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18. Try Not To Look So Offended

Chapter 18

Try Not To Look So Offended

Megan

“ L ena,” Hunter corrects me. “Her real name is Lena Middleton, and she’s my younger sister.”

“You have a younger sister?” I’m so lost right now, but to be fair, Hunter doesn’t know much about my family either, so I quiet myself and just listen.

“I didn’t know she was alive until a few weeks ago, and even then, it was only a suspicion. A hope. Some enemies of mine figured out that she was still alive, and they were looking for her to use against me.”

“That’s why you asked me to let her stay with me,” I say, slowly understanding. “Does she know?”

“I doubt it,” Hunter looks perplexed. “She doesn’t seem to recognize me, even a little bit, and I haven’t figured out how to tell her.”

“I’m assuming there’s a long story as to why you didn’t know if your sister was alive or not but this is probably not the time for it?”

“I’ll explain later.”

I look at his tortured face and then walk slowly toward him. Taking out the cigarette clenched between his teeth, I say bluntly, “While you should have told me the whole story before today, luckily, I don’t hold a grudge against men who save my life.”

“If it wasn’t for me, your life wouldn’t have been in danger, to begin with, Megan.”

I can see that my brush with kidnapping and possible death hit Hunter harder than I first thought. He was angry that I left my security detail, but now I think that he was more scared than anything, which only makes me love him more.

“I can help you tell Lacy. If I’m there with you, it might be easier.”

He meets my gaze, and I can see him searching for something in my eyes. He sighs and lowers his forehead on my shoulder.

“I mean Lena. I can help you tell Lena.” My hand automatically comes to rest on the nape of his neck, hoping to comfort him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m tired,” he simply confesses something which is so unlike him. “I’m tired of all of this.”

“I can see that.” My heart feels tight in my chest. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that my bigger-than-life lover is also just a man of flesh and bone. He has feelings, hopes, and desires like any other human being. “Want me to call Laa -Lena in?”

“You want to do this now?”

“Sure, why not?”

Hunter takes a deep breath and then raises his head, fixing his expression. “All right then, let’s try it your way.”

I walk over to the door and open it to see Lacy and Christian sitting at one of the club’s extra small round tables having a drink.

“Lacy, can you come in?” I ask her.

“Are you okay, Megan?” she asks cautiously.

“I’m fine. I just want to talk with you for a moment.”

“You and Mr. Middleton?”

“Yes.”

She seems hesitant to come back into the kitchen with me but when she walks in, I close the door behind her and then ask her a delicate question as Hunter sits in the corner silently and watches.

“This is going to sound like a very intrusive question, Lacy, but are you sure you have no family?”

She still looks shaken from the recent events (and rightly so), but at my question, she shakes her head, looking confused. “I told you, I was in foster care ever since I can remember. I don’t have any family. I never did.”

I look towards Hunter to say something at this point since I’ve opened the door to questioning. Finally, he does.

“Can you tell me why you’re wearing contact lenses and why you’ve recently dyed your hair?”

“I’ve been hired as a cook, not a server.” She flinches at the questions. “Is there a problem with how I dress or something?“

“There’s a good reason he’s asking that,” I tell her, understanding her defensiveness. “He isn’t criticizing.”

“There is a reason.” She looks between us both anxiously. “When I turned eighteen, I left my foster home. I did a few odd jobs, and I don’t know why, but I learned later that some men showed up at one of my former jobs looking for someone with my description. It freaked me out, so I decided that it was safer to hide my most notable features.”

“Well, that was smart,” Hunter finally says. “You led us all on a very long goose chase.”

Lacy freezes, and I see the panic on her face. “Wait, are you one of the men looking for me?“

“Not in that way!” I say quickly, waving her thoughts away with my hand. “Hunter has a legitimate reason.”

“Do I look at all familiar to you?” Hunter asks, studying her carefully.

Lacy frowns. “Should you?”

He pauses, and I see the flash of hurt in his eyes at her almost careless answer. Seeing this unflappable man express that brief emotion breaks my heart, so I step in. “Lacy, it seems that you actually do have some family alive.”

“What?” She turns towards me, rightfully confused. “I don’t understand how you would know that or why you would care?”

Hunter walks over to her now, holding out the test results. “Fifteen years ago, there was a fire in my apartment where I lived with my mother and younger sister. My sister was three years old at the time, and her name was Lena. I thought she died in that fire, but I recently discovered that she may have been alive all this time. The birthmark on your wrist is the same as hers.”

“No one ever made mention of me being orphaned in a fire,” she says with almost pity for Hunter. “That’s terrible what happened to your sister, but it isn’t me.”

Hunter looks at me for what I think is permission to continue. He’s done some questionable things in the time since Lacy has arrived at the Blue Whiskey and I’m sure she won’t like them, but I give him a head nod of approval anyway.

“So… I took some of your DNA and compared it with mine. I also reached out to the hospital where both of us were born and got a copy of your birth certificate. Your real name is Lena Ray Middleton, and you are indeed my younger sister.”

“You took my DNA without my consent?”

“I’ve done much worse,” he says, not fully understanding how that statement doesn’t make things any better. Lacy doesn’t understand his invasive personality yet, not like I do.

“His methods are questionable, to say the least,” I admit to her. “But just read the results. They were conducted in a reputable lab.”

Lacy’s expression changes as she stares down at the test results, reading and re-reading the summary. She seems so shell-shocked that I lower her into a nearby chair. I’m not big on comforting people and am quite awkward at it, but I try patting her shoulder. “Look, I know this might be a lot to take in.”

“I have a family?” Her eyes pop up and over to Hunter. “ You’re my family?”

The tone and the look she shoots Hunter has me wincing and I whisper by her ear, “Um, try not to look so offended.”

“Sorry, it’s just…you’re you. I just– this isn’t some sick sort of joke, is it?”

I can see her trying to grasp this new reality and I kind of feel sorry for her, actually for them both.

“I know it’s a lot of information to take in,“ I say.

She cuts me off, looking directly at Hunter. “Why is she doing all the talking? Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“I just told you everything,” Hunter replies, standing to his feet.

“What does this mean for me?”

Hunter is quiet for a moment and then says, “Well, first of all, we’re going to straighten out your status as a living, breathing member of the Middleton family. We’ll change your social security number, your ID, birth certificate, and any other important records. I’m also going to make sure you get a nice place to live, your college degree, and any further education that you can. Dangerous as that all is, it all needs to happen if we are to establish you as my next of kin.”

“College? Dangerous?” Lacy is just repeating words at this point, completely lost. I’m a bit out of sorts myself. That story about what happened to Hunter’s family in the fire? That sounds incredibly traumatic. I can’t believe he’s been carrying that quietly for most of his life…or actually, I can believe it.

“My line of work outside of the club is a little delicate,” he says, clearing his throat.

“Maybe I should leave you two to speak alone,“ I say, feeling as if I’ve done enough to break the ice.

“No!” comes a simultaneous order from them both.

Lacy grabs my hands and pulls me into the seat next to her. “You have to stay with me. I have no idea what’s going on.”

Hunter just gives me a sharp look as if he’s daring me to step outside the office.

So, I just settle in.

The conversation between them is a little stilted and almost rusty from Hunter’s side. It’s as if he’s trying to figure out how to communicate with her but his words aren’t really siding with him. His tone is a little rough and commanding, and I can tell that Lacy isn’t really appreciating any of it.

“Okay,” I cut Hunter off in the middle of something he’s saying that sounds more like an order than a question. “I think what Hunter is trying to say is that it would be helpful for you to stay with him for a while and get to know him. You’ve both lost all of this precious time with each other.”

Lacy darts a suspicious look at us both. “That’s not what it sounded like to me. Didn’t he just threaten to lock me in his apartment with a security detail if I didn’t quit this job? A job, which, by the way, is in his club.”

“Of course not.” I glare at Hunter who just looks away. “He wouldn’t be so stupid as to say something like that. It’s just that you’ve had a difficult life so far, so maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea for you not to have to worry about where your next paycheck comes from. Take some time and get to know your brother. But if you still want to work, maybe–“

“I want to work,” she quickly cuts me off, facing Hunter. “I know you’re my brother because that piece of paper says we are, but this is all new to me. I have to protect myself and earn my own money just in case you decide–“

She doesn’t finish that sentence, and she doesn’t have to. I think we both know what she means. In some ways, there are similarities between Lacy and me, and I think that I understand her reasoning.

We’ve both had a rough time of it growing up. She probably moved from foster home to foster home, never really building any lasting relationships with anyone. She’s only had herself to depend on. Only herself to trust. Everything Hunter is throwing at her right now probably sounds like a fairytale she wished for many years ago, and now that it seems to be coming true, it feels too good to be true.

Yeah, I totally get that.

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