Page 65 of Hunter

“Yeah, I’d hate to think you didn’t believe in sex before marriage.”

“Yeah, right,” Mallory scoffed. “That’s more like you at the minute, mister.”

I knew what she was hinting at and quickly directed the conversation away. We weren’t having that conversation. Not yet.

“So,” I said, nudging her softly. “The song?”

Mallory smiled, looking back out the window. “My dad used to sing it to me when I was little.”

“That’s right,” I recalled. “You were the preacher’s daughter.”

“He died when I was twenty.” Mallory’s smile fell. “I ended up drunk in the streets until your brother came across me. He took me to this place that overlooked the city to sober up before he dragged my ass home.”

“You seemed to cross paths with him often.”

“Don’t think of it as coincidence. That was all purely stalker skills. I went to the bar he hung out at regularly on purpose in hopes of jumping him.”

“Jesus, I’m surprised I never heard of you.”

“Well, I was one of many.”

I couldn’t deny it. Women had fallen heels over tits for Noble, which included plenty of stalkers. I had scared off any women who had gotten too close. All except this one, apparently.

“It’s a shame. Despite the whole stalker thing, you’re a pretty amazing woman. There’re not many out there who would highjack a man’s car.”

“First, you locked me in it,” Mallory argued. “Second, I’m a Columbia drop-out, you know.”

“No shit?”

“I wanted to get a teaching degree in computers,” she said wistfully before her tone turned teasing. “What? Did that not come up during my background check?”

“No, it didn’t.” I shook my head. “You’re full of surprises, you know.”

“I know.”

I scoffed at that and felt Mallory smile against my skin. She had buried her head into the crook of my neck and seemed content to remain there.

Silence passed for a while between us, and I was beginning to wonder if she had fallen asleep when she spoke.

“Tell me about you and Noble.”

I hesitated. I hadn’t spoken to anyone about me and Noble since his death. Nobody had ever asked, and the club all knew enough not to. I didn’t want to talk about it.

However, Mallory had told me everything. She had borne her soul to me, and it was unfair of me not to do the same. Not if I wanted her to trust me. Therefore, I took a deep breath and started from the beginning.

“Noble was the spitting image of our father. The blond hair and green eyes were all his. He also seemed to inherit the whole useless womanizer personality. He had all the girls fighting over him to take them to prom.” I laughed, remembering the fiasco when the girls started their own competition to win Noble. “The only thing I got from my pa was the eyes. Everything else is my momma’s.”

“She must be a beautiful woman,” Mallory whispered.

“She was. She was kind and gentle, too good to be married to my pa. He always cheated on her. That’s why Noble never committed, never slept with a girl twice, and never made a promise he couldn’t keep. He didn’t want to end up like our pa. Didn’t want to see another girl end up like Ma. When she got sick, it made Pa worse. He was never around. It was always me and Noble to look after her.”

Mallory wrapped her hand around my balled fists. I hadn’t even realized I had gotten so tense until she pried my fingers open and slid her fingers between mine. I squeezed it for strength and carried on.

“It was why I was so surprised that day.”

“That day?”

“The day Noble died,” I whispered, feeling Mallory go still beside me. I knew my next words would change everything for her. “I had no idea what he was talking about when he came barging into my room. God, he was like a tornado.”

---