Page 27 of Here With Me (Paloma's Edge 2)

I started to chuckle at the idea that Hunter had goals and dreams. I just thought he wanted to tattoo until he found something else to do, because it was the first trade he had gotten into while he was in drug treatment. It hadn’t occurred to me that he was really serious about not only tattooing for a career, but having his own tattoo shop.

“You don’t think he can do it?” Beth asked with a heavy sigh. Riley paused and opened her mouth. Beth took out a bottle of water from her satchel and poured water into her mouth.

“I do think he can do it,” I said as she stroked Riley’s ear and threw the empty bottle of water in her satchel. “Hunter doesn’t seem like the type of guy to think about his future to me. Did he tell you all of this, or did Chase tell you?”

“Hunter told me about his dreams. Hunter made no excuses for what he’d done. He could’ve just said that it was the alcohol and coke that made him threaten and cut Chase’s face. And that opened my eyes, Mariska. Once I felt like Hunter wasn’t trying to play games with me, I wanted him tell me about himself.”

“You have a big heart.”

“So do you, Mariska. I really can’t say I wouldn’t have been like Cindy without you and Jake growing up. You’ve stood by my side and lost friends, a bunch of invites to play dates, sleepovers, parties, and trips. You and Jake think that I didn’t know about it. I knew that you didn’t want me to feel guilty. And when I tried pushing you guys away, so that your lives could be easier in Franklin Parks—so that you and Jake would fit in like you would’ve if you weren’t my friends—you guys wouldn’t have it. You even vouched for me at Luigi’s and I had a job for three years. Francine and Steve are good people, but it’s because of you that they made the risk to lose some business because Cindy’s daughter was working there. Thank God it all turned out fine, but it could’ve went the other way.” She let out a huge breath, and we laughed as Riley shifted her gaze between us as we walked. “So Hunter made mistakes. Got addicted to alcohol and cocaine. It’s not about him being at fault for having an addiction, or any of that will power mantra bullshit. He’s taking his life back. Not the alcohol. Not the cocaine, or any other controlled substance. When he confessed that he was responsible for putting that scar on Chase’s face like that on the street, I was so furious, so…horrified—”

“And then you went and slapped him,” I interrupted and huffed. Jake and I had thought that Hunter was going to try to hit her back.

“Yeah, as you like to remind me.” She rolled her eyes. “But I found it within myself to look past that, because he hated himself for doing that. He still does. I am blessed to have you guys. Can you fathom how much perseverance Hunter has to have when it’s so easy to give into negative thinking? Well, I want Hunter to know that I am a positive in his life. He’s not just Chase’s older twin brother. He’s someone else who I’ve come to care about, also.”

We went back into Hunter’s house after Riley strode inside.

I walked around his living room and looked at a wide painting on the center of the wall. In a wide mass of blue waters, three curvy nude women were looking up at the sky with haloes on their heads. They looked like sirens, with their naughty smirks and provocative gestures. While it was a striking painting, the paper and paint looked aged and cheap. I wondered if Hunter had painted it. So, Hunter liked his girls like these women? Beth resembled their shapes, only she had a flat stomach and her hair was shorter and darker.

“Did Hunter paint this?” I asked when I sank down on the black leather sofa.

“Yeah. He said he painted it after he achieved first thirty days clean after detox. He prefers to sketch more than to paint, but he loves Greek mythology, and he said painting naked women made him forget where he was.”

“A little escape like that doesn’t hurt,” I said, flicking one last look at the painting.

I met Beth’s amused gaze after she handed me a cup of Ginger Ale, like I’d done

for Hunter two weeks ago. Clumsily, Riley jumped up to rest on my lap while Beth sat down, settling her hand on Riley’s tummy. “If there are times you can’t walk her for Hunter and I have time, tell me. She likes to be around people all the time, huh?”

Beth nodded. “He wants to be with her more, but he’s not done paying for her last vet’s bill. He’ll have the money after he gets his check in two weeks. He’d freak out if he didn’t have two or three month’s rent saved up.”

A smile lifted the corner of my mouth. “That reminds me of us.”

Slumping down on the sofa, Beth said, “He is more like us than not.”

Riley lifted her head up at me. “Pet her head, dummie. Can’t you see that she likes that?”

I grabbed the cushion in between us and hit her with it. Beth’s blush spread all over her face and she laughed heartily. I felt like we were kids.

Complying, I ran my nails over the top of her head and down Riley’s back repeatedly until she relaxed again.

“There you go,” Beth whispered to me and placed her hand on Riley’s tummy again.

Chapter 14

Hunter

“YOU DON’T WANNA GET up, do you?” I asked Riley after I found her lying down on Beth and Mariska’s laps. She blinked twice and her lids fell closed.

Beth and Mariska were sprawled out on my couch. They must’ve chilled out after they took Riley for a walk and lost track of time. I really liked that Beth came to my house with her. I had day-dreamed what it’d be like to taste Mariska again—only on my bed or on any other surface of my house. Mariska was in a cute little tank top and a jean skirt that rose on her upper thighs, so high that I could’ve seen what color underwear she had on. Beth and Mariska needed to have their space while they slept. Riley was beginning to add some real weight that could be felt after some hours of having her on my lap. If I’d known Beth was this tired, I wouldn’t have let her come here, despite the twenty minute drive from their residence hall. My last options had been to call one of my neighbors or an agency for a sitter, but I didn’t want Riley around strangers. She would definitely think that I was getting rid of her. The two times I’d taken her to the vet, or anywhere that was a little far from where we lived, she’d become visibly agitated and unresponsive to my reassurances that she’d be fine. It was two forty in the morning and they weren’t going back on campus unless I drove behind them, so they had to stay here.

Beth’s head turned and was now facing me. She combed her hair back from her face. Exhaling a heavy breath, she sat up. “How late is it?” She sounded like she wanted to stay put.

“Two fifty.”

“Ugh.” She touched Mariska’s arm, but she groaned low in her throat and shrugged off Beth’s hand. “I guess she’s not awake yet,” she said with her cheeks quirked up.

“She’s not chipper in the morning like you?” I feigned disbelief and pointed my finger on the floor. Riley jumped to the ground.

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