Page 38 of Hunter

“Can I help you?”

“You know what, puto, I believe you can,” he smirks as he gestures for me to go inside of my office. I laugh at his audacity to show me into my own place. “Trust me, this is a private conversation, hombre-to-hombre.”

“You’re going to hang around here like a bad smell until I let you have your say, aren’t you?” I ask, to which he smiles with dark intent. “And seeing as Lou is out today, now would be the perfect time to indulge you and your urgent need to talk to me.”

“Don’t call her Lou, culero,” he says with a clenched jaw, “she is nothing to you apart from a shy PA who keeps herself to herself, comprende?”

I ignore his attempts to be the alpha male here because quite frankly, that shit is of no interest to me. I come from a family where women are respected and valued as much as any man, and I adhere to that line of thinking. Instead, I huff loudly and gesture for him to walk in first. He grips his bottom lip in between his top teeth, shakes his head in an irritated fashion before finally marching inside.

All eyes move to look straight toward the intimidating thug currently walking through our offices with me in tow. Theo bursts out of his office, ready to put his two cents in, but when I shake my head in his direction, he nods, then retreats back into his office. I dump everyone’s lunch onto Lou’s desk before I show him into my private room. He slumps into the chair opposite mine and begins fidgeting with a click pen from my desk. I take my time to sit before him, showing I’m not bothered by his bullshit, and that he should make whatever this is quick and to the point.

“Lou is off limits,” he states bluntly without so much as a smirk, a blink, or any form of gesture. Once I wrap my head around his arrogance, I smile tightly and lean back in my chair to consider my retort.

“I wasn’t aware Lou was a relation or possession of yours. In fact, I was under the impression that you have not been linked with her since your little indiscretion two years ago.”

“I’ve decided I want her back,” he says before chucking my pen back onto the desk, “and I’m willing to let any other motherfucker know she’s mine.”

Jesus Christ! This guy is delusional. I would out and out laugh in his face if it wasn’t for the fact that I seriously think he’s unhinged.

“Does Lou know all this?” I begin swinging in my chair with a look that more or less conveys my private thoughts; he is a complete prick.

“She will,” he says, clucking his tongue like a cocky pre-teen trying to assert his dominance over the school halls.

“Look-”

I don’t get to finish my sentence because Trent bursts through the door with RIP in tow behind him. At the sudden intrusion, Tony jumps from his seat and looks Trent over from top to bottom. On further inspection of Trent, his face morphs into an expression that tells me he wants to squish Trent like a mosquito under his size thirteen leather boots. Before any of us have a chance to process what the hell is going on, Tony reaches behind his back and pulls out a handgun from the waistband of his black jeans, and points it directly at Trent’s face.

“Holy fuck, dude!” Trent quivers, throwing his hands up in the air defensively. RIP is in front of him within seconds, covering Trent, who clearly has no qualms about accepting his bodyguard’s sacrifice.

“You, puto, motherfucker,” Tony says slowly, “you touch my girl again and I will gut you like a fish, the smallest, most pathetic fish in the ocean. I am the motherfucking shark and I eat pieces of shit like you for appetizers. Comprende?”

Trent nods excessively at the same time as I catch on to the fact that Tony hasn’t come here for me, he’s come for Trent. I am merely the messenger.

“Sure, sure, whatever, man,” Trent whimpers. “Daniel, no more Louisa, g-g-get someone else. O-o-ok?”

Tony tsks in his direction, then looks back toward me as he places his gun into the band of jeans, eyeing each one of us with contempt. Once the gun is safely stowed away, he casually marches through the door and back out onto the street. Trent, meanwhile, shakily sits down in the seat Tony was just occupying, with RIP pouring a glass of water for his boss. I slowly return to my seat, thinking over everything that has come to light over the last twenty-four hours.

“Fuck I almost pissed my pants, Daniel!” Trent breathes rapidly. “I mean it. You’re gonna have to think of something else. Between him and her psychotic brother, Louisa is a heavy situation waiting to happen.”

I nod, all the while thinking that she is indeed what Trent just said she was. But strangely, it doesn’t put me off at all. In fact, if anything, it makes me even more determined to try and save her.

_____

Louisa

My feet are destroyed, my head hurts through dehydration, and my hopes are shattered. Between places that were only big enough to house a small house cat and apartments that smelled like they had been the location for a murder scene that hadn’t been found for at least four months, I short-listed a grand total of zero potential places in which to live. I huff into the bar and throw my head rather ungraciously down onto the wooden platform and release a long groan of frustration.

“Tough day?” Jake mutters from beside me.

“How did you guess?” I mumble against the shiny wooden surface. He chuckles before I finally look up to see him pout mockingly at me. I don’t even have the energy to give him the finger right now, so just smile tightly in his direction. Swinging around in my chair, I notice Phoenix half-sitting, half-lying in one of the booths, opposite someone I haven’t seen since before my attack. It’s been so long, it takes me a while to recognize him, but when I do, I practically run across to greet him with a big hug and a face-splitting grin on my face.

“Lou, my darling beauty, look at you!”

My ‘uncle’ beams at me with gusto and a beard bushy enough to house a family of small birds. He kisses my cheek, and it tickles my skin with a nostalgic feeling of spending Christmases at his house when I was only seven years old.

“Uncle, how are you? I haven’t seen you in ages!” I quickly glance at Phoenix for some sort of explanation, but he offers nothing. No surprises there.

“Phoenix tells me he has a job, one I wouldn’t mind helping him with,” he beams at me and then turns toward Phoenix with a none-too-subtle expression.

---