“Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve helped,” Hunter says, sounding choked from anger.
“My own dad didn’t believe us, so why tell you when nothing would get done about it anyway? It was a brother’s word against ours, we didn’t stand a chance.”
“I would’ve helped,” he says, gritting his teeth.
“What’s done is done.” I turn to face my dad again. “It became the norm and it turned me against everything that was the club. When mom left us, I waited day after day for her to come back for me but it never happened, and I guess I know why now. He killed her.”
My dad still hasn’t said anything out of shock until now. “I didn’t know any of that was goin’ on or I would’ve done somethin’.”
I laugh. “You wouldn’t have done shit, you didn’t do shit. Instead you invited him around and when I tried to escape it all when I was eighteen, when I chose to have nothing to do with the club, you made me stay. Made me help you run the house and pay the bills instead of getting somewhere of my own away from all of it.”
I can see the anger starting to flow through him, waking him up out of his shocked state. “None of that was my fault! Your mom left me, I didn’t want you to leave me too!”
“Bullshit! Three years later you were throwing me out and calling me a whore, believing that piece of shit over me! I was left on my own, you chose him and the club over your own daughter. Seeing you in front of me now just makes me feel sick.” My chest heaves. “What are you actually here for? ‘Cause I’m about finished with you, I’m tired.”
He walks forward and Hunter stands, protecting me.
“You whored around with a rival club! You knew the consequences!”
“If you had let me explain back then, you’d know there wasn’t an ounce of truth to that!”
He laughs. “Don’t try cover your back now, I forfeited my respect from most of the brothers for you. When the tip came in to me, I knew I had to get you out and away from the club, I was protecting you.”
“Protecting yourself, there’s a difference! I didn’t fuck anyone!” I shout, having had enough of his shitty excuses. “That was the problem, I wouldn’t let him take what he wanted from me so he thought he’d get rid of me instead, just like mom.”
“What you talkin’ about?”
“The ‘tip’? From the sickos mouth himself. Don’t believe me? I don’t give a shit but I would put my life on it. The day before you got rid of me, he forced his fugly self on me and I got away, slashed his face up pretty good too. He didn’t like not getting his own way so he made up that ‘tip’.”
Realization rolls across his face and he runs a hand through his hair. Hunter can’t control his temper anymore as a chair goes flying across the room, narrowly missing my dad. He wasn’t aiming for him but the room is small.
“I thought your intel was sound! How could you not check it out before you threw her out on her own?”
“I thought I was protecting her! I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Hunter, please.” I rub at my temples as the headache from earlier pounds through my head.
The room goes silent apart from his heavy breathing.
“I can’t take back the past three years, but I’m calling emergency church to clear things up with everyone, no one will touch you,” dad grinds out.
I scoff. “You think I’m actually going to come back with you?”
He takes a look at Hunter. “There was-”
“No, dad. I have a life now somewhere else, people who care about me. I want nothing to do with you or the club.”
Hunter flinches and my dad flicks his eyes back to him. “Why are you still by her side, protecting her like a lovesick puppy? She’s built a life without you, Bear. You heard her, she’s better than the club, she doesn’t want anything to do with us, let’s go.”
My dad turns and walks to the door, opening it and I steel myself for Hunter to follow him, only he stays rooted to the spot beside me. “I ain’t goin’ nowhere.”
There’s murmurs between the brothers who have obviously been listening in on our conversation, and Hunters dad steps forward. “Don’t be stupid, Bear.”
“Stupid?” Hunter shakes his head, his eyes flicking down to mine and then back up. “I’ll call when I’m discharged and we’ll have church, until then, I’d like to get some rest.”
He wheels me into his room and shuts the door behind us.
“What was that?” I ask.
“What was what?” He counters sarcastically.
“What just happened there?” I wave my arm in the direction of the door.
He shrugs. “I don’t want to be a part of that chapter anymore, Kee. You have no idea what it’s like there now. Everything has gone to shit and seeing you again… fuck.” He cups my face with his good hand. “When I said you were mine, I meant it. I’m going wherever you go and if you don’t like that, it’s fuckin’ tough, Steely, because I’m in love with you and I always fuckin’ have been, no doubt about it.”
There go the butterflies. The enormity of what he’s saying floors me. He’s giving up the club for me.
Tears spring to my eyes. “Hunter, you can’t do this. You love the club.”
He looks at me with emotion filled eyes, and my frozen heart thaws completely. “None of that matters anymore, I just want to keep you safe, have you in my life again like you were always meant to be. I have a chance to make things right and I sure as hell ain’t givin’ you up again.”
His lips crash down onto mine and I lose myself in his caresses, but he pulls away all too soon and walks over to the window.
It’s bittersweet watching my brother and pop ride away out of the window. Knowing what I’m going to do as soon as I get back to the clubhouse has me a little on edge, but as I turn to look into Keeley’s expecting eyes, that all fades away. I know I’ve made the right choice this time. I love the club that it used to be, but she’s my future. There’s no competition.
“Hunter… I…,” she stammers.
I take calculating steps toward her. “I should’ve listened to the voice in my head when I shut that car door on you three years ago. It told me to take you away from all the shit, to protect you, but I didn’t listen. I was too fuckin’ stubborn.”
I get within reaching distance of her wheelchair and she puts out her hand. “Hunter, we haven’t seen each other in three years. We’re different people, we-”
“Shut up, Steely.” My lips crash down onto hers again, taking every ounce of doubt and worry away from her. There’s still a lot that we need to figure out but right here, right now, it’s just about us.
She doesn’t kiss me back at first, fighting with herself, but I soon feel her tense body relax and her hand brushes my neck as she reaches for the back of my hair, which elicits a low moan from me.
I want to pick her up and take her against the wall but I throw water over the flame growing inside me, I need to remind myself that she’s hurt. I’d say fragile but that’s just not my Steely, she’s just a little damaged right now, that’s all.
“I’ve missed these lips,” I whisper.
“If I remember correctly, it’s been four years since our last kiss and that was just under the mistletoe for the sake of your mom.” She laughs, not realizing what she’s said. Mom didn’t get diagnosed until three months after Keeley had been gone. She gasps. “Hunter, you can’t leave your mom, it’ll break her heart.”
My eyes spring shut and I force back the tears. “Kee…” I clear my throat not able to get the words out.
“Hunter?” I open my eyes and she brings my face up to hers. “What’s happened?”
I sigh. “My mom passed away two years ago.”
She covers her mouth and shakes her head. I don’t even realize I’m crying like a fuckin’ girl in front of her until she wipes at my cheeks with her delicate hands. “I’m so sorry, I had no idea.”
“We did, damn near broke my heart when we found out she had the big C, but she was her
happy self all the way until the end.” I smile at her memory. “I’m sorry about your mom, can’t have been easy findin’ out that way.”
She shrugs. “It’s hard, but I think I made peace a long time ago that I was never going to see her again. I’m just sad she went out the way she did, by that psychotic asshole.”
I nod in understanding and we both go silent, caught up in memories.
I turn my head away as I hear someone knock at the door and open it. “Sorry to interrupt, the nurse needs to see you, Kee. She’s going to your room now,” the redhead from earlier says.
Kee smiles at the sight of her so I know she’s an important part of her life. “Right, better go see what she wants then. Oh, Sam... this is Hunter, Hunter, this is my best friend, Sam.”
She smiles warmly at me, not for a minute scared of the fact I’m a biker. “Nice to meet you, Hunter. I’d like to say I’ve heard a lot about you but this one’s not very forthcoming with information.”
I chuckle. “You’re not wrong there.” She’s always been stubborn. “But it’s nice to meet you too, apart from the circumstances.”
I look back down at Keeley to see she’s already looking at me, worrying those beautiful lips of hers again with her teeth. “I guess... I’ll see you later?”
I start pushing her wheelchair. “The hell with that, I’m not letting you outta my sight again.”
She crosses her arms over her chest. “I’m not a child, Hunter. I can go see the big bad nurse on my own.”
I laugh. “Sure you can, but I’m still not leaving you. Give it up already.” I stop mid-hallway and kneel in front of her. “What we had years ago was the right kinda love at the wrong kinda time, but I want this now more than ever. Whether we’re a match made in hell or a beautiful clusterfuck waiting to happen. I love you and that’s all that matters. You’re mine, now stop fighting me on this.”
I hear her friend, Sam, ‘aww’ behind us and Keeley’s intake of breath tells me she’s heard me loud and clear as tears spring to her eyes. “I can’t believe you’re giving up the club for me.”
“Well you better fuckin’ believe it, because I’m gonna have a lot of free time on my hands to get acquainted with you again. And I ain’t wasting a second of it.”
I spent the night tucked up against Hunter’s warm chest. His steady heartbeat drumming underneath me, lulling me into a fitful sleep. The nurse insisted he go back to his own room but he wasn’t budging, he wanted to stay and make sure I was alright.
Sam keeps giving me worried glances, I know she’s waiting for me to crack, to break down about what happened to me, but I can’t say that I feel anything but numb about it all.
I shake my head and pay attention to what the doctor is saying. “All your tests came back clear, you just need to keep the wound on your neck clean and give it time to heal properly. Other than that, Miss Michaels, you’re free to go.”
I sigh in relief and give her a polite smile. Although it’s a hospital, I’ve still felt trapped until now... now I can leave.
Hunter was discharged this morning too and is out collecting his bike from the impound with Connor. Their meeting each other didn’t go as smoothly as it could’ve. Connor wouldn’t stop being super protective of me and Sam until Hunter had enough and told him if he didn’t back off, he’d make him.
I shake my head at the memory, you can take the biker out the club but you can’t take the club out the biker. My hot head.
Sam helps me get washed and dressed, but when she reaches my hair that needs combing out, she hesitates. “As soon as we get back, we’ll do something with this hair.”
She’s trying to be reassuring but I haven’t seen it since my Uncle took a pair of first aid scissors to it, and I don’t really want to.
I can’t help myself. “My hair? What’s wrong with my hair?”
Sam stammers, “I… it… we can…”
I burst out laughing and she looks like she wants to hit me. “You ass!”
I can’t stop laughing and it feels good. She smiles back at me, tears shining in her eyes. “It’s so good to see you smiling. It’s Hunter, isn’t it?”
I look down at my hands. “It’s always been Hunter. Apart from the past three years, I don’t have a memory without him in it.” I look up. “I know it’s going to be weird him coming home with us, but you’ll learn to like him, I promise.”
“Ah, Kee, I already do. He makes you happy. How could I not?” She retorts cheerily. “I can’t wait to see people’s faces when they see the new guy in town.”
I snort. “Hunter won’t care, and neither do I anymore. There’s more to me than the ink on my skin, it’s their loss.”
“That it is,” she says, looking up at the door as the guys walk back in.
Connor pulls Sam into his arms like they haven’t seen each other in years and I guess they haven’t, it was only last week they were both living separate lives, it’s still as new to them as it is to me.
Hunter crosses the room and roams his eyes down my black tank top and black skinny jeans finished with Sam’s fluffy slippers since my feet are still cut up.
He raises a brow as he reaches them. “Suits you.” I flip him off and he chuckles. “You ready to get going?”
I take a deep breath. “Ready as I’ll ever be. But I wanted to talk to you all real quick.”
All three of them look at each other. “All of you look like deers caught in headlights, relax it’s nothing bad.” They still don’t relax and I roll my eyes. “Connor, you have your truck right?” He nods. “So you can help with Hunter’s stuff?”
“Keeley-“
“No, Hunter. We may as well get it all now.”
Connor looks at Hunter then back at me. “Anything you need, I’m at your disposal.”
Hunter tenses up.
“Great, if you can take Sam to the truck I’ll be there in a minute. I just need to talk to Hunter.”
They both smile warily and walk out of the door, hand in hand. I wince as I stand and Hunter wraps an arm around me to take some of the pressure off my feet. My arms instinctively go around his neck and I lean into him as I look into his eyes. “You need your things, Hunter. You were going back there anyway, what were you expecting to do? Get it all on the back of your bike?”
“I was gonna figure out something, I don’t want you back there again.”
I shake my head. “I… I want to go say goodbye to your mom, she was always so good to me.”
I try to read his expression but it’s like a blank slate until he sighs and closes his eyes. “I’m between a rock and a hard place, I can’t say no to that.”
I smirk. “Yeah I was kinda counting on that.”
He chuckles. “Okay then, let’s get on the road.” He scoops me up. “I’ll follow on my bike. You go with Connor and Sam in the truck, it’s safer for you.”
I screw up my face, I was really looking forward to riding on the back of his bike again.
He notices and snorts. “Nothin’ more I’d love than to have you on the back of my bike again, Steely, apart from having you safe, so let’s take it one step at a time.”
He gently lifts me into Connor’s truck and it takes a few seconds for my arms to catch up with me, not wanting to let go of his neck, I don’t want to be apart from him and he senses it.
“Hey, look at me, I’ll be right behind you the whole way, alright? Head to the clubhouse but park away from it, I don’t want you gettin’ into any trouble.”
“Me? Trouble?” I wink, conveying the playfulness of my statement.
He laughs. “I mean it, don’t go bargin’ in there. We don’t know if word has been spread around the club yet about you being innocent and what really happened with…,” he trails off, but I know what he means.
“Yeah, okay. I won’t go storming in there all guns blazing.”
“I can drop the girls off somewhere safe then come pick up your stuff if you want?” Connor says from the front.
Hunter agrees with him
and I have to bite my tongue from saying something. I want to go in there, help Hunter out. He’ll call emergency church and I don’t know how long he’ll be in there for. I have no idea what his plan is, but you can’t just leave a club, he must have something in mind?
“You can bring the truck around to the parking lot, but you won’t be able to come in,” Hunter says.
Connor nods. “Whatever you need, I’m easy.”
Hunter kisses me then smirks at Connor. “I don’t swing that way.”
Connor’s mouth hangs open not able to reply when Hunter shuts the door behind him, me and Sam still laughing as we pull out the parking lot. I close my eyes at the sound of Hunter’s Harley riding behind us, God I’ve missed that sound.
I pull into the spot beside Connor’s truck at a local diner ten minutes away from the clubhouse, Keeley must’ve told him where it was. It just so happened to be her favorite when she lived here. I open the truck door for her and motion for her to wrap her arms around my neck so I can lift her up.
“I can walk,” she says adamantly.
I roll my eyes at her. “Still as stubborn as ever.”
“Hunter, you’re injured too. You can’t be carrying me everywhere. I’ll manage,” she says, smiling at me.
I huff and step back, offering a hand out to her to help her out. She winces as her feet touch the floor and I can see she’s favoring one leg. “Steely, just let me help you.”
She has pure determination in her eyes. “I’m fine.”
She grits her teeth and starts hobbling toward the diner, pausing at the bottom of the stairs.
“Can I help?” Connor asks, and I bristle at his offer.
“No, thanks. I think I got it,” she retorts.
She takes the first step and hisses, I’m at her side in point two seconds and she huffs and curls her arms around my neck, the slight touch setting my skin alight. I lift her up the stairs and slide her into a booth near the door. She was right, I’m injured and it hurts like hell, but I won’t show her that.
When I'm With You (Little Hollow #2) Page 21