignored how sweet and sexy he was being, along with his question. I wasn’t the old Lulu, not anymore, and I wasn’t the girl who’d been on the run for the last three years, either. I was some new mash-up of the two, trying to work out where I fit in, who I was. “I’m not going to back down.” I said.

“I know,” he said back, and there was pride shining down at me from his beautiful blue eyes.

I moved closer and cupped his jaw, his scruff teasing my palm. “Tell me.”

His fingers curled around the side of my neck, his thumb gliding across my cheek, offering comfort, trying to soften the blow he was about to deliver. “Pierce made an appearance at your mom’s funeral.”

I jerked in his arms, but he wouldn’t let go. “How dare he.” My anger shot higher, my fingers digging into Hunter’s biceps. “He didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as her.” I felt my eyes prickle, not from sadness—from rage.

His thumb did another sweep across my cheek. “He was there for you, babe,” he said, laying it out.

Of course. The self-centred, sick asshole probably hadn’t even given my mom a second thought. Hate wasn’t a strong enough word for what I felt for Pierce.

“What happened?” I forced out.

“He got away, then last night we got a tip, but again he managed to vanish into goddamn thin air. Don’t know how he’s doing it, where the fuck he’s going, but he keeps giving us the slip. I want that fucker caught.”

“God, I just want this to end.” I rested my forehead against his chest, then looked back up at him. “The tip you got, where was he last seen?”

“Hunts Point.”

An ugly feeling, a memory, one I’d been supressing for a long time, slammed through me. My head spun, nausea curling in my gut. Oh God, I knew where he was. I dragged in a breath through my nose, my nails digging deeper into Hunter’s arms.

“What is it, Lulu? Talk to me.”

My eyes snapped up to his, “I know where he is,” I rasped. “I know exactly where he is. There’s an apartment building.”

“Do you know the street?”

I shook my head.

I stepped back and he let me, wrapping my arms around myself. “Pierce liked to gamble. An associate of his owned a run-down, shitty apartment building. A lot of the girls that worked for him, prostitutes, lived there. Pierce used to take me to the games.”

Hunter’s eyes got dark.

“There was always drinking and drugs, women, at the games . . .” I swallowed thickly. “I’ve worked so hard to push that place out of my head, I didn’t think of it. How could I have not thought of it?” I was babbling, but I knew, didn’t I? The reason I purposely hadn’t suggested going there, the reason I’d shoved it from my mind like it never existed.

Hunter closed the gap between us again. “What happened there, baby?”

As usual he could see right through me. Saw everything I tried to hide.

“The first time he . . . that’s where it happened. He took me there a lot after that.”

Hunters fingers flexed, a low angry sound vibrating through him.

I looked up at him. “I’ll take you,” I said, cutting him off before he spoke. I didn’t want to hear sympathetic words. I wanted to keep this anger inside me; I wanted the courage it gave me to go back to that place.

“You sure you want to do that?”

“Yes.” I held his penetrating stare, letting him know how sure I was. “Besides, I can’t give you directions. We used to go at night. I only knew we were in Hunts Point because I heard him direct the driver. I’ll need to see it. If you take me to the last place he was seen, I’m sure we can work it out from there.”

He tugged me closer and kissed the top of my head. “Shit, woman. So fucking strong.”

Thirty minutes later we were parked on the side of the road, a short distance from where Pierce had last been spotted. We’d dropped Josh at Ruby’s apartment, with Zeke there as well to watch over both of them.

Hunter twisted in his seat. “Any of this look familiar?”

I shook my head.

Frustration gnawed at me as I stared out into the dark street. Neco was in the back seat, Van and Jude in a car behind us. As much as I’d dreaded coming here, I wanted to do this. I wanted to help.

“Can we try down there?” I pointed through the window. “That feels right.” Or more: really, really wrong. A definite indication that’s where we should head next. Some of the street signs were missing. Not that I’d really paid much attention to them when I’d come here with Pierce. I’d been a scared fifteen-year-old kid. Afraid of what I’d seen, afraid my stepfather would kill me like he’d killed our maid if I talked.

Hunter turned onto the street, and the uneasy feeling got stronger. “It’s down here. I’m sure of it.” I turned in my seat. “There. There it is.”

The old apartment building was completely dark. There was tape across the door and a “Condemned” sign out front. This did not surprise me. The place had already been a dump all those years ago.

Hunter parked outside and looked over at me. “I want you to stay in the car, okay?”

I nodded.

He handed me a gun. I’d handled one before. “You see anything, you hit the horn.”

“I can do that.” I was okay with staying right here. The idea of walking around an abandoned apartment building and accidently running into Pierce in the dark sent dread spiralling through me.

The guys all climbed out of the cars and I locked the doors. Hunter and Neco went through the front, Jude and Van going around the back. As soon as they were out of sight, the car seemed to be engulfed in silence, the ticking of the engine as it cooled the only sound, along with my rapid breaths. Was Pierce in there now? Would they find him? Would this finally be over?

The longer I sat there not knowing what was going on inside, the more nervous I got. Fifteen minutes ticked by with no sign of any of the guys. I pulled my phone from my pocket to distract myself, typing out a text to Ruby, checking on Josh.

I hit send and lifted my head. . . .

I jerked back in my seat, a scream jamming in my throat.

Pierce stood at the front of the car, staring at me, or at least where he thought I was. Hunter’s windows were tinted, but he must have seen the light from my phone. I froze as he rounded the car and came right up to the passenger side, his face coming up close to the glass.

Without realizing what I was doing, I’d grabbed the gun and lifted it, aiming it between his eyes. My breathing got choppy, faster. I wanted to pull the trigger. I wanted to watch the son of a bitch die in front of me.

“I know you’re in there,” he said.

I stayed silent, unable to look away . . .

Ruby’s reply to my text buzzed in my lap, lighting up where I’d dropped my phone. I knew he saw me through the glass then because he smiled.

“You won’t shoot me, Lucinda. You know we belong together. Remember this place? I’ve been reliving some happy memories. We had fun here together, you and I.” The smile slipped, his eyes boring into me, like he could see me clear as day. “Tell me where the painting is and we can start over. Just you and me.”

I still didn’t answer.

His face came closer and I knew he was trying to see me. Then he snarled and reared back, punching the window, his heavy gold ring connecting with the glass so hard I thought it might actually smash.

“Get the fuck out of the car!” he screamed.

I unfroze, jolted from my frozen terror and all but dove over to the driver side, slamming my hand down on the horn, holding it there.

Pierce turned instantly and took off.

He was going to get away.

I don’t know that came over me; I just knew I wanted this to be over. I wanted Pierce to pay for what he’d done to me. I’d unlocked the door and opened it before I knew my intention. Lifting the gun, hand shaking like hell, I aimed it at his retreating back and fired—then I kept on firing until there were no bullets left.

The ear-splitting bang, bang, bang was now a far less satisfying click, click, click. But I couldn’t stop. I continued squeezing the trigger over and over again . . .

Hunters inked fingers seemed to come out of nowhere, curling around mine. He took the gun from me, handing it to Van.

“He was here,” I whispered.

Neco and Jude took off after Pierce. I watched them disappear into the night.

“He was here,” I said again. “I . . . I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to make him pay. I . . .” Hunter curled his hand around my shoulders and pulled me into him. I buried my face against his chest. “I missed. Goddammit, I missed.”

Hunter’s hands lifted, cupping my jaw and tilted it back, so he could see my face. “We’ll get him. I promise we’ll get him.”