Chapter 52

The alarm on my phone woke me up. It took me a moment to orient myself. I was again in a strange bed, in a room I didn’t recognise. But still I felt relaxed as I reached for my phone and shut the alarm off. The arm around my waist tightened and I was pulled back. Hunter nuzzled into my neck, his beard tickling me. I giggled and wiggled to get away.

“We could just stay in bed the rest of the day,” he suggested in a voice still raspy from sleep.

“And skip work?” I asked, pretending to be shocked.

“Mmm. Sometimes you have to be bad,” he told me. I giggled again.

“Easy for you to say. You are the owner, the only one that could scold you is Jason. And I have a feeling he would more likely give you a high five,” I pointed out. Hunter laughed and kissed my neck.

“I guess that is true,” he admitted. “So how about an extra thirty minutes in bed? I will still have time to shower and get ready.”

“I like the idea. I can make you a sandwich to go while you get ready,” I said.

“You don’t need to do that. You can make yourself breakfast and I will grab something when I get to work,” he told me.

“I know that you won’t. You told me so yourself. And it’s not a big thing. I need breakfast as well.” He hummed.

“I do appreciate it. So, did I persuade you to sleep in?”

“Fifteen minutes,” I decided and turned around in his arms. He had a lazy smile on his face and my heart skipped a couple of beats. He was too handsome and I kissed him.

An hour later and I was getting ready to settle down for work. My phone pinged and I saw it was a message from Wictor.

W: Anthony called yesterday.

Me: That is great! Did you talk?

W: He asked if I wanted to grab a coffee on Saturday. He said he would rather talk in person.

I looked at his messages, they seemed a little flat. There was no joy or excitement in them.

Me: Can I call you?

My phone rang almost as soon as I had hit the send button.

“Hi, what’s up?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I just don’t know how to feel about all of this. I mean, I’m happy. I guess,” Wictor said.

“You don’t sound happy,” I pointed out. There was a deep sigh and a long pause that allowed me to hear the background noises that told me he was walking to work.

“I don’t feel like I can be happy, or excited. I don’t know what he wants to talk about,” he told me.

“Oh, right. You don’t want to get your hopes up in case he just wants to say ‘Hi, long time no see’,” I said as I understood.

“Yes. What if I allow myself to hope he wants something to happen between us. And then we sit down and he starts telling me about his wonderful husband and the child they are about to adopt and his only interest in talking to me is saying thanks for opening his eyes to being gay?”

“I’m not saying that is what’s going to happen. But maybe it’s not a bad idea to keep the expectations low,” I told him. “But not too low. Maybe not plan your future wedding, but see it as a nice thing to see an old friend.”

“You are right. That is a good way to look at it. Can you come along?” he asked.

“What? No!” I said. I could picture myself sitting there as an awkward third wheel. “Why would you want me there?” He sighed again.

“As a fallback. I could use someone to fall back on if he starts showing pictures of his harem of adonis boyfriends.” I had to laugh.

“I thought he was getting married,” I teased Wictor.

“I can’t decide which scenario I would hate most,” he confessed.

“Okay. So I won’t join the two of you. I don’t think you really want me to. But if you text me the place and time I will ask Hunter if we can go for coffee around the same time and I can keep an eye on you from afar?” I offered.

“You are the best friend and sister in the world,” he told me.

“I know. I’m guessing you are almost at your work and I need to log on soon. Have an amazing day, don’t forget to text me the information and I will take care of the rest,” I said. We said goodbye and hung up. I giggled as I logged in to work. During my lunch I texted Hunter.

Me: Hi. How about we go out for coffee on Saturday afternoon?

H: Hello. Sounds like fun. Starting to feel cooped up?

Me: Not really. To be honest Wictor is meeting Anthony and asking for moral support.

H: Are you talking about a double date?

Me: No. More like friendly spying?

H: Haha. So you aren’t asking me out on a date, but on a stakeout?

I smiled at my phone. I hadn’t realised that Hunter would be the perfect man to bring. He could make sure we didn’t get caught.

Me: Yes, exactly. If it’s okay with you.

H: Sweetness, that sounds like a lot of fun. And you made me curious. I’m in.

Me: If everything goes okay with Wictor and Anthony, maybe we can go on a real date after?

H: I would like that as well. Did you have anything in mind?

Me: No. How about a movie and dinner?

H: That will work fine. How about you pick the movie and I will pick the restaurant?

Me: I can do that.

I was in a good mood all day and it lasted as Hunter got home and we cooked dinner. In fact, my good mood lasted into Saturday. Hunter was a big reason. He continued to make me feel safe, beautiful and sexy. It was a new experience for me as I slowly started to adjust my expectations of what a relationship could offer. He had also awoken my sexual side. Truth be told, I had a hard time keeping my hands off him. I had been nervous at first to initiate something. I was scared he would take it as a sign I wanted more than I could offer, or that he would reject me. But he proved me wrong in both cases. He was like a balm to my scarred soul. He spent hours giving me pleasure while hardly letting me touch him. From the first night we spent together, he asked me to join him in his bed every night. I always accepted as I didn’t have any reason to refuse. Even the nights we didn’t end up exploring each other, I slept better than I had in years.

Saturday morning Hunter sat me down to talk. He had his serious face on so I knew it was something important.

“We need to talk about some rules we need to have in place when we go out today,” he told me.

“Rules?” I asked.

“Yes, sweetness. You have stayed with me for a week now and I have men watching the ones who tried to break into your apartment. But I can’t be certain they are the only ones Simon has at his disposal. Or that one of the mafia groups haven’t discovered where you are and think you will be a good negotiation piece towards my son. In short, I don’t know if there is someone out there still interested in grabbing you,” he explained to me. I nodded.

“And you say I won’t be safe even if I’m out with you?” I asked. He smiled at me and caressed my cheek.

“I will always keep you safe,” he told me. I didn’t like what he was saying because it sounded like his comment had a but at the end. “But there may be times that I can’t protect you. If they subdue me or if there are too many of them, I can’t keep all of them occupied,” he continued. I frowned as I started to hate where this was going. “If I tell you to run. You run.”

“But what if you get hurt?” I objected. My entire being objected to the idea of leaving Hunter behind as I ran away. Not that I deluded myself to think I could be useful. But to just leave him. It felt cold.

“Even if I get hurt. No matter what happens to me, you will run away,” he told me. His voice let me know he wasn’t playing around. He expected me not to object.

“And what do I do when I run away from you? Then we will both be alone,” I asked.

“The first thing you do is keep running until you know you are safe. If you see any uniformed people, you go to them. I don’t care if it’s a cop, a military or a fireman. Even a security guard is okay. If you can’t find one of those and aren’t close to a police or fire station, you head either for this apartment or my office, whichever is closest to where you are. If that is not an option, you go to a big bank office. Not a small one. A big one with a uniformed guard and lots of security cameras. You keep going until you can get to one of those places. Avoid narrow streets or streets without people. Try not to box yourself in. Always have more than one exit,” he instructed me. I nodded and tried to remember everything. “As soon as you can, call Jason. If you can’t reach him or if he tells you to do it, you call the police and ask to be connected to chief Denny. You can trust him and you can tell him everything,” Hunter said.

“Maybe we should just stay home,” I told him. He gave me a weak smile.

“I don’t want to scare you, sweetness. But I need you to know these things. And I need you to listen to me. That is how I will keep you safe. Do you promise to do as I tell you?” he asked.

“I do,” I promised after some hesitation.

“Good. Then there is nothing to worry about. And just so you know. I think we will have a fun day and then go home and have a fun evening. And we'll both forget having this conversation,” he told me.

“I would like that very much,” I said, giving him a smile.