“There you are, my good old friend!” Gavin rose to his feet and patted Hunter on his back playfully. “We have been sitting here talking about you and how we used to hang out together.”
“Why are you in here?” Hunter asked again.
“Hunter?” Ashley looked up at him and watched his shock at seeing the man. “Is everything alright?”
“Yes, Hunter, is everything alright?” Gavin looked at him strangely.
“Yeah. Everything is okay. I was just not expecting to see you, especially not in her kitchen.” He exhaled loudly. “Can I talk to you outside?”
She watched both of the men walk outside together to her front porch. Snooping was always frowned upon in her household while growing up but she wanted to know what was going between these two friends. Something was off with them and she wanted to know exactly what it was. Hunter seemed very angry as he pointed at Gavin. The man appeared unfazed like he was not offended but instead amused. Gavin laughed and nodded. They looked like they had reached an agreement and Hunter turned back to the house and came inside.
“What is going on?” Ashley asked him. “Why are you so angry?”
“Everything is fine. I am fine.” He grabbed his truck keys and turned to look her in the eyes. “I am going to take him home, lock the doors.”
“Wait.” She took his hand and pulled him towards her. “Please, tell me what is wrong. Are you mad at me?”
“No, no I am not mad at you. He just should not have come here.”
“I thought he is your friend.”
“He was my friend in the past. I just don’t think he should have come here unannounced and he never should have come into your home alone with you,” he told her.
Great, another jealous man.
“It wasn’t his fault. I invited him in and it was only to wait for you.” She smiled and kissed his cheek. “Calm down. He is an old friend. Maybe he should stay a while.”
“No.” Hunter cut her off. “He is leaving now.”
Before she said anything else he was out the door and walking to his truck. Ashley locked the door but looked out of the window. Gavin turned towards the window and stared in her direction for a moment, his intimidating eyes took her breath away. He winked before he got into the truck and drove away with Hunter. It was strange and left a sick feeling in her stomach. What had just happened and why did she feel like she had just missed something very important but couldn’t figure out exactly what? Not knowing what else to do, she went into the living room and started to get the room ready to paint, but she couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling inside of her.
Chapter 9
“Do not answer the door if he comes back here, you hear me?” Hunter was leaning against the kitchen sink. His hand was bleeding and his cheek was red.
“What happened? Oh my God, did you get into a fight with Gavin?” She took out a frozen bag of peas from her freezer and put in on his face.
“I am fine.” He put the bag of frozen peas down on the counter and walked away from the sink and out of the kitchen.
“What happened, Hunter? Why are you so upset? Who is that man?” She followed him through the hallway and into the living room. “Answer me!”
“He is not someone to trust, okay? Do not talk to him, do not let him in, and do not trust him.” He sighed and looked up at the ceiling.
“Who is he? He said he was your friend.”
“He used to be my friend. He is one of the people I told you I try to stay away from now. Just stay away from him.” He looked at her and she wanted to calm him in her arms.
“You are just upset. I am sure he isn’t that bad.” She reached for his arm.
“I said do not go near him, do you hear me?” He was yelling at her with a furious look in his eyes. “Just listen to me and don’t be stupid!”
“Stupid?” She was the one angered now.
“I didn’t mean it like that. I just want you to be safe.”
“Maybe you should sleep in your barn room tonight.” Her arms were crossed and her heart was hurting.
“Ashley, I’m sorry. I am just upset with him. I didn’t mean to yell at you.” He reached for her hand but she pushed his away.
“Just go, Hunter.” She sighed.
“If that is what you want.” He was gone before she could really decide whether it was exactly what she wanted, but she was too stubborn to go back on her word. Besides, she refused to be yelled at or told what to do.
The rest of the day went slowly and sundown brought no comfort. It was a lonely night, as she lay in bed without him. They had only met two weeks before but she had grown attached to him and enjoyed sleeping and waking beside him. Maybe she had overreacted? He might have gone about the wrong way about it, but he seemed to have her safety at interest. He should have never raised his voice but everyone makes mistakes and she hadn’t given him the chance to explain himself. Her grandmother always told her that a quick temper will make a fool of you, and she was thinking that they had both rushed into things too quick. As the hours stretched and she lay awake in bed later and later, her need to feel him beside her was hard to ignore. She couldn’t sleep without at least kissing his lips goodnight. No, she had kicked him out of her house, he was out in the barn sleeping like a tenant not the man she cared so much about. The idea of waiting one more second without his touch burned through her heart, she needed him and she had to speak to him right then.
As she jumped out of bed and to her feet, she didn’t care that she was wearing nothing but a silk nightgown. She didn’t even stop to put on slippers. Instead she ran down her steps barefoot to go to him. Swinging her front door open quickly she was astonished to find Hunter on the floor of her porch next to her door, leaning against her house. He looked up at her, the moonlight glowing on his tanned face, he had never looked so beautiful.
“I wanted to make sure you are safe,” he said as she looked at him.
“Get up,” she whispered. He jumped to his feet and stood still in front of her. “Kiss me.”
Without waiting a second longer, his lips crashed into hers, shattering any doubt that she had ever had about him. His mouth tasted like passion and his lips felt like a fury of flames and eagerness. It was obvious that he had longed for her as much as she needed him.
“Come to bed,” she told him. “It isn’t the same without you in it.”
“Only on one condition.” He leaned forward and got close to her face. “If you accept my apology for acting like a jerk earlier.”
“Apology accepted.” She kissed his lips once more. “Now let’s go to bed.”
As she led him to her bedroom she couldn’t help but smile. He was her happiness and she needed him in her life and in her bed.
Chapter 10
Since Henry was refusing to answer Ashley’s calls, she decided that today after work, she would go to the police station and confront him at his office. She made his favorite vanilla cupcakes and decorated them with blue icing since it was his favorite color. He might not want to talk about his conversation with her two weeks before, but she was ready to lay it all out on the table. If he didn’t want to relive the moment he confessed his love for her, he at least could just acknowledge it happened and move on from it. They could pretend it never happened, but they didn’t need to end their friendship because of it. Henry was important to her and she was not ready to let him go, so he was going to just accept her sugary cupcakes and be her reliable, irritating, irreplaceable friend again. She wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
She hated not talking to him and after their fight he was ignoring her calls and texts. Sure it had been an intense moment between the two of them, but this was the friend that slept in her bed and held her all night when her grandma died and she couldn’t stop crying. He was the same man that she had stayed a week with after his wife left him and his house needed cleaning, and that she had brought back from a depressed slump. Their friendship had seen worse times. Surely they could survive a small confession of l
ove.
After she closed her shop and locked it tight, she drove to the police station nearby. Henry’s car was parked in the lot so she knew he was there. She marched inside with her blue cupcakes and her high hopes. Someone buzzed the door to let her in and she continued on with her mission. Waving to a few staff members she recognized, she went past the lobby desk and straight to Henry’s office. Not knocking, she opened his door and stepped inside his office.
“Oh, oops.” Ashley turned away from her friend who was kissing a brunette woman next to his desk. “Crap. I’m sorry.”
“It is okay. It’s fine, Ashley,” the woman said.
Ashley turned to see Henry’s ex-wife. It was his wife that he was kissing in his office.
“Kim? Wow. It has been a while since I saw you. Your hair is darker now. I didn’t recognize you.” Ashley looked at Henry who was wiping the lipstick from his face. “Well, I will leave you two alone. Um, here. I made you some cupcakes.”
Ashley turned quickly to leave.
“Actually I have to go. I have to get back to work but I couldn’t stay away from this man.” Kim leaned in and kissed Henry one more time. “I will see you later, baby,” she told Henry before turning back to Ashley. “It was nice seeing you. Hopefully we can meet up soon. Bye.”
Kim left the office and the room was now silent and filled with confusion.
“You haven’t answered my calls or text,” was all Ashley said when her mouth finally opened.
“I’ve been busy.” Henry sat down at the cheap chair behind his desk.
“I can see that now. Are you two…you know what, it is none of my business.” She sat down in the chair in front of his desk and stared across at him. “Are you happy?”
“I think I can be. You know Kim used to always say that she could never be as good as you. She used to claim that I loved you more than her and it caused a lot of friction in our relationship. She was right.”
“But you loved her. You treated her like a queen.”
“I never loved her completely. How could I when half of my heart was with you?” He leaned back in his chair and cracked his knuckles. “I finally let go of you, Ashley. I let go of that part of you that inhabited my heart and something amazing happened, I realized that I needed my wife back. I have spent the last two weeks proving myself to her and begging for a second chance. She deserves my whole heart and nothing less.”
“What are you saying?” Ashley feared what words might leave his lips.
“I can’t have you in my life anymore, Ashley.” They were the words she was afraid he might speak. “It isn’t fair to her. I need to give my all to her and I know that as long as you are in my life I can never be truly devoted to her.”
“You can’t be serious. We have been friends since we were toddlers. Are you really willing to end our friendship like this?” She stood up and stared down at him. “Is this because of Hunter? Are you still mad about him?”
“No, it has nothing to do with him or you for that matter. This is about me and my wife.”
“The same wife that left you miserable and alone. I guess you forgot it was me that helped bring you back from that.” Sadness was making her angry as she thought about her dearest friend demolishing their friendship.
“She would have never left if I wouldn’t have made her feel second best.” Henry’s face looked determined and Ashley figured she didn’t want to be the friend who now appeared jealous, so instead of arguing with him any longer she calmed herself down and changed her demeanor.
“You are right, Henry. I have taken up too much of your life. I hope that you two can find happiness together, even if it means that I have to step aside.” She fought back the tears as she imagined a life without their friendship. She headed for the door before he could see her cry. “Good luck.”
Her feet pressed forward fast, determined to get out of the police station before a tear fell from her eyes. She rushed through the lobby and out the doors, even managing to make it to her car before the tears came flowing. She might not have been in love with Henry, but he had still broken her heart.
Her drive home was quick and when she entered her kitchen she found Hunter making supper. He smiled when he saw her, but he suddenly looked concerned when he noticed she had been crying.
“What is wrong? Have you been crying?” He set the spatula down and walked towards her.
“Henry said he can’t be my friend anymore.” As Ashley listened to herself she started laughing. “Do I sound like a child?”
“No, I know how much that friendship means to you. Why doesn’t he want to be your friend anymore?” he asked her.
“Because he got back with his wife, which I am fine with if that is what he wants, but he said that he can’t give his wife his whole heart if I still have half. I just don’t know where this all came from.” She sat down at the table and put her head in her hands.
“He will come around. Just give him some space. I can kind of see where he is coming from.” Hunter went back to the stove where he was frying steak and noodles. “It was apparent to everyone but you that he was in love with you. If I was his wife I would have been jealous of the friendship also.”
“Why did I never see this love? I just thought we were great friends. We are great friends.” She shook her head. “Hopefully Kim can give him the happiness he needs. I always liked her. I just hated how she left him, but now I can see what a problem I must have been. I can’t believe she didn’t hate me”
“Who could hate you?” Hunter teased as he stirred the pan. “Besides, the problem isn’t you, it is him and his feelings. That is why he needs to set you and everything you make him feel aside so he can focus on his wife.”
“Where did you get so smart from?” She winked at him. “But I get your point. I guess I was just shocked when he said I couldn’t be a part of his life anymore. As long as he is happy, I will be fine. Anyway, I have my own love story to think about.”
“Love story, huh?” His back was turned to her so she couldn’t see his face.
“I mean, my own life. Not saying I am in love with you, or anything.” She was afraid that she would appear too clingy or like she was rushing him into a serious relationship.
“So you don’t think this is a love story?” He turned to face her and she could see his liquid blue eyes wash over her like a wave. “Am I not part of your story?”
“Do you want to be?” She answered his question with her own.
“I thought I already was.” His eyes were always so telling when he spoke.
“And where do I fit in your love story?” Her question was becoming seductive as her voice grew raspy.
“You are my love story.” He walked over and kissed her passionately before pulling away and going back to cooking. Talking about his feelings was no problem for him and he apparently had many for her. “Without you, my story doesn’t exist.”
“Do you think there is any room in the story to make love before supper? I’d love to write that chapter.” Ashley watched him turn off the stove and finish cooking. He turned to her, his gorgeous face and delicious body, he was unlike anything she had ever tasted and she wanted him inside her right then.
“How could I resist that story? Come here.” As he took her right there on the kitchen table, Ashley knew that her love story was only beginning.
Chapter 11
“Go on, Sadie, that’s a good girl.” Ashley walked the dog through the yard on a leash. The dog had been doing way better since they got her but whenever Ashley took her outside she would tend to run off and not come back for a while. With Hunter, the dog was fine, she never ran from him.
Hunter was not home today since he was helping Mr. Logan with his drywall. Mr. Logan was going to pay a high price to a company to do it but Hunter had helped save him a lot of money by doing it for a fraction of the price. Around town Hunter was becoming a popular citizen. He helped people and did his best to work for free or cheap. It was sweet to watch the man she cared about
being so kind and generous to the people she had grown to love in her town.
It had been a month and a half since the bank robbery and Hunter was starting to fit in perfectly around here. He was known as a hero for saving her and everyone that got to know him liked him. Everything seemed perfect except for the way things ended with Henry. It had been two weeks since he told her she couldn’t be part of his life anymore and it still stung when she thought about it, but life goes on and she had been busy with her shop, restoring her house, and falling deeper in love with Hunter. If Henry didn’t want to be part of her life, so be it, but she was done getting angry or upset about it.
“Come on, girl,” Ashley told Sadie. “It looks like it is about to rain. Let’s go back inside.”
The Stolen Heart (Contemporary Romance) Page 6