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I swallow hard, “Yes.”
Hunter is the only man I’ve ever loved. He is also the only man who has broken my heart. I don’t blame him for his father’s actions. None of that is his fault. But he never came back. He just walked away. Did he really think I’d willingly leave him for his father?
“I’ll need a little time to put myself back together before I can find a job and an apartment.”
“No,” he growls, “You aren’t going anywhere, baby girl.”
I shake my head, “I can’t live with you forever. I won’t.”
“You’re right where you belong. With me.”
I give him a sad smile, “Hunter, what we were once upon a time… I’ll cherish the memories forever, but we can’t go back. I can never be with you again. Not after…everything.”
Reaching out, I touch the spot over his heart, “Thank you for saving me. I know a part of me has been in your heart for a long time. We never had closure. We can have that now. It’s time you let go, so someone else can occupy that space I’ve claimed for far too long. Move on.”
I go to stand, but he grabs my arms and holds me tight, “I can’t.”
He runs his fingers through my hair, then moves to my face holding me in his grip, “I’m sorry. I can’t let you go. After all these years it’s still you. I know you’ve been through hell, Sassy. The pain for you has been unreal. Let me help you heal.”
Lowering his head, he presses his lips to mine. I sit frozen. Shocked. When I don’t kiss him back, he pulls away, appearing defeated.
“I’m sorry.”
I get up and run back to my room. The only safe place I’ve known in years. Since I’ve been here, Hunter gives me my space. If I lock the door, he gives me my privacy. He doesn’t knock and yell at me to open it.
I throw myself on the bed and try to calm my racing heart. I fell in love with Hunter in third grade. He was my first everything. Even at nine years old, he was this dominant alpha male. We walked home from school together every day, since only three blocks separated our homes. In my mind, he wasn’t my boyfriend, but Hunter had a different opinion of the situation. He was walking me home like any other day and pushed me to the side of my house, grabbing my arms, he held me up against the brick, and kissed me, plunging his tongue into my mouth. When he removed his hands from my arms, I ran into the house crying.
We never spoke about it, but he never kissed me again, until he was my boyfriend in high school.
I smile thinking back to the day that Billy Turlington trapped me in the boy's locker room. He had heard a rumor that I gave the best blow jobs. It was not true. I had never even kissed a boy, but Hunter. Teenage girls are vicious when they don’t like you. They love to spread lies more than they love to spread the truth. Hunter heard me crying for Billy to let me go. Before I knew it, Hunter ran into the room and beat Billy within an inch of his life, which landed him in the hospital, while Hunter earned himself a two-week stint in juvie.
I’ve loved him for as long as I can remember. I thought that had faded after he abandoned me leaving me with his father for years. Yet, when he touches me it’s still there. Those butterflies make me feel like I might take flight. I know better than to let him back in. I can’t. I can never trust him. I know it’s not completely his fault. He was told I wanted to be with his dad. But to never come back again? To not question it? He just called me a cunt and left. We were in love for three years even if you discount all the other years we spent together as children. How do you walk away like that from someone you love?
CHAPTER SIX
HUNTER
I’m lying in bed, wide awake at two in the morning, when I hear her screams. Quickly, I toss the sheets off my body and run to her room. She’s in bed, frozen in fear, her arms are up beside her head, and her limbs appear locked in place. Jade is rigid as the terror rips through her. I climb into bed beside her and pull her into my arms, “Baby, you’re safe.”
Her eyes slowly open, wide, panicked as she wails in my embrace.
This is the cruelest form of torture I’ve ever experienced. I kiss her forehead, “Do you have nightmares every night?”
She sighs heavily, “Ever since you found me.”
Rolling onto my back, I pull her with me, so her face is on my chest while I run my fingers through her hair. Even with dried tears on her cheeks and perspiration covering her forehead, she’s still stunning. Her left hand is on my bicep, squeezing tight as if she’s holding on for dear life.
Lifting her head slightly, she stares at my chest, “You’ve gotten a lot of tattoos.”
She holds her hand in the air above my ink, her fingers trembling slightly, “Can I touch them?”
Fuck me. Can she touch me? It’s all I want to feel, her hands on me. The thought has my cock growing instantly.
“Yes, you never have to ask to touch me, Sassy. The answer is always yes.”
She touches the skull on my abdomen and traces around the artwork. Around the skull there are flowers, and she runs her finger over each of them until she gets to just above the flowers and gasps when she sees the words, ‘I can still feel you…”
“Is this?”
