Page 6 of Where the Stars Heal

“Hunter, I didn’t lose her. I told you, we went for coffee. Connor spotted us and came over, and she kind of just freaked out and took off. I thought she was coming back here.”

Before I can start worrying over Madison’s words, she adds, “Look, she seemed sad and a little anxious. She probably just needs some space to breathe. If she’s not back in ten, I’ll go look for her, but you need to chill.”

My eyes start stinging at Madison’s words. She doesn’t even know me, and she’s sticking up for me. I can’t remember the last time someone was there for me in that kind way, especially after Mom. I’m starting to think Madison may be good.

“I told you, you couldn’t trust her, dude.” I stop suddenly, that voice—angry, deep, and raspy—bringing me back to last night’s haziness.

“Help her, but don’t let her walk all over you.”

Why is he so angry with me?

The door slams. I look over at the guy standing on the porch, and he scoffs.

“Fuck, she’s right here,” he yells back through the house.

I hear murmuring voices, feet moving, and the door opening again. I move toward it as I lock eyes with the angry guy standing there, leaning over the porch railing. He’s staring down at me, eyebrows pinched and his lips pursed in a thin line. Damn, I thought Connor was handsome, but he has nothing on the asshole in front of me. Tall, tanned skin, dark curly hair that’s shaved on the sides, and is that a lip ring? He’s wearing jeans that fit his thick thighs and a plain black tee that stretches over his muscles. Muscles that I’d love to run my hands over.

Jesus, girl, get a grip.He may be hot, but the guy is a fucking asshole. I may be filled with anxiety and my own insecurities, but I also won’t take any shit from anyone who’s outright rude to me. I’ve done that enough.

I move my attention away from him and his scrutinizing stare to see Hunter, Madison, and Connor standing next to him. They’re all looking at me, and the panic I managed to let go of earlier starts to creep its way back in. Too much attention for my liking. I wonder if I could just sneak by them and shut myself in my room.

“Ah, hi guys.” I break the silence nervously.

Angry guy looks me up and down, shakes his head, and goes to walk down the steps.

He slaps Hunter on the shoulder and says, “I’ll see ya at the bar later.”

Hunter gives him a nod and turns to walk back inside.

As I move past Mr. Angry, I hear him whisper to me, “Don’t fuck his life up, Halle.”

Oh, we are definitely calling him Mr. Angry from now on.

He doesn’t wait for my reply. He just gets in his truck and takes off.

3

SHE DOESN’T BELONG

ASHER

It’s been days since I saw Hunter’s sister out the front of his house after she disappeared for hours. Hunter said that she ended up down by Falls Creek, that she lost track of time, and didn’t mean to worry him. But I call bullshit.

My feet pound against the dewy track, and my breathing deepens. The air is crisp this early in the morning, filling my lungs as I continue to run down the trail that cuts through the creeks and parks. This is my favorite time to run, early in the morning when the town is still asleep. It’s quiet, and the world blurs as I run, my mind shutting down to find peace.

Frustration starts to seep its way in as I run faster, trying to find my quiet, but my mind keeps drifting back to her. Halle. I don’t fully trust her. She’s been a ghost all these years. She’s never visited in person, never called on the phone, emailed, or sent letters. My frustration bleeds into anger, and I clench my fists. She’s never checked in on her brother, not once since he’s been here, and that pisses me off. And yeah, I get it, she was just a kid when he left her, but he tried reaching out when she was younger. His phone calls went unanswered, and his letters were returned,so what was he supposed to do? It took us too long to get him to stop worrying about her, to just leave it be. Madison, Connor, and I—we became his family. I don’t think he ever did stop worrying, but he moved on. He stopped obsessing over trying to get to her.

So why is she here now? What’s changed? Halle stopped being a child years ago, so why didn’t she try contacting him sooner? Why did it take her this long?

Hunter’s gone through enough. He has his demons and his troubled past, just like the rest of us. I know because when I arrived at Sunlit Cove in need of a job and a place to get back on my feet, he was there to help me. He saw me and my baggage, my pain, my mistakes, and related to me. I wasn’t so forthcoming about the past I was running from at first. Hell, I’m still not. Even Madison and Connor don’t know my full story, the life I lived before I moved here and met them. I was a scrawny-looking dude back then and thought I was above everyone. I got high every day and drank all night to forget. I was rude and a nuisance to everyone in this town.

When Hunter opened up to me and told me about his home life and how he got out, it sparked something inside of me. I felt connected to him, like we got each other. So I did something I’d never done before: I accepted his help and his friendship, and told him everything. He never judged me, not then and not now. He took me in, gave me a job, and now we run the bar together. I mean, it’s his bar on paper, but we have an unspoken partnership and now share the workload.

We became brothers, and with Madison and Connor, and the few other friends that come and go, we have our own chosen family. This is our town. Sunlit Cove is home for us, and Halle being here completely changes everything. She’s going todistract him, pull him back into his past, and everything will go to hell. We haven’t worked this hard for this peaceful lifestyle for her to come here and uproot it all. To bring chaos back into our lives. How can we trust her? Who’s to say she isn’t here for everything Hunter has? His money, his bar, or his house. I won’t let her take it. I won’t let her ruin his life. No matter how fucking hot she is, or how much I felt drawn to those sad gray eyes.

I run faster, my vision narrowing, muscles tensing, trying to get rid of those thoughts, trying to shut it all down, but I keep going back to her.

When I looked her over out the front of Hunter’s, I couldn’t help but feel the heat spread through my body. She looked good, even in the state she was in. Long legs, curvy hips with a small waist, and the top she had on pushed her tits up, which made it hard to not gawk at them. Even though she looked like she hadn’t slept in days, I could tell she was stunning.

---