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Fuck.
Gunner set the phone down fast and linked his hands behind his head, stared out the window of the tiny, weekly-lease hotel room he was trying to force himself to love. GW was him. Gunner Walker. She was talking to him.
She didn’t want the bite?
Why had Corey told him that then?
Had he been wrong?
Stupid hope flooded his middle, shredding his resolve to stay away from her.
A text came through from Bash. Go outside.
Gunner stood slowly, eyes trained on that text. He read it a few times just to be sure. Hope, hope, endless hope was all he could feel right now.
Gunner yanked open the front door and bolted down the hallway to the elevator. He hit the button over and over, but it was taking too long. He ran to the stairwell and sprinted down the three flights, then straight out the front lobby door. He didn’t need to scan the parking lot. He knew she would be by his motorcycle.
Hallie wore a tight black T-shirt and ripped-up black jeans over some heeled leather boots. Her hair was tied back, and her eyes were rimmed with tears. She didn’t smile. She looked uncertain, and he knew he’d done that to her.
Chest heaving with his breath, he strode toward her.
“Stop,” she whispered, holding her hand out. “I want to say a few things.”
“Hallie—”
“Please,” she whispered thickly.
Gunner nodded, heart aching that he’d made her cry.
“Bash gave me your location. I’m not a stalker. I just wanted to have a conversation with you before you throw me away, so you can know exactly where I stand, and I can figure out exactly where I stand with you.”
“Okay,” he rumbled. The bear was already in his voice.
“It was messed up that you left like that,” she said. “If you choose to be my friend after this, that’s not how we are going to handle things. We aren’t going to run. I do understand. You think I don’t want to run? You’re terrifying, Gunner.”
“I don’t mean to scare you.”
“Not your bear, Gunner. I love your bear. I love what he did for me. I love what he is capable of. I love that he set me free.” Her voice faltered on the last word, and she took a few seconds before she continued. “You feel very important, and to me, love is giving someone the chance to hold your heart, and to destroy you. Love was manipulation, and pain, and pretty apologies for things that would never change. And then you came along and in such a short amount of time, you taught me something different. And then you ran.”
Fuck, he couldn’t feel any lower. He hated that he’d hurt her.
“I was angry,” she whispered. “And hurt, and there was this voice in my head saying this is just how it was. That’s what men do.” She lifted her chin higher into the air. “That’s not what you’re going to do. Not to me, and I won’t do it to you.”
He nodded.
“One last thing. The bite? Corey brought that up to me one night. I didn’t join in or agree or even say that was a good idea. I argued it. I don’t want to be anyone other than myself now. Human, fragile, damaged. But I’m also hopeful, and healing, and growing, and getting to watch my old self come back little by little, and that’s because of you. I’m not here for any reason other than I feel like my best self around you.” The tears that had been building fell to her cheeks. “I like you, and I like myself with you, and I’ve changed my mind, Gunner. I think that’s how love is supposed to be.”
Gunner swallowed hard and asked, “Can I hug you now?”
“Really?” she asked, her dark eyebrows lifting high.
He laughed and rushed her, picked her up and crushed her to him, walked her backward slowly as she wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders and buried her face against his neck.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“I know why you did it. I know, Gunner.”
She was so small in his arms. He rubbed his cheek against her head and gripped her hair gently, swaying them slowly. He let off a long breath and closed his eyes, just existed here with her.
