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“Sorry, Nash or I should have helped you sooner. I’m so sorry for what you went through.”
“It’s okay. I’m here now, and this is much better than what I had, and I’m grateful for it.”
We both fall silent for a moment, the sounds of the different bird calls filling the area around us until Hunter breaks the silence. “Have you read Nash’s letter?”
My chest squeezes. I shake my head. “No, not yet. I’m not sure I’m ready.”
The birds are singing around us as we walk, and the breeze gently kisses my skin.
“Ah...here we are.”
I follow Hunter’s line of sight. Sitting there amongst some overgrown shrubs is an old wooden playhouse. It isn’t huge, but it appears to be big enough to fit three adult-size bodies inside, I’m sure of it. There’s what looks to be mold growing on the wood, and some of the tin roof has rusted. A small sheet of the roof has come off or maybe blown away in a storm or something, but with a little TLC, it would come up nicely.
“Wow,” I breathe out.
“Welcome to the shack.” He laughs. “This is where Nash and I hung out. Your grandfather built this for us. We kept hounding him, and finally, he gave in.”
“This is great.” I release Hunter’s hand and move closer to inspect it. “I guess it’s been a while since you were out here.”
“Well, yes and no. Nash and I stopped playing here when we were dragged off to work for our fathers. Your mother and father were already in the deep end with families of the underworld because of what had happened to you and your sisters. Things became tense with our families, and I wasn’t allowed to spend time with Nash anymore.”
“I sense there’s a but.”
Hunter kicks a stick, and then his head comes up. “Yes, there is. Later, Nash wanted me to meet him here, and this is where he told me he’d found you and his other sisters.” My chest suddenly grows tight, and I open my mouth to speak, but Hunter holds up his hand to stop me. “What I didn’t mention to him was that I’d already been searching for you.”
I swallow. “Me?”
“Yes. Only you. When I was eighteen, I knew about you and your family’s betrayal. When I was twenty-one, I sent Landon to find you.”
A memory comes to the front of my mind. “When I lived under the bridge, there was a man there.”
He nods.
“That was Landon?”
“Yes. I wanted him to keep his distance, only observe.”
“I remember a man. He scared me. Though when I look at him now, I don’t remember him.” All the times I’ve seen Landon around the barn, his face has never clicked with my memory.
“He’s great at hiding in the shadows. That’s his specialty.”
“Specialty?” I cock my head to the side.
Hunter shoves his hands in his pocket and walks around the shack. “Yeah, he’s good at certain things.”
“What? Like an assassin?” I laugh.
He stops walking and stares at me. He’s not making a joke. “If that’s what you want to call it.”
I rub my forehead. “This is all so much for me to wrap my head around.”
He opens his mouth, but I cut in. “Don’t tell me any more right now. I don’t want this moment ruined by all the dark stuff that will cloud me for the rest of my life.”
“All right. So what else do you want to know?”
Hesitantly, I ask, “Can you take me to where Nash and Miles are buried?”
“Sure, if that’s what you want.”
