Page 15 of Hide My Heart
As much as I want to be the hero and rescue Amber, it’s more important for me to protect Beck. It’s what she would want me to do.
I watch as the truck hightails it out of the parking lot. I stroke Beck and murmur calming words to him, stuff like she’ll be back. Everything will be okay.
I don’t head back into the store until two state troopers pull into the parking lot.
NINE
Amber
Hunter pushes me into thetruck and slams the door.
My mind reels and my eyes dart around the parking lot. Nate is hovering at the door with Beck wrapped safely in his coat. He better not come after me. Better not let Hunter know we’re together.
And that little lump tucked in his arms?
I hope it’s not the last time I see my baby. I hope and pray this isn’t it. I force myself to look at Hunter before he catches me staring at them.
“About time you came home,” Hunter says, his eyes hard as flint. “Why’d you run away from the clinic?”
“To get away from you.” I cross my arms over my sensitive breasts, my heart pounding furiously. “I told you I was leaving after the abortion.”
“No one leaves me.” His voice is a surly growl as he takes the turn too fast and we fishtail away from Beck and Nate.
Anguish grips my heart, and it’s all I can do not to look over my shoulder. I heard Beck crying over the noise, and it’s echoing in my mind.
I hope Nate buys formula for him. Diapers too. I hope he finds the purse I left on the counter, along with the burner phone I didn’t get to pay for.
“Did. You. Hear. Me?” Hunter shouts as he guns the engine. The tires spin and the truck swerves onto the highway, heading east, back to Idaho.
“How’d you track me down?” I ask, regretting the stop at the convenience store. Had he been following me and Nate? If so, he had to have seen Beck.
“I knew the little bird would come home.” Hunter snaps his hand like the jaws of a bear trap.
What if he’d been lying in wait in Divine for me? Had he seen me get off the bus with Beck?
I have to know my enemy and know what he knows.
“What do you want with me?”
“My little woman back where she belongs.” He sneers and scratches his dirty-red beard.
I want to kick and scream. Grab the steering wheel and smash us into a snowbank. Anything’s better than going back to that sour-smelling house with all the dead animals.
Dread steals into my heart and cages it. I shudder and swallow, trying not to let Hunter know how much I loathe his place.
But I have to remain calm. Beck is safe with Nate, and I’d do anything to keep Hunter from knowing about Beck’s existence.
“You’re not going to get away with this.” I stare at the swirling snow around us and the wiper blades working overtime. “That clerk at the Drop-In Stop saw you. You shot at him. He’s calling the police.”
“Who was that man you were with?” Hunter’s voice is ice cold through gritted teeth. “Are you fucking him?”
Chills crystalize over both my shoulders, and ice grips my face.
“I wasn’t with him. Don’t know who he is.”
“Liar.” He shoves me hard against the passenger door.
“Ow, stop it,” I complain, acting like I’m not the least bit scared of him. Hunter is a bully, and he feeds off fear.
