Page 66 of Hunter

I looked around the room, my mind melting into the past. It was this very room three and a half years ago.

The door to my club room burst open, making me fly up from the bed.

“Shit, Nobel,” I growled, watching my brother storm across the room and drop himself down on the edge of my bed. “I could have been doing all sorts of nasty shit in here.”

“Sorry, bro.” Nobel jumped up from the bed, rubbing his hand up and down his jaw with such a force it was beginning to turn red.

His jaw was tight, his eyes bore into the floor so hard he could make a groove in it, and his shoulders were rigid and tucked inward. He ran his other hand back and forth through his blond hair. Something wasn’t right.

“What the hell is up with you?”

“She’s gotta be lying,” Nobel said, turning at one end of my room to cross to the other side.

“Who’s lying?”

“But she’s not that kind of girl,” he continued.

“This is beginning to sound more like a monologue,” I commented, easing back down onto the bed and propping my feet up as I eyed my brother. There was no reason not to admit to the amusement I felt at witnessing my usually calm brother freak out.

“There’s no way she’d lie without a reason. It doesn’t add up.”

I leaned over toward the mini fridge and pulled out a beer. “You come in here to talk about girl troubles?” I groaned. “I’m sure Kay’s got some tampons for you.”

“No,” Nobel said, shaking his head, a wave of calm seeming to take over him. He again dropped down onto the side of my bed, a small smile taking over his face. “No troubles.”

“Then why are you here?”

“’Cause I was stupid, and I need to go make it right.”

“Then get going.”

“I am. I’m gonna make it work. No matter what I must do, I’ll make us happy. All of us.”

The smile that sat on my brother’s face seemed to light up the room as happiness radiated off him in waves. The excitement had Nobel shooting off the bed and running toward the door.

“Nobel!” I called out, stopping my brother as he reached for the door handle. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I knew there was no stopping him. “Good luck.”

Nobel grinned. “Thanks, brother.”

“That was the last time I saw him alive.” I looked down at mine and Mallory’s hands and breathed out. I had never told anyone of that moment, but somehow, it felt that bit easier to breathe now that I had. “Mallory, I …” I turned. “Mallory?”

Mallory choked on a pained sob. Her body was shaking, tears slipping through the fingers pressed against her face so tightly her cheeks turned white.

“Mallory, breathe,” I snapped, shaking her by the shoulders.

Adair roused from his sleep, his eyes widening as he looked up at his mother.

“Momma,” Adair whimpered, reaching to touch her face.

Mallory broke. She grabbed Adair and dragged him against her chest, pained sobs racking her body. She cried harder than before, each part of her existence radiating pain.

“Papa loved you, baby,” she whispered into Adair’s curls. “He loved you.”

That was the moment I truly saw the depths of Mallory’s pain.

The last time Mallory had seen Noble, he had rejected her and her child. She had convinced herself he would have loved them, but she hadn’t been completely sure. She still had doubts. But now … Now she knew.

She knew that when he got on that bike, he wasn’t running away from them.

---