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“Yes,” she says.
“His body came back but he left his mind somewhere in the desert,” I tell her. “He drowned himself in alcohol, cocaine, heroin, like he did between tours to fight his demons. When he was home, he only wanted to be with his buddies to feel normal again. My mother tried everything, but when she stopped trying he closed himself off even more. He joined the club, and mom hoped it would do him good. It did in the beginning, but after a while, he changed.” I sigh. “When my mom died from an overdose of his drugs, he lost it and got locked up. He left me with his brother, before I took to the streets, but you know that.”
“I’m sorry, Hunt,” she whispers.
I grimace, staring at the dog tags I’m clutching in my hand. I swallow hard before I go on. “Jay, Mac and Drew saved me in so many ways.”
“I’m so sorry,” she says.
Scratching my stubble, I continue. “I almost went into the system if Jay hadn’t taken custody of me. I made the same mistakes my father did, only I was twenty years younger.”
“Do you ever visit your dad?” she asks, reaching for my hand.
I shake my head, brushing my thumb over her knuckles. “Oliver called me in the beginning. I never responded. I blamed him for everything; on some level, I still do. I know I used him as an excuse for all the things that went wrong in my life. Easier, I guess, to blame someone else for your mistakes.”
“I guess so,” she answers, getting a faraway look in her eyes. “Do you want to see him?”
I give her an uninterested shrug. “He got out the day I turned eighteen, but I didn’t want to go to him or his club. Don’t know, don’t care.”
She pushes me in the shoulder. “You do care.”
I scrub my face with both hands. “Zombie wouldn’t care. I wouldn’t recognize him anyway.”
“Why don’t you find out for yourself?”
“What about you? How are you and Jay getting along?” I ask, raising my brows.
“Now I know why you don’t want to talk about it,” she answers, smiling.
We keep the conversation light after that.
After we finish eating, we say goodbye to May and Clay.
“Bring Sky by again, Hunter,” May whispers in my ear, pushing some leftover pie in my hands.
“I promise, May,” I tell her, giving her a hug.
“Stay out of trouble, son,” Clay says, slapping his hand on my shoulder, and winking at Sky.
Sky nods, not saying anything. She is quiet the entire way home, slowly pulling away from me. I don’t know what I did wrong. But I make myself a promise to find out even if she doesn’t want me to. I never fucking back off from a challenge, and I think she is going to be my greatest one yet.
