Page 30 of Hunter

Adair hung out with me now and then, but Mallory refused to leave her room, except for food and Adair. She had started hanging out more in the tub, too. Somehow, it had become a refuge for her, despite the water bill. Not that it was her problem.

Despite our argument, Mallory had finally given up and hauled her ass into my truck to go shopping with me when I pretended to act ignorant on what to feed a three-year-old.

“I’m not,” I said, keeping my tone bored.

Adair kept quiet in the back, looking sullen and tired, unhappy with mine and Mallory’s current situation. He was more perceptive than I had first noticed. I had assumed he would be like Noble, where everything went over his head. That had been a mistake.

“The supermarket is that way.” She pointed over her shoulder back to where the supermarket was.

We weren’t going to the supermarket.

I turned down a side street that wasn’t quite in the center of town, but not far from it, either. That was when Mallory’s whole body went rigid with realization.

She took off her sunglasses and hat, disassembling her incognito attire, and blinked hard as we turned into the parking lot overflowing with bikes and cars.

Mallory’s spine went as straight as a board as she looked up at the club. Noise was already coming from the back of the building, and the front door was propped open with a chair where a few of the boys were smoking and chatting.

“Mallory?” I said, turning off the engine as I turned toward her.

She didn’t respond, her eyes fixed on the front door, her hands digging into my leather seats.

“Mallory.”

“You … bastard!” she hissed, turning on me with a ferocity I had never seen. “How dare you lie to me and bring me here!”

“You were coming either way.”

“You had no right to drag me here!” she screamed.

“Hey!” I snapped, casting an eye over at Adair.

Adair was hugging that ragged doll close to his chest as his eyes went wide with unshed tears. He bit his bottom lip as if to fight the whimper that had already escaped his lips.

All the vapid viciousness of Mallory’s anger crashed out of her like a wave as she turned to face the little boy.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” she whispered, her brows turning up in guilt. She reached back to caress a hand over his cheek as he choked on a little sob. “Mommy’s tired, that’s all.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Even so, it was enough to convince the naïve three-year-old.

“Okay,” Adair mumbled, face still set in a sad frame as he squeezed the toy lion thing.

I unclipped my seatbelt and stepped out of the truck. Shutting my door and opening Adair’s, I began unbuckling him from the car seat.

“Wait,” Mallory said from the front, surprise filling her voice. “What are you doing?”

“We’re going inside,” I said simply as I swept Adair into my arms. He wrapped one arm around my neck, the other holding Papa.

“No, we’re not,” Mallory hissed.

I dug my keys out of my pocket, pressing a button to arm the locks. I heard Mallory’s gasp through the cracked open windows as I turned toward her.

“You can stay in the truck until you get ahold of yourself.”

Mallory looked at the door then back at me then Adair, her eyes wide with shock. I gave it half a second before she opened her mouth to yell at me, but I didn’t listen as I turned and took Adair straight into the clubhouse.

“You can’t leave me in here!” Her voice echoed across the lot.

I could.

And I did.

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