Chapter 34

— Hunter —

PRESENT DAY—TWO WEEKS LATER

This was a hell of a lot harder than I'd thought it would be.

Sitting on an Adirondack chair in Derek's yard, I looked over at Natalia talking to a bunch of women and wondered if anyone else saw what I saw. Maybe they were blinded by her beauty—the smile that lit up a room, long legs toned just right so they were muscular, yet still feminine, and a dress that hugged her curves yet covered everything in a way that made it sexier to show less skin. But when she'd said hello earlier today, our eyes met for a brief second, and I saw it before she quickly made her escape. She was hurting beneath all those layers of beauty. And I fucking hated that I'd done that to her.

I sucked back my second seltzer water, wishing it were something else. But after weeks of binge drinking—crap I hadn't pulled since right after Jayce died—Derek had made me promise sobriety for the christening. It was the least I could do.

My buddy sat in the chair next to mine, one arm holding his sleeping beauty in a long white dress that hung two feet longer than she was.

"My wife is going to divorce me when she finds out, you know."

"What are you talking about?"

He shot me a look that said don't be a dick. "And she's gonna find out. She could've just gone on thinking you were a perpetual douchebag who didn't want to be tied down. But nope. You screwed that up. Ever since your drunken night talking about Jayce, she thinks you're broken. And you know Anna. There's nothing she likes better than a project to heal someone. She's not going to stop digging until she knows every little thing about your life. I'm not offering details, but I also won't lie to her. Eventually she's going to ask me the specifics of the genetic disease he had and put two and two together."

"Don't use bad language in front of my goddaughter, please."

Derek shook his head. He stayed quiet for a moment as we looked over at his wife and her best friend. His voice turned serious when he spoke again. "Nat deserves to know."

"No, what she deserves is a whole lot more than I can give her."

"What about you? Don't you deserve some happiness?"

I sipped my seltzer, wanting a drink to take the edge off in the worst way. "Leave the healing projects to your wife."

We couldn't avoid each other at the church. The godparents sat on the end of the pew next to each other. Natalia had Caroline in her arms. She looked beautiful cradling a baby—a real natural. And it had nothing to do with how gorgeous she was. I tried not to look over at her, fighting the urge to stare, because for a brief second, I'd forget she wasn't mine anymore. Then when I remembered, it hurt to breathe.

One of the blankets on top of Caroline dropped to the floor, so I leaned forward to pick it up, dusting it off even though the marble floor was sparkling clean. The church was warm enough, so I laid it on the pew between us rather than covering the baby again.

I finally found the courage to look up at Natalia, and when our eyes met, she waited for me to say something, do something. When I didn't, she broke the ice.

"The dress is beautiful, isn't it?"

My eyes washed over her. "Yeah. Red's your color. You look gorgeous."

Natalia cracked a small smile. "I meant Caroline's dress."

"Oh. Yeah. Her dress is beautiful, too." I'm such a jackass.

It was awkward, which felt like crap since our conversation had always flowed easily, since the first time we met.

So, I attempted to make it better. "How've you been?"

The look on her face told me I'd done the opposite. "Lonely. You?"

I couldn't bullshit her and leave her hanging when she'd been so honest. Forcing a pathetic excuse for a smile, I said, "About the same."

Then, like the asshole I am, my eyes dropped to her full lips. Sitting in a house of worship didn't stop me from thinking about how much I'd love to see them swollen from my teeth. When I looked back up at her eyes, they told me she knew exactly the thought in my mind. Lucky for me, the organ music started, beginning the ceremony, or I might've done something stupid and leaned into the little bit separating us… in a church of all places.

My buddy had won the party planning battle with his wife, so it was a low-key celebration after the christening. Just family and a few friends with some food catered back at Anna and Derek's house—and Adam. I supposed Adam would fall into the friend category, since he and Derek worked together and were close enough that he was a groomsman in their wedding. But to me, tonight, Adam was enemy number one. I wondered if the asshole knew how close he'd come to getting to sleep with the beautiful woman he was currently talking to. Worse, I couldn't stop thinking about whether Natalia might be in the same frame of mind tonight. She threw her head back and laughed at something the pencil neck said, and I nearly lost my shit. Since drinking wasn't an option, I decided a time-out was in order and took a walk.

I found Izzy out front, bouncing a ball near the neighbor's basketball hoop at the curb. I walked over. "How's your free-throw ratio?"

She bounced twice, then swished one into the net. "Never better."

I took off my jacket and laid it on the grass. "Up for a little one-on-one?"

The wiseass looked from side to side. "Sure. Is there any real competition around to play?"

I reached in and stole the ball mid-bounce, showing her where her competition was. "How you been?"

"Good. I got game MVP a few weeks ago."

"Congratulations. That's great."

She shrugged like it wasn't a big deal and tried to swallow her proud smile. I bounced the ball, faking left, then right, took a few steps, and shot from three-point distance.

Swoosh.

"Lucky shot," she said.

"Yeah. Okay. Your turn." She grabbed the ball, and I stood in the way of the net with my hands up. "Get past me, MVP."

I'd like to say I let her blow by me to help her confidence. But I didn't have to let her do anything. She didn't break a sweat to pass me. And I found out all too quickly that my three-point shot was beginner's luck. We played for a while, the game growing more intense with each basket we made. By the time we were done, my shirt was untucked, sleeves rolled up, and I was sweating like an out-of-shape old man. Izzy was barely winded.

"Need a break?" she asked.

I was bent over with my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath. "What gave you that idea?"

She laughed, and we sat on the curb to cool off.

"How are things going? Is Yakshit being good to you, or do I have to fly out to New York to kick his ass?"

"Everything's good, I guess."

"You guess?"

"Let me ask you something. Would you really fly across the country to kick a boy's ass if he was mean to me?"

I'm sure she thought I was kidding, but I wasn't. "Absolutely."

"Then I should return the favor. Oh, wait… I just kicked your ass." She smirked.

I deserved that. Picking a few pieces of grass from the lawn, I asked, "How is she?"

"Not so great…" Izzy turned to look me square in the face. "… thanks to you."

"I'm sorry, Izzy."

"I don't get it. I thought you liked her."

"I did. I do."

"So, what's the problem? Is it because you live out here, and we live in New York?"

"It's complicated."

She shook her head. "It's actually not. Adults just make things more complicated than they need to be. You like her. She likes you. You work it out."

"It's not that simple. There're a lot of other things that factor in as you get older."

"Are you going to jail?"

Sadly, she was asking a serious question. "No, I'm not going to jail."

"Did you cheat on her?"

"I don't think this is an appropriate conversation to be having. But no, I didn't cheat on her."

She ignored my comment. "Do you still think about her?"

I nodded. It was impossible not to think about her all day long, even though I'd tried my hardest.

Izzy was quiet for a long time, and I knew she was pondering how to put together the puzzle of our conversation. Although without all the pieces, she'd never be able to see the full picture. At least that's what I thought, until she proved kids could see a lot more than adults thought they could.

"My dad messed up in so many ways. He's not the guy I thought he was. Over the last few years, I've sat around and thought about all of the things he said to me. Because I'd never suspected he could be a liar, it made me question if I even knew how to tell the truth from his lies. So I doubted everything—did he love me? Did he want to be with me, be with us, or were we part of the act he put on for people? I didn't realize it until recently, but Nat was feeling the same way. That's why it was hard for her to move on, for both of us to move on. My dad claimed he didn't tell Nat the truth because he didn't want to hurt her. And of course, everyone thinks I'm too young to understand anything." She shrugged. "Maybe I am too young to understand a lot of things. But what I've learned over the last few years is Nat doesn't need protecting. She's the strongest woman I know. So if you want to protect her—really allow her to move on without it dragging out for years like things with my dad did—don't leave her questioning. Because while the truth hurts, it's like a Band-Aid when you rip it off. The pain goes away. It's the lies and questioning that keep you aching for a long time."

My mouth hung open. Not only had I had my ass handed to me in a game of one-on-one, I'd just been schooled on life and love by a sixteen-year-old.