Heart of the Hunter (55 page)

Sam nodded. I took a deep breath. I didn’t know what to do. What was the textbook approach for this situation? How was I supposed to react? I presumed I was supposed to stay calm. If Sam was comfortable with it, then I should be too.

So I did what mother’s have always done in difficult situations. I changed the subject.

“What did you do together, after school?”

“Grabbed a bite to eat.”

“What did you talk about?”

Sam shrugged.

“You can tell me, honey.”

“We talked about the bullies at school.”

“Really?” I said. I was surprised. Sam was so secretive about it. Even I had a hard time getting information out of him.

“It was no big deal.”

“What did Jackson have to say about it?”

“Well, he told me he’s been through similar stuff. He’s gotten into fights that were very difficult to get out of.”

“I know,” I said, thinking of Los Lobos.

“Yup. And he knows how to make guys steer clear of you.”

“How?”

“Attitude,” Sam said.

“Attitude?” I said.

Sam nodded. “If other guys know I’m steady, if they know I mean business, they’ll stay out of my way.”

“Is that so?” I said.

“Yes, and then the only problems I’ll have left will be lady problems.”

“Lady problems?”

Sam nodded.

I laughed.

“And how do you feel about the fact he’s your father?” I said, carefully testing the subject.

“I love it,” he said. “I always wanted him to come back. He’s exactly what I hoped.”

I smiled. I refused to allow myself to cry. If Sam was happy, that was a pretty good indication that things were going all right, and that everything was going to be okay.

Chapter 49

Jackson

T
HE COMING WEEKS WERE THE
happiest in my life. I’d never dared dream my life could be so full and joyful. During the day, I worked nonstop on the house. I wanted to get it ready for Faith before she found out about it. It had to be the perfect surprise. I told her I was working on the vineyard but she suspected something was up when I told her she wasn’t allowed down to the farm. Grant, Forrester and Grady helped me a lot. They put everything they had into the project. In the space of a month we turned a ramshackle old farmhouse into a classical hacienda every bit as fabulous as the Brotherhood mansion. I had no shortage of money. A lifetime of heists against rich corporations had turned into a nice nest egg.

Lacey helped me with the interior decor decisions and in return, me and the boys did a little something for her.

She finally gave us permission.

One evening after work, we drove into the city on our motorcycles. The four of us rose quite a ruckus when we pulled up outside Matt’s fancy suburban house on our bikes. It was his wife who answered the door.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” I said to her, “but we’re looking for your husband.”

She looked us over and knew trouble was brewing. When we get out on our bikes, me and the brothers look bad. We look real bad.

“What is this?” she said. “What is it about?”

“You’ve got nothing to worry about, but you’re husband’s a cheating, lying scumbag who doesn’t deserve to be within five miles of a good wife like you.”

“Excuse me?” she said.

“You heard me. You shouldn’t let him touch you. He doesn’t deserve it.”

I looked her in the eye. She seemed like a nice woman. She was actually pretty similar in appearance to Lacey. Matt clearly had a type. She looked back at the four of us, then looked down at the wedding ring on her finger. We watched as she slid it off and handed it to us.

“Give him this while you’re at it,” she said. “I should have left the son of a bitch long ago.”

She drove off as we entered the house. Apart from Matt, it was empty. We didn’t exactly beat him up. There were four of us. It wouldn’t have been a fair fight. Besides, what we wanted to do was humiliate him. So we stripped him naked, and then recorded a video of the four of us spanking his ass until it burned bright pink. Matt was in tears by the time we were done, begging us to stop.

It was awful. He’d remember it for the rest of his life.

And just to make sure, we uploaded the video to a husband humiliation website, where wives could get revenge on the men who cheated on them.

I had his wife’s wedding ring.

“Hey, dirtbag,” I said to him as he lay on his bed, his pants around his ankle like a baby. “Stick this up your ass.”

“What?” he said.

I handed him the ring and a bottle of lotion I’d taken from his bathroom. The video was still recording.

“You heard me. Lube up and shove this wedding ring up your ass. You’re the one who fucked up the marriage. Now let’s see the ring fuck you.”

He shook his head but he knew he had no choice. He poured lotion on his hand, rubbed it on the wedding ring, and then shoved it up inside his asshole. The room was silent. None of us laughed. We just looked at him like the pitiful dirtbag he was.

When we got home we showed the video to Lacey and Faith and they almost died. They couldn’t believe what we’d done. They were too shocked to laugh. But after they’d watched it a few times and had downed a few bottles of wine, Faith and Lacey were making the lewdest jokes you’ve ever heard about cheating men, and they were laughing their faces off.

We emailed a link of the video to Matt’s employer, and to his wife. Lacey had found out her name during a period of online stalking that had bordered on an obsession.

“I know you wanted to keep your private life private,” I said to Lacey.

“Fuck that,” she said, downing her sixth glass of wine for the evening. “I don’t know how to thank you boys. You’ve fixed everything. For the first time in weeks, I feel like I’ve got the closure I needed. I finally feel like I can move on with my life.”

“Then our job’s done,” Grant said. “Both of you girls always remember, you’ve got the four of us to cover you for anything. Don’t keep secrets from us. We’re here for you. We’ve got your backs. We’re family.”

The following day, I was eating cheerios with Sam for breakfast. I slept at Faith’s house every night, and I got to see Sam all the time. We ate breakfast together, I dropped him off at school, I picked him up. In the afternoons he’d hang out with me and the brothers and help fix up the farmhouse for Faith.

He loved hanging out with us and I loved having all that time to spend with him. I could see his confidence grow by the day as he learned more and more about being a man from me and the brothers.

I’d say the proudest day of my life was the day I drove up to his school to pick him up, and he asked me if he could go play baseball with his new friends.

“Who are your new friends?” I asked.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you dad.”

“Try me.”

“Those guys,” he said, pointing at a group of four older boys across the lot.

I looked, and sure enough it was the four boys that used to bully him.

“You’re friends with those idiots now?” I said, grinning.

“They’re not that bad when you get to know them, dad.”

“What about the house? You were going to help Forrester with the baseboards in your bedroom.”

“Well, I thought about that, and my new friends have offered to come over this weekend and help me catch up on the work I miss today.”

“Is that so?” I said.

“Yeah, dad. So what do you say? Can I go play ball?”

I grabbed him and kissed his forehead. “Go hit a homer for me, buddy,” I said.

I slowed down as I passed them all on my way out of the lot and rolled down my window.

All the boys, including Sam, looked up at me.

“You fellas look after each other,” I said, “treat each other like brothers. One day you’ll need backup and you’ll have each other.”

Sam was doing great. Faith even told me his grades were up since my return. I was glad to hear it.

I also took Sam to meet his grandaddy. The old man was buried in the orchard behind the house, a stone grave under the biggest apple tree on the property. It was a beautiful, secluded spot.

“This is where my father’s buried,” I told Sam.

He took my hand.

“Your mother named you after him.”

Sam nodded.

“It was awfully nice of her to name you after my father. I mean, I wasn’t around in those days. I wanted to be, but I couldn’t.”

“I know,” Sam said.

“So your mother did the greatest thing a woman could ever do for a man. She raised you for me while I was away.”

Sam nodded.

“But I’m back now, Sam. And I’ll never go away ever again.”

He didn’t say anything but he squeezed my hand so tight it surprised me. I hadn’t realized he could be so strong.

“I love you, son,” I said, looking at my father’s grave.

“I love you too, dad.”

Hearing him say that made my life complete.

And being with Faith was like being with an angel. Every night before I fell asleep next to her, I silently thanked God for giving her to me. She was more than I deserved—far more. She always had been. Ever since the time she came into that motel, all those years before, and asked me for my help, she’d possessed my heart. Who’d have ever thought we’d make it so far?

I had her to thank for all the happiness in my life.

It looked like she’d been the desperate one back in that motel bar twelve years ago, but the truth was, I was the one who was desperate. I was the one who needed her. She’d saved my life in every single way.

Killing her enemies and making my way back to her was the hardest thing I’d ever done. And creating a child with her, and now, creating a loving home, were the best things that possibly could have happened.

I loved fucking her, long into the night, even when she begged me to stop. And I could spend the rest of my life doing it to her.

Chapter 50

Jackson

“C
OME ON,” I SAID,
leading Faith by the hand. “It’s not much farther.”

She was blindfolded, following me from the truck toward the porch of the new house we’d built for her. It had been a group effort, with Grant, Forrester, Grady, Lacey and of course, Sam, all pitching in. It looked great, the fresh paint glistening, the new porch shading us from the sun, the clay tiles of the roof reflecting the sunlight beautifully.

It was a beautiful home, fitting for a beautiful woman.

“I can’t see a thing,” Faith said.

“Keep it on,” I said, putting my hand on the blindfold. “It’s just a few more steps.”

I led her up the steps of the porch. Sam was sitting very still, very silently, on an easy chair on the verandah. I put my finger over my lips and he nodded.

“You ready, Faith?” I said.

“Yes,” she said. “Jackson, where are we?”

I took off the blindfold. She blinked a few times before opening her eyes fully. Then she threw her hand in front of her mouth.

“Oh my God,” she cried.

Her eyes filled with tears. I’d never seen her so happy.

“Jackson, this is beautiful.”

“I didn’t do it all by myself,” I said. “Sam helped a lot.”

“Really? When?”

“All those sports practices. We weren’t exactly playing sports.”

“I can’t believe it,” she said.

“It’s all yours, if you want it, Faith.”

She looked at me like she was about to burst. “Jackson, what are you saying?”

“This house, it would be the perfect place for you, me, and Sam to live as a family, wouldn’t it?”

She was crying so much she couldn’t answer.

I’d rehearsed it all a thousand times with Sam. I gave him the signal. He ran inside and turned on the music, Faith’s favorite song. I led her around to the back of the house where we’d strung dozens of lanterns from the trees. The sun was low in the evening sky and the firebugs were already out, shooting around the lanterns like meteors.

Faith gasped at the sight. Everything was perfect.

I got down on my knee.

Faith was shaking her head. She looked down at me, her eyes filled with so many tears she couldn’t even see clearly, and she just shook her head.

“You got the ring, buddy?” I said to Sam.

Sam nodded and stepped forward with the tiny, turquoise box. I took it from him and snapped it open. Inside was a Tiffany’s engagement ring, a diamond on white gold. When Faith saw it her jaw dropped.

“Faith,” I said, but she was already crying so much she couldn’t hear me.

I laughed. Sam laughed too. That relaxed her and she stopped crying.

“Faith Shepherd,” I said. “I love you more than life itself. I’ve loved you for so long I can’t even remember what it was like not to be in love with you. I adore you Faith. You’ve been mine since the moment I first set eyes on you, and I want the world to know it. Will you marry me?”

The shaking of her head changed to nodding.

“Yes,” she gasped, as if she’d been holding her breath. “Yes, of course I will.”

“I love you,” I cried, my own eyes filling with tears.

“I love you too, Jackson.”

I got up and grabbed her in my arms, lifted her off her feet, and put my mouth over hers. We didn’t even care that Sam was watching. I put my tongue against her lips and it slipped into her mouth, dancing with her tongue, just as it had the very first time we kissed.

The warmth of her lips, the softness of her hair, the brightness of her eyes, those were the things that mattered to me, and as my wife, she’d be giving them to me for ever and ever. Those were the true things I wanted. I wanted her heart. I wanted her love.

I didn’t want to possess her, so much as I wanted both of us to be possessed by a common love. The love of our marriage.

“God, I love you so much,” I gasped when our kiss ended.

“Then put a ring on it, silly.”

I slipped the engagement ring onto her finger. The diamond paled in comparison to the beauty of her eyes, but it still looked perfect.

Chapter 51

Faith

I
ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WAS
a cliché when girls said their wedding day was the happiest day of their life. I guess that’s because I was never married before. Girls, whatever you’ve heard about your wedding day, it doesn’t even come close to describing the happiness you’ll feel when you’re tying the knot with the man of your dreams. Only someone who’s experienced it can possibly know.