“I’m calling Deke.”
“Fine, call him,” I said, moving toward the door. Unfortunately, he was bigger than me and he blocked it. “Are we really going to do this? Like, are you actually planning to hold me prisoner in this living room?”
“If I have to,” he told me, his voice grim. “Deke can decide.”
Double pisser.
I whipped out my phone and called Hunter.
“I have a situation,” I told him. “They aren’t gonna let me leave. Maybe we should just do this tomorrow …”
Hunter growled through the phone.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” he said,
“Wait! What do you mean?”
“I’m coming to get you. How many guys are in the house?”
“Just one,” I said frantically. “But seriously, this could get ugly. Why don’t I—”
There was a pounding on the door.
I locked eyes with Gordie.
“That’s Hunter, and I don’t think he’s going away,” I told him quietly. “Is this really worth a fight? Just let me head out, okay? You don’t have a right to keep me away from him.”
“Not my call to make,” he said, shaking his head. “Deke’s on his way. You sit tight and he’ll decide how to handle this.”
Hunter pounded the door again. Shit. I texted him.
ME: Deke is coming so I think you should just go home. We don’t want a fight over this. Not now, when everyone is so touchy
HUNTER: No fucking way. You’re my old lady and you’re coming home with me. They have a problem with it, I’ll call in my brothers to help me
I froze. That didn’t sound good. Not at all.
ME: What about the truce? Wasn’t that our first priority?
HUNTER: I’ve already claimed you in front of my club, you’re my property now. If the Reapers won’t let my old lady come with me, that’s an act of war
I read the words and felt sick. Had he lost his mind? Yes, I decided. He had. Apparently he was so tired and worn out he’d forgotten what really mattered here.
Keeping the peace for all our sakes.
ME: It’s just one night babe. We’ll get it sorted out tomorrow. You have too much to lose here
HUNTER: No fucking way. I back down now it shows weakness. I’m not the one being unreasonable here Em. I just want to pick up my girl friend
More pounding on the door. Gordie looked nervous, but he stood his ground, blocking me.
“Open up!” Hunter shouted outside.
ME: Is this really about us, or about you making some kind of point with Deke?
HUNTER: It started out about us. But him saying I can’t see my woman? Thats a problem. Deke is pulling up now. We’ll figure it out
Sure enough, I heard a truck engine. Cookie wandered out into the living room wearing a man’s bathrobe, rubbing her eyes.
“What’s going on?” she asked, sleepily. “I have to be up at four. This better be important.”
“I think we’re having a contest to see who has the biggest dick,” I muttered, frustrated. “Hunter came to pick me up, but Gordie won’t let me out and now Deke’s here. I’m just waiting for them to start whipping out their rulers.”
“Ridiculous,” Cookie said. “Come with me.”
I raised a brow.
“Kind of in the middle of something,” I muttered. I heard Deke’s voice out front, yelling at Hunter. Shit. If we didn’t shut this down, someone was going to get seriously hurt.
“Come. With. Me.” Cookie said, her voice harsher than I’d ever heard it. Damn. She looked almost scarier than Deke.
“Okay,” I said, eyes darting toward Gordie. I followed her back to her bedroom, where Silvie lay sound asleep with her favorite stuffed animal tucked in next to her. Cookie made a “ta-dah!” kind of gesture, showing me the French doors next to her bed.
“You can go out there and sneak around the front,” she said. “Just bypass them entirely.”
I gaped at her and she shrugged.
“Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because hormones impair thinking,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Go on. Get outside before they start shooting or something.”
“Why are you helping me?”
“Because I’m sick of this shit,” she said, her voice blunt. “The Reapers don’t own either of us. Deke has no right to keep you here and neither does your dad. Make your own decisions, Em. I miss Bagger every day of my life and I wish I’d spent more time with him. We just never know when it’s all going to end, and life is too short to sit around waiting for a man. I still think it’s a mistake to hook up with Hunter, but it’s your mistake to make.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, giving her a quick hug. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Good,” she said. Then an evil smile crossed her face. “I know it’s wrong of me, but I’m really looking forward to Deke losing for once. About time someone stands up to him.”
I stifled a giggle as she turned off the alarm and opened the door. Then I ran quickly across the wet grass, feeling the cold seep into my pink Chucks. I crept carefully around the house to find Hunter and Deke in a standoff on the sidewalk.
Gordie watched from the porch, mesmerized.
“You can leave on your own or we’ll make you, but you aren’t taking Em with you,” Deke was saying. “Not gonna happen.”
Hunter bristled.
“She’s my old lady now. She belongs with me.”
God, it would be so much faster if they just did a side-by-side penis comparison. I ran my eyes over Hunter, torn between wanting to lick his entire body and punch him in the face. Instead of doing either, I walked quietly to my car. I needed to time things perfectly. I took a deep breath and counted to three before opening the door, hopping into my seat, and sliding the key into the ignition, all in one smooth move. The car started right up (thank God!) and I slammed it into reverse, backing out into the street with a jolt.
Both men turned to stare at me, the surprise on their faces priceless.
I rolled down my window, foot poised on the accelerator.
“I’m leaving,” I yelled at them. “Hunter, call me if you’d rather sleep with me than fight with Deke.”
With that, I slammed my foot down and took off into the night.
Damn, that felt good.
“I’ll strangle you if you ever pull something like that again,” Hunter said, pacing back and forth across the hotel room we’d gotten. Under the circumstances, neutral ground seemed like a good idea.
Someone was grumpy.
“You could’ve gotten shot. I could’ve shot you. What were you thinking, sneaking around outside a house under guard?”
I leaned against the bathroom door frame, my arms crossed, and sighed heavily. This reunion had been nowhere near as fun as I’d pictured it. Sweet baby Jesus, but the man could pout.
“Maybe if everyone wasn’t so trigger happy, this wouldn’t be such an issue,” I said, my voice tart. “Don’t give me this shit, Hunter. You caused a big scene because you weren’t willing to wait a few hours to get things sorted out. Someone could’ve gotten hurt. Silvie could’ve gotten hurt. Don’t we have enough to worry about from the cartel? I thought you wanted peace?”
He stopped pacing to snarl at me.
“Goddamn, Em—whose side are you on? I’ve been going hard for four fucking days. I drove for six hours to get here and claim my woman, and I wasn’t going to let some pissant Reaper prospect keep her from me. You’re mine now. I don’t fucking share.”
I took a deep breath, poised to rip him a new asshole. Then it struck me—something was really wrong here. Hunter was usually so cool, always calculating. This was nothing like him, something else was going on here.
“You’re overreacting,” I said slowly and deliberately. “I hear what you’re saying, but it’s not making sense. This isn’t like you. What happened?”
His face twisted, and he turned away from me, running a hand through his hair.