Page 22 of Hunter

“Who the fuck knows?” Jax shrugged, dropping the topic.

We walked in silence until we reached our bikes, and as I swung my leg over the seat of my bike, Jax opened his mouth with that sly grin.

“So, Mallory … Is that still a no?”

I chose not to acknowledge him. I turned on my engine and let myself fly out of the parking lot, leaving his sorry ass behind.

* * *

Pulling up the driveway, I saw Adair, covered in different colored gels, run out the front door.

After a week, I had stopped locking all the doors since Mallory hadn’t shown any signs of running. In fact, she seemed content to live up in the bedroom while she did her utmost best to avoid me. Our little dance after our close kiss had her fleeing from me, which worked out well, even if it was annoying as hell when that little ass of hers scurried away. Every time I fought the urge to go after her, the stronger it got.

Like I said, doomed.

I turned off my engine as the rug rat pounded into my leg and all but climbed up my body and into my lap. I hadn’t even gotten off the bike yet, and I was trapped.

Pink, green, and yellow goo got stuck straight onto my leathers. That was going to be fun to wash off. What the hell was it, anyway?

“Uncle Hummer.” Adair grinned, almost bouncing off my lap in excitement. I held him by the shoulders to make sure he didn’t fall off as I looked down at him.

Adair had taken an instant ease to me, which I found unfamiliar since I was often told that the permanent scowl on my face made people run in the opposite direction.

“What is it, kid?” I asked, curious as to what had him all hyped up. After child-proofing the house under Mallory’s watch, who had peeked from behind her door as I installed child-lock gates at the top and bottom of the stairs and locks on the bedroom and bathroom doors, Adair had been pouting for the better part of three days.

“We’re baking cookies,” he announced, and I realized that the so-called goo all over me was icing.

“I can see that,” I grumbled, looking him up and down. He was covered in it. “I think you’re supposed to paint the cookies, not yourself.”

Adair giggled.

“Where’s your momma?”

“In the kitchen with her friend.”

“Friend?”

“The pretty lady. She has this white hair that’s all like this and big red lips,” Adair said, trying to flatten his hair and talk through his pouted lips, which was more amusing than I imagined it would be. I couldn’t help the laugh … until I realized the one and only woman it could be.

My eyes widened as I scooped Adair into my arms and half fell off my bike, attempting to race to the door. If Anna was baking, then … Oh, hell no …

“Please be okay. Please be okay,” I chanted as I raced through the open door and stopped dead in my tracks.

My eyes went over everything first, making sure everything was still in one piece—no burn marks or missing half my house—before I turned toward the kitchen. Christ, what a mistake.

Mallory’s round, beautiful ass was swaying high in the air as she bent over the oven in only a pair of tiny shorts. If I tilted my head a little, I could see the edges of those mouth-watering globes and—

A sharp whack smacked the thought right out of my mind.

I swung around to see Anna behind me, wielding a spatula like a weapon. She glared at me with her icy blue eyes, a knowing smirk on her lips, followed half a second later by another bang from below the counter.

“Ow, ow, ouch!” Mallory whimpered, staggering back out of the oven and holding the back of her head. “I hit my head.”

Hard, too, from the sound of it.

She turned to scowl at Anna, but didn’t quite make it when her eyes landed on mine. She continued holding her head as her gaze raked over every inch of me, slow and steady, taking in the leathers and the rainbow splotches all over them, and then Adair in my arms.

She lowered her hands as her eyes went wide over the mess. “Adair!” she scolded. “You got icing all over Hunter.”

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