Page 64 of Reforming Hunt
Hunt sent him a look. “Thanks for bringing up old baggage.”
“The point is,” Bran said, “he’s the oldest and you were a toddler when Mom died. Dad was gone, and Levi took it upon himself to look out for all of us, especially you. He treated you like he was your father.”
Hunt flinched. “Fucking-A, that’s a horrible thought.”
Bran grinned. “Isn’t it? But it’s the truth.”
“Well, he needs to cut the cord. I’m nearly thirty, and he’s managed to make me homicidal with his fatherly love.”
“Which is why I’m saying this,” Bran said. “You’re not irresponsible—”
“No, he’s right about that part.”
“Hunt.” Bran squeezed Hunt’s shoulder. “Stop beating yourself up. You and Emily built a children’s program and made it into one of the biggest kids’ projects in town. You’ve quadrupled the lake activities for our resort, and you’re married now, with a wife and boy who love you.”
Bran was wrong. Abby hated him right now.
But Bran kept going. “You’ve also just single-handedly taken our shitty, stuck-in-the-eighties, ostentatious McMansion and made it fucking cozy.”
“That was Abby. She picked the finishes.”
“Most of the finishes aren’t even in,” Bran pointed out. “The house looks great because of you, you idiot. You’re not the bad guy. And I think you know that, or you wouldn’t have married Abby.”
Wouldn’t he have? He’d wanted Abby, and he’d been willing to do anything to have her. Fix her car, pay for her son to attend Club Kids, marry her… Only Hunt’s head was so clouded right now that he couldn’t figure out if that was love or selfishness.
He’d begun to think for the first time in his life that he’d finally found a woman he could be with long term. Only now he wondered if it was his selfish need to not be alone. Maybe what he felt wasn’t love.
But it sure as hell hurt when he’d looked back and seen her walk away.
“Think, Hunt,” Bran said, pulling him out of his cloud of self-doubt. “Did anything strange happen over the last few days?”
“Strange?”
“You said the boat was tampered with. Was there anyone out of the ordinary on the dock? Anyone who stood out?”
Hunt shot him a look. “We run a resort. Almost everyone is a stranger.”
“Don’t be an ass. You know what I’m talking about. Anyone who looked suspicious?”
Hunt was about to dismiss his brother’s paranoia when a thought crossed his mind. “The new Club Kids attendants we hired…I don’t know them that well.”
“And?”
Hunt thought back to this morning and dropping Noah off at the program. “The new guy rubbed me wrong. Didn’t say anything specific, but he’s not…”
“Not what?”
“Peppy?” Hunt searched for words, but that was the only one that fit.
“Peppy,” Bran said. “What are you talking about?”
His brothers were driving him batshit crazy today, and he had enough on his plate. “Peppy, you ass…bubbly…happy to be around kids.”
Recognition dawned on Bran’s face. “Okay, so let’s start there. We interview the new hires. And the Club Kids employees. Maybe they know something.”
* * *
By the timeHunt returned to the house after being grilled by his brothers and talking to the police, no one was there. He went to Abby’s old place, the one they’d cleared out that morning, but the landlord had already changed the locks, and Abby’s car wasn’t in the driveway.
