Page 124 of 2204 Hunter Lane
Fuck I loved music. I loved singing even though my voice sounded like my throat had been stepped on. I loved Christmas time even though I hated the goddamn snow. I loved it all. I loved Bambi. I loved her so much and she made me fall back in love with the things I forgot to feel for.
I don’t know what it was about this time of year, but it put me in my damn feels. Last year, Bambi and I had spent Christmas together, but we weren’t a couple. Did I like her then? Of course I did. Did my dumb ass admit it? Nope.
Realizing how much of my time I spent hating her, ignoring the feelings that were clearly there, God… I beat myself up about that every day.
There could’ve been months where I had the opportunity to hold her had I made the admission. But I didn’t, I didn’t and I was stupid. But now that I had her, there was not a damn thing on planet Earth that would get in the way of that.
Dim lights flickered behind me as I glanced to my rear-view mirror, seeing a beat-up Buick tailing me. When I narrowed my eyes to get a closer look, I could see that it was the drunk from the liquor store, right on my ass.
“The fuck?” I muttered, switching my eyes from mirror to road, mirror to road.
I felt the boot of my truck nudge forward, the metal screeching as the Buick kissed my licence plate. Fury bubbled inside of me and in my best efforts, I tried to confront it but it was too late.
Rolling my window down, I launched an arm out and threw up the middle finger, increasing my speed down the winding road.
“Drive faster!” His voice travelled in the winds, but I was beside myself in vexation.
I took care of this truck for years. There was never a scratch, never a fuckin’ hairline fracture on my baby since I bought it after my mom passed.
Throwing my old Ford in to the junk yard was the best damn thing I could’ve ever done. Living with the guilt that my mom died right beside me, and I didn’t have the ability to save her… fuck that haunted me. And no matter how hard I tried to fight it off, it tormented me still.
“Faster, asshole!”
He hit the back of my truck again, sure enough making a dent as I floored it, zooming at sixty miles per hour. The icy wind paralyzed my body, but the rush was blazing inside of me. The chase, the drifting, the driving… this adrenaline I’d been victim to for so long.
The trees raced by as I checked one more time at my rear-view mirror, seeing nothing but the projected shadows of hills and evergreen.
“Lost him.” I laughed, doing a shoulder check with a prideful simper. “Fuckin’ lost h –
Chapter Forty-Seven
Marley
“I’m going to try calling again.”
Straight to voicemail. I rang Hunter twelve times in the past hour, baffled as to why it took this long to get alcohol and some freaking eggnog.
Worry began to set in as Dex, his own father, phoned him too.
“Voicemail.” He grunted, a hard line cementing over his forehead.
“Where are you…” I whispered, biting on a hangnail as I paced around the living room.
By now, the buzz of the Lanes completely dissipated as we waited for Hunter’s call. A call that never came.
“To hell with this, I’m goin’ out lookin’ for him.” Dex said, snagging his keys off the side table.
“I’m coming.” I insisted, trailing right behind him.
Dex didn’t protest as I secured the buttons of my coat and followed him to his truck. For the life of me, I couldn’t settle down. I had a nervous twitch that would manifest into my fingers when I had a horrible gut feeling. And for some reason, I couldn’t shake it off. That was the worst part.
We drove for a couple of minutes, taking turns calling Hunter only to be redirected to his voicemail again. “Go for Hunter. *Beep.*”
“Oh, for God’s sake.” I snapped, locking my phone in frustration.Where the hell was he? Was this a sick prank he was playing? No. He wouldn’t. Not on Christmas.
“This ain’t like him.” Dex muttered, driving down the winding road at forty miles per hour.
The sun was setting over the mountains, cascading feathers of light onto the black ice shining on the cement. That sinking gut feeling returned as we turned the corner, and my stomach sank.
