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“It’s just not.” Hunter made a frustrated sound and glared out the window again. “You don’t understand.”
“I’m not judging you.” Michael paused. “You’re talking about life and death here, Hunter. One of those, you can’t undo.”
As if he hadn’t been thinking of his father and uncle all day. Hunter didn’t say anything.
All of a sudden, he wanted to get out of the truck at the next stop light.
Especially when Michael said, “What happened with your grandfather?”
They were on the 50-mph stretch of Ritchie Highway, so Hunter just shrugged and said, “It was a misunderstanding.”
“About what?”
Hunter hesitated. The worst part was that he was embarrassed to say what had happened. “Vickers called the house and told him what had happened with Calla.”
Michael let that sit out there for a long moment. “And?”
“And he believed her.”
Another long pause. “You’re going to have to throw me a bone here, Hunter, because I don’t know what that means.”
Hunter swung his head around. “He believed her, okay? So did my mom.” His voice was shaky with fury, and he couldn’t stop it. “So they packed up my stuff, and they told me to get out, and when I tried to explain that it was a misunderstanding, he—he just—”
Hunter stopped, feeling his hands curl into fists. His breath was fogging in the air again, and Michael reached over to kick up the heat.
“It doesn’t matter,” Hunter finished. “I took my stuff and left.”
“Was this today?” said Michael. “Is that why you were so keyed up at Home Depot?”
Hunter shook his head. “Yesterday.”
“Yesterday?” Michael glanced over. “Where did you go last night?”
“I slept in the jeep.” His voice was small. “Behind Target.”
To his surprise, Michael reached over and smacked him on the back of the head. “Are you insane? Jesus, Hunter, you should have called the house.”
“Why?” he snapped. “So your brothers can keep giving me shit?” They were rolling to a stop at the end of Old Mill Road, just one turn away from the Merrick house. Hunter grabbed the door handle. “I don’t need this.”
Michael grabbed his arm. “Stop.” He didn’t let go, and turned the truck one-handed. “They might be giving you shit at school, but if you’d called and said you had nowhere to go . . .”
Hunter jerked free. “I can take care of myself.”
“Oh, really? Is that why I’m blasting the heat right now?” They were pulling up the driveway. Michael threw the truck in park in front of the garage. “Come inside and get something to eat. Your dog could probably use some water, too.”
It was the mention of Casper that made Hunter pause. His dog’s head was hanging over the seat back, his tongue lolling out from the heat blasting in the cab.
“Fine,” said Hunter. “But you can’t blame me if I end up punching Gabriel in the face.”
“Don’t worry,” said Michael. “He usually deserves it.”
Silver was fiddling with his weapons again, laying them out on the table.
He’d been pissed off all evening.
Finally, Kate couldn’t take it anymore. “What’s your problem?”
His eyes flicked up. “You very nearly gave us away.”
