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The moment Avery was out the door, I closed it softly behind her and turned to look at the dog and said, “We should go on a walk or something.”
The dog closed her eyes and refused to look at me.
I rolled my eyes and took that as a sign that I should go back to bed.
I looked at the front window one last time, thinking that it was kind of dark, and it’d be just my luck if I took King for a walk and it started to rain.
Solidly on the ‘not walking’ plan now, I stopped to admire the photo of Adam and me one more time before I took a step in the direction of the bedroom.
My eyes were on the floor. The kitchen and living room had a blonde wood that was a light gray oak, and the hallway into the bedroom and bathroom had a darker stained wood of the same color. My feet were solidly on the two different types when the front door was opened.
Excited now, my head jerked up thinking I was going to see Adam walking in.
Only, it wasn’t Adam. It was Hilton Barnes.
Fear slithered through my brain as I made a mad dash for the bedroom.
Only the moment that I got to the threshold, I slammed off of a hard body and fell back on my ass.
I gasped as I stared up at Rogan Germain.
“Do you know how much fucking ruckus you stirred up?” he asked. “Do you know what it’s going to do to my image? A fucking restraining order is going to ruin me!”
I swallowed hard.
I didn’t know what to say.
The man was in my house, and he wasn’t alone! What if I said the wrong thing?
My father and brothers had taught me a lot on how to survive. The only problem was, there was no way that I could fight back. Two against one was never going to happen for me. I had to try to stall.
Except, before I could think of something to say, Hilton’s fist met my temple and I was out cold.
When next I roused, it was to find myself on the floor with Rogan’s patent leather pretty boy shoe on my throat.
He was smiling as he stared down at me, almost as if he was aware I was about to wake.
“Look who’s…” His voice trailed off as the door to the house opened.
Once again, I hoped to look up and see Adam standing there, but no such luck.
The man standing there was definitely not Adam.
I didn’t know who the man was. But I was really, really fucking happy that he’d walked into my place unannounced.
“Really now, Rogan,” the man drawled. He had a sweet, delectably dark southern accent that rolled over my battered soul like honey. “With your fists? Do you think they’ll be able to edit those out of your film?”
Hilton and Rogan both turned at once, halting their progress in beating the shit out of me.
Everything hurt.
My teeth. My eyeballs. My skin.
There wasn’t a single thing on my body that felt like it hadn’t been kicked or punched in some way.
And all of this was without blood.
Honestly, if my head didn’t hurt so bad, I might be impressed.
“Hunter McJimpsey. As I live and breathe,” Rogan drawled.
Hunter.
Hunt.
Was this Hunt?
Excitement started to pour through my veins as hope took root in my chest.
Please, please, please let this be Hunt the hacker.
“It’s Hunt,” Hunt said. “I know this is hard for your small little brain to understand, but my name is Hunt. It’s not short for Hunter. It’s not short for anything. Hunt is my name. How many times do I have to explain that to you?”
Rogan’s chest bowed as Hunt lectured him. Quite effectively, too.
“I know your name, Hunter,” Rogan growled. “I just refuse to use it because I know it pisses you off.”
“No.” Hunt crossed his arms over his chest. “You refuse to use it because you’re an asshole. You seem to think you’re funny when you’re not.” He paused. “Though, we already know that, don’t we?” He turned to Hilton. “You know he’s not worth it, right?”
Hilton didn’t say anything.
“Whomever has you on him to make sure your boss gets paid? He’s about to find out very quickly that his cash cow isn’t worth it. And, sadly, when you get put into prison right along with him, they’re going to kill you so you can’t talk. You know that, right?” Hunt asked.
Hilton shook his head, seemingly unsure now that Hunt was talking.
I tried to focus on everybody at once, but it was too exhausting.
And my head throbbed.
With each beat of my heart, something that started at my jaw moved upward like an ice pick through my brain.
Over and over.
Throb after throb.
Until I eventually lost focus on what Hunt and the assholes were saying because I couldn’t think past the pain.
