Page 51 of Hunted in Hope Town

Ellis hadn’t planned on having to deal with his issues up here. He preferred facing danger head-on and, well, like Kirsten had said. Being brave in his job.

Because maybe he didn’t know how to be brave when it came to his feelings.

It left him feeling…really damn uncomfortable, but there was nowhere to run. Because she kept calling him on the running. If he kept doing it, it just proved her point.

He put his hands over hers, gently removed them from his face. “I think before we go making any…proclamations or decisions, you need to meet with a medical professional to make sure everything is all right.” He squeezed her hands before releasing them. “And we need to neutralize this threat before we can do that.”

She fixed him with that teacher look of hers—stern disapproval as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Which person do you not trust? Kirsten or Jessica?”

He scrubbed a hand over his face. “They’re the same for me, baby. You were always the same.”

She studied him for a while before speaking. “Then you don’t have to worry, do you? If it’s always me. You love me. I love you. I’m not saying going back into the real world remembering is going to be easy, but I’m not going to borrow hard. We get enough hard honestly, don’t we? We’ll work it out.”

There was something about her being so determined, so sure about them. About a future together. It steadied him, or maybe just smoothed away a doubt he hadn’t fully known was a seed he’d cultivated.

Because, damn, he wanted to believe they’d work it out.

“Call Boyd, Ellis. If he doesn’t answer, you can always try again later.”

He sighed heavily. “All right.”

Kirsten started fussing with plates and cleaning up lunch while he sat back down on the couch in the living room. He opened his phone, went into its settings, and changed the outgoing phone number to one he hadn’t used in a long, long time.

One with a Chicago area code. One Boyd should have in his phone under Ellis’s name. Unless he’d deleted it.

The phone rang twice, then a low voice answered. “Ellis. Hey, man. How’s it going?”

Ellis heard the concern. The surprise. Maybe even a little suspicion in Boyd’s voice. All things he’d expect. All things that made sense.

“It’s…going okay,” Ellis managed. “Better,” he amended. Because there could be some honesty in this, even if not all. And he was certainly a different man than he’d been two years ago when he’d first arrived in Wyoming.

“Good, I’m glad to hear it,” Boyd said, sounding a little more at ease. “Freezing your ass off in Alaska?”

“Yeah, it’s…cold.”

An uncomfortable silence descended, and Ellis knew he had to break it. It would be easiest to just dive into work, but Kirsten working in the kitchen, within earshot, poked at him. Like he owed both these people he cared about some…hard conversations.

“I called because I have a favor to ask, but I wanted to start by apologizing. I know I just…disappeared. I didn’t really know how to deal with anything. Getting away, isolating myself, it was the only way to get through.” It wasn’t a lie. Hell, it was nothing but the truth even if he’d had to leave and isolate to keep Kirsten a secret.

“You went through hell, Ellis. I don’t hold anything against you. You ever make it back to the lower forty-eight, you let me know and I’ll meet you halfway.”

It wasn’t just kindness. It was a true offer of friendship.

“But I sure as hell ain’t going to Alaska,” Boyd added in his usual irreverent manner.

Ellis managed a laugh through a too-tight throat. “I appreciate it.”

“Okay, so what’s this favor, since we don’t need to worry about any bullshit apologies?”

Ellis couldn’t help but wonder why Kirsten and Boyd so easily let him off the hook. Why he should make mistakes and hurt them, no doubt, and they were both so ready to call it a draw.

Almost as though he…saw things wrong. Almost as if he didn’t have to do everything perfectly to earn that relationship.

He shoved that uncomfortable thought away. “I received a threat. I think it’s tied to the Carusos.”

Boyd swore. “What kind of threat? Who have you talked to? What can I do?” It was immediate. No hesitation. What can I do?

No, Ellis didn’t think Boyd had anything to do with Colleen now, but he still had to be careful.