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"We don’t run, baby," I told her. "From anything."

"Maybe we should take it up?" she offered glumly. "Looks kind of appealing right now."

Unbuckling my seatbelt, I climbed out of the truck and walked around to the passenger side door to open it. "Let go of the door, baby," I coaxed when Hope yanked the door shut again. Forcing myself to bury the smile that was spreading across my face at the sight of her fucking adorableness, I tried again, and this time she let me open her door.

"I'm scared," she blurted out. "Hunter, if they know what I've done, they're going to hate me."

"Well, I know what 'you've done', and I still love you," I told her with a shake of my head. "Nobody is going to hate you, Hope Carter. It's impossible."

"You won't leave me?" she asked, voice small, as she climbed out of the truck. "You'll stick with me?'

She looked up at me, those big blue eyes shining bright, and took a step closer. That was all I needed. I would take it from here.

"Of course." I took her hand in mine, and smiled. "Ride or die, HC."

****

Chapter Forty-Nine

Hope

I'd known I was in trouble when I heard my mother's voice this morning, but I never expected to be led into an ambush, which was exactly what I walked into when I stepped through the front door of my parents' house.

Mom, who was sitting at the kitchen table, was joined by a woman I hadn't seen since early childhood.

Karen Valentine.

Sitting beside her, in an even more shocking turn of events, wasDerek.

Seeing them sitting less than a foot apart, knowing how volatile their relationship had been, stunned me.

The cherry on the cake, though, had to be the sight of Annabelle sitting at my parents' table, glaring daggers at me.

Oh, that bitch…

My only saving grace in this moment was the irresistibly charming, and ruthlessly lethal man who, even though he'd be looked at like he was the spawn of Satan, was standing right beside me.

In the kitchen where nothing good ever happened, I stared at the place where his body had been before quickly averting my eyes. The blood was gone now, the smell erased, but the memories of that night were still very much alive and real for me.

"What's going on?" I finally managed to say.

"What's going on," Derek repeated flatly before turning to glare at me with such anger that I felt myself pale. "What's going on, Hope, is that my son is lying on a hospital bed waiting to be transferred to the Mountain View Residential Center. He tried to kill himself!" Derek choked out, directing his fury straight at me – like I'd always known he would. "He slit his fucking wrists and could have bled to death in that house.Alone."

Pain hit me like a wrecking ball as I struggled to comprehend and make sense of what I was hearing.

Jordan hurt himself?

He tried to kill himself?

"Oh god," I strangled out, covering my mouth with my hand. "Is he okay?"

"No, he's not okay. How could he possibly be okay after what you did to him!" Annabelle screamed, interrupting Derek.

"I didn’t know," I choked out, feeling the burn rush up my neck. "I swear, I didn’t know he was in that frame of mind."

"But you knew he was taking drugs again," Karen chimed in, looking at me in the exact same way Derek was. "You knew he was drinking and you left himalone." Shaking her head in disgust, she demanded, "Where were you, Hope?"

"Hold the fuck up," Hunter was quick to intercept. "She's not a goddamn babysitter for your adult son, lady."

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