Bury the Hatchet

Chapter Thirteen - Bury the Hatchet

TALLIE

We left the hospital sometime after three in the morning, making sure Hunter's parents made it safely back to their hotel before returning to the house. I'd stayed in the waiting room the whole night, and I was utterly exhausted on both a physical and an emotional level, sometimes sitting with John, with Darren, with Mrs. Fielding... They took turns updating me on Kade's condition. Hunter hadn't come out until they'd discharged his brother, though. For someone who had argued so vehemently against going to the hospital at all when this had happened at the wedding, saying he didn't want to stay by his brother's side through it, the fact that he hadn't left that room for hours seemed out of character. I wasn't sure what to make of it.

Once we were home, it was clear we would be going down our separate hallways instead of continuing what we'd started before receiving that text message. Hunter kissed the top of my head. "You'd be much better off if you just stayed out of it, you know," he murmured into my hair.

"I don't want to stay out of it." The more time I spent with Hunter, the more I wanted to be with him. I wanted to get to know him and his family. I wanted things he would probably never be able to give me, but the knowledge didn't take the wanting away. The effect he had on me, this magnetic pull, only grew stronger with each day we spent together. I didn't like it. I didn't know what to do with it, but I couldn't get out from under its pull no matter how hard I tried. I was afraid I was falling in love with Hunter, and that scared me.

Because he wasn't falling in love with me. In lust, maybe, but not in love. And because the clock kept ticking, and what we had was going to come to an end. And because once it was over, I didn't know who I would be.

He separated himself from me, effectively brushing me off. "I'm going to have to skip the gym in the morning," he said. "There's something I have to do."

"Can I help?"

He shook his head. "You can help by sleeping in and getting some rest. I don't want you to have to worry about any of this."

Little did he know, I was going to worry whether he wanted me to or not.

By the time I got up in the morning, he was gone. I fixed a bagel and spread Nutella on it, grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl on the counter, and took it to the table to eat with my morning coffee. I'd finished without a word from him, and I didn't know what to do with myself, so I grabbed the jar of Nutella and a spoon, and I curled up on the couch with it.

Hours later, Hunter came back with his parents. I had showered and put clothes on by then, and I jumped to my feet when they came through the door. Hunter headed straight for the kitchen and fixed a couple of baggies with ice. His nose was bent, and there were cuts and bruises on his hand. He passed one of the baggies to his father, who was in similar shape. Mrs. Fielding was just standing there crying hysterically.

There was no sign of Kade, but I had no doubt he was at the center of all this. I just didn't know what any of it meant. Wordlessly, I went to the bathroom and found a first aid kit, bringing it out to tend to their cuts.

"I've got this," Hunter said when I took out an alcohol pad to clean the blood off his knuckles. He took the first aid supplies from me, shoving some in Mr. Fielding's direction across the bar. "Thanks," Hunter added as an afterthought.

I nodded, backing away. The two men weren't going to let me help them, but I could at least comfort Hunter's mother. She was still sobbing uncontrollably, so I put my arm around her shoulder and led her into the living room. I eased her down to sit beside me on the couch and passed a box of tissues over to her, and I let her cry on my shoulder until the tears turned to hiccups. Around the same time, Hunter and Mr. Fielding joined us in the living room.