Hunter swaddled me in his arms on the front porch as a team of federal investigators searched the property, took evidence, and then bagged JW’s lifeless body and brought it back to the city. My mom was assessed by medics and then taken to the local hospital for minor injuries and mental trauma. She’d succumbed to a partial breakdown right here in the driveway when the investigators had tried to question her, requiring a sedative to get her under control.
The cool night bit my skin as I sat shaking with fear and cold, unable to shake the chill that had settled deep in my bones. Unwilling to believe the tale that JW, the man that claimed to be my father, had told. I wished desperately for a hot shower to wash away the pain, and a cool pillowcase to shed a lifetime’s worth of tears into. Grief had overtaken my senses, leaving me broken and with the sense that my life wasn’t my own–it’d been orchestrated by forces much greater than me the duration of my existence. That revelation turned my stomach.
“I’m taking her home now, she’s had enough,” Hunter said when who I learned was his supervisor on the case approached.
“Everything corroborates,” the supervisor concluded a few minutes later. “You can head back to the city, but don’t go anywhere; we may have a few more questions over the next few days.” He finally flipped a notebook closed and then looked at Hunter. “We’ve searched his vehicle; he only had the knife on him. No gun like we would have expected.’’
“But, it looked like he was…” The memory shot through me of JW’s golden eyes glaring as he reached for something deep inside his coat. “Why did he act like he was…” Going to kill her. I couldn’t finish the sentence as small tremors overtook my limbs.
The supervisor shrugged. “Can’t explain these guys–they’re a whole different breed. I’m sorry how all this ended. You didn’t deserve to get as wrapped up in it as you were, Ms. Warner. Hunter has done all he can to put your safety first. I know it didn’t look that way sometimes, but he’s been indispensable to our case the last year. I just thought you should know that.” He nodded before turning away and leaving us alone.
“Ready to get back to the city?” Hunter hummed and pressed a kiss at my temple.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded, standing to wrap his hand in mine. “But I don’t think I can stay there anymore. So much history, the headlines.”
“I understand, baby. We don’t have to do wit-pro now, but I’m all for leaving that crooked town.” Hunter pushed a hand through his golden hair. “You don’t deserve any of this.” His expressive eyes caught mine and burned with something I couldn’t quite place. “You didn’t have to stay, you never did, but I’m really fucking glad you did. You save me, every day you save me.” He placed a soft kiss on my knuckles before dropping my hand and taking my cheeks in his palms to place a full kiss across my lips. With my hands tangled in his hair I lost myself in that kiss, forgot the pain of finding my father, and then losing him all in one night. I left the betrayal and dishonesty behind in favor of Hunter’s heaven-sent lips that calmed my nerves and soothed my soul like I’d never had before.
I was thankful for him. We had needed each other. I knew that now. Surviving together was the only path there was. It wasn’t over yet, it wouldn’t be until I was out of the state of Illinois and removed from the reminders of the past. We weren’t yet out of the tunnel, but the light was shining bright. And as long as we had each other, it would burn brighter every day.
