Chapter 40

I was brutally awakened by the arm on my phone. I had been in the middle of a dream where Hunter and I had been dancing on clouds and he had kissed me. Then he had stripped me naked and just as we were getting to the good part, my alarm went off. As I forced myself out of bed and got ready, I thought about the previous night. How I had been brave enough to tell Hunter he could kiss me whenever he wanted, I didn’t know. But I was happy I had been. With the type of kisses we shared, I suspected it wouldn’t be long until I was ready for the next step. Truth be told, I was ready now. So, so ready. But I knew Hunter and I needed to talk first. Despite what we had agreed on last night, I wasn’t looking forward to having that conversation and letting Hunter know about what had been going on in my marriage. If we were to be intimate, he deserved to know. I needed him to understand why I was the way I was. He would be disappointed with me non the less, but at least then he would be forewarned. I headed down the stairs and saw that Hunter wasn’t anywhere to be found. He was probably still getting ready and I was happy to return yesterday's breakfast by making one for him. I went for my personal favourite, a full English breakfast, minus the blood pudding. I was about to start frying the eggs when a door opened to my right and Hunter came walking out of the gym. He stopped and looked at me.

“Morning,” I said. He smiled.

“Good morning. What are you doing?”

“Cooking breakfast. How do you like your eggs?” I asked.

“It smells mouth-watering. Sunny side up, please. Do I have time to shower?”

“I can hold off with the eggs. The rest will keep until you are done,” I told him. Hunter hesitated for a moment, then sighed and jogged up the stairs. It didn’t calm my already raging hormones to see him in shorts and a tank top. The muscles I had felt underneath his usual clothes were on full display. As was a number of intriguing tattoos. If I drooled at least I could blame the cooking, I thought and turned around to focus on the food. Hunter must have perfected the art of showering quickly. It didn’t take him ten minutes before he was walking down the stairs again. He had put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. It should have cooled my naughty thoughts, but of course it didn’t. I got the eggs going as he walked up behind me. I was hyper aware of him. He stood close behind me and watched me work over my shoulder. As all the eggs had been cracked into the pan, he took a hold of my hips and turned me around so I faced him. Then he kissed me and my mind went blank. It wasn’t a demanding kiss. It was soft and warm and it made me melt.

“Good morning,” he told me as we drew apart.

“Good morning,” I answered, a little confused. “Didn’t we say that already?” He chuckled.

“We did, but I wanted a do-over as I didn’t like it that way,” he told me. I hummed as there wasn’t anything I could think of to say. I turned back to face the stove, I needed to keep an eye on the eggs. Hunter placed his arms around my waist. “What can I help with?” he asked.

“Set the counter? It’s almost done,” I suggested.

“Sure thing, sweetness,” he said, kissed my cheek and then got to work. I plated the breakfast and placed one of the plates in front of Hunter and joined him. “This looks like the perfect breakfast. Two breakfasts in two days, I usually skip if I haven’t remembered to buy fruit that I can eat in the car,” he told me and then started eating.

“Do you prefer to only have fruit?” I asked, worried I had done something wrong. He looked at me and swallowed.

“No, no. I love this. It’s not a preference that I skip breakfast. It’s laziness and lack of planning,” he reassured me. Hunter was rinsing off their plates to put in the dishwasher when the sound of a bell rang in the apartment. I froze and looked at him. He smiled. “It’s the doorbell, or at least as close you come to one here,” he told me. “It’s the alert to let you know someone has asked permission to go to this floor in the elevator.” He took me to the control panel for the security system. “I showed you how it worked yesterday, do you remember?” he asked me. I did my best and found I could remember how to activate the camera in the elevator. I recognised Jason and the other man as well. I looked at the controls and let my finger hover over the touch screen.

“This one?” I asked.

“Yes,” Hunter said. I pressed it and the orange glow around the control panel turned green. “What?” Hunter asked, he must have seen my worry on my face.

“I haven’t had time to bake, I don’t have anything to offer them,” I told him. He looked surprised and then shook his head.

“You don’t need to offer them anything, sweetness. they are just here to give us information.”

“But it’s polite to offer them something,” I objected.

“Well, for once I actually have food at home. How about we give them some tomatoes?” he suggested. I laughed.

“I guess they will have to do without,” I told him.

“That’s the spirit.” there was a knock on the door leading to the entrance and Hunter walked over to open it.

“Hello, Hana,” Jason said as he walked over to where I was standing.

“Hi, Jason. How are you?” I asked.

“I’m the same as always. How are you doing? Hanging in there? Ready to unalive my best friend after spending too much time with him?” he joked. I smiled.

“Not yet,” I told him.

“Miss Bishop,” John greeted me.

“Hello,” I said. Hunter had walked to my side.

“Let’s do this in the office,” he said and put his hand on my back to guide me. Jason raised an eyebrow and smirked at his friend. Hunter gave him and angry look, which made Jason grin wider. Hunter took one of the visitor’s chairs as we walked past them and placed it next to his office chair. I got the cue and sat down in it. As Hunter sat down in his chair, Jason took the remaining visitor’s chair and John remained standing. I looked at Hunter and Jason, but no one seemed to think it was odd that John was left standing. Hunter took my hand, it felt nice and safe. “So?” he asked. Everyone shifted their attention to John. I wouldn’t say he looked nervous, but he did look like someone who was about to do something he would rather not.

“I have information on the three men and the woman that was at Miss Bishop’s apartment the other night. We have managed to identify all of them,” he started.

“Let’s start with the woman,” Hunter said. His voice didn’t hold the gentleness I was used to. It was cold and straight to the point.

“Name is Amber Willson. Age twenty two. She had a normal upbringing, mother, father and two siblings in a small town in Nebraska. Prom queen, head cheerleader, moderate grades. After high school she moved south to try a career as an actress. We can’t find any information about her ever being hired as one. After being in the south for a year she got a job at Simon Hunters’ establishment. The official title was stripper. How she ended up there is a little unclear.” John paused, he looked between me and Hunter and his uneasiness was growing.

“Continue,” Hunter told him.

“It is widely known that the strippers at the establishment performed other services as well. It is also well known that the owner likes to… sample the products. From what we have found out, Simon had a period where he favoured Amber.” I sighed. That meant it was a good chance the baby she was carrying was Simon’s. I had no illusions about my ex-husband. I had known about his infidelity from the week after we got married when I received the first of many emails from scorned women that wanted revenge on him by telling his wife about their affair. At first it broke my heart every time, and I believed him every time he told me it was the last time. But as the years past, it was just another humiliation I had to suffer. Still, it wasn’t fun to air your dirty laundry in a room with three men, one of whom I had the hots for.

“So there is a confirmed connection between her and my son,” Hunter concluded. It wasn’t a question but it did serve a purpose to establish Simon as his son, rather than my ex-husband. It was trivial at best, but it did make me feel better. John just nodded and Jason made a sound that was hard for me to interpret. “What about the men?” Hunter asked.

“They are all small-time criminals, from the background check and their rap sheets, we can see that they have been working together since their teenage years. They have some minor theft, assault and sexual assault charges and convictions for all of them. No master minds and no affiliations with larger crime syndicates,” John told them.

“So what is the connection to this Amber and why were they at Hana’s place?” Jason asked. John was now looking like he would pay large amounts of money to be somewhere else.

“Simon,” he answered.