HUNTER

by Jessie Cooke

  “Where are you? It’s almost breakfast time.”

  “It’s only five-thirty. I was on my way back, but I’m stuck. David is going down the other way toward the parking lot and I didn’t think it would look good if anyone saw him…”

  “Wait, slow down. What the fuck is going on?”

  “I fell through a hole. I’m doing the fucking splits here and it’s not comfortable. Come get me!”

  “Where are you?”

  “Near the bottom of the cliff.”

  “Shit. Okay, I’ll be right there.” Kat could hear the irritation in Hunter’s voice and she felt bad. She hoped this didn’t mess things up somehow. If Claire or any of the guests saw her, she had no idea how she’d explain her predicament, or why she was out there in the dark. She willed Hunter to hurry and she was relieved when she saw him approaching at a sprint only minutes later. When he got close enough to see her he stopped and, surprisingly, laughed his ass off.

  “What the fuck are you laughing at? Help me.”

  “You look funny as hell. Can I get a picture?”

  “Hunter, I swear I’ll kill you…”

  “Okay, okay. Here. He got close enough to hold his hand out to her. She took it and he pulled, but as they pulled her out, the rocks around the opening fell in as if to fill in the hole around her and keep her captive.

  “Damn it! This isn’t working.”

  “Shit.” Hunter let go of her hands and bent down to begin moving the rocks around her leg.

  “Hurry!” He looked up and furrowed his brow at her but he didn’t say anything before going back to work. She was getting annoyed again when she saw a shadow moving across the sand not far behind the cottage where Claire lived. Her first thought was that it was Claire and panic filled her chest. “Oh, shit!”

  “I’m going as fast as I can!” Hunter snapped.

  “No,” she said, pointing at the shadow that was now advancing onto the beach in the moonlight. “Look, over there.” Hunter groaned and turned his head and then he said:

  “Fuck! It’s Larry. I left my fucking gun upstairs.”

  “In my boot!” Hunter began tearing off Kat’s boot. It hurt, but she didn’t say anything. He finally pulled out the gun and took off after Larry. Kat was helpless to do anything but watch. Larry saw Hunter when he was about six feet away and started sprinting toward the water. Kat decided since their cover was obviously blown now, she’d text David. As she was doing that, she watched Hunter dive into Larry and they both rolled across the sand. She was pissed that she was stuck, but it was kind of fun to watch. The sun was up just enough that she could still only see their shadows, but fists were flying and limbs were all over the place. Kat was almost ashamed of herself for what she thought as she was waiting for David to text back. Hunter is going to play hell getting all that sand out of his ass crack.

  Hunter finally got Larry onto his back and as he pressed the little gun to the other man’s temple he was tempted to pull the trigger. He was soaked with wet sand and fucking freezing. “Stop moving, asshole, or I’m going to put a bullet in that little brain of yours.” Hunter shoved the gun harder against Larry’s head and the other man finally froze.

  “Who are you? What do you want?”

  “You know damned good and well who I am. I’m here to take you back to jail, asshole. You know, the place you were out on bail from when you skipped out and left my boss holding the tab?”

  “Oh, shit! You’re a bounty hunter?”

  “Of course, I’m a bounty hunter, what did you think? You’ve been running from me for weeks, asshole.”

  “You’re the guy from the bar the other night.”

  “Yeah, and I still have the knot on the back of my head as a souvenir. I’m tempted to leave one on yours.”

  “No, please…we didn’t know you were a bounty hunter, honest. We thought you worked for them!”

  “Them who? What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “Chaos, the street gang.”

  Hunter drew his brows together. “Despite the fact that I obviously look like a member of a street gang,” he said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. “What the fuck would make you think I was working for them?”

  “You’ve been following me. We just thought they paid you…”

  “Wait. Slow down. Who is we?”

  “Can I get up out of the sand? It’s cold and I’ve had the sniffles…” Hunter couldn’t help it, he pulled the gun back slightly and hit Larry in the head with it. It was just a tap, but the other man cried out. “Don’t hurt me!”

  “Then stop acting like a sniveling little asshole. Who is we?”

  “Me and…nobody. Just me.”

  “You and Claire?”

  “No! Leave Claire out of this. She doesn’t know anything.”

  “She knew enough to crack a pipe over my head.”

  “She thought you were going to kill me. It was my fault. I snuck out and went to that bar. She came to find me and you were attacking me, naked, in the street…Please. She’s my baby girl. I’ve only had her for a little while. None of this is her fault. She’s a good girl. She only wants to help. It’s me. It’s all me. Take me to jail.”

  “If Street Chaos wants your ass, jail is the perfect place for them to get at you. That’s why you ran…fuck, I thought you were just stupid.”

  “It’s okay. I’ll ask for protective custody. Take me to jail and just leave my Claire alone.”

  “Hunter!” Hunter kept the gun on Larry and turned his head slightly to see David, carrying Kat. She didn’t look happy about it but her ankle was twisted at an odd angle.

  “Shit! Kat are you okay?”

  “Peachy,” she said. “Can I kick that asshole in the head with my good leg, though, since ultimately this is his fault?”

  “Later. David, take her up to the house. I heard Claire in the kitchen when I came out here. Tell her I have her daddy and we need to talk.”

  “No! Please! Leave her out of it.”

  Hunter sighed. He honestly wished that he could, but he wasn’t going to admit that to Larry. David started up toward the Inn with Kat in his arms and Hunter slowly got up off Larry. Still pointing the gun down at him he said, “Get up.” Larry’s body was pushed down into the sand, so he had to struggle to sit upright. Hunter’s patience was shot and again, he imagined himself blowing the idiot’s brains out before he finally got to his feet. Once Larry was upright, he put a hand on the small of his back and groaned.

  “You got my back all twisted up. I have a bad back.” Hunter waved his hand in front of his face. He was right about Larry’s breath, it stunk.

  “Jesus, man, a little oral hygiene goes a long way.”

  “I have gum disease,” he whined.

  “Come on, let’s start walking up to the house.”

  “Aw man, Claire’s not going to be happy. Let her live her life, please. She’s a good girl.”

  “So you said.”

  “She is. She’s nothing like me. She’s like her mama. Her mama was so beautiful…”

  “Walk!” Larry started walking and Hunter walked behind him with the gun pointed at his head.

  “You should have seen her mother. She had the prettiest eyes I’d ever seen.” Hunter didn’t doubt that. He wasn’t looking forward to the look in Claire’s gorgeous eyes when she found out he was a fake…a liar…everything a woman like her wouldn’t want. He caught himself and almost laughed. “A woman like her.” He didn’t know what kind of woman she was. All he knew was she had a hell of a swing and she was spawned from a guy that didn’t know how to use a toothbrush.

  “How’d you ever get a looker like that, Larry?”

  “Celine…her name is Celine.”

  “So, what did Celine see in a guy like you?”

  “I wasn’t always such a loser, you know? I had dreams like everyone else once upon a time. I had a job and I was making pretty good money. I didn’t have this bad back or bad teeth back then, and I was a pretty sharp dresser.” Hunter
rolled his eyes and Larry said, “It’s true. Anyways, I went to this big party one night. A friend of mine from work invited me. I thought it was gonna be just a bunch of people hanging out, you know. It was a lot more than that. They had these bowls and they were full of all these pills…different shapes and colors and sizes. I didn’t do drugs, any drugs. I hardly drank. But that night I’d been drinking a lot and the more I drank, the more them pills didn’t look so scary. I guess I took a bunch of them. I guess Celine did too. That was the night we met…and the night we made Claire.”

  “So, you didn’t really know Claire’s mother?”

  “Excuse me! How is that your business? Dad, why are you talking to him about Mom, and why are you pointing a gun at my father? Who are you?”

  Claire had appeared from around the side of the house as they approached it. She was wearing a pair of pink yoga pants and a black, long-sleeved Under Armor shirt that hugged her impressive figure. Her long, dark hair was hanging straight down her back, almost to her waist, and Hunter had images of himself burying his face in it while his hands hugged those curves the way that lucky, fucking shirt was. Her gorgeous green/blue eyes were shining with accusation and anger. Hunter never had a hard time getting women, and he might even be a little arrogant about it sometimes. But even he knew that his chances of having this one were equal to his chances of winning a Nobel Peace Prize someday.

  9

  Hunter might have tried to answer Claire’s questions if it weren’t for the fact that Larry wouldn’t stop talking…or whining, anyways. He told Claire that Hunter was a bounty hunter and if he wasn’t mistaken, Claire looked as relieved as Larry did earlier when he found out that Hunter was working for Chase and not Street Chaos. They were on the path between the main house and Claire’s cottage when she said:

  “Can we do this in my cottage and not in front of my guests?” Hunter was going to say no. He didn’t know if he should trust her or not. She could have a gun inside, or another pipe. But as soon as he opened his mouth, he realized that saying no to her wouldn’t be as easy as it sounded.

  “Well, little lady, I’m not sure if we can do that or not,” he said, knowing full well already that he was going to agree. “I mean, what’s to stop you from cracking my skull wide open this time?”

  She looked embarrassed, or ashamed. Her face colored red and she looked at her father before saying, “I’m sorry about that. You know, when it comes to family sometimes people get emotional. I thought you were working for the street gang. I would have never hit you if I knew who you really were…honest.” Hunter wasn’t a gullible guy and he wasn’t going to fall for a lie on the off chance of getting some pussy either. But she seemed genuine and he had a gut feeling that she was telling him the truth

  “Okay, but you go in first, we stay in the same room at all times, and remember, it doesn’t matter how pretty you are, I’ll shoot you to save my own ass.” He wouldn’t. He had never been in the position of shooting a woman, but he honestly didn’t think he could…especially this woman. God, she’s gorgeous.

  “Okay,” she agreed. Hunter and Larry followed her to the door of the cottage. She opened it and went inside and the men followed her. The place looked like a typical beach house with white wicker furniture, glass tables, and seashell décor on the walls. The floors were wood and so finely polished that a reflection could almost be seen in them. Hunter wondered what time she got up in the morning to be able to take care of two houses and at least ten other people. She wasn’t just hot, she was a businesswoman, and a hard-working one at that. Damn. It was getting harder by the minute for him to accept that it was never going to happen.

  “Sit down on the couch,” he told her. Larry started to sit next to her and Hunter said, “No! You sit in that chair there.” He waited until they both sat down and then he took a seat where he could see them both easily and the door to his left as well. “Now, start talking,” he said to Larry. Larry looked at Claire. “Don’t look at her. I want to hear your story and without all the whining and begging.”

  “I won’t involve Claire,” he said.

  “Dad, this is over, okay? You have to tell someone what’s going on. Maybe this guy can help you.”

  “He’s not even a cop. How’s he going to help?”

  “That’s right, I’m not a cop. I’m here to collect my bounty and that’s you. I have you now and all that’s really left to do is to deliver you to my cousin in Dorchester. So, you can talk or not. I don’t give a shit. If you’re not going to talk, let’s get started because I haven’t had my coffee or breakfast and when I get hungry and low on caffeine, I’m an ornery son of a bitch.”

  “Dad, just tell him the truth,” Claire said. “Please.”

  “What’s the truth, Larry? You told me you skipped bail because you were scared for your life if you went to jail. Is that the truth?” Larry nodded and Hunter asked, “What is it Street Chaos wants with you?”

  “They want me dead,” Larry said in a defeated voice. “They’ll do it too, as soon as I get locked up in general population.”

  “Why, Larry? What did you do to them?”

  “It was an accident. I didn’t know what I was doing…”

  “Stop with the fucking excuses and just tell me what happened. I’m already wasting way too much time here.”

  Larry sighed and went on, “I was in this bar one night.” Hunter groaned. In his experience, stories that started like that were usually long, and at least half lies. He didn’t interrupt however, and he didn’t let himself look sideways at Claire. He couldn’t concentrate when he looked at her. He was already going to be treading water with Chase once he found out that he’d even listened to the two of them. “This guy was sitting next to me. He started bullshitting with me, asking me where I was from and what I did and shit like that and then he bought me a drink, or two. It was slow in the bar…”

  “What bar was this?”

  “It’s in Southie…” Hunter rolled his eyes. Southie was the worst end of Boston and sitting in a bar there was just looking for trouble. “It’s called Crazy Charlie’s or something like that. I got dropped off in Southie by one of my buddies that night and was looking for a ride home….”

  “Anyways…”

  “Yeah, anyways, I was drinking with this guy and feeling pretty good when he started asking me questions about Dorchester and the Southside and if I knew the Skulls or Street Chaos. I told him of course I knew ’em. Everyone on the Southside knows the Skulls, right?” Hunter didn’t say anything so he went on again. “So he tells me that he knows the president of the Skulls. He says they go way back…”

  “He mentioned Dax Marshall by name?”

  “Nah, he kept calling him ‘Doc’s kid.’ But everyone knows that’s Dax, right? So anyways I said I saw him around a lot and he said he hadn’t seen him in a while. He started asking me what the Skulls were into these days. I told him I didn’t know, I thought boosting cars and shit…and then I mentioned something I wish I never would have.” He stopped talking for several minutes, and finally Hunter cleared his throat and Larry snapped back from wherever he’d gone in his head. “I was just talkin’, you know? The alcohol was making me feel good and a guy like me don’t have too many people to talk to. So’s anyways I told him something I’d heard on the streets not long before that. I told him that Street Chaos was jacking cars in Skulls’ territory and I’d also heard there was a war brewing between them. You know, I just said what everyone already knew, that there was bad blood there. We talked about that for a while,” he sighed and said, “then he pulled out this wad of cash…” Hunter groaned. Larry had been that man’s target and he had been too drunk or stupid that night to figure that out, obviously. Hell, Hunter doubted that he was even smart enough to know it now. It was no accident that man met him in that bar. “You know I have this bad back and I haven’t been able to work…I’m tired of sponging off my little girl…”

  “Just tell me what you agreed to do, Larry.”

  “W
ell, it seemed easy, really. All he wanted me to do was drive this car over to the Skulls’ territory and park it, and then let Chaos know it was there and that there was something in the trunk they might be interested in. He gave me five hundred dollars cash and I got the ride home I was looking for…”

  So, it was no accident that Trayvon ended up with the car and the evidence that could bring Dax to his knees. Somehow, Hunter wasn’t surprised by that. “So, you just walked up to Trayvon and said, ‘Hey, why don’t you steal this car, there’s something in it for you’?”

  “Not exactly. See, I know this old man that used to be a big fish in the gang. He’s a homeless old crackhead now, but they still give him respect. I found him after I parked the car and I told him I had some information that Trayvon might want, about Dax Marshall. This old guy set up a meeting with one of Trayvon’s lieutenants…and I gave them the information.”

  “For free?”

  “Nah,” he said, sniffling and wiping his nose on the shoulder of his shirt. “I asked for money. They laughed at me, but they made me tell them where the car was at. I wasn’t too disappointed since I already had the money from the guy at the bar…it was later, when I talked to the old guy on the street again, when I got worried.”

  “About?”

  “Street Chaos. They stole that car, but there were undercover police watching. They chased them and…”

  “Fuck! That shoot-out that Chaos had with the cops a few months ago…that was over this car?” The news reports hadn’t mentioned the make or model of the car or even where they’d stolen it from. All they’d really said was that one of the officers had been killed in an accident caused by the high-speed chase and they were seeking members of a “local street gang” for questioning.

  “Yeah. Trayvon lost one of his guys and those cops got in a wreck chasing them and one of them died.”

  Hunter was nodding. He didn’t know Street Chaos had lost a man too, but he wasn’t privy to information from inside the gang and that information had obviously not made it to the mass media. What Hunter did know suddenly was that this thing went much deeper than one man looking to bring Dax down. He was looking to start a war that would bring down the whole MC…but why? “Did the guy in the bar ever give you a name?”