AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s fixable,” I said, inching forward, like I was approaching a wild animal. The feral look in his eyes was a little disconcerting, but I knew he’d never hurt me. “Come inside with me.”
“No.” He backed up some more. “I need to go. Go inside, please. I want to make sure you’re tucked in safe and sound.”
“Then you’re going to have to wait. I’m not going inside without you.”
“Lina.”
“Hunter.” I crossed my eyes at him, hoping to break through that brick wall he was erecting again. I’d just gotten through it and didn’t want to hammer through another one. I would, of course, but I didn’t want to.
“I’m out of control.”
“No, you’re not. You’re fine.” I nodded. “You’d never hurt me. Hunter, you’re—”
“Dangerous.” He slammed his back into the wall and slid down until he was sitting on the floor. “I would never intentionally hurt you. Never. You’re—I—care about you so much.”
“I know.” I knelt before him. “I care about you, too. Hunter, I’m safe with you. Safest I’ve ever been in my life.”
Rubbing his face with his hands, he leaned forward. “I didn’t mean to hurt Isabelle either. But I did. I hurt her, Lina.”
“Isabelle?” I gripped his shoulder. “Hunter, who’s Isabelle?”
“She was my girlfriend…she—I’d won a fight. We were celebrating. I was drunk and…kicking the hell out of some cocky son of a bitch who was hitting on her. His gang jumped us in the alley. Six against one.” He banged his head against the wall, his eyes closed tight. “I fell into a rage. Only saw red. So much red…”
I combed my fingers through his hair. His pulse was visible along his neck, and his veins bulged.
“I didn’t mean to. She…she must have gotten in my path or something.” He leaned away from my touch.
Oh, God, had he hurt her?
“I’d beaten four of the guys so badly the other two ran. When I came out of the fog, Isabelle was on the ground...”
“The guys—”
“No!” Tears lined the bottom of his eyes. “She was…They said the guy driving the car...he didn’t see her.”
“Hunter.”
“It hit her, but it was her head hitting the concrete exactly right that did it. That ki—” He pressed the palms of his hands to his eyes. “I lost control, didn’t even know what was happening. I accidentally hit her—pushed her or something.”
Oh, crap. She’d died, hadn’t she?
A tear finally traced over his cheek. Seeing this big man break down in tears nearly tore me in half. I hated how much he was hurting.
He blamed himself for Isabelle’s death.
“Shhh,” I said combing my fingers through his hair again. “It’s okay. I’m fine. We’re fine.”
“That rage came back tonight when I saw that guy grab Patty. I wanted to kill him.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Because of you,” he whispered as he leaned into my hand. “Above everything raging in my mind and in my ears, I heard you, Lina.”
I pressed my lips to his forehead. “I’ll always call out for you.”
“I’m not like him,” he whispered. “I’m not like him.”
“You’re nothing like him,” I said, guessing he meant he wasn’t like the man he’d fought—or like his father.
