Page 31 of The Rise

“Do what?”

“This! All of this! I’m not you. I’m not one of you!”

“So you’re saying you’d rather steal kids and let them be sold?” he growls in my face.

“That’s not what I’m saying, and you know it. I just … I can’t do this!”

“What part can’t you do, Lana?”

“All of it. It’s too much. Do you know how badly it hurts to see them, Hunter? How much I think about my childhood?” His gaze softens as he looks down at me. Rain begins to fall, but Hunter doesn’t move. He keeps me held like this, his gaze burning into mine. Finally, he releases me as tears begin to fall down my cheeks. Hunter moves to sit next to me, his back resting against the brick wall. I shove myself up and sit next to him.

“I didn’t think about how it might affect you,” he admits.

“I didn’t either, but it’s killing me,” I tell him. Hunter reaches for me and pulls me into his lap, cradling me against his chest as I begin to sob.

“I’m going to kill them all, Lana. I know that won’t make the pain go away, but I’m going to make sure they die for what they did to you,” he promises me as he runs his hand up and down my arm.

“I just don’t know how to be what you want me to be.”

“You don’t know what I want you to be.”

“Then tell me.”

“I want you to be you. I want you to be the Lana they tried to suppress. I want you to be the girl you always dreamt about being.”

“I don’t know who she is anymore,” I whisper as the rain pelts our flesh.

“When you were younger, what did you want?” he asks.

“I never wanted to have kids because I didn’t want them to live through what I did. I yearned for a parent who actually cared about me. I begged to be set free, even if it was in death. I never thought I’d get out of that place, Hunter, so I have no idea what I wanted.” He sighs, and I cry. It’s not a lie. It’s what I felt. You know all little girls wanted a fairy tale. I just wanted someone to care and love me. I just wanted someone to take away all the pain and the hurt I felt for so many years. It didn’t matter how they did it only that they did.

“I’m no parent, and I’m probably not the best person in the world, but I have you now, Lana. And I know I have a fucked up way of showing it, but I do care.” Now, the tears fall harder and faster. How can he care about me? After such a short time? Can he really see something more in me the way I see in him?

I turn my head and look up at him. His hair is sticking to his face as the rain keeps falling making him look even more beautifulthan he already did. Hunter looks down at me and just stares into my eyes. Then he leans in and presses his lips to mine. Everything else fades away. All the doubts. All the hurt. All the pain. How does he do that to me? How can a man I barely know make years of hurt just wash away?

“I don’t know what you’re thinking and I know you have a hard time trusting me, Lana, but I promise I’m not going to let anything happen to you. You have to believe that.”

“I do. Somewhere deep down, I do.”

“Good. Now, come on. I don’t need you getting sick,” he says, lifting me off his lap before standing and taking my hand.

“That’s it?”

“What do you mean?”

“No punishment?” I ask. This is Hunter we’re talking about. He enjoys punishing me.

“Oh, little rebel, you are going to be punished for this. Just not out here,” he confirms, and my heart leaps.

Hunter keeps walking until we’re back inside. Water drips onto the floor as the guys turn to look at us. Silas grins, blood dripping from his lip from his fight.

“You had a runner,” he states, watching me.

“She didn’t get far,” Hunter tells him before turning to me and stripping me out of the wet clothes. I’m standing in the middle of the room, trembling from the cool air as the guys stare at me.

“Make them stop,” I reply softly.

“Stop what?”

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