Finding Forgiveness(36)
“Your grandmother loves you, Hunter. Don’t doubt that.”
Hunter shook his head. This was too much. It was all just too much.
“Then come stay with us. We have an extra room you can use till you figure something out.”
An obscene laugh bubbled up deep inside Hunter’s throat. He’d destroyed this man’s life, ruined his livelihood and nearly cost his lover his life and he wanted Hunter to move in? So he could fucking protect him?
Shaking free of Callan, Hunter took several steps away from him. “Tell Finn I’m sorry, okay? Tell him I’ll figure out how to fix things and I won’t come back to Dare - he’ll never have to see me again.”
“Hunter-”
Hunter put out his hand when it looked like Callan was going to try to grab him again. “I’ll be okay, Mr. Bale. I’m going back to school. I’ll…I’ll do what you said and make sure I’m safe before I tell everyone what really happened.”
He didn’t give Callan a chance to answer him as he turned and basically ran for his car. He automatically checked his pocket for his spoon and then cursed himself. Because the reality was that it wasn’t his spoon and his lighter that he wanted. The only thing he wanted was on a plane somewhere getting as far away from Hunter as he could.
Chapter Seven
Roman knew he was driving much too fast for the road conditions but the closer he got to his destination, the more he needed to know if this trip would be any different than the last two. It was the third weekend in a row he’d made the drive out to Hunter’s valley and he was terrified that it would be the third weekend in a row he’d be disappointed. With the last two weekends, he’d had the benefit of having enough daylight left to make it to the lake but weather in L.A. had delayed his plane so by the time he’d picked up his rental car, darkness had already fallen. And while it was only nine o’clock, it was pitch dark outside. He was lucky enough to have a full moon to guide him though and if he hadn’t been so preoccupied, he would have enjoyed the way the moon lit up the land around him.
Leaving Hunter had been one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do. But that had lasted only until he tried to call Hunter the first time and got a message saying the phone had been disconnected. Because at least when he’d left Hunter, he’d known he was safe for the moment – had known he could reach out to him if he needed to or that Hunter could get in touch with him if things got bad. But when he’d lost that last link to Hunter, he’d nearly gone insane. He’d even called Malcom Greene on the pretense of wanting to see the property again. A casual question about if his son would be available to show him and his investors the property had been brushed off with a blanket statement about Hunter being busy with school but that Malcom was ready and able to answer any and all questions he had.
He’d called Gray on more than one occasion to see if he’d heard anything and his brother had promised to let him know if he had any news but there still hadn’t been any sign of Hunter. He’d learned of Hunter’s visit to the CB Bar Ranch from Luke but hadn’t gotten any details other than Hunter had gone there to talk to Finn who’d been out of town along with the hot-headed Rhys. Luke had reassured him that Hunter had left the ranch in the same condition he’d arrived in but the information didn’t bring him any closer to figuring out where Hunter was. His desperation had even led him to stalking the various buildings on the University of Montana campus where the political science classes were held. And it all had been an epic waste of time.
Roman’s jaw rattled as he hit a particularly deep rut but it didn’t slow him down. And when he finally saw his headlights bounce off of the dark green Escort parked at the end of the road, Roman let out a deep breath. And then he hit the gas. He was going so fast that he narrowly avoided slamming into the back of Hunter’s car. He jammed it into park and then snatched the flashlight off the passenger seat.
It took him just minutes to find the fork in the trailhead and he began winding his way around and over the fallen trees in his path. He smelled the campfire before he saw it and then a flash of light cut across his path as he heard Hunter call out, “Who’s there?”
Roman was close enough to see Hunter’s outline along with the rifle he held in his right hand. “It’s me,” he called just as he cleared the trees and began striding across the small clearing just above the shoreline.
“Roman?” Hunter’s dazed voice said but he didn’t move at Roman’s approach. He didn’t speak either. He simply waited and when he realized Roman wasn’t slowing down, he dropped both his gun and his flashlight.