Page 58 of Hunter

“Can I hold you?” he asked gently.

How contradictory. The man was as rough as any man could get. If my mom ever met him, I was sure the wordunsavorywould have escaped her lips before they would ever speak to each other. Yet, this rough man was being so gentle with me, and I had the sudden urge to find out what it would be like to be cuddled up close to him in bed.

“Please,” I whispered.

He didn’t hesitate.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in close. I buried my face in his chest as a loud sob came out, surprising even me.

“Hush, now, baby. Don’t cry. Okay? Seeing you like this makes me want to come back and finish off the bastard.”

I let out a small whimper from his words, not because of the threat that sounded serious—even as I knew he wasn’t—but for the fact that if he went through with it, he would have to let me go, and I didn’t want him to let me go.

My hands moved up to his waist, and I clung to him tightly.

“Shh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that to you. I won’t let you go, okay? Can I take you home, baby?”

I nodded against his chest.

“W-What about him?” I asked.

“Don’t worry about him,” he answered darkly, and even though I had already established how safe I felt with him, his tone of voice still sent a sliver of fear down my spine.

I swallowed, and he pulled away slightly from me to take in my face.

“Give me one second, okay?”

I grabbed hold of his shirt when he turned from me, and he looked back, his dark eyes shrouded in curiosity.

“I won’t go far,” he answered softly as if he was afraid of scaring me off.

I could only nod.

I watched as Xavier moved over to the man’s unconscious body. I would have thought he was dead if not for the fact that his chest was moving in and out deeply.

Xavier reached into the man’s pocket and pulled out his wallet.

Was he trying to steal from the man?

I didn’t think so. Even though Xavier didn’t look like he came from old money or polished money, like so many of the people in my parents’ circle, he looked like he had money.

But I couldn’t think of a reason why he would want the man’s wallet unless…

Was he trying to find out the man’s identity?

What for?

It wasn’t like I would want to go to the cops for this.

It would become public record, and it wouldn’t take long for my dad to find out.

Xavier pocketed the wallet, grabbed my hand, pulled it away from where I had fisted his shirt, and led me out of the alley.

I was still in a small daze as Xavier walked me back to our building, and it wasn’t until the elevator dinged to announce our arrival on our floor that I finally jumped.

He led me to his apartment instead of my own, and I took a deep breath as I entered.

As dazed as I was, I still remembered a part of the reason for my bad mood today, and I wondered if I could tell if he had spent the day having sex with Trinity.

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