Unstoppable (15 page)

I pulled out of the parking lot and decided to go by Hunter’s place.  Much to my surprise when I drove by his house there was a
For Sale by Owner
sign in his front yard.  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I shook my head. 

I called dad as a drove down the freeway, “On your way back?” he asked.

“Yeah.  I drove by Hunter’s place on my way out of town and there’s a for sale sign in his front yard.”

“Realtor or Self?”

“Self.”

“I’ll let Bryan know.  We broke down and told Theresa and your mom what was going on because they were getting suspicious.  They’re both scared shitless now.  I’ll talk to Bryan maybe we can have those two call him and have those to inquire on the house and get a tour.  Shelton is ready to hunt him down himself.”

“I’m going back tonight, I told her and Sarah to stay put.  I need you to bring moms phone out to the house.  She dropped hers in the toilet.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

We hung up, I pressed down on the accelerator and sped rest of the way home. 

Seeing them in the club together, locking eyes with that mother fucker that had his arm draped across her shoulders had me seeing red.  I knew she would run right to him but I wasn’t going to back down from him.  Harley knew the “me” that I wanted her to know.  She would soon find out what happens when you piss the wrong person off. 

No matter what I did I couldn’t get Harley out of my mind, no matter how hard I fucked my wife—it was always Harley that I pictured crying out my name. 

“Okay Hunter, Doctor Green sent some notes over.  I want you to know that everything you say is one hundred percent confidential.  I cannot and will not release any information to spouses or family members.” Doctor Jennings told me then leaned back in his large leather office chair. 

“That’s good.” I replied coldly. 

“Alright,” he nodded, “Let’s get started.  In his notes he has that your wife doesn’t like how short tempered you are and how violent you become.  I understand you two are separated and that you’ve been living not too far from campus?  But Cheyenne is willing to let you come home if you seek self-counseling?”

“Yes,” I rolled my eyes.  “Is this where I tell you the sob story about how much of a whore my mother was?  How she lied to me about my dad dying in Iraq.  How every single fucking night it was a new man in our house, more drugs, more abuse…if I was lucky they wouldn’t come in my room but most of the time I wasn’t lucky?”

“You say that your mother lied to you, how did the truth surface?”

I snorted, “The day of her funeral there were only about ten people from the local church there.  After they had all left a man walked up to me and tried to give me his condolences.  During mom’s drug induced or drunken rages she would always say how I reminded her of, him, then she would cry and tell me how much she hated me.  One look at this man and I knew it was him.  I knew that he was my biological dad.  Peter fucking Thomas.  Retired high power defense attorney had hooked up with my mom a couple of times while he was in town for business.  She called his office one day and told him she was pregnant, he didn’t believe her.  So after I was born he paid for the DNA test, when it showed I was his he signed his rights over and paid mom a large sum of money to keep her quiet so his wife wouldn’t find out.  Thus the story that dear old daddy died fighting for his country was a lie.”

“Cheyenne, does she remind you of your mother?”

“Hell no, Cheyenne is nothing like her.  My mother was a lying whore that used men, she had no care in the world that I was watching these men walk in and out of our home.”

“So what does Cheyenne do that upsets you so much?”

I leaned forward and put my elbows on my knees, “It’s not her…it’s me.”

“Continue.” He prompted.

I told him everything about Harley and how she had ended our relationship. 

“So you were having an extramarital affair and developed feelings for the student.  Was it the thrill of getting caught or the fact that she was young and vulnerable?”

“Probably both, but there’s just something about Harley.  When I was with her I wasn’t thinking about my bullshit past, I wasn’t thinking about my wife.  I was able to just be with her.  Then she went home one weekend and my ugly inner voice told me she was fucking her child hood best friend.”

For the next hour he picked at my brain about my childhood, my mom and my marriage.  At the end of the hour he handed me a business card for my next session the following week.  “I strongly advice you keep seeing both the marriage counselor and me.  If you want things to really work between you and Cheyenne.”

I left his office and drove to the college, I had no reason to be there since I had resigned.  I checked the parking lot and noticed that Ryder’s blue Ford Raptor pickup was still in the parking lot.  I looked up at Harley’s dorm window, all the lights were on.  I sat in the parking lot and waited to see if her or her roommate would walk out.  After an hour of waiting I left. 

Cheyenne answered on the first ring, “Hey.” She spoke soft and sounded like she was crying. 

“Hey, are you okay?”

“No…yes…I need to talk to you can you come to the apartment?”

“I’ll be there in about an hour.”

On the drive to the city I racked my brain about what could possibly have her crying.  My first thought was she was going forth with a divorce, that she had met someone else, I turned the radio up and tuned out the thoughts buzzing around in my head. 

Our condo was on the top floor, she had insisted one with a view and added security.  I walked in and she was sitting at the table eating a sandwich. 

“Hey.” I smiled at her. 

“I’m pregnant.” She blurted out, her eyes filled with tears as she waited for my reaction.  She knew that I didn’t want kids and we sure as hell didn’t need to bring them in to our failing marriage. 

“I thought you were on birth control.”

“I missed getting my shot, normally it doesn’t happen that fast.  I know women that have been off the shot for years and still can’t conceive.”

“Fucking great, so…”

“I’m not getting an abortion Hunter.” Cheyenne spoke softly.  “You need to decide right here right now if you want to be in the babies life.  If not I’ll file for divorce Monday morning and then I’m going to leave and move in to the guest house on my parents property.”

I walked over to the wet bar and pulled a bottle of scotch down.  I took three long gulps directly from the bottle.  “Okay.”

“What?  Okay what?” her voice shook. 

I turned around, “I’ll move back in, I’ll continue to see the psychologist and marriage counselor.  What I won’t have is you nagging at me trying to pry info out of me about what I talk to him about  I’m trying to work through this when and if I need you there I’ll tell you.  I can’t take you being fucking clingy and so god damn needy over stupid shit.  If I don’t bring you home flowers every day, for the love of God it’s honestly nothing to cry about.”

Cheyenne’s eyes got big, “I’m not—“

I lifted a hand, “Yes, yes you are.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll go get stuff from my place.”

I stopped at the hardware store and bought a For Sale sign to put in the front yard.  With it being close to the campus it would sell fairly fast. 

After I had the bed of my truck full of my stuff I walked through the house one more time before locking up and going back to the condo.  I decided to go through the parking lot of the college one more time, this time Ryder’s pickup was gone but all of the lights were still on in Harley’s room.  I thought about finding the assistant R/A to ask for Harley’s room key but I knew that was no longer an option, although, I wasn’t above using blackmail to get my way.

Back at the condo I sat on the couch watching TV while Cheyenne cooked supper.  Now I had to play the role of happy husband and soon to be dad. 

“What do you mean nobody knows where he’s at?” I asked the MC. 

They had called a meeting and wanted to talk to me about Hunter. 

Lucifer the President leaned back in his chair, “What we mean is after that weekend he sold the house for cash.  Apparently his real name isn’t Hunter Hastings, we’ve searched for him high and low, no computer database has him either.  Even the college can’t help us, they did help as much as they could by letting access their system.”

I rubbed my forehead, it had been months since the last time I had heard from him.  “I could try calling him!”  It sounded like a good idea in a way.

“Are you fucking serious?” Ryder shouted.

Cade pulled him down by his shoulder, “I don’t advice you to do that, Harley.”

“Couldn’t you track his phone or something?  I mean he’s real I promise!”

Lucifer leaned forward, “Here’s what we are going to do.  If he’s left you alone for this long I think he’s found somebody else to occupy his time.  The school has the tightest security possible now.  You’ve taken self-defense classes too.  We aren’t stopping our search for him for now we need to let him think he’s got the upper hand.”

“That doesn’t set well with me.” My dad yelled.

Lucifer looked at him, “We
will
find him and you know it.  I can guarantee you the Devil Riders will be keeping a very close watch out for him should he start coming around again.  She has Big J’s personal cell.  If she spots him they’ll be there within minutes.”

~~~~

The rest of the school year went by without any sightings of Hunter and no contact from him. 

Sarah was able to go home with me a couple of weekends, then she started getting phone calls to fly to New York for modeling ads.  The weekends that she was gone I would go home or Ryder would stay at the dorm with me.  His work was keeping him busy too and I felt bad that he was practically babysitting me on weekends. 

“You’re my girlfriend, why the fuck would you even think something so fucking stupid?” he tried not to yell. 

“I don’t get to have a life Ryder!  I either have to come home every single weekend or you are coming here.  It’s not fair to you.”

“What the fuck is your deal, if I didn’t want to come see my
girlfriend
I would tell you.”

For whatever reason I started to cry, full on big tears cry.  “I just hate not knowing where he is.  I want to be able to go out with friends and not have to worry if he’s hiding in the shadows somewhere.”

Ryder hugged me, “I’m sorry babe.  I wish we knew more, every time we think we have a lead it’s not the right guy.”

We curled up on the couch and watched a movie, both of us had fallen asleep at some point.  Ryder’s phone started ringing then mine.  The caller hung up before I could reach either phone, I didn’t even get a chance to see who had called when both phones started ringing again.  “Christ.” Ryder mumbled. 

“Yeah?” he answered his voice hoarse with sleep.  I tried to grab my phone but Ryder set up so fast on the couch, I rolled off. 

“What the hell!” I started to protest.  The look on his face told me that whoever had called, called with bad news.

“Are you…fuck.  Are you sure?” He was looking at me, then he lowered his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, love you too.”

“Who was it?  What’s wrong?” I was firing questions at him, one after another. 

He exhaled then looked up at me, “I need you to sit here.” He patted his lap.

“Ryder just tell me!”

“Fuck…we need to go home.  There’s been an accident and Star—“

“Oh my God!  Is she okay?” I started to climb off of his lap.  He held on tight to my waist. 

“No baby…she’s not.” When I looked at him he had tears pooling in his eyes.  “She’s not okay.” His shoulders shook when he started to cry. 

We both sat there on the couch holding each other as we cried.  I had just talked to her this morning and she told me she had finally finished my birthday present and wanted to know when I was coming home so she could give it to me.  “What—happened?” I sobbed out against his shoulder. 

Ryder sniffled, dried his eyes and took a deep breath, “Her mom and her had been shopping at the mall.  On their way home a drunk driver t-boned them at an intersection.  Her mom is in the hospital but Star didn’t make it because the impact was on her side.  I’ll help you pack.  We need to get home.”

I nodded my head, still crying.  Ryder went into my bedroom and packed my large suitcase for me. 

On the drive home Ryder held my hand tightly, rubbing his thumb back and forth across the top of my hand.  I cried the entire drive to the hospital.  Our parents were waiting for us in the lobby, mom rushed over to me.  She was crying and I started crying again.  Sydney walked over and wrapped her arms around both of us.  “I still can’t believe this.” She whispered through her tears. 

“Where are John and Marie?” I wiped my eyes. 

When we walked in to the room that Marie was in she looked over at us, “I’m so sorry, I…he was going so fast I had no time to react.” She started sobbing.  John pressed the call light, a few minutes later a nurse walked in and injected something into her IV.  Then Star’s dad motioned for us to follow him out of her room after Marie had fallen asleep.  His eyes were blood shot and his eyelashes held unshed tears.  “She’s going to have to stay sedated until the doctor can put her on something.  She keeps saying it was her fault but witnesses that seen it happen said he ran the red light.” John shook his head.  “We can’t even have an open casket for my baby girl.” He started sobbing.  I had never seen my dad or Cade cry until that very second.  I hugged John and cried until I had no tears left.  “I’m sorry.” He apologized. 

“You have nothing to be sorry for, I’ll make god damn sure the prick that did this pays for what he did.” Cade spoke.  His voice was hoarse.  We hugged John, I went in and kissed Marie on the forehead then left with Ryder. 

Marie was released from the hospital two days later, John called and asked if we could all help with funeral arrangements. 

The day before her funeral John walked into the kitchen after settling Marie into bed.  “Ryder I don’t know if you would want to do this or not, I’ll totally understand if you don’t want to.”

“Anything.” Ryder told him. 

“Well, Star always talked about how much she like going for a ride on you
scooter
I was thinking maybe you and the MC could lead the procession?”

“Absolutely.” Cade, Dad and Ryder answered in unison.

Her funeral was held at the high school gymnasium since we knew there would be so many people attending.  The day of the funeral Marie was doing better, she was on antidepressants that helped her make it through the service.  I had stayed at my parent’s house so we could all ride together.  Ryder showed up on his Fat Boy, “Ready?” he asked.

I looked down at my dress and high heels, “I thought you guys were riding and we were driving.”

He grinned, then I heard his dad’s Harley pull into the driveway, I looked out and Sydney was patting down her hair after she had taken her helmet off.  “I think I can go five miles without wearing this thing.” She muttered.

“Not a chance woman.” Cade laughed.

“Isn’t there some rule about wearing dresses and heels on these?” I put my hands on my hips.

Dad patted my shoulder, “Yes but its fine for today.”

Cade had called a couple of other motorcycle clubs that were more than glad to follow in the procession.  The thunder from their engines filled the silent somber air as we all drove through town to the cemetery, Ryder and I in the very front.  When he pulled into the cemetery we both took our helmets off and he put the kickstand down but didn’t move to help me.  His head was lowered, his elbows resting on the tank.  I wrapped my arms around his waist and laid my head between his shoulder blades.  “The first time I took her for a ride you were so pissed at me.” He said.

I laughed, “I was worried she would get hurt.”

“That was the best ride of my life do you know why?” he asked.

“No.”

“Because Star knew before I did that I was in love with you.  That day she told me that I loved you.” He shook his head. 

“I love you Ryder.” I squeezed him tighter.  He wrapped his large hand around mine.

“I love you so much, you have no idea.  I hope someday I can prove to you just how much.”  He turned his head and I kissed him before we both got off of the bike. 

If I thought I cried when I found out Star had died, then I don’t even know what to call the tears I cried when I watched them lower her casket into the ground.  Her mom held my hand and sobbed and shook.  “She—she made you something.  It’s in her room, come by the house and I’ll give it to you.  She was so proud of it and couldn’t wait to give it to you.”  Marie told me before getting in the car and leaving with John. 

I made Ryder take me by the house so I could change into more comfortable clothes before we went to their house.  There were numerous people there visiting when we arrived.  Marie excused herself from a group of church ladies and held my hand tight as we walked upstairs to Star’s room.  She took a deep breath before she opened the door.  Ryder followed us in, and sat down on her bed so I sat on his knee while Marie pulled a large box out of the closet.  With tears in her eyes she handed it to me.  I popped the tape open on both ends and pulled the multi colored tissue paper out.  I couldn’t breathe when I realized what I was looking at.  Star had made a collage, pictures of me and her together all through school, and pictures with her and Ryder all through school, the middle picture was from prom night.  In sparkly letters Star had wrot
e
, I love my BFF’
s

I couldn’t speak, all I could do was cry.  I hugged her mom and told her thank you, over and over again.  “She talked about how you two were perfect and cute together.” Marie wiped at her eyes.  “I think her exact words were, They are going to make hundreds of babies!” she laughed.

Ryder chuckled, “Hundreds huh?”

Marie laughed, “Yes hundreds, you remember that.” It was the first time Marie had relaxed and had a real smile on her face. 

We stayed and visited for another hour then went back to Ryder’s house.  I placed the collage on his mantle when we got inside.  “I need a shower so bad.” I groaned. 

“Let’s get you cleaned up stinky woman.  I’ve been trying really hard not to gag all day.”

I pushed at his chest, “You were smelling yourself, I was gagging horribly under my helmet.”

Ryder rolled his eyes, “Whatever.”

We were both exhausted so the shower went fast and we both went to bed right after. 

The next morning Sarah called, she had been out of town for a photo shoot and wasn’t able to come back with us.  She called, “Morning sunshine!” She chirped with laughter.

“Uggg—go back to bed.” I grumbled. 

“Nope, I just wanted to let you know I made it back safe and sound.  When are you coming back?”

I hadn’t even thought about when I would go back, “Probably in a day or two, I’ll keep you posted.  I want to see pics from this last photo shoot by the way.”

“I’ll email them to you, tell Lover Boy hi from me.  Love you.”

“Love you too.”