Page 156 of Unexpected

“Answer me, Bear,” Valerie said.

“Not necessarily.”

She sighed. “Well, that’s a shame. To be honest, I did think he would be a more formidable opponent, but it appears that even in your retirement, you’re a force to be reckoned with.”

I stood in front of her silently, not giving her any reason to hurt Hazel more than she already had.

“I know your patience is probably wearing thin—I can see the vein in your forehead pulsing as well as your eye twitching from here. So, I’ll try to speed things along the best I can.” As she spoke, she shifted the barrel of the gun in front of Hazel’s face and used it to push all of her hair over her shoulders.

“Do you know how much I love you?” she asked and then glanced up at me expectantly.

“I guess I don’t.”

Valerie shuffled her weight on her feet and continued running the muzzle of the gun over Hazel’s shoulders.

“Your answer doesn’t surprise me because I think if you did know how much I love you, then we wouldn’t be in this situation. We’d still be married, happily in love. I might be pregnant, maybe even with our second child. Our life would be beautiful, but instead, we’re standing in here. You forced me to kidnap this innocent woman and—”

“I didn’t force you to do jack shit.”

Without hesitation, Valerie tossed the gun in her hand and slammed the back of it against Hazel’s finger. The sickening crunch made me lunge forward and quicker than I gave her credit for, Valerie had the gun pointed at me.

Hazel gasped with the pain and groaned against the tape. Her finger was broken, and it had pulled her from her unconscious state for at least a moment. Valerie’s other hand was twisted in Hazel’s hair, forcing her head back at an awkward angle. I was vibrating with anger. Hazel’s pained noises were the worst sounds I’d ever heard.

“What did I fucking say, Luke?” Valerie questioned over Hazel’s muffled groans. The transition from the pet name—whether I liked it or not—to my actual name was a difference I noted.

Hazel’s eyes were unfocused as she stared at the ceiling. She kept trying to force her eyes open, but it wasn’t working. Her face was contorted in severe pain, and all I could do was stand there and watch it happen.

“Now that you see I’m very fucking serious, let me continue.”

FIFTY-SIX

Luke

Like nothing had happened,she switched her tone from foaming at the mouth to casual conversation.

“I knew I loved you the day I met you. Even when we were just friends, I loved you like no one else has ever loved another person, and I knew we were meant to be together, to put it simply. Although it’s not really simple. See, I love you for all of who you are. There isn’t one thing that I don’t love about you, but what really fascinated me at the beginning was the darkness I saw inside of you. It was almost otherworldly the way it swallowed you,” she said, lost in thought and memories.

“And most women, hell most people in general, would have run the other direction when faced with what you could turn into—such a beautiful monster full of beautifully explosive rage. ButIwanted to drown in it, and you let me. We were such a good pair, and we still can be. Wewillbe a good pair again once you stop lying to yourself and listening to all of the outsiders’ opinions.”

She took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes at me.

“When I found out that you were seeing this one,” she said, tugging on Hazel’s hair once again. “I was so disappointed. We were a good team because I could handle your darkness. But she can’t. She’s too broken for that. I mean, can you imagine how hard that’s going to be on her—being with you when her fiancé beat the shit out of her? She needs someone that’s more suited for the light, and you, well, you just need me. She’s going to make you miserable. She won’t challenge you the way I do, and she—”

Valerie’s monologue was cut short by a louder, broken sob. I hadn’t taken my eyes off the gun Valerie pressed into the base of Hazel’s neck. Every once in a while, Hazel’s eyes would open slightly and nearly focus on me just to fall closed again. After several attempts, they stayed open long enough for her to register me, and that’s when she sobbed. There weren’t any tears, but there was enough sadness in her eyes that she didn’t need them. I could see the weight of the pain as her chest heaved labored breaths that rocked her entire body.

Valerie leaned forward and smiled when she saw Hazel was conscious. “Perfect timing, sweetie,” Valerie said, patting the top of Hazel’s head. She lurched forward at the contact and shouted in pain. I was going to break my teeth with the force I was clenching them.

“So, while I have both of your attention, I would like to explain why I chose this location. It holds a special place in my heart, and I’m sure it holds a special place in your heart, too, Bear.” As she spoke, her sickly sweet voice crawling over my skin, she stepped around Hazel for the first time since I’d walked into the room. “Hazel, let me tell you about my favorite memory in this little bar. Bear and I, we spent a lot of time at this place with our so-called friends. Of course, this is long before they turned him against me and made him question the love of his life, but that’s neither here nor there.”

Valerie’s steps were slow and measured as she positioned herself between us. Hazel was only about six feet away from me, but with Valerie between us, it seemed like miles. The gun was still trained on Hazel, taunting me with the possibility that Valerie could snap at any moment, but Hazel’s eyes were glued to me. In the dim light of the room, it was difficult to see anything as the sun set outside. But through my eyes, I tried to show her everything I was feeling. I hoped she could see the pain, sorrow, disappointment, and the love.

I hoped she knew I loved her because the possibility of both of us leaving that room alive seemed to disappear the longer Valerie spoke. Hazel wouldn’t die; I’d do anything to make sure that didn’t happen. But I didn’t want to die without her knowing how much I loved her.

Even if she would only ever be able to see it in my eyes, that would have to be enough.

“My favorite night was actually almost four years ago to this day. We’d just celebrated Thanksgiving with all of our friends, and everything was so good. It was probably the happiest I’d ever been. Well, we came here as we always did, but that night was special. You see, Hazel,” Valerie said, turning slightly in Hazel’s direction but making sure I stayed in her peripheral. “Bear and I were on the dance floor, which was our favorite place to be back then, when this man bumped into me. He’d been watching me all night, taunting and teasing me, really. Bear even saw it, didn’t you?”

Valerie didn’t take her eyes from Hazel and neither did I. As I said, “Yes,” I shook my head no. She was embellishing like she always did with every story she told. She was a pathological liar and a raging narcissist. The guy that bumped into her did nothing but accidentally brush against her as he tried to squeeze past us on the crowded floor, but back then, when Valerie spoke, I listened. She had manipulated me to the point of believing anything that came out of her mouth because no one else would ever love me the way she did.

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