Page 70 of Hunter

I’m gifted with a disparaging look for that one. Before he can say anything to match the look on his face, his family notice us coming through the doors to the yard and wave us over with smiles and verbal greetings.

“Holy, fucking Brady bunch!” he mutters to himself before plastering on a smile of sorts. True, he looks like a patient from a psych ward with too many teeth to be anywhere near comforting, but they don’t seem perturbed by it.

“Come on over!”

Daniel’s father gets up first and offers his hand to shake with Phoenix. I notice the wince on his father’s face when Phoenix grips hold of his hand a little too tightly, the action of nerves, not intimidation. If anyone’s intimidated right now, it’s my brother. I nudge his side, and he instantly drops his hand and apologizes.

“Fuck, I’m sorry!” he rushes out, then slaps his hand over his face for using such a profanity in front of my future father-in-law. Fortunately, Daniel’s father is so laid back, I’m surprised how successful he’s been in the business world.

“Don’t worry, son,” he says as he slaps him on the back and shows him over to the table where everyone else is sitting. Phoenix awkwardly nods and smiles at them one by one while Daniel introduces them.

“Jeez, you are huge!” Char’s husband, a slim, athletic guy, says in kind of awe-struck state. She stamps on his foot under the table and he releases a groan before rushing out his apologies. “Sorry, I mean…I thought Daniel was well built, but you…you are big! How much do you bench?”

“Bench? I don’t really, er, bench anything,” Phoenix says, rubbing at his temples anxiously, “I guess I haul barrels around all day, plus maybe a few other things…”

He trails off because no one needs to hear about my brother’s shady activities or what these ‘other things’ might be.

“Phoenix, Lou’s told me about your bike out there, I remember the one I used to have, back when I was in my twenties. That thing was my pride and joy, until I had children of course.”

“Yeah? You can take a ride later if you want to?” At the mention of bikes, Phoenix physically slumps with relief.

“Sure thing, I’d love to,” his father says before leaning in and dropping his voice, “I hope I wasn’t being too obvious there, was I?”

“Not at all,” Phoenix laughs and chucks the keys over, which the man impressively catches one-handed.

“Phoenix, I guess you’ll be walking your sister down the aisle come the big day?” Daniel’s mother asks with a genuine smile on her face, reminding me of Ava all those years ago. My brother’s mouth drops open in surprise, obviously having not contemplated this action before now. I’d always assumed he knew, but I guess we’ve never been the best communicators in the world.

“Well, I, er…”

“I was kind of counting on it,” I say to him, placing my hand over his arm. He looks at me with so much emotion, I don’t think I’ve ever encountered it from him before. “There’s no one else I would ask, Phoenix, you are my family, you know that.”

“I would be more than proud to, Lou,” he says, and we share a tender moment together before he clears his throat and quickly excuses himself to go the bathroom. Daniel comes to my side and kisses my temple. Meanwhile, the rest of his family are gushing over our affection.

“Never thought I’d see the day your brother was reduced to tears,” Daniel laughs at me.

“What about when I was shot?”

“Nope, he was too angry to cry. Well, certainly not in front of me,” Daniel explains. “I think the bar lost a few glasses that night, not to mention your ex now has a hole in the side of his arm!”

“Oh,” I reply, thinking about Phoenix crying and getting myself all emotional in the process. True to form, he eventually returns looking like nothing has happened. He saunters across the grass and takes his seat again. Daniel’s father rises with his glass in the air, ready to make a toast. I squeeze Phoenix’s arm before he even has a chance to roll his eyes over the action.

“I just want to take this opportunity to welcome you both to the family! Louisa, Phoenix, you are always welcome here, and we couldn’t be happier to have Daniel finally find his person.”

The table cheer as Daniel pulls me into his arms and we seal the deal with a kiss, because he’s my person too.

_____

Phoenix

“I’ve been wating a long time for you to come and find me,” I call out to the guy’s back from across the bar. Jake’s casually drying glasses in readiness for the bar to open in a little over an hour’s time. My sister, thank God, is nowhere near this shithole I still call home. She has a new life with her Suit, the kind of man who will dote on her, give her everything she deserves without any of the shady crap that comes with men like me. “You ready to name your price?”

The guy sits up tall, pulling his jacket up around his shoulders but still refusing to show me his face, which pisses me off already, seeing as he’s in my bar. Rude motherfucker. Jake carries on drying but eyes me the whole time with a look of complete serenity, even though his shoulders are tensed up; he’s worried about how this could go down. The guy eventually turns around to reveal a face only a mother or a completely blind person could love. Shadows under his eyes and wearing a permanent looking scowl, you’d crap your jeans if you met this guy down a dark alley at night.

“Phoenix Flynn,” he croaks out in a voice that’s smoked on one too many cigarettes. His breath could melt glass.

“The one and only, and you are?” I have no idea why I’m even asking; this guy isn’t going to tell me Jack about who the hell he is. But then, I don’t really need to know do I.

“A bad motherfucker,” he grunts, then spits onto the floor, no doubt trying to get to me, and believe me, if he didn’t have the info that I need, I’d be rubbing his face in it. However, seeing as the bastard knows this, I merely meet his taunting gaze with a sneer, one that says, ‘Speak now, asshole, or I’ll beat the shit out of your diseased carcass right here in this bar.’

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