I had to know. What was the use in beating around the bush? I had to get back to the hospital. The quicker I asked him, the quicker we could put this behind us and move forward. “Why are you here?” I blurted impatiently. “Memphis said you were in trouble. Are you gambling again?”
He looked down at his hands, which were clasped around the frosty glass. I knew the answer to that question by the way he refused to make eye contact with me.
“Is Memphis involved, too?” I huffed.
His head snapped up, his eyes finally locking with mine. “I’m sorry, London. I know I’ve said it a million times before, but I am truly sorry. We thought we had it under control. Clearly, we don’t, but . . . that’s not why I’m here. Coming back now was Memphis’s idea. I told him we shouldn’t. My goal has always been to protect you, but . . . I had to make sure he was holding up his end of the bargain. I had to make sure you were okay.”
His end of the bargain? “Who’s end of what bargain? Are you talking about Memphis? Because I’ve tried to reach him so many times, Hunter. We needed him and I have no idea what either of you needs from me or my mother now, but I’m not so sure I have anything to give. He abandoned us, ignored us. I can’t forgive that, no matter how much trouble he’s found himself in. Hell, I don’t know if I’ll even be able to look at him if he shows his face around here.”
Taking the last sip of his drink, he slammed the glass down on the table. “I’m not talking about Memphis, London.”
“Then who?” I shrugged, completely confused.
“Sam.”
At the mere mention of his name, my heart squeezed in my chest. It was a pinch so tight, so strong, I feared it stopped beating altogether. “What about Sam?” I spat. What did this have to do with him?
Hunter’s features softened. Amidst the worry and pain deeply etched into the landscape of his handsome face, his eyes sparkled with a familiar ember that once ignited the fire that was our love for each other.
“He promised me he would take care of you. He was the only one I could trust to keep my girl out of harm’s way.”
He reached across the table to grasp my hand, but my spine crashed against the back of the chair as I retreated from his touch. It felt as if I’d been slapped across the face with a truth so incomprehensible it could only be classified as a lie.
His girl? What the hell was he talking about? And what did any of this have to do with Sam?
Sam who knew nothing about this mess Memphis and Hunter had gotten themselves into.
Sam who always had my best interests at the forefront of his selfless mind.
Sam who loved me like no man had ever loved me before.
Sam who owned my heart.
“Are you telling me Sam has known where you and Memphis were this whole time? That the two of you made some kind of deal, involving me?”
Silently but surely, Hunter nodded his head and smiled. “And he didn’t go back on his word. He kept you safe for me. He did exactly as I asked.
And then, the realization hit me. Hunter wasn’t lying to me . . . Sam was.
“Now I can explain everything, and after we fix this, we can go back to the way things used to be, baby.”
Sam
I COULDN’T WAIT to get the fuck out of here. Not that the hospital staff wasn’t taking care of me as if I were a king—donating an organ should totally classify someone as royalty, by the way—but I was done with this place.
London, Ella, and I had spent enough time here. If I didn’t see the inside of this hospital ever again it would be too soon. But I had at least one more day before I could put this place behind me and wish it a fond farewell.
London would probably be back any minute, but in the meantime, I forked around the mush they served as food and paged through a leftover newspaper I’d stolen from Henry. Reading a paper seemed so antiquated, but then again, so was Henry. I laughed to myself as I thought about him, my mind trailing off to the relief written on his face when he first walked into Ella’s room and found her awake.
Everyone was relieved that Ella was awake. London hadn’t been herself while her mother was in the coma, and no matter how hard I tried to comfort her, I came up short.
But that was over now. Another trial in the books; another hardship conquered. It seemed everywhere she turned lately, my poor girl had been faced with some kind of trauma. From Hunter’s gambling to the divorce, Ella’s health, and then the disaster that was Doctor Bryce Owen.
It was a miracle he hadn’t barged into the operating room and butchered me right on the spot. Then again, Doctor Bronson made it clear that Bryce was out of the picture and far away . . . for now. No one wanted to ruin the guy’s life—he did that all on his own—but it was a must that he kept a safe distance from London and anyone close to her. The restraining order made that mandatory; the hospital made it temporary. He’d be back one day, just not when any of us were here.
And yet, even though I could rest easy that Bryce was out of the picture and everything was starting to look up, I still hadn’t told London about Memphis and Hunter. I held on to what I knew because I couldn’t bear to throw one more thing London’s way. God knew she’d been through enough, but then we became an us. Because of us she was happy again, and now the universe expected me to do the right thing, even though the right thing would cause her pain at the risk of losing her trust.
I would tell her. I had to. I just needed a little more time. Time to heal, to gain some strength back, to make her mine . . . for good.
But like my mother used to say: when we make plans, God laughs. And as Memphis appeared at the door of my hospital room, I could hear the big man upstairs cackling his holy ass off.
I straightened in the bed, hating that I couldn’t jump to my feet the way I wanted to.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Scratching the back of his head and stumbling inside, Memphis did not make eye contact as he approached. “I got your email,” he said.
“Huh.” I laughed. “I sent that over three months ago, asshole.”
His head snapped up and our eyes finally met. His were slightly bloodshot, tired and droopy. His dark hair was buzzed short and he’d lost weight, making him look too thin for a man of his height. After just a minute of inspecting him, it was evident Memphis was a mess. Not that I was surprised, but seeing him in the flesh rather than imagining this shit in my mind came with an unexpected shock factor.
“Where the fuck have you been, Memphis?” I breathed through my nose and waited for him to answer.
He closed his eyes and let out a weighty huff. “Come on, man. You know I couldn’t come back. I wanted to be here for them, but . . . I couldn’t risk it.”
“And now you can? Why now? What changed?”
He shook his head but looked down toward the floor as he nibbled on his thumb. The uneasiness of his demeanor didn’t sit well with me.
“Listen, Memphis. I need to know what the hell is going on before London gets here. She’s been through enough, and if I have to risk my recovery and split open every stitch to keep you out of her way until I know what’s up, I will!”
“We fucked up!” he finally said, his voice muffled with pain. “We need help! I know we shouldn’t have come back, but we didn’t know what else to do. They’re going to kill us if we don’t settle this shit, Sam. We need whatever help we can get. We’ll pay back every dime—”
“We?” I interrupted, my heart thumping in my ears, every inch of my skin bubbling with scorching heat. “Hunter’s here, too?”
“Uh huh.”
“Where is he?”
“He went to Ella’s . . . to see London.”
Fuck! This was bad. If he got to her first, if he told her first, she would never forgive me.
I gripped the sides of the bed and tried to shimmy myself off the mattress. But without the aid of a nurse or London, the pain of getting to my feet pierced through me and made me see stars.
“Ow! Fuck!”
&nb
sp; “Are you all right, man?” Memphis came to my side, placing a hand on my arm.
“Get the fuck off of me. I don’t need your help.” I shrugged his hand away, tugging fistfuls of my hair until I finally eyed my phone on the table beside me. Grabbing it, I dialed London and ignored her brother’s incredulous stare.
Pick up. Pick up, I begged as I listened to the phone ring over and over.
When it went to voicemail, I tried again. And when she didn’t answer after four more tries, I sent her a text asking her to call me as soon as she could.
The fact she wasn’t answering worried me to the point of delirium. Maybe she was on her way here and not answering because she was driving. But I knew, I knew it in my gut, that was only wishful thinking. Hunter had gotten to her. The truth was out and everything I’d worked so hard to prove would all seem like one big lie to her now.
Eighteen months ago
“Hello?” I warily picked up the phone. I had no clue why Hunter would be calling me in China. We almost never spoke over the phone when I was home, so my curiosity was brewing as I waited for him to respond.
“Hey, man. It’s Hunter. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“No, not at all.” I blotted the sweat from my face and neck with a towel. I’d just finished a workout; it was seven p.m. here, which meant it was pretty early back home. “Everything okay?”
His long sigh and unmistakable hesitancy caused the hairs on the back of my neck to rise to attention.
“Is everything okay with London? Is it Ella?” A wave of panic washed over me. Why else would he be calling? Of course, this had something to do with London. That was my only tie to Hunter.
“They’re fine, but yes, this is about London. She doesn’t know I’m calling you, so I’m asking you to keep this between us.”
I didn’t like the sound of this already. London was my best friend. There were no secrets between us. What Hunter was asking me to do was against everything our relationship stood for.
“I don’t know, man.” I scratched the back of my head, pacing the gym and weaving in and out of the unused machines.
“Listen, Sam. I know the last thing you want to do is lie to her, but . . . what if I told you her safety was at risk? Would that change your mind?”
I stopped dead in my tracks and froze. “What the fuck is going on, Hunter? What do you mean her safety’s at risk?”
There was shuffling on the other end, the sound of an ignition starting—his truck. From what London had told me, Hunter had been out of work for months. It was early morning back in New Bedford. If he wasn’t heading off to work, where was he going at this hour? What was he hiding from his wife?
“I fucked up,” he finally said, the phrase lingering in the air and causing my mind to run rampant.
Did he cheat on her? Had he hurt her? Were they fighting? Was she okay?
If ever I wished I hadn’t taken this transfer, it was now. I needed to be there. I needed to be with her. I rushed to the gym’s exit and darted out the door to where I could breathe in fresh air to calm my nerves. It was no use. I was still a world away from the only thing that mattered to me.
Clutching the phone in my hand so tight my entire arm rippled with tension, I growled into the receiver. “Hunter, if you don’t start talking, I’m going to lose my fucking shit. What. The. Hell. Is. Going. On?”
“I owe some very dangerous people a lot of fucking money.”
“How? What did you—”
“That doesn’t matter,” he interrupted. “I have to get out of here and I have to make sure there is no trail for them to come after London. So . . . I have to leave her.” He gulped, letting out an agonized sigh. “And I need you to go along with it. I need you to watch out for her. To be there for her while I can’t. I have to fix this, but I can’t be anywhere near her while I try.”
Whoa. This was crazy. How could he ask this of me? This would destroy London. She loved him with all her heart. And even though I wished her heart beat for me instead of him, I couldn’t let him hurt her this way. I couldn’t agree to this.
I shook my head and squeezed my eyes shut. Her beautiful face flashed before me and my heart clenched in my chest. “No. I can’t do that to her. I can’t lie like that.”
“There’s no other way, Sam. If I don’t cut my ties with her, they’ll come after her, too. I’m going to tell her tonight. I have to end it. You’ll be the first person she calls, and I need you to act the same way you would had I not called you.”
Fury blinded me, hot rage gurgling in my gut. “How can you do this to her? How can you crush her like this?”
“It’s the only way!” he bellowed. “But I’m going to make it right. I have a plan but I need some time . . . and your help. I need you to take care of her. You’re the only one I can count on to do right by her. Please, Sam. It’s the only way.”
After I hung up with Hunter I could barely catch my breath. It was a good thing he was far away because there was no way I’d be able to stop myself from kicking his ass if he were in front of me.
In a desperate attempt to make up for being out of work for so long, he’d gotten mixed up with the wrong people and basically gambled his and London’s entire life away. For that alone, I wanted to kill him. I could envision London’s face when he told her they were losing their house. She would be fucking shattered. It wasn’t the first time he’d gotten into trouble, but this was far worse than ever before. There was nothing left, and although I had no doubt in my mind that Hunter loved London, love wasn’t enough to carry them through a blow this destructive.
And then he was going to leave her. Actually go through with a divorce as a deceitful means to an uncertain end. Maybe after hearing what he’d done, she would want that, too. Maybe she would hate him enough to forget him and move on for real. Even still, this shit was sure to blindside her and I wouldn’t be there to comfort her.
Yet I’d promised Hunter that I would keep her safe, and keep his secret.
If London ever found out I agreed to something that was sure to wreck her, she would never forgive me.
How was I going to live with this? What had I done?
London
I STARED BACK at Hunter in pure disbelief. I was numb, yet fighting the urge to jump out of my own skin as it sizzled with too many emotions to recognize.
“Hunter.” His name was a garbled whisper as it fell from my lips. “What are you talking about? We’re divorced. I’m . . .”
“Shhh,” he hissed, placing a rough finger over my mouth. “I’ll explain everything. But first, let me look at you. It’s been too long. I’ve missed you so fucking much.”
Was I dreaming? Had I slipped in the shower and fallen on my head? This couldn’t be happening in real life.
I hadn’t seen Hunter in over a year—when he made me sign divorce papers and walked out of my life for good. It had been months since we had any form of contact and now he was back, and talking like a madman. Like Bryce.
What was it with the men in my life? Were they all fucking crazy?
“I don’t understand,” I finally said, shaking my head and backing away from him.
He smiled and stepped forward to tuck my hair behind my ear and caress my cheek. “Memphis has a plan to make this all go away. Once it does, we can put it behind us and start over, the way I intended all along.”
It was obvious he had no idea that I’d moved on—that I was with Sam. I wanted to tell him. I needed to tell him. But first I wanted him to explain everything to me. “Where is all of this coming from? Forgive me if I seem a bit confused, but . . .” I raised my hands in the air, laughing nervously to mask the shakiness of my limbs. “A lot has, uh, changed since you left.”
“From where I stand, you’re as beautiful as always, Lon.”
There was a time when Hunter merely quirked his brow—the way he was right now—and he would get a rise out of me. My body would react instantaneously, turned on and heated from the inside out. Traitorous as it made me
feel, that tingle of familiar desire whooshed through my bloodstream the same way it used to. Only, it wasn’t as potent. It made me a bit uneasy because it was a reminder that I was no longer his to seduce. I belonged to someone else. I belonged to Sam.
“Hunter, it’s been a long time. I’m sure you’re only reacting to being in the same room as me again, but you can’t . . . we can’t . . .” I trailed off as he came closer still, his arms and hands outstretched as if they were desperate to touch me. Tripping backward over the bag of clothes I packed for Mom, I lost my footing and Hunter thrust forward to break my fall.
“Whoa. I’ve got you.” He chuckled, holding me up by my elbows.
The unexpected closeness, his touch, prickled my skin with a mixture of apprehension and awareness.
Hunter was once my husband; I’d loved him with every molecule in my body. But he was also the man who broke my heart. And Sam was the man who’d worked so hard to repair it and bring it back to life.
Seeing him again brought too many feelings back to the surface. But picturing Sam recovering in a hospital bed after donating a kidney to my mother made my heart ache. I shouldn’t feel anything toward Hunter. He let me down. He let me go.
“No, Hunter. You don’t have me,” I whispered, recoiling from his hold.
It was as if I’d slapped him across the face. He winced as if he were in pain, and he inhaled to refill his lungs. “Didn’t Sam talk to you? I thought for sure he would have told you everything by now.”
“What does this have to do with—” Sure, it had everything to do with Sam, but clearly not in the way I was thinking. Something wasn’t adding up and I didn’t like it. “What’s going on, Hunter? I don’t like feeling like I’m in the dark, and this is getting more confusing by the second.”
“Lon, I never meant to hurt you.” Taking a few steps forward, Hunter shrunk the space between us to practically nothing.
Being this close to him felt wrong—a betrayal on Sam. But it also felt . . . familiar. After all this time, I still hadn’t forgotten the way Hunter’s touch, the sheer proximity of our bodies, could prompt my limbs to quake and my heart to race.
Take My Breath Away (The Every Breath Duet Book 2) Page 10