Page 71 of Imperfect Saint
“Missing.” Hunter repeated, rubbing at his face. “Jesus.”
It was Tyler’s hand on his shoulder that kept him steady this time. Vaughn moved to his other side. They were like a squadron, moving in sync, protecting the weak link in the middle of them, all without saying a word. Hunter felt another flood of relief that his brothers had come when Vaughn spoke up.
“Is that all you need, Detective? He’s been through a lot tonight. They both have.”
“Yes.” Detective Brian looked between them, “That’s all for now, though we’ll need you to come down to the station and sign your statements once we have it all typed up.”
“No problem. You have my number.” Vaughn responded for him.
“Mr. St. James. Hunter.” The detective corrected when they all looked at him, “You and your girlfriend got very lucky tonight. I’ve seen enough of these scenes to know they don’t normally end like this. I’m glad you’re both still here to give your side of the story.”
“Thank you.” Hunter struggled through a throat thick with emotion as he caught sight of Millie across the room, bandaged and cleaned up, no longer bloody but bruised and looking fragile and breakable again, all because he hadn’t been there to protect her.
He had to take a moment to consciously remind himself that no, she wasn’t fragile. She hadn’t broken. She’d been strong. She’d fought. She’d saved her own life and quite possibly his too.
And she loved him. She’d said so. In the heat of the moment, when they’d both been scared to death, she’d said it. If she hadn’t fought off the attack, if she hadn’t survived, he might never have heard those three lovely, beautiful words, but now that he had, he intended to spend the rest of his life being thankful that he had her to hold and to love.
Moving in together? Fuck that. She was marrying him, and soon. Just as soon as they got rid of all the cops and doctors, and the bandages and bruises. She was his and if his brothers wanted her at the St. James family dinners then that was fine. He’d make her a St. James and then she’d have to go with him every Sunday for the rest of their lives.
21
By the time the police and the medical technicians left, a new day had begun and dawn was fast approaching. The detectives had asked their questions again and again. The EMT’s had cleaned and bandaged Millie’s wounds, given her stitches and something for the pain that was making her drowsy.
Through it all, Millie had felt numb and hollow, as if the entire night was nothing more than a nightmare she couldn’t seem to wake up from. She didn’t want to wake up and find out that it had all been real, that Joshua was in a hospital somewhere because she’d stabbed him, that the man she’d once loved had tried to kill her, that he’d become a murderer in the span of one terrible night.
She didn’t understand how it had happened. Not any of it. And she was so tired that she didn’t even want to try comprehending it all right now.
Right now, all she wanted, was to curl up in bed and go to sleep, preferably with Hunter wrapped around her so that she would know, without a shadow of a doubt, that nothing else could hurt her.
The police had split them up as soon as they arrived. They’d wanted to question them alone. She supposed the cops had needed to make sure their stories were the same. Even knowing the rationale behind it, she’d hated that they put them on opposite sides of the room and she’d been counting the minutes until she could race back into the safety of his arms.
As if he needed the reassurance as much as she did, as soon as the police had released him from questioning, Hunter had come straight to her side, hugged her tight and refused to let go of her. She’d clung to him in the same way, grateful for his presence and his support in ways that she couldn’t begin to put into words. Hunter didn’t seem to need words though. He simply held her and was there for her, just as she’d known he would be.
She had no idea how long they’d stood there like that, holding each other, but eventually someone had cleared their throat and made her jump nearly a foot off the ground. Hunter had cursed at the other man who had apologized profusely for scaring her. She hadn’t been able to speak but not because he she was scared. She hadn’t spoken because she was too in awe of how much the other man resembled the one holding her in his arms.
Hunter had introduced her to his younger brother, Tyler, and then when a big, solid, brick wall of a man with dark hair going silver at the temples came back into the apartment a moment later, she’d also met his older brother Vaughn. She’d felt ridiculous meeting them amid her wrecked apartment, when she looked like a psychotic mess, but neither of them had made her feel like there was anything out of the ordinary going on. She supposed it must be part of their training or something, that they saw all of this damage and simply took it in stride.
She’d been happy to let them take control of the situation so long as it meant she didn’t have to think.
Vaughn had asked if it was okay for him to pack her a bag. She’d nodded and he’d disappeared into her room. Hunter had calmly explained that it was best she stay somewhere else tonight and when she’d only stared up at him it had been Tyler that jumped in to make the decision for her. He’d said he would drive them to Hunter’s apartment and then clear out for the night so that they could be alone. By the time Vaughn returned with a duffel bag full to the brim with God only knew what her senses had started to return enough that she remembered Simmons was hiding somewhere in the apartment.
Vaughn hadn’t even questioned her sudden panic about her cat. He’d simply handed the duffle to Hunter, grabbed the cat carrier out of the hall closet where she’d told him it was, and went back into the bedroom to find the traumatized feline.
When he’d returned ten minutes later, Simmons was in the cat carrier and Vaughn’s big forearms were covered in scratches. She’d tried to apologize and explained that the cat was a rescue and nervous around strangers but he hadn’t let her. He’d shaken off her words and said he’d faced a lot worse than a cat scratch and she thought that maybe, just maybe, in another timeline, if she’d met Hunter’s oldest brother on a different set of terms that trying to hug him wouldn’t have seemed like an insurmountable task despite his stoicism.
Vaughn had taken the cat and the big duffle. Hunter had helped her find shoes and a jacket. Tyler had gone to pull his SUV around to the back entrance to avoid anyone that might be waiting for them at the front of the building.
They made a good team, she noticed. Each of them working in sync with the others to accomplish their mission. Vaughn was clearly the older brother and he took complete control. He escorted them downstairs and out the back door, helping Hunter and Millie into the backseat and putting the cat carrier in the passenger seat before making sure it was okay he go back upstairs and clean up for her. She’d nodded, not knowing what else to do, and when Vaughn shut the door and rapped on the top, Tyler had driven them away from the curb and towards sun just beginning to peek over the edges of Nashville.
All through the drive, Hunter had held her. They’d been quiet, all three of them. Just breathing and watching the lights blur as Tyler sped across the city. At one point Millie was almost certain she’d fallen asleep on Hunter’s chest because in the blink of an eye she startled to find herself being lifted out of the vehicle and Hunter hushing her as he carried her into another building.
She vaguely recognized it despite her weariness. She’d only been to Hunter’s place once since they had started dating and that had only been because he forgot the tickets to the theater that he’d printed out and they’d had to swing by and pick them up. He said he preferred spending time at her apartment since it was larger and more private. Even still, she’d somehow missed that what he’d been saying was that he didn’t live alone and she didn’t realize it until Tyler unlocked the door, dropped her duffle to the couch, put the cat carrier on the floor next to it and said he’d pack a bag and then be out of their hair.
Millie rubbed her eyes as she forced Hunter to put her back on her feet, “You live with your brother?”
“Not exactly.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
“But…”
