HUNTER

by Jessie Cooke

  She yelled, punched, struggled, and tried to bite him as he carried her through a small living area and down a short hall. He kicked open a door and she saw a bed and really lost it. She was clawing at his face when he peeled her off of him and threw her onto the bed. The last thing she saw before her world went black were his beefy knuckles, headed toward her face.

  Cody watched Dax pace the length of the meeting room and could almost hear him simmering inside. When he found the guy that shot Kyle and took Angel, the man was going to wish he’d put the gun to his own head. Dax had been pacing for ten minutes, waiting for David to call. He was on his way to the ranch from the hospital, and in the meantime, he was having someone in the police department run the partial plates that one of the gang members who chased the car had gotten. Cody didn’t know all the details of what happened, but apparently Dax had secured a truce with Street Chaos before this all went down.

  Cody looked around the table at the other men in the room. Not a single one of them had uttered a sound. They all hurt for their president and Angel, but they all knew that words weren’t what their president needed at that moment. They were primed for action, however, and the second Dax gave the word, they were ready to fight. Even old Hawk, who rarely shut up, sat silently and the empathy was almost visible in his faded-blue eyes.

  The sound of Dax’s phone made everyone at the table sit up straighter. “David,” Dax said, putting the phone to his ear. All eyes were on him as he listened to whatever David was telling him. When Dax slowly lowered the phone to his side, his eyes were on Cody and the younger man got a chill when he saw the look in his president’s eyes. “I need you all to step out,” Dax said. “Be ready to ride in five. Cody, I need to talk to you.”

  Cody nodded and kept his eyes on Dax as the other men filed out. As soon as the last one closed the door behind him Dax said, “Do you remember Sam Winters?”

  “Fuck,” Cody said. He remembered the asshole. He went by “Sambo” and he was a sick motherfucker. “Please tell me he didn’t take Angel.”

  Dax was nodding slowly. “The license plate was just a partial, but the only classic Dodge Charger in Massachusetts that matches the first four numbers that we have is registered to that old piece of shit.”

  “Fuck,” Cody said, again. “I haven’t seen or heard of him since I’ve been out. Why the fuck would he take Angel?”

  Dax was slowly shaking his head. “Some kind of twisted revenge for your old man, maybe. I don’t know. I do know he doesn’t live out at the trailer park any longer. He was kicked out of there not long before you were locked up, so over ten years ago. I haven’t seen him since then either. Last thing I heard about him was that one of his sons was dealing drugs for a street crew out of Boston. As far as I know, he’s never ventured into our territory.”

  “Son of a bitch!” Cody stood up. “He has a son named George. He was a couple years older than me. Fucking Sam used to call him Georgie…” Dax got a text while Cody was talking. He looked at it and interrupted him to say:

  “David sent Sam’s last known. Let’s go.” Cody nearly had to run to catch up with Dax. He saw Tammy and Harley sitting with a few of the other girls around the couch and chairs in the great room. Harley blew him a kiss. He put his hand over his heart. He couldn’t even begin to fathom what was going through Dax’s head right now. If it were Harley, Cody would be out of his mind.

  Outside, Dax and Cody got on their bikes. The rest of the men, about twenty of them, were on their bikes and ready to go. Dax took the lead with their vice president Handsome beside him. Cody and Jimmie fell in behind them, and Gunner and Levi right behind them. Everyone else was paired off behind them as they rode out the front gates and headed away from the ranch. As they rode, Cody’s thoughts returned to a place he’d been trying to forget for years…back to when he was a kid and his dad was alive. God, he hated that son of a bitch, and even now thinking about him made him sick to his stomach. His father was a monster and for a long time, until Dax convinced him otherwise, Cody was afraid he would turn out to be a monster himself, thanks to having the old man’s genes.

  Cody’s father killed his mother. He never admitted to it and he was never charged with anything, but Cody and his older brother Keller knew in their hearts without a doubt that he’d done it. For years, Cody worried that the old man was going to do the same thing to him and Keller. Around Doc or any of the other guys in the club, he acted like a regular father and he didn’t call them names and he didn’t kick the shit out of them. But when they were alone, he took every opportunity he found to use both boys as punching bags. Keller always got the worst of it, because he begged for it by egging the old man on when he got warmed up. When Cody was really little, he thought Keller was an idiot for doing that. As he got older, he began to realize that his brother had an end goal in mind…to take the beating his father would have given Cody otherwise.

  Sam was the only member of the Skulls who had ever seen the old man raise a hand to the boys. Sam was Miller’s best friend and just as much of a piece- of shit as the old man. He had three kids of his own and he didn’t hesitate to punch or kick any one of them when he’d had too much to drink…or just because it was Tuesday. He’d drink with the old man and the two of them would sometimes make a game out of putting their cigarettes out on Cody’s back, or taking Keller’s clothes and then tossing him outside naked in the snow. They were both mean and sick, and Cody used to dream about putting a bullet in each one of their heads. Sam had three kids, two sons and a daughter. The daughter had run off when she was only fifteen and as far as Cody knew, no one had ever heard from her again. Georgie was the kind of kid who was destined to deal drugs, even back when Cody knew him, before either of them were old enough to even know what a dealer was. Sam’s oldest left the area after he got out of high school. Cody thought he’d seen him once since he’d been out of prison, but it had been fifteen years so Cody wasn’t sure. The guy he’d seen was coming out of The Bent Wrench bar as Cody was going in. He was wearing a suit, which Cody noticed first. The Bent Wrench was a biker bar and suits stood out like a sore thumb. When he looked at the guy’s face, the guy looked quickly away, but Cody had seen enough of it to get the impression he knew him from somewhere. He was about halfway through his first beer when it came to him. He looked like Charles Winters. Cody hadn’t thought another thing about it…until right now. Charles…fucking Chuck! Son of a bitch! What does this trailer-trash family want…and why now? He suddenly felt responsible somehow for what happened to Angel, and it was making him feel sick. If Dax didn’t kill this son of a bitch and his twisted litter first, Cody would be more than happy to do it.

  21

  Hunter had managed to get rid of his mother and aunt…after an excruciatingly long visit. Claire had never texted or called him, so he’d been worried about her the entire time and cursing himself for not having her cell phone number. When he finally got rid of his family and then the nurse who insisted he take his meds, he was able to take the IVs out of his hand and arm without bleeding too much. Then he was able to find his blood-soaked clothes, put them on, and slip a hospital gown on over them so no one would notice the clothes, hopefully. He took his IV pole with him so if any of the skeleton night crew did notice him, he could just say he was going for a walk. He didn’t run into anyone face to face…until he got off the elevator in the lobby.

  “Where are you going?” Hunter had abandoned the IV pole and the hospital gown. He was almost to the empty security desk near the front door when Claire’s voice startled him from behind. He turned to find her standing near the lobby couches with her arms folded across her chest.

  He grinned. “Taking a little midnight stroll. It’s stuffy in my room and it smells like penicillin.”

  She bit down on her bottom lip like she was trying not to smile. Finally, she said, “It’s way after midnight and that smell is antiseptic, not penicillin.”

  “Everyone hates a know-it-all. What are you doing here at…” He searched th
e lobby for a clock. When he found one, he was even more shocked to find her there. “Three-twenty a.m.? Geez. Why aren’t you back in Rockport? And why didn’t you text me?”

  “You said to text when I was home. I’m not home.”

  “Why?”

  She shook her head and sighed. “Your cousin gave me a ride home. On the way he happened to mention that you were probably going to leave as soon as you thought no one was looking.”

  “He lies.”

  She laughed and looked around. “Oh, really?”

  He sighed. “Dax needs my help.”

  “Last time I saw your friend Dax, he was surrounded by a lot of men who looked capable of helping him. You need to heal. You were shot tonight, you know.”

  “I was? I’m Superman, remember? Bullets bounce right off of me.”

  She looked at the bandage on his arm. He hadn’t even been able to put it through the sleeve of his shirt. “Bounce, huh?”

  “So…what exactly did you come here to do? Are you going to strong-arm me into going back to my room? Because that might be kind of fun…”

  “I brought my car back. I’ll take you home, or to the B & B, or even to the ranch. But please don’t go chasing down an MC club at three-thirty in the morning on a Harley, with one arm.”

  “When you put it that way, it sounds kind of stupid.”

  She laughed and held out her arm. He took it with his good one. As they passed the security table on their way out the door, Hunter stopped. The officer had come back to his post and now he was eyeing Hunter’s bloody clothes suspiciously. “I signed out against medical advice,” Hunter said. “Well, I didn’t really sign out. Maybe you could call the third floor and wake the nurses to let them know I left? They were all sleeping so peacefully…”

  The young security guard didn’t look like he had much of a sense of humor. He picked up the phone and said, “Name?”

  “Hunter Donovan.” Hunter and Claire listened as the officer confirmed Hunter wasn’t on any kind of legal hold and when he hung up, he asked Hunter to wait and sign the papers the nurse was bringing down. While they were waiting, Hunter talked him into looking up Kyle and seeing how he was doing. He was still in ICU and listed as critical. Hunter didn’t care much for him personally, but he liked the rest of the family, so he hoped Kyle pulled through.

  Once the paperwork was finished and they were on the road Claire said, “Your family is nice.”

  Hunter smiled and said, “Are you trying to get cozy with my family to get at me? You want me, don’t you? You know, my mom and aunt have one goal in life and that is to get me married off and making grandbabies.”

  “You wish,” Claire said. “Where are we going?”

  “My place is closer than yours,” he said. He gave her the address and tried not to let himself imagine making love to her as soon as they got there. He was pretty sure that wasn’t why she’d come back. He would have to remind himself that he owed Chase one either way. Just the pleasure of her company would get him through the night…or morning, he supposed.

  “What about pain meds?” Claire asked.

  “What about them?”

  “You walked out without anything. Maybe we should call the hospital…”

  “No. I’m okay. My neighbor downstairs sells OxyContin if I get desperate.” Claire looked away from the road long enough to give him a shocked look. He laughed. “I’m kidding. I do have some Vicodin left over from the last time I got shot, though.”

  “Jesus, you’ve been shot before? Why do you do this to yourself? Wouldn’t you rather have a job…and friends…that don’t turn you into a walking target?”

  He chuckled. “Honestly, no. I love my job, and my friends. Tonight was a fluke…”

  “And the other shooting?”

  “I was kidding. This was the first time, unless you count when my brother shot me with his B.B. gun when I was four.”

  “Oh my God! You got shot when you were four?”

  “Yep,” he said, holding up his right hand. “Right here in the finger. If you look close with a magnifying glass, you can still see the scar.” Claire rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Okay, there’s no scar on the outside, but emotionally, I was scarred for life.”

  “That’s believable,” she said. Hunter laughed again. He loved her dry sense of humor. He was beginning to love a lot about her.

  When they got to his apartment building, she opened the car door for him and made him hold her arm all the way into the building and up the elevator. He didn’t need her to hold him up, but he wasn’t going to turn down any opportunity to touch her. Once they were inside his apartment, she made him sit down on the couch and said, “Are you hungry?”

  Hunter realized that he hadn’t eaten anything all day. His stomach heard her ask if he was hungry and started growling. “Yeah, I’m actually starving. My housekeeper cooks and puts stuff in the freezer when she’s here.” He started to stand up.

  “No, sit down. I’ll find it.” He was going to argue, but suddenly realized that he liked her taking care of him. He sat back into the couch and fished his phone out of his pocket. While listening to Claire move around the kitchen, he dialed Dax’s number. He wasn’t surprised when he didn’t get an answer. He tried Levi, Cody, and Gunner with the same result. He finally called David, and in a voice that was heavy with stress Angel’s brother barked out:

  “Hello?”

  “David, it’s Hunter.”

  “Hey. Are you with Dax?”

  “No. Where is he?”

  “He went to look for Angel.”

  “I’m sorry, David. I was pretty out of it when Dax got the call. What happened? Where is she?”

  “As well as we could piece it together, she got a phone call telling her that you and Dax were dead. Handsome left her alone, because she told him she needed to grieve. He doesn’t know her as well as we do. Any of her brothers and even Dax would have known she was lying. She wouldn’t have just accepted Dax was dead like that. She went to find him and either took Kyle with her or he followed her. From there, no one really knows what happened. Kyle was shot in the chest and someone saw Angel being stuffed into the trunk of a car. Kyle was awake long enough to tell them who Angel was and they called Dax right away. One of them got a partial plate and I sent Dax a name and address. I should have waited and handed it to him because by the time I got to the ranch, they were all gone. I drove out to that address. It’s a rusted-out double-wide in the middle of nowhere. Dax wasn’t there, no one was. I don’t fucking know where to go next and no one will fucking answer their phones.”

  “Jesus, David, I’m sorry.”

  “I’m sick of this bullshit. I’ve done my best to accept my sister’s choices. I love Dax like one of my brothers, but I’m sick of worrying about her all the fucking time.” David sounded like he was on the verge of a breakdown.

  “I feel you, man. Do you need company?”

  “No.” David sighed, or let out a long, deep breath. “I’m sorry, Hunter. I know none of this is your fault and you were shot too…”

  “I’m okay. Your brother is in the hospital and your sister is missing. You have a right to be upset, brother.”

  “Thanks. I told Kat not to come over. She can’t drive with that broken ankle…but she came anyways. She was in so much pain that she took her pain medication and passed out. I’m going to cuddle up next to her and pretend this is all a bad dream, until the sun comes up, or someone calls and tells me otherwise.”

  “Okay, man. Try and get some rest.” Hunter ended the call and was still looking at the phone, trying to figure out what to do next, when Claire called out to him,

  “Dinner is ready,” she said, putting two plates down on his little dining room table. “I’m sorry, but there wasn’t any breakfast food in there.” Hunter got up and went over to the table. She’d heated up a roast, potatoes, gravy, and vegetables that his housekeeper Anna left in the freezer.

  “It looks great,” he said as he took his seat. “It s
mells amazing too.”

  Claire smiled. “I wish I could take credit for it. That’s some pretty amazing housekeeper you have. You should marry her.”

  Hunter took a bite off his plate and when he finished swallowing it he said, “I’ve begged her to marry me for years.” He watched Claire’s face closely. He wasn’t sure, but he thought that he saw a little jealousy in those gorgeous eyes. “She won’t do it, and you know why?”

  “Why?” she didn’t really sound like she wanted to know. Hunter suppressed a smile and said:

  “Well, she’s just afraid we won’t be compatible sexually.”

  Claire almost spit out the drink of milk she’d just taken. When she composed herself she said, “I’ll probably regret asking, but why does she think that?”

  “She just wants it all the time and I don’t have the stamina…”

  “Okay! Thanks, that’s enough.”

  Hunter started laughing. “Excuse me for a second.” He went back into the living room and came back with a framed photo. Handing it to her he said, “That’s her. You see what I mean?” The photo was of him with a gorgeous blonde with huge tits on his right. She was wearing a crop top that said “Hooters” and her flat stomach peeked out from underneath it. On the other side of him was a woman in a wool skirt that went to her knees and an overcoat. She had tightly rolled gray hair and glasses, and although her smile was radiant, it caused every line in her face to wrinkle.

  “She’s…pretty,” Claire said.

  Hunter laughed again. “Yep, she is. I love her smile.”

  “I’ll just bet her smile is what you love about her.”

  Still laughing he said, “Well, as you can see, and taste from her cooking, there’s a lot more to love. But mostly, it’s her smile.” He took the photo back and sat down in his chair. “That picture was taken on her birthday.”