Page 24 of The Rise

“What if I don’t want to?”

“You want a kid?” he asks, but I don’t answer. “I don’t. Now turn the fuck over.” I don’t want a kid either, at least not right now, so I roll onto my stomach as he pinches my skin. I feel the needle go in and then the medicine. When he pulls the needle out, he leans down and presses a kiss on my ass, causing me to squirm. Hunter stands and heads for the door as I watch him.

“You getting up soon?” he asks over his shoulder.

“Maybe. I’m comfortable,” I tell him. He laughs and nods his head.

“Stay in bed then.” He walks out of the room, the door closing behind him. I roll up in the blanket and sigh. I don’t know what I’m doing here. I don’t know what I should be doing here. Everything has happened so quickly, and I’m not sure how to handle it all. I was sent here to do a job, and now that’s over, but will they look for me? I’m almost positive they will.

I groan as I roll over and climb out of the bed, grabbing some clothes to put on. Then I head out into the hallway. I haven’t looked around Chaos much so I take the time to do that.

I walk down the hall to find most of the doors locked which makes sense. They like to keep their privacy. The next door I try is unlocked so I walk inside. There’s a huge set up of computers and screens. Some of the buildings and others of places I’ve never seen before.

“What do you think?” I jolt when I hear Hoax behind me. I turn to see him sitting in the back of the room. I didn’t see him when I came in.

“It’s a lot.”

“We monitor a lot of things. Chaos isn’t our only interest,” he explains.

“What other interests do you have?”

“Security mainly. Hunter’s smart. He knows his way around security,” he tells me.

“That’s what all this does?” I ask, waving my hand through the air. Hoax nods before he stands and comes around to stand next to me.

“We’re not the only ones out there, you know? There are others just like us who want to save kids.”

“But there’s more of them,” I say softly.

“Exactly. But we’re never going to stop what we do. It takes time and patience, and that’s not something we have all the time. We lose it, we get lost, and it’s fucking hard as hell for us to come back from it.”

“Hunter, too?” Hoax nods his head.

“Yeah, him too. It’s been awhile since he’s spiraled, so I figure it will be coming sooner rather than later.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I lose control, and there is no stopping me.” I turn to see Hunter standing in the doorway, looking at the screens just past me. He doesn’t look at me right away, just at the screens. Then he slowly pulls his eyes to meet mine, and I’m lost there.

“What happens when you lose control?” I risk asking.

“Men like us can only be pushed so far before we snap. It’s not just this line of work; it’s us. It’s who we are and it’s how we were raised to be. Typically, when I lose it, I need to be taken down.”

“Meaning what?”

“Meaning, we knock his ass out,” Hoax chuckles as I look over at him and then back to Hunter.

“It’s not good for anyone, little rebel. And I pray that you stay out of my way when it happens.”

“Why? Will you hurt me?” He stalks toward me, raising his hand to my cheek in such a gentle way, but I know he’s anything but.

“I’ll hurt you badly. And I won’t feel bad about it.” I nod my head, understanding, but at the same time, I want to see it first hand. I want to see Hunter come undone so I know what the hell I’m getting into with him. His hand tightens on my cheek as he looks into my eyes and shakes his head as if he knows what I’m thinking.

“You don’t want to see, Lana.” He isn’t scaring me if that’s what he thinks. He lowers his head and presses his lips to mine, kissing me so easily. This man is a contradiction. He’s hard, soft, and everything in between, and it confuses the hell out of me.

“You hungry?” I nod my head before he drops one last kiss on my lips and grabs my hand, dragging me out of the room and down the hall. When we step into the main room, I see a ton of people milling around. Hunter doesn’t say anything; he just leads me through the room and over to the table where he has food set out. He nods for the chair and I sit as I glance around at everyone.

“What’s happening?”

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