I awoke the next morning to a soft knock on the door. Hunter shifted slightly, his hand coming up to run through my hair as he slid out from under my body. I groaned softly, my mouth pulling into a smile as his lips touched my forehead. I rolled over and curled into the blankets as I heard him open the bedroom door.
"Yeah?" He gruffed out.
"Hunt, we got a problem." My eyebrows scrunched at Arthurs words.
"Give me just a minute." Hunter sighed "I'll meet you downstairs."
I sat up, rubbing my eyes, as I heard the door close. "Is everything ok?" Hunter turned and gave me a soft smile.
"Yeah darlin, Arthur just needs me for a little bit." He came over to sit on the edge of the bed, his hand came up to cup my neck. "You should get some more sleep."
I stared at him for a moment before nodding. He gave me a soft look, accompanied by one of his rare smiles, before he leaned in and touched my lips with his own. My breath hitched softly before my own hands came up to the back of his head, deepening the kiss. He let out a groan before slowly pulling away and pressing his lips to mine again, and again, and again. I let out a small laugh before pushing him away.
"I'll see you when you wake up." He cupped my cheek as he gave me a playful smile, leaning in and pressing another quick kiss to my lips. I rolled my eyes and laid down as he stood up and walked towards the closet.
It was a few hours later when I woke and made my way downstairs. I stepped into the kitchen, pausing as I noticed the tension in the room. The guys were all sitting around the table, with Dan. Ace glanced up, shooting me a sympathetic look, as I walked in.
"Hey shortcake. You hungry?" I watched Hunters back tense and glanced around in confusion before shaking my head no.
"Umm, is everything ok?" I asked cautiously. I glanced over at Jackson, my heart dropping at his hard face. It was odd to see him look so serious.
Dan let out a rough sigh, making my eyes shoot to him. "You might want to take a seat Rose." I swallowed roughly and made my way towards the table, pausing when Jai moved to give me the seat next to Hunter.
Hunter turned to look at me as I got closer to the seat, sending me what was supposed to be a reassuring smile. There was too much anger in his eyes for it to work, causing me to glance away as I sat down.
"That looks not for you." I looked up at Ace's words, sending him a questioning look. Hunter let out a gruff sigh as his hand grabbed mine, causing my gaze to move back to him.
"We didn't really get to dive too much into my background last night," He started, I felt my face scrunch up as multiple thoughts ran through my mind. "I can tell your mind is racing, I don't do anything illegal." He said with a slight chuckle.
"So...what do you do?" I asked cautiously.
"I...well, actually all of us, are bounty hunters." I couldn't stop the relieved laugh that escaped.
"Sorry, I just feel like that was a big build up." I admitted, feeling accomplished when they let out small chuckles, the tension fading slightly. "Did you think I wouldn't approve? That's a pretty admirable job." And just like that the tension was back.
Hunter cleared his throat. "There's more. It's not the job that makes us worried. I don't think I'm doing the best at explaining this." He admitted, running his free hand over his face. "Dan?"
"Now that we're past their job title." Dan teased, I gave him a small smile at his attempt to lighten up the room. "I'm sure you know the basics of a bounty hunter?" I nodded.
"At least what I've seen from movies." I admit.
"Basically, when we have a hard time finding people who have committed crimes we call these guys. We have other guys who handle small cases, missed court dates and things like that." He explained, taking a deep breath. "I call the guys when I have bigger cases, like drug dealers or sex traffickers." His voice trailed slightly at the end. I glanced at the guys, no one's face gave away anything.
"Do you guys have a case?" I guessed. I looked over as Jackson let out a rough laugh.
"Ignore him." Ace said, making my gaze move to him. "Everyones a little on edge because we just got a tip that we were closer to a case than we realized."
"Oh. That's good, right?" I asked, my head tilting slightly.
"Yes and no." He said before sighing. "Rose, we found out that the men who had you are a group of brothers involved in sex trafficking. Ones we have been looking for the past four years, the Wilson brothers." I felt my heart drop to my stomach. I opened and closed my mouth a few times, trying to think of something to say. Hunter's thumb rubbed over my knuckles, causing my brain to focus for a moment.
"But, I wasn't sold." I started weakly. Ace shot me a sad smile.
"We're undecided on how to feel about that." He admitted. "We know the kinds of thing that go on with sex trafficking, but we also know a lot of things about Wilson brothers." His voice came out soft, yet cautious. I stared at the table, deep in thought.
"Rose." Dan's soft voice broke me out of my trance. "It doesn't have to be now, but when you're ready it would be super helpful if we could go over your statement again. Anything you might remember could help us catch them, for good." I glanced away before giving him a soft nod. I closed my eyes as I tried to walk through my memories.
"The house was a one story, white-ish, but looked like it hadn't been cleaned or taken care of in a while. There was an old brown barn on the side, and a few junk cars throughout the yard. I ran outside, it was surrounded by woods, but there were mountains behind the house. That's why I ran forward, I had to go through a barbed wire fence, it was kind of broken down." I started.
"Did you notice any roads?" Dan asked. I shook my head. "That's ok. You ran through the woods? Do you remember if you took many turns or how long you were running for?"
"I mainly ran straight, but there was a small path. I tried to stay off of it, but close enough to see where it would lead me. I'm not sure on time." My forehead wrinkled as I tried to think.
"That's ok. Did you notice if the trail was a hiking trail or bike trail?"
"Maybe hiking? It was very small. I only noticed it when they caught up to me and began walking it. That was how I knew I was going the right way, and then when they found me I was on the edge of the town." My body gave a small sudder and I sent Hunter a small smile when his hand squeezed my own.
"Can you think back and remember the first thing you saw when you noticed town?" Dan asked, leaning forward slightly. I closed my eyes, my hand tightening on Hunters as I put myself back to being in Jeds hold.
"Lights, a lot of lights. People walking on the other sidewalk. Cars driving by. A building, no, a bar. When I got out of his hold I ran across the road to it. I can't remember the name." I said, feeling my frustration rising.
"That's ok. Don't feel discouraged, I'm getting more than you think." Dan reassured. "Do you remember which way you ran or if you crossed any other streets before you ran into Hunter?" I felt my cheeks heat as I remembered our first interaction.
I shook my head. "No other streets. I ran to the right, I'm not sure how long I was running for though."
"I got it!" Arthur exclaimed suddenly, making me jump. "You all had just left the restaurant heading towards the bar, Andys."
"That must be the bar you saw." Jackson added. "They're selling, we were going to scope the place out." Hunter's hand squeezed mine making me glance up, he shot me a reassuring smile, A real one.
"You did good darlin." He praised, his thumb rubbing over my knuckles. "We know where to start. After dinner we'll set up a plan. We're getting these bastards, tomorrow." His tone left no room for argument, everyone around the table nodded in agreement.
"Let me know how many men you need." Dan offered as he stood from the table, gathering his paperwork.
"I appreciate it man." Hunter said, letting go of my hand to shake Dan's.
As everyone got up from the table, Ace to start dinner and the rest to go start prepping for tomorrow, Hunter's phone rang. I stood up and went to help Ace with dinner as he answered the phone.
"Need any help?" I offered. Ace sent me a smile and passed me some vegetables to start cutting up.
After a few minutes of chopping Hunter came up behind me, placing his hands on my waist and making me jump slightly and barely miss my finger with the knife. I sent him a quick glare, sticking my tongue out at his amused expression.
"That was Lisa." He said, catching my full attention. "She should be here midday tomorrow." A smile came over my face, even though I felt slightly torn. I was more than excited to see Lisa, but that also put me closer to leaving. I wasn't sure how to feel about that.
"I'm stealing your helper." Hunter said to Ace, pulling me out of my inner turmoil.
"Yeah, yeah." Ace teased, moving his hand in a shooing motion.
Hunter shot me a mischievous smile as he grabbed my hand and pulled me from the kitchen and towards the stairs.