Page 1 of Hunter

Prologue

Louisa

You can’t choose who your family are.

That’s what they say, isn’t it?

What they don’t tell you is you can’t choose when you lose them either. My family was ripped apart by tragedy much too soon. A prank gone wrong is what they said, an accident that claimed the life of my mother when I was only a year old. What they meant was, we deserved it. You affiliate yourself with motorbike gangs and this is what happens. The father is left a widower, and the kids are left a little messed up, a little rough around the edges, a little traumatized, even years after the event.

My make-shift family changed after just one night, forever living with the consequences of someone’s act of revenge…or whatever it was. We had to adapt, my father, brother, and I, to make the best of what was left. Being so young, I never knew what it was that we had before, how special it had been. But I also didn’t know where I belonged in this new life, so I drifted for a while. I watched others in silence, keeping myself hidden in the shadow of my big brother, the boy who had saved me from the flames that had engulfed our mother. Trouble is, that boy was hiding demons of his own. He was as lost as I was; he just showed it a little differently…a lot differently.

Years passed by and I still craved something I never got to experience, for I was far too young to remember what it was like before our mother was murdered. But then, when my father was feeling as desperate and hopeless as I was, he took me to meet a family whom I came to embrace; a family that, to a young girl, was everything she thought she had been missing; a ‘normal’ family. A father, a mother, and their two sons, Javier and Antonio.

Ava Ortega was the type of mother who I like to believe my own mom would have been like. She baked cookies every Tuesday, cooked home-made meals, sang songs in a language that I didn’t understand but which always soothed away my tears, read bedtime stories until I fell asleep right beside Antonio, and she always told me she loved me as if I were one of her own children. Javier, who was the same age as Phoenix, was aloof, rough, and always getting into trouble with my brother. Antonio, however, was my age, and everything his brother wasn’t – kind, caring, gentle.

Antonio, ‘Tony’, soon became my everything – my best friend and the man who would become my lover. I thought he would be my forever boy, the one with whom I could have my own perfect family. But it would seem tragedy wasn’t yet done with me. It came knocking at my door again, and again, until eventually, I lost that boy I fell so desperately in love with. I was left to finally accept the fact that the perfect family I had been dreaming of would be forever out of reach. Perfect families were for other people; people like the ‘suits’ I worked for; people like Theo Chase and Daniel Hunter. Normal people.

Chapter 1

Present

Daniel

There’s something comforting about returning home at night. I don’t know how to describe it with intelligible words, but touching down on the tarmac, taking in the familiar surroundings when it’s the pitch black of night, is something that never gets old. Three months in London was long enough for me; I’m a home boy and proud to be so. The world is beautiful, historically fascinating, and incredibly interesting, but home is a feeling, and I’ve sure as hell have missed it.

It's gone midnight, way past sociable hours, but I’m a good son, so when my mother has me promising to text her to tell her I’ve returned home safely, I do as I’m told.

Your thirty-year-old son is home, Mommy, you can sleep easy now. Xx

I smile to myself, knowing she’s going to roll her eyes and chuckle over my cheek as soon as she reads this. But after everything that went down with Theo and his girl, the same girl he’s been harping on about for the last decade or so, I count myself extremely lucky to have the parents I do. The Hunters are so wholesome, so in love, so adorably suburban, they belong in a Hallmark movie. In fact, watch any Christmas flick, the ones that have consistent instrumentals playing in the background, and you’re bound to see a fictitious version of them.

Ok, Daniel, I’m going to bed now but I’ll call you in the morning so you can tell me all about London. Lord, your father’s snoring again! Xx

Less than two hours later, I’m paying the cab driver and wheeling my suitcase up to my front door. A sound I haven’t heard for months enters my ears, which instantly relaxes me. It’s the sound of waves crashing on the beach that sits directly behind my house, a blissful percussion I’ve missed; perhaps, for the first time in too long, I might sleep well. Taking the opportunity to inhale the salty air, I finally find my key to unlock the door, which opens to reveal the nostalgic scent of home. Well, the smell of the air freshener Georgia always uses after she’s cleaned the place.

I reach in and press the switch to shed light all over the living room, where I see a bright red balloon floating around by the couch. It’s wishing me ‘Welcome Back’, to which I grin, knowing Georgia must have bought it for me. I’m a workaholic so having her in my life is a real bonus. My house would be like the bottom of a garbage truck if I didn’t have her or Sam, the gardener, sorting it all out for me. For that very reason, I pay well, and I tip handsomely on birthdays, Christmases, and other special occasions.

After dumping my stuff inside of my room, I waste no time in stripping off my sweltering suit. I only wore it because Theo and I had had one last meeting with the guys fronting up the London office before we had to catch a flight home. Izzy was so excited about coming over here in first class that she practically bounced up and down the whole way back. I could tell Theo was getting a hard-on just watching her so it’s easy to guess how they’re currently celebrating their homecoming. They deserve it though; both have been through plenty of shit and have also spent far too long apart. I’m happy for both of them.

The sound of my shower, along with the delicious pressure of hot water, has me indulging in the sensation for at least half an hour. Alas, tiredness suddenly hits me, so I jump out and wrap a towel around my ass before taking a seat on my king-sized bed to listen to my answering machine. The first message is from my mom, still complaining about my dad’s ‘obnoxiously loud snoring’ as well as informing me that my sister is in town. The second message is from Louisa at the office, her quiet, timid voice telling me she will be in late tomorrow because of a long-awaited doctor’s appointment. The final message is from Theo, so I laugh, seeing as I’ve only just left the guy.

“Heads up, we meet with Matthews tomorrow. Ten am, try not to be an asshole on the first meeting. These people are our bread and butter, Daniel. I’m gonna go and make love to my woman, then turn in for the night. Over and out.”

Trent Matthews, up-and-coming movie star, is hot on everyone’s lips right now because he’s classically good-looking, as well as talented, but boy does he know it. He is also a complete imbecile who enjoys sleeping with any woman who feigns interest - married, famous, not famous, engaged, young, old – it matters not. He is not discriminatory when it comes to pussy. If they’re game, so is he. He also likes a bit of weed and on special occasions, class-A drugs. He’s had several cautions, a short stint in prison for possession, and quite a few angry husbands trying to slap lawsuits against him. Unfortunately, none of this appears to have perturbed him; if anything, it’s only encouraged him to be more reckless.

The trouble is, while directors like him for his ability to be on the front of every paper on a weekly basis, they are also losing confidence in his ability to be professional when filming. The press is becoming a little too negative and now he’s losing jobs because of it. With all this in mind, his father has now got involved, and has hired our little outfit to try and rein him back in. A lot of income but also a lot of headache. Ah, well, tomorrow me can deal with that one; now me is ready for my bed and the type of sleep that has you waking up and trying to remember what year it is.

______

“Good morning, asshole,” I greet Theo with my usual charm and grace, to which he grins with a smugness that reminds me of our days together at college. “And how is it, I always get lumbered with the train wrecks? The idiot back in London was enough to drive me round the fucking bend.”

“Just lucky, I guess.”

He cocks his head and gives me one of his shit-eating grins. The smug bastard has probably just had a night of hot sex and now gets to palm off the latest celebrity disaster onto me.

We enter the office together, coffee cups already in hand from the place up the road, made extra strong for this morning, especially after a long flight home. Our offices aren’t particularly big, but they don’t need to be. Theo and I are the only agents at the moment, so besides us, there’s only a handful of people to run all the behind-the-scenes stuff like finance, administration, and of course, our personal assistant, Louisa Flynn. She’s young, early twenties, but excellent at her job. However, with the way business has been building, I wouldn’t be surprised if we needed to get a new PA to share the workload. If I have my way, Louisa will be staying with me, though I know Theo will fight me for her.

“When’s Louisa due in?” Theo asks, looking up at the clock and groaning; it’s already gone nine and Trent Matthews is due in at ten.

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