Page 98 of Hunter

That bastard!

Chapter Thirty-Three

Hunter

She had beensilent for too long. Her hands were interlaced on the silver table, the handcuffs still chaining her to the surface. She had her head down, her red hair falling over her eyes and face so I couldn’t see them. Mallory was feisty and said what was on her mind with a fire I couldn’t resist. This silence, though … it was unnerving and made Mallory unpredictable.

I looked down at the tickets in my hands, the ones the flight manager had given me when security had dragged Mallory into a holding room.

“France?” I asked. “Why France?”

Mallory didn’t answer. She sat back in her chair, her hair falling away from her face to reveal sharp, narrowed eyes and a mouth pressed into a tight, flat line. “Where’s Adair?”

“Anna’s got him.”

Anna, Wolf, and Jax were in the airport waiting room, trying to calm Adair down. I wanted to give him to his mother to show she was okay, but I couldn’t do that yet. We needed to talk first.

I placed the tickets in my back pocket and sat down on one of the metal chairs.

“How’d you do it?” she broke the short silence.

“I got temporary joint custody while you were in the hospital. I’m Adair’s next of kin, aside from you, since you went to Anna to put Noble’s name on the birth certificate the day before our fight.”

“The day you left me at the park to be kidnapped!”

I snapped my eyes to hers and saw a hint of remorse for saying that as she flickered her eyes down to her shoes. She didn’t take them back.

“Yeah,” I said. “I left you at that park, Mallory, and I never should have. I should have been right by your side when the Hell’s Runners attacked, and I should have protected you. But I didn’t, and I’m gonna regret breaking your trust for the rest of my life. But not once since I brought you back from the hospital did I ever think about letting you go.”

“That’s your excuse for having me detained by security? For kidnapping my own son?” Mallory’s brows rose, her eyes wide. “You’re unbelievable.”

“Mallory—”

“I thought you’d understand, Hunter,” Mallory snapped, emotions breaking through that icy façade of hers. She slammed her hands against the table, shooting to her feet as it all bubbled to the surface. “It’s impossible for me to be with you, Hunter! I love you, but I can’t trust you. Do you know what that’s like? No, you don’t. Because if you did, you would have let me get on that plane. You would have let me fly halfway around the world so this pain in my chest—the pain that keeps telling me I want to be near you, yet knowing I never can be—would ease a little. You don’t know the conflict of wanting to fall into your arms, knowing I can’t count on you not to push me away.”

Tears filled her eyes as I sat there, feeling punch after punch of her raw emotions. Mallory had told me that she wanted to forgive me, but she couldn’t. I thought it was something that could be fixed with time, something that would fade. Maybe it would. Now, though … Now, I faced the very mountain I had to break through to get to her, and it made my chest heavy.

“I always wanted a family,” Mallory whispered, slumping back down into her chair, her eyes never leaving mine. “Noble gave me Adair, and I love him. But the club and the girls … and you … You made us into a family. You did that, and now I can’t have it because I can’t be near you without dying a little inside. You need to let me leave, Hunter.”

I shook my head. “I can’t do that, Mallory.”

Mallory leaned forward again, her eyes pleading, hands still pinned to the table by cuffs. “Hunter, listen to me. This isn’t about my feelings. Spider is still out there. And this time, he isn’t looking for information or extortion—or whatever. We took his club, his pride, his power. He’s out for revenge. Killing me or using Adair to torture me will be on the top of that list.”

“He’s got no reason to kill you. You didn’t do anything.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. I can’t take that chance. Not on you.”

I braced hard against the table as Mallory leaned back. “Mall—”

“Hunter, I know you love Adair, and you may even care for me, but—”

“I don’t,” I interrupted, and Mallory flinched, her shocked eyes staring into mine.

“What?” she whispered, her voice quieter than I had heard all day.

I stood, lifting my chair and dragging it around to her side of the table. I sat facing her as she looked over her shoulder at me. Then she looked at her cuffs that stopped her from moving away from me.

“I’ll undo them,” I promised. “But first, you have to listen to me.”

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