Hunter - Blaire Drake Page 0,48

it would be Gaige calling to check on me. I didn't want to answer it—I was afraid that if I did, he'd know that I was hiding something from him.

Like my father's consigliere.

God, I was such a bad friend. And person, really. I'd barely even apologized for his pissing contest with Hunter in the back yard. Not that I had anything to apologize for. I wasn't the one who'd flexed my muscles and spread out my peacock feathers to express my sexual prowess.

Men. And I wondered why I was single.

I checked my phone and saw I was right. The missed call was from Gaige. I felt guilty when I cleared the notification without even texting him, but he knew me too well. Ten words in and he'd know something was up, so it was easier to ignore it.

I'd deal with it later. Or ask Darien to. I wasn't afraid to admit I was a bit of a wimp. And a terrible, terrible person.

The front door opened. “Addy?”

“In the kitchen,” I called back to Darien. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge as he came in carrying a brown paper grocery bag. “I thought you were only buying milk.”

He put the bag down on the island and met my eyes. A smile teased his lips. “The candy was on sale.”

I shook my head and pulled the bag toward me. “You're a grown man, Darien,” I scolded him. “You don't need—oooh, Nerds!” I pulled the bright colored box out of the bag and opened it.

“You're a grown woman, Adriana. You don't need Nerds for breakfast,” Darien said playfully, reaching for the candy.

I stepped back and clutched the box to my chest. “If I'm a grown up, I can eat candy for breakfast. There's no one to stop me. That's the fun part about being an adult. I get to do what I want.”

He stared at me for a moment before he realized arguing wasn't the best idea. Instead he just shook his head, smiled, and pulled the bottle of milk out of the bag.

I put a handful of Nerds in my mouth and pulled out a stool. I sat on it as my phone rang again. Gaige. Again.

“He's gonna keep calling you,” Darien said, closing the fridge. “You know it.”

“I know, but I don't want to lie to him about Isaiah being here.” I waited for the call to end, then changed the setting to 'silent.'

God, I felt awful.

“So you're ignoring him altogether?” He raised an eyebrow and flattened his hands on the island to lean forward. “Adriana...”

I sighed and put down the box of Nerds. He wasn't going to let this go. “Look... Since Hunter showed up with the finesse of a rhinoceros, it's just been... awkward. Gaige hates him on default, and he was here yesterday when you made Hunter babysit me. They both got their hackles up. I don't think it's a good idea to tell Gaige that another guy who could potentially want me dead is about to come over for coffee and cake.”

“Isaiah doesn't like cake. Unlikely you'll be sharing one.”

“Can we please focus on the issue here, Dar? I know he's your cousin but that doesn't mean anything. For all I know, Hunter has decided to kill me after all. We have no idea what's going to happen and we need a plan in case it doesn't work out the way we're expecting.”

“All right, then let's think of a plan.” He stood up straight and reached for his water bottle. “What are you thinking?”

What would Mamma do? I knew exactly what she'd suggest if she were here. We'd escaped once before, and being prepared for all situations was necessary. “Pack a bag and take the alternative identity documents out of the safe.” I got up before Darien could respond and walked down the hall.

I remembered the day we picked out the picture that would cover the wall safe. I hated it then and I hated it now. I didn't even know what it was of—it was an abstract mix of color and shapes that Mamma had loved but I thought had been puked up by a newborn. Still, it was an unassuming place to hide a safe.

I pulled the picture down from the wall, revealing the shiny, black door of the safe. I twisted the code in and opened it. There was a small rucksack folded up at the front, and the first thing I did was pull it out and give it a