Page 11 of One of Our Own

“Is that why you and Shai fought? Were you drunk?” I asked, refusing to let it go.

“It was just a dumb fight over a girl, Mom, okay? Just let it be. We’re fine. You’re making it into a way bigger deal than it needs to be.”

I wanted to ask which girl, but talking about girls was sure to shut him down completely. We could talk about almost anything, but for some reason, he didn’t like telling me about any of his girlfriends or the things that happened with them. Elaine, my friend from the call center, assured me her boys were the same way when they were his age, and they shared all that stuff with her husband instead. I hoped Hunter was talking to one of his coaches or his friends’ dads about it. Being left out of that part of his life still hurt, though. He didn’t even tell me when he got his first girlfriend. I found out on Instagram, when she posted a picture of the two of them together and I saw him tagged.

“I just can’t believe you and Shai actually fought. Did he hit you?” The mark on his cheek had grown into a bruise in the morning, and the scratch on his neck was still red and inflamed.

“It wasn’t like we boxed each other. He just kinda smacked me.” He scarfed down his bowl of cereal like he hadn’t eaten in days, then poured himself a second. The boy could eat.

“And did you hit him back?” Hunter had only hit someone once, and it was in kindergarten. Since childhood, he’d never done anything violent or showed the slightest sign of aggression,I was sure of it. I’d been watching for signs since he was born. And I breathed a sigh of relief as each year passed and they weren’t there. I refused to believe this was the first sign after all that time. There had to be another explanation.

“No, I didn’t hit him,” he said, like it was a stupid question.

We left it alone after that, and I’d barely thought about it since. Hunter and Shai carried on like nothing had happened, so I figured whatever it was, they’d worked it out by themselves.

But all of this came flooding back now, as I watched Hunter prepare our dinner. I shoved my feelings down and eased my way into the conversation.

“Hey, Hunter, do you know if Jett’s dad was there at the last party he had?” I asked.

“Jett’s party?” he asked without turning around. “He hasn’t had one since the Worthington game.”

“I know,” I said. “That’s the one I’m asking about.”

He shrugged, turning around and bringing a plate of bread over to the table. “I don’t know. That was, like, weeks ago. And his dad just hides in his office, anyway.”

That’s why I always warned Hunter about making good choices, especially while he was at Jett’s. It was the boys’ favorite hangout spot because his house was the biggest and the least supervised. His dad was a single parent like me, but that’s where our similarities stopped. He was an e-trader who practically worked around the clock. He spent most of his time tucked away upstairs in his office, oblivious to anything happening in the rest of the house.

I grabbed a piece of bread even though the thought of food made me nauseous. I tried to act nonchalant. “Wasn’t that the night I picked you up from the water tower? When you were supposed to spend the night at Shai’s?”

He froze, just for a second, but long enough for me to notice. Then he quickly shrugged again, dismissing it. “Maybe. I mean, it could’ve been. I told you, I don’t remember.”

He hurried over to the sink. He drained the pasta like I’d taught him all those years ago. My being a single mom meant he knew how to do all kinds of things around the house—cooking, cleaning, laundry. It’d started when he was young—not out of any old-school you’ll-carry-your-weight-around-the-house attitude, but out of pure necessity. By now, he was more comfortable in our kitchen than I was, and he was on his way to becoming a better cook, too.

Was it a coincidence that he and Shai got into a fight the same night the girl was assaulted? I desperately wanted it to be, but what were the chances? There were too many coincidences stacked upon each other.

“But wasn’t that party the same night you got in the fight with Shai?” I asked as he sprinkled Parmesan on the noodles.

“I don’t know. I haven’t even thought about the fight with Shai since it happened. It was so stupid.” He carried the dishes to the table and set a plate in front of me. “What do you want to drink?”

He dismissed it that quickly, but something wasn’t right. I felt it, the way it curled my guts, and a mother’s instinct is never wrong.

CHAPTER SEVEN

I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. It’d been that way for the last three hours. If I didn’t fall asleep soon, I knew I’d have to give up on the idea of sleep altogether and just get up to start my day.

Even though Hunter acted like he didn’t remember the night of the party or anything that happened, I couldn’t shake the feeling he wasn’t telling me the truth. It had awakened my deepest fears. The ones I usually kept at bay, but that pushed their way to the surface late at night, or when I was overtired. Tonight both were true, and my fears had left me in a cold sweat, tossing and turning.

Lots of women called themselves single parents after they got divorced, but I was the real deal. I’d never been married, and Hunter didn’t have any kind of relationship with his dad. He’d never even met him. He barely knew who he was.

And all of that was intentional.

Because Hunter’s dad was a scary, violent man. One I’d put in prison for life with no chance of parole, which was the only reason I didn’t live in fear every single day. He was the one who attacked me, left me bleeding at the bottom of a staircase. The one I had called my boyfriend when I was on the phone with the girl—but really, he was a cautionary tale against one-night stands.

The day my world changed forever started like any other day. I was fresh out of law school and had just started working as a clerk down at city hall. After work, a colleague and I went out for drinks at our favorite bar. That’s where I met James. He sauntered up to our table in his low-slung jeans and his tight T-shirt, clearly selected to show off all his muscles.

“Can I buy you a drink?” he asked boldly. Long dark lashes housed his dreamy eyes, and he had a crooked, irresistible grin.

There was an instant spark, which was all I cared about then. I was completely focused on my career and wasn’t interested in anything more than a little fun, and James and I had plenty of it that night. Drinking. Flirting. Laughing. He was only in town for the night on business, so he was perfect for a no-strings-attached situation. We hung out at the bar until it closed and stumbled down the street to his hotel afterward. I told him goodbye in the morning, and didn’t think I’d ever see him again.

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