choice,” he murmured as he helped me back down, this time placing me back where I was, but stuffing a soft shirt underneath my head to ward off the hard floor.
I allowed my head to roll slightly to the left and saw the canvas print of us.
“Did you see our picture?” I asked, pointing.
Adam shifted his gaze from me to the canvas and froze.
“I like it,” he murmured. “We’ll hang it up on the wall.”
I grinned. “I would’ve done that before you got home but I didn’t know where you hid all the nails.”
He twirled my hair around one of his fingers. “Does anything hurt?”
Everything hurt.
“I’m okay,” I lied.
He stared down into my eyes and smiled sadly at me. “You’re a shit liar.”
I couldn’t help the grin that overtook my face. “Maybe.”
“No, you really are,” he murmured as he got down onto the ground beside me. He placed his head in his hand and leaned his elbow onto the floor beside me, all the while he never took his eyes off of mine.
“I’m going to be okay,” I told him.
Before Adam could say anything to that statement, a loud commotion had me turning to look at the door where Hunt had been standing.
“Dude, don’t touch me,” Hunt pleaded. “I’ll do whatever you want me to do, just don’t fucking touch me.”
Dax, who was staring at Hunt as if he wanted to rip his head off, took a threatening step toward Hunt.
“Don’t hurt him,” I croaked, latching my hand onto Adam’s wrist. “He saved me. It’s Hunt.”
Then, I promptly passed out.
Chapter 21
I could go for a row of Oreos right now.
-Adam’s secret thoughts
Adam
“You got until the ambulance gets here to talk,” I said as I kept my hand against Amelia’s throat.
My fingers were on her pulse, and I had to keep it there to reassure myself that she was okay. And that she wasn’t dead.
“Just tell him to please not touch,” Hunt asked.
Hunt was a big guy. Bigger than I expected a hacker to be.
Tall, brunette, and muscular, I would’ve never pegged him as a computer hacker if I passed him on the street.
Hell, I would’ve pegged him as a biker, or military, before I pegged him as a computer nerd.
“Don’t touch him, Dax,” I said lightly.
Dax didn’t take another threatening step, nor did he move away.
“Start,” I ordered.
Hunt’s eyes went to me, then to Rogan and Hilton, then back to me.
I understood immediately.
“Can you take them to the cruisers?” I asked.
Rogan and Hilton were escorted out to the cruisers that’d rolled up on scene after our arrival, and I looked at Hunt meaningfully.
He nodded once and then started talking.
“Your dad got a hold of me,” he murmured. “And, since that’s not done all that often—someone finding me—I decided to listen to what he had to say.” He looked at Amelia, swallowed, then started talking again. “I’ve been on Rogan for a few days. Ever since your girl punched him in the nose and I saw it online.”
The door opened and my mother walked in.
She gasped when she saw Amelia on the ground.
“Tell me what’s wrong,” my mother ordered.
So I did, telling her everything that I knew.
Seconds later my mom had her onto the cot with Kirk’s help.
I went and gestured for Hunt to follow.
“Come on,” I ordered. “Tell me the rest on the way to the hospital.”
Hunt got into the ambulance and squeezed himself into the very corner so he could stay out of the way as best as he could.
And, while my mother worked on my future wife, her future daughter-in-law, Hunt spoke.
“I saw him leave with his bodyguard early this morning. I followed him to this duplex, and while we were waiting for I didn’t know what at the time, I did some research. Found out that you lived here, and this must be where Amelia was staying, too. Saw about eight of you check out at once this morning and realized then that you’d likely left her alone.
“It wasn’t but about twenty minutes ago that some woman went to your door with a package and left without one. Which let both him and I know that someone was home. It took me a bit to work up the will to get out of my car and go into her place. But eventually I was able to stop him from doing any more damage. I’m sorry that I allowed her to get as much as she did. I should’ve been able to force myself to go inside.”
I sensed