SWNOVELS Never His Girl: Chapter 26
BLUE
The three-hour drive here gave me plenty of time to think. Mostly I second-guessed this decision, but then I remembered how many unanswered questions I have. It helped me settle on a conversation with Hunter being my best chance of getting answers.
Lucky for me, Dr. Pryor was in a particularly reasonable mood when I finally got up the nerve to stop in and see her. I explained that I had a family emergency and needed to cut out after lunch. To my surprise, she excused me from the rest of my classes and from practice. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t supposed to do that without speaking to one of my parents about it first, but I’m starting to see something about her. She pulls a lot of strings for me that most probably wouldn’t.
It took me the better part of the week to even get up the nerve to ask for her permission, hence the reason I’m just now making it here on Thursday—instead of Monday like I originally planned. But anyway, I’m here now, and Pryor’s the reason that’s possible.
These visits are always hard, but this place is even colder than the last, clearly a higher security level than when Hunter was held closer to Cypress Pointe. I spot him being escorted over, completely shackled, hands and feet, but there are more bruises. Fresh ones I believe he must’ve received just the night before.
A deep breath helps me hold my composure, hold in tears. It won’t do him any good to see me cry.
I force a smile when he walks up and he manages to flash a faint one in return.
“Wasn’t expecting to see you again,” he greets me.
I swallow and try to look him in the eyes without staring at the marks on his face.
“Makes two of us, I guess.”
He nods and I swear his spirit is more broken than it was before. I can’t even begin to imagine the hell he endures here.
“Shouldn’t you be at school or something?”
I laugh a little. “Should be.”
“And Scar? She come with you this time?”
I shake my head. “No. I asked Ricky to pick her up from school when he gets Shane. Aunt Carla offered to take them to the mall this evening to do a little Christmas shopping.”
He nods. “Good. Probably best she doesn’t see me like this.”
I swallow the lump in my throat and nearly choke on the sob that’s threatening to rise from within me.
“Speaking of Christmas shopping, you guys got plans for the holiday? Was Thanksgiving okay last week?”
“Thanksgiving was mostly good,” I answer, leaving out the little surprise Mike had for us when we got home from Jules’s. “Christmas will probably be like every other,” I add.
He knows what that means. Christmas will miss us this year, like always. Keeping up with regular bills is hard enough.
There’s an awkward silence that comes next, because I know he’s aware that I didn’t come all this way to give him a verbal version of The Riley Family Newsletter. I need to get to my point so I can at least make some of my drive home in daylight, but I feel bad rushing things.
“Just say it,” he forces out, as if he’s heard my thoughts. He looks exhausted and broken, so maybe getting to the point is as much for him as it is for me.
I shift in my seat, trying without success to get comfortable on the cold, unforgiving metal.
“You warned me about watching my back last time, but I got upset and left before you had a chance to explain why,” I say. “I guess I came to finish that conversation.”
He takes a breath and then nods.
“Who were you telling me to watch out for?” I ask.
His eyes shift up to mine and a sharp pang of sadness hits me square in the chest.
“It was just a general statement,” he says, but that doesn’t feel like the truth.
“Really? Because I could’ve sworn there was someone in particular you had in mind.”
There’s no guarantee he’ll tell me more. For some reason, his conversation is far more reserved this time, compared to my last visit. Then, he’d been eager to tell me everything. Only, I wasn’t willing to listen. Not like I am now.
“Please, Hunter,” I beg in a whisper. “If there’s something I need to know, please don’t leave me in the dark. Things are getting… strange. There’s so much happening that I can’t explain, so if you know something, please tell me.”
He holds my gaze for a long time, and I’m half-convinced he’s about to tell me what I need to know, and then it’s gone. That hint of whatever I saw in his eyes that gave me hope.
“I told you. It was just a general warning.”
Heat creeps up my neck to my face and I’m feeling frustrated—with him, with this conversation. Since he’s beating around the bush, I’ll be direct.
“Did you mean Vin Golden? Is that who I need to be looking out for?”
I expect a reaction, but not the look of panic I suddenly see fill Hunter’s expression.
“Whatever you’re doing, whatever you’re digging into, leave it the fuck alone, Blue.” The words leave his mouth with a sharp edge, so I not only hear them, I feel them.
“I need to know what’s going on, Hunter.”
“You don’t want any connection to that man,” he whispers harshly, ignoring what I said last.
His response has blood rushing through my veins at lightspeed. “Ok, but why?”
“For your safety, for Scar’s… I’m begging you to let this go, Blue. Please. There’s only so much I can do to protect you from in here.”
He’s tearing up and my eyes are blurred when they flood like his. His gaze darts around the room and I’m beginning to sense his heightened paranoia is completely warranted.
When he meets my stare again, he’s shaking. “Please, Blue.”
I want to hug him, want to stay together and weather whatever he seems to think is coming together, but I can’t. Those damn chains on his hands and ankles tell me so.
“Okay,” I answer nodding. “Okay.”
He settles down, but only a little.
“I know I sound crazy as shit, but don’t trust the phones,” he warns. “If you have anything to say that you want kept private, do it in person. Trust me.”
I’m reminded of how he pressed for Ricky to have me come see him, refusing to just call. This particular warning also has me thinking of a certain picture that ended up in the wrong hands. The hands of a man I didn’t even know existed just a week ago.
I nod, feeling the gravity of Hunter’s last statement. “I promise.”
He settles against his seat again and I watch as he struggles to regain his composure, as if he doesn’t want anyone to notice he’s gotten worked up talking to me.
“Don’t come here again,” he says next, causing tension to spread in my brow. “It’s too dangerous. They’ll wonder what we talk about and I don’t want you on their radar any more than you already are.”
Another tear slips down my cheek, but for fear of calling attention to myself, I don’t wipe it. Instead, I only nod.
“Okay, I won’t.”
This is killing me, but I keep it all inside when I stand.
“I love you,” I say.
He peers up, holding so much back. “I love you more. Let Scar know, too.”
I nod. “Promise.”
It’s physically painful walking away from him this time, knowing he’s just forbidden me from returning, but I get the feeling that me doing so makes life here harder.
This visit hasn’t been in vain, though. It’s helped me better visualize my enemy, shined light on the hold he seems to have on my brother, and this villain certainly isn’t invisible. He has a name.
And that name is Vin Golden.