Hunter (Riders of Apollo #2)

Chapter 18: Marielle Lennox

I said that out loud! I thought I just said it in my head. Of course, he's not going to feel the same way, at least not yet, I probably scared him off now. Great.

"I love you, too." I look up at him in shock, his grin is breath taking and I nuzzle my nose on his before kissing him quickly. Can't get to heated at the park, Marielle, remember that. "I should probably tell you my real name as well." He laughs softly and brushes the back of his fingers on my cheek. I snuggle closer, enjoying the fact that I have someone who loves me, actually loves me. "Julian. Julian Atlas."

"Of course, you have a hot name." I roll my eyes and kiss his cheek. "Oh! Why do they call you Hunter?"

"I get deployed by Bear to find people, Sav and I basically do the same job. We communicate with the cops and find the people they're looking for, I'm a bounty hunter for the underground." I slip one of my legs between his and sit on the other one, resting my back against his shoulder as we watch our daughter play.

It sounds right, our daughter, and I'm never gonna get enough of it.

The mood of the day is ruined when one of Jerry's friends spots me, he starts walking towards us with two of his friends in tow. I promised Peyton that I would press my emergency button if any of his friends approached me but she's pregnant and I don't want to risk her getting hurt. I hope to God that Gemma stays behind that gate because I don't want these assholes anywhere near her.

"Shit." I mumble as my body tenses up, I don't take my eyes off of them and I know Julian picks up on my fear. He squeezes my waist to reassure me and I remind myself that they can't do anything in daylight with a load of witnesses in a children's play park for fuck sake. Still my heart rate picks up and my breathing gets sharper.

"Mrs Oppenheimer." He greets and I shiver at the disgusting name.

"Not anymore, Jerry and I are divorced."

"And now you're whoring yourself out to the bikers?" Julian moves to get up, but I basically throw myself on his lap to stop him.

"I don't see what your problem is, Jerry is gone, and he and I are no longer together. That's it, you can go away now."

"Perhaps I should take my god child with me, she's over there, isn't she?" He points at my daughter and I find myself standing up before my brain can tell me to stop. Julian takes the opportunity to stand up and approaches them with a look of cold determination. He could take all three of them without breaking a sweat and I think they notice it as their faces contort with fear.

Julian is taller than them, broader than them and he stands like he's in the military. His cut moves far enough for them to see the handgun as well so I understand their fear. "Stay away from my daughter or I will rip you apart." Julian's threat is evident in the growl of his voice, his anger carries in the tone and tenseness of it.

He is a threat and they know it. They turn tail without another word, sprinting away from us like roadrunner runs from the coyote. "You okay?" Julian asks me and pulls me back to press against him.

"That. Was. Hot." He chuckles into my neck and I shiver, ugh how can one person be so perfect? "Come on, let's go get Gem and grab some food. I'm starving."

"Gem!" He calls out for her and she hurries over, "You hungry, honey?"

"Ice cream."

"How about we have a sandwich or something first?"

"Okay, daddy." My heart melts every time she says that, especially with the incredible look of happiness of Julian's face whenever he hears her say it.

This is my family and I love it.

---------

We got back to the clubhouse about an hour ago, I was immediately sequestered away by Lexie into the pink room with Peyton and Runner. "So, Runner is having a mental breakdown, we need to help him." Lex declares when I arrive.

Peyton is sat on the couch with Runner's head in her lap, she strokes his hair softly while smiling at me. "How was your day out?"

"He asked me to be his Old Lady!"

"Yay! I'll order your cut tonight, unless you want a jacket like Sav's."

"Could I have a jacket please?" Lexie grabs her phone and types something out quickly before looking back at me, "Oh and Gem now calls Hunter daddy."

"How is everything going right for us at the same time?" Lex asks and Runner makes a weird noise that has us all looking at him in confusion.

"Speak for yourself! I'm legitimately having a crisis here!"

"I'm sorry, Runner. What's going on?"

"You know that guy I told you about?" We all nod, the twenty-one-year-old who is using him to determine whether or not he is gay and it's frustrating him. "So, I held out for a whole week, I ignored his texts and phone calls and didn't go anywhere near him..."

"What happened?" Lex reaches forward and steals some food off the coffee table.

"He came and found me... I gave in, okay? I hate myself right now, I am seriously making life so easy for him right now. All he did was look at me and I just went okay, fuck me over again." His accent gets stronger as he gets angrier about it and I find it adorable and rather amusing.

What he normally does is switch between English and Spanish and the problem with that is only Peyton understands him fully. I understand a few words in Spanish but not a lot. "I'm sorry, lovely. Is there anything we can do?" Peyton asks softly as he grumbles in his native language.

"I love him, and I don't know what to do about it."

"We've got your back, whatever you decide." I promise and squeeze his hand gently.

Good Lord he has gotten himself into quite the tizzy.