Chapter 19


    Hunter


    An impish glee was settling inside me as I packed Blue’s things from my older room where she stayed


    for the entire week. I was happy because I was finally bringing her back where she belonged. With me.


    The entire time that I packed her things, she hadn’t said a word to me. Just remained by my side,


    helping me pack her bag. I didn’t miss how she kept sneaking nces at me and when I smiled at her


    she would just look away.


    Strange.


    I tried not to feel wounded with the fact that I had said I loved her and she hadn’t said that she loved


    me back. Then again, what had I expected? If it was going to remain a one-sided unrequited love, so


    be it. I was going to love her nevertheless. It wasn’t everyday that you fell madly in love with a


    mermaid.


    I zipped up her bag, “Is there anything else that I forgot to put inside?”


    She nodded and scrambled towards therge oak dresser that I had used half my life when I lived with


    my parents. I saw as she pulled something out of one drawer and slid it inside her little handbag. A


    handbag that was the shape and color of a watermelon, clearly picked up from the kids section. But the


    water melon wasn’t the thing that picked my attention. It was the way Blue popped the items in as if she


    didn’t want me to see it.


    Smooth.


    I smiled at her. “What was that you put inside your bag?”


    She shrugged. “It’s nothing.”


    I narrowed my eyes at her, “C’mon. You can tell me.”


    She sighed and unzipped the little bag. She pulled out a few pictures out of it and showed them to me.


    She was definitely shy. I looked at the pictures which were of me when I was four, dressed for


    Halloween as Peter Pan. I wasn’t smiling into the picture; I guess I was just emo since the day I was


    born. The second picture was of me in High school when I yed Basket Ball, the time I’d been


    Captain of the team and had my arm slung around Fred. I was grinning into the camera. When I saw


    the third picture I noticed there was something wrong with it. Senior year prom, I was dressed in a tux


    and the photo looked like it had been cut from the center.


    Then I remembered. There was a girl I dated briefly in High School, Gracie Hall, Captain of


    Cheerleader team. Strawberry blonde hair, green eyes. Miss. Popr, also the girl I’d lost my virginity


    to, if I should admit. She was my prom date that year. We’d broken up the day she decided to move to


    France to join some modeling agency. It had been a really ugly break up with her trying to make me


    look like a bad guy. I recalled Gracie being in this prom picture and now she wasn’t.


    Blue looked at me guiltily. “I…I hope you wouldn’t mind. I was just having fun with the scissors that I


    found in Hannah’s room and I happened to see this picture. I just thought I wanted to try cutting it.”


    I looked at her for a whole minute, and then burst outughing.


    Of course. Blue wasn’t jealous or anything. This was Blue. She saw a picture, wanted to see how to


    work a pair of scissors and tried cutting it like kids who keep cutting papers if you handed them


    scissors. How stupid of me to try and find a different meaning to it.


    “Can I keep these pictures with me?” She asked, unsure if I would say no.


    “Um, yeah. Of course you can.” I said.


    Something told me she would have kept it nheless if I had argued and told her she couldn’t.


    I pulled another something out of the bag. My Jockey underwear.


    Huh. I wanted to see the mermaid try ande up with an excuse for this one.


    Now Blue’s face had turned red. She started exining even before I asked her. “I liked the blue color


    of it and thought I’d wear it as a pair of shorts at home. It would go well with my…hair color.”


    “Uh…Okay.”


    I had to give it to her foring up with these outrageous excuses in five seconds straight, maybe we


    could make a game out of it.


    “Hey Blue, did you—” Hannah barged into the room, her eyes trailed to the luggage I was packing and


    didn’tplete the sentence, instead she asked, “What are you doing, Hunter?”


    “Well, what does it look like?” I snapped.


    “Oh my god. Blue are you leaving?” There was the obvious distress on my sister’s face.


    “Yes, she’sing back home with me because it seems to me like you’re having a hard time taking


    care of her.” I said.


    “I didn’t ask you. I was talking to Blue.” Hannah retorted. “Blue, is that what you want, to go back to


    Hunters? Or stay here with me?”


    It was the second time I saw Blue shrugging her shoulders. “I like staying here, Hannah, but I want to


    go back to Hunter’s ce. I’m sorry.”


    And then Hannah’s lower lip began trembling. She was obviously going to brawl her eyes out but


    managed to swallow that snot forming in her nose. She always did that when she didn’t want me to see


    her cry like a baby. “I understand.” She said in a shaky voice.


    She took a step back and ran out of the room, closing the door behind her. Blue looked guilty. “Maybe I


    should apologize?”


    I shook my head. “I’ll talk to her.”


    Hannah was in her room, her face buried in the tower of pillows. Her body was shaking with sobs. I


    walked over to her bed and sat down on the edge of it. I touched her hair affectionately; I hated making


    my little sister cry.


    “Hey, I’m sorry. If I knew you were going to be so hurt, I wouldn’t have asked Blue to move in with me


    again.” That was actually a lie.


    But I didn’t know how to make this situation better. I just knew that Blue belonged with me. I wanted her


    to be in a ce where I could constantly see her, talk to her, make herugh, hell,ugh at her silly


    questions and jokes and it wasn’t until she’d moved into this ce and out of mine that I realized I


    couldn’t live without her. It was almost like someone as soiled as me was too damn attracted to the


    innocence of Blue.


    She turned her tear stained face towards me. “youdon nee tobesowee…”


    “Uhm…whatnguage is that?”


    * * *


    Hannah pulled a few tissues, blew her nose into it. I was d she hadn’t swallowed the snot this time.


    Still wondered how Fred thought she was a ‘goddess’ literally quoting my best friend. “I said you don’t


    need to be sorry. I knew this would happen one day. I just didn’t know it was going to be today. She


    was my only really friend, Hunt.”


    “I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier.” I said. “I was a little angry, is all.”


    “I think you need Blue more than I do.” Hannah said, giving me a weak smile. Did I just detect pity in


    that line? Like the way you’d throw an entire bag of Cinnabon rolls at a beggar due to the goodness of


    your heart and because you thought he needed it more than you did. “Are you still going for the anger


    management group therapy?”


    “No. I didn’t actually. But it’s okay. It’s all under control.” I continued, “Listen; tell Max that Blue won’t be


    working for him starting tomorrow.”


    She stared at me in disbelief. “Says who?”


    All that pity she had for me had just evaporated into thin air, now she looked like she wanted to w my


    face with her glittery long nails.


    “Says me.” I answered.


    “You’re not Blue’s husband and nor her father.” Hannah said it like she was stating facts.


    “I know I’m not. Your point?”


    “My point is, Blue is old enough to make her own decisions. She enjoys working in the club for the


    Lockharts’ and so you can’t make decisions for her. Is she the one who said she didn’t want to work


    there?”


    I opened my mouth to answer and then closed it.


    Riiiighhhhttt.


    “Blue will do what I tell her to do. If I ask her to quit the job, she will.”


    Forget about wing my face, Hannah was ready to throttle me. “Don’t you think you’re sounding like a


    male chauvinist pig?”


    “What are you? The queen of the feminist club?” I asked. “I take care of her; which directly puts me in a


    position to make decisions for her. Blue, as you may have noticed, doesn’t exactly understand the


    difference between right or wrong. You tell her that taking off all her clothes and walking on the streets


    naked with Banana leafs to cover her privates ispletely normal and friendly, she will do it right this


    second without giving it a thought.”


    Hannah mmed her lips shut, I knew her smart brain was trying toe up with something more.


    And she didn’t disappoint me. “The way I see it, Hunter, is this. And please feel free to be offended


    because the truth needs to be out.”


    “Go on.” I said. I was ready to let it all in from one ear and out from the other.


    “You’re making up excuses because she’s so innocent and you know she won’t second guess you


    making decisions for her. It’s like you’re scared.”


    “Excuse me?”


    She cleared her throat, kinda reminded me of that teacher who was making herself ready to dish out a


    long boring speech. “You’re scared that if you let her be free in the wild, she’ll find another mate to..


    “Hold up. We’re not talking about an animal here.”


    “Okay, so I was saying, it’s just like a story I read somewhere, about a lion trying to cage a lioness in


    his den and wouldn’t let her out in the jungle because he was threatened by the lioness going and


    finding other prospects so he starts telling her lies about the outside world.”


    “You’re talkingplete gibberish now. You should stop watching the Discovery channel.” I said,


    although I knew what she was talking about. I thought feigning innocence was the best way out of this,


    if there was any way out that is.


    “Or maybe you should try watching Reality Tv?” She taunted me. “I hate when men do that, trying and


    surprising us women. She wants to do the job, you’re no one to stop her unless of course you feel


    really insecure about yourself and think that she would choose someone else over you.”


    Damn right, she would.


    I’d seen the way Alec and Phoenix were looking at her, especially Alec. He had the predatory glint in


    his eyes, which men recognized from a mile away. And Blue was literallyughing at his jokes or


    whatever he was talking about. I thought about her working there eight hours a day and my mind


    conjured up some really fucked up ‘R rated’ scenes. I didn’t want to go to that dark ce. I didn’t think I


    could concentrate on what I was doing if I had to think of her continuously when she was away working.


    Plus, Alec was very popr with thedies. Heck, he could be popr with men too, it’s just the way


    he was.


    So fucking sue me for acting like a possessive alpha male.


    Finally, I decided to stop acting and tell Hannah the truth. “Yeah, I’m insecure alright. I’ve just gone too


    far when ites to Blue, and now there’s no turning back. If Blue decides she likes someone else, I


    wouldn’t be able to live with it. I’d probably just…I don’t know. Die, maybe.”


    “I know what you’re feeling, but don’t you think she deserves this chance to explore and see the world


    for herself through her own eyes. Be a real man, Hunter. Do what’s right by her. Ask her if she really


    wants to do the job or not, if she doesn’t then it’s her decision but you can’t manipte her the way you


    want and take advantage because she’s innocent.”


    I sighed. I guess she was right. “Alright.”


    “Promise me you will treat my best friend right.” Hannah said.


    “I will.” I promised.


    “Great.”


    I loaded Blue’s stuff in the backseat of my car, helped her climb inside the Jeep and then slid behind


    the wheel after saying good-bye. Even Nana was sad that Blue was leaving their nest. Blue was


    humming throughout the car ride and I hated to disrupt her singing.


    N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    I looked at her. “Blue, do you like working at the club?”


    That stopped her humming. “Yeah, it’s so much fun, and Max gave me good money for it.”


    “Would you like to quit the job?” I asked.


    Please say yes.


    Her expressions were crestfallen. “Did Max say that I should quit?”


    My jaw hardened. “No. He didn’t.”


    She beamed. “Then I would love to keep working there. Alec is so funny. But what’s even funnier is that


    he says I’m funnier than him.” She giggled. “Did that make sense?”


    I continued to stare straight forward. I was too fucking pissed to talk or answer. Hannah was right. Blue


    was excited about this job, and I didn’t have a right to take away something she enjoyed.


    She ced a hand on mine. “Hunter?”


    “Oh…uh…yeah. It makes sense.”


    I needed to talk to Alec, man to man and make some ground rules such as; no touching Blue


    inappropriately, or not at all and no flirting.


    Right now, I didn’t want to think of all this and spoil my mood. Blue was back home with me and I


    wanted to celebrate that. I parked the car outside in the designated parking space. “We’re home,


    Sweetheart.”