Page 26 of Reforming Hunt
He wasn’t careless. An ass? Yeah, okay, sometimes. When his brothers were involved. But when it came time to man up, he was there. He’d just not had the opportunity of late. Like, say, in the last ten years or so.
But something told Hunt that if there was anyone he needed to man up for, it was Abby and Noah.
Chapter 12
Hunt checked the address he’d grabbed from the Club Kids computer, and stared at the small cabin set between two apartment buildings. Basically, one of the seedier locations in town, with high renter turnover and close to the casinos.
He stepped out of his Range Rover and tucked Noah’s water bottle in the back pocket of his jeans. The location was fairly quiet, with pines filling in the space between buildings, but damn, her place was small. No garage or carport, just a square structure that couldn’t have more than one bedroom, with a roof that pitched forward and had chipped exterior paint.
Hunt jogged up the steps, a plastic pot of colorful red and purple flowers on the stoop. Set there to cheer up a sketchy cabin?
He knocked on the door and waited. He was just about to knock again when the door opened slowly.
Abby peered out, dark circles under her eyes, her long, wavy hair hanging around her shoulders. She wasn’t wearing scrubs for once. Instead she had on a loose T-shirt and jeans. “Hunt?”
“Hi. Did you get the message from Kaylee?”
“Message?” Abby looked dazed. She opened the door wider and walked inside.
Hunt hesitated for a moment then stepped in behind her.
She wandered to a small kitchen counter and picked up her phone. “I haven’t checked my messages in the last hour.” She flipped through screens. “You didn’t have to come all this way to drop off Noah’s water bottle.” Her voice caught on Noah’s name, and Hunt frowned.
“Is everything okay?” he asked.
Clearly not. Her gaze was glassy, her eyes red as though she’d been crying. But this was why he’d come. He’d worried when Noah hadn’t shown.
Noah was often the first to arrive at the club, and the last to leave. As long as Noah had been coming to Club Kids, Hunt hadn’t seen the boy sick once. Something was off. “Where’s Noah?”
Abby squeezed her eyes shut, and that was when the dam broke. She covered her face and her shoulders jerked in spasms. She crossed to the couch and sank down. “Gone.”
Hunt sat beside her, his expression tight. “Gone where?” She wouldn’t show her face, and Hunt gently pulled her hands away to see her eyes. “What’s happened?”
Abby brushed tears from her cheeks. “Saturday night, Noah’s grandmother came by while I was at the Fireside Lounge. She took him.”
“Took him? Took him where?”
She stared down. “Vivian, Noah’s grandmother, called Child Protective Services and claimed I’d gone out to party and left my son with inadequate supervision.”
“What?” Hunt roared.
She bit her lip. “Vivian has a key to my place. She came in while the sitter was sleeping and took Noah. Vivian called CPS and told them that I let a drug addict watch my child. It’s not the first time she’s called them when she thought she had something against me. And now CPS is investigating. I can’t get Noah back from Vivian until I go through the proper procedures and prove that I can keep him safe.”
Hunt dragged a hand through his hair. “What’s the deal with the grandmother?”
“She’s obsessed with gaining custody of Noah. She won’t stop.” Abby’s face contorted in pain. “I don’t know what to do. I’ve tried to be perfect. To provide for my son. But I can’t fight Trevor’s parents. They have too much money. Too many resources.”
What kind of grandparents would take a child from his mother? And a good mother at that, not some parent who didn’t give a shit.
Abby looked at him, her gaze intent. “I have to get him back.”
“You’ll get him back.” Already, Hunt’s mind worked, running through the options.
A knock sounded at the front door, and Abby jerked.
“You expecting someone?” Hunt asked.
“No. I wasn’t even expecting you.”
