Grateful for Hope's intervention, he stood back and remained quiet. It felt like waiting for a volcano to erupt...and just as unmanageable.
Gunner could feel another tear trickle down his cheek, and
as much as it bothered him, he let it be. The worst part about being here –
about these sessions with Hope – was that there were no secrets. Nothing to
hide behind. Now allowance for silence. Here was where wounds were ripped open
and his pride abolished. And it hurt. A lot.
“I’m always trapped here.” The retort came out hoarsely
through thick emotions. “Just because I have a choice between losing my job
entirely or not, doesn’t make it less of a trap.”
The anger returned to his vacant eyes. “If people around
here actually cared, they’d leave me alone.” There was more. More emotions.
More feelings running rampant. More words on the tip of his tongue. But he
swallowed them. His gaze met JT’s and Hope’s once more before he spun around to
leave the office, slamming the door shut behind him.
Only now did JT realize he’d been holding his breath, and he
let it out slowly before rubbing his hands over his face. “Well…at the very
least, we hit a nerve, which probably means we were traveling down the path of
truth…finally.”
He looked over at Hope, his expression one of quiet concern.
“Let’s hope he acknowledges it.”
They could hope all they wanted, but no one would know if
Gunner had accepted what had been revealed. Not that day. Or that night. Or the
following day or night. And by the third day, Reese made the search
official. No one had seen or heard from Gunner since the session in Hope’s
office. There was no trace of where he might have gone. No trace of his car.
And his cell phone was going unanswered. He had simply disappeared...
…JT sighed and hung up the phone in the living room before
turning to look at Bree. “Still nothing.” He’d been talking to Reese, but there
was simply no news. Pete and Con had teamed up to hunt down any lead they
could, and neither had been successful thus far.
“Reese is worried the Agency is involved. Con is more
worried Gunner went and either hurt himself or went after some other bad guy
figment of his imagination.” JT sank down into his chair, wishing he had better
news for his niece. Neither one of them had worked the past two days, too
worried and too busy trying to help find Gunner. “Still no trace of his car. His apartment hasn't been touched, and as far as all data shows, he hasn’t used his
cell phone at all."
He glanced at his niece with just as much concern for her as for Gunner. "They'll find him...I know they will."
Hearing his phone, Hunter quit tinkering with his motorcycle
and wiped his hands on a rag before viewing Katie’s text message. It was an odd
sort of feeling that hit him. Not quite jealousy. Not quite concern. Not
quite…anything, really. Except it was almost like when a question is asked,
even though the answer is already known. At least, the emotion could be
considered similar on a different plane...or something like that.
He chewed on the inside of his lower lip while his thumbs
worked out a reply.
No sweat. Yeah morning is still on.
Later.
He thought about more. But he hit “send” before typing
anything else. Jason and Katie went a long way back and had a lot of history
together. Not to mention, they still worked together. It was only natural that
they should join up to chat every once in a while. And yet…
Hunter looked at his phone again and started another text
message. Only this time, it wasn’t to Katie.
Jason smirked at Katie before taking another sip of his
coffee. “Yeah, I’m Jason alright. It’s a wonder people have put up with me all
this time. Seems all I keep doing is messing things up. Good enough to keep my
head above water, but enough of a hothead to keep making that one wrong
choice.”
He shook his head and let his eyes rest on hers. “I should
have seen it that very first time you got me help when I needed it. When you
were the only one who knew I was in trouble and either came running yourself,
or made someone else do it. You’ve always been there, no matter how stupid I’ve
been, or the stunts I’ve pulled.”
He swallowed hard and dropped his gaze as his emotions
started to churn. He needed to stop now. But he also needed to be honest. “No
matter what I put you through, or how many times I pulled away…how many times I
hurt you and made you suffer because I felt chained to you through our
connection. You always took me back. Always forgave.”
It wasn’t a feeling of romance that moved his hand towards
hers on the table. It wasn’t a gesture born of flirtatiousness. It was only
tender gratefulness that was wrapped within his touch as his fingers curled
around hers to give them a gentle squeeze. It was an apology. And one that had
come too late.
“You were always stronger than me,” he whispered. “Maybe
it’s just taken me this long with this much loss to finally see it. I…still
hurt…thinking about how things ended with us. I can’t deny feeling it was
unfair. But…if I’d have been fair to you in the first place, it probably never
would have happened.”
He let go of her hand and cleared his throat before
returning to his coffee. “And I’ve now been unfair to Misty, too, by getting
into a relationship with her in the first place. I guess…all I can do now is
try to pick up the pieces and hope she forgives me. And…try not to let it
affect my work or else Reese really have my head.” He managed a wry grin. “Not
that that’s any different than normal.”
Clint really didn’t feel like talking, much less consoling
this girl. But the tender spot in his heart – no matter how much he tried to
ignore it – won out.
He stopped what he was doing to cross his arms and lean back
against the workbench, forgetting about his own problems for at least a little
while. “Ah…the truth comes out.”
He shook his head at Ashlee. “I grew up without a dad, too.
And when I did finally find him, I discovered I’d known him all along, and he
just never had the guts to tell me. And now…” He stopped himself short. “Well,
we won’t get into that. My point is, I can see where you’re coming from, and I
don’t blame you. If you weren’t a little scared of being let down again, I’d be
worried.”
He pursed his lips and just studied her for a couple
moments. “But know this…If you don’t give Eric a chance…If you decide to push
him away out of fear, you’ll do that the rest of your life, and trust me,
you’ll regret it. At some point, you’re going to have to have a little faith in
someone, or else you’ll wind up alone and miserable.”
Maybe it was a little harsh for a girl her age, but he was
only being honest. “Now, I know you trust your mom. And if she – after all
she’s been through – has the nerve to put her trust in Eric…then it’s probably
safe.” He shrugged. “And if you’d ask me, I’d tell you he’s one of the most
loyal guys you’ll ever meet, and as far as I can tell, he cares about you and
your mom a lot.”
He moved to resume putting some random tools away. “People
come and go from our lives all the time – there’s nothing we can do to control
it. But if you don’t learn to let yourself care about someone in the few
moments we have them, you won’t care at all. And I’d hate to see the kind of
person you’d end up being if you went that route.”
