He was giving me that ability because I knew for a fact that shit was about to get ugly with my aunt.
Knew it deep down in my heart.
Which meant soon, despite having money, I wouldn’t have access to it.
So, despite him ‘looking into me,’ I couldn’t be mad that he’d done it. Sure, it was an invasion of privacy. Sure, he shouldn’t have done it.
But, saying that, I was getting the better end of the deal here.
And he’d be gone for a while after this.
“Do they allow visits?” I found myself asking.
He blinked. “As far as I know, yes.”
“What about the dogs?” I asked. “Can I bring dogs to visit?”
Silo and Bones, his beautiful Dobermans, sat at his feet.
They’d followed him all the way through the house, one at each side, like they’d done it a hundred times before.
They looked well attached to him.
They wouldn’t understand why he wasn’t there anymore.
He dropped his hands down to the dogs’ heads, almost blindly, and sighed. “I’ve already pushed them quite a bit with my demands. As much as I’d like to say that I could push them into this, they’re going to be pretty non-lenient with me from here on out.”
I pursed my lips. “If you can ever get them to allow that… I’ll come.”
His lips twitched. “I’d like that.”
“What about me?” I asked.
His eyes seemed to sober. “I’m going to be four hours away. As much as I’d love to have you visit, I can’t ask that of you.”
With that parting comment, he looked at his watch, and his shoulders seemed to slump. “I’ll see you in hopefully four years, dear.”
Then he dropped down to his knee, his arms going around each of the dogs.
“You two be very, very good for your new mom,” he ordered gruffly as he pressed a kiss to each dog’s shiny coat. “I’ll bet she’ll even give you the same treats as I do in the jar on the counter.”
I would.
Every freakin’ day.
“How often?” I asked, feeling a lump form in my throat.
He grinned and gave each dog one last scratch before standing. “They con me out of them way more than I should admit. Whatever you feel like is enough is good for them.” He tapped the folder. “Any and every question I could think that you’d ask is in there. If you need anything, I have phone calls that I can make, but it’ll have to be on their schedule, not mine.”
I frowned hard. I was honestly quite upset at this point.
I felt like I was losing something important. What that importance to me was at this point, I didn’t know. But it was like something in my gut was telling me not to let him go.
On impulse, I launched myself forward and threw my hands around his waist.
He froze.
“Thank you,” I whispered. “I know you have no clue what you’ve saved me from but thank you anyway.”
His warm palm came down on the back of my neck. “I think I might. And you’re welcome. For what it’s worth, you’re doing me a bigger favor than I’m doing you.”
I sniffled. “If you say so.”
CHAPTER 4
Sometimes it’s only the fear of prison food that stops me from committing another murder and being forced to stay here a few more years.
-Hunt to Wyett
WYETT
Six months later
I was nervous.
So nervous.
In fact, I was about to vomit, and I wasn’t sure why.
I mean, it wasn’t like I was going to prison myself. I was just going to visit the prison.
And the very special person inside of it that I couldn’t stop thinking about.
It’d been six months since he’d left, and in those six months, my life had changed drastically.
My aunt did, in fact, take me to court over my ‘inheritance.’
That meant that all access to my accounts had been frozen like I’d thought, and if it wasn’t for Hunt’s generosity, things would look a whole lot different for me right now.
For instance, I wouldn’t be a quarter of the way through school and working on my second semester. I also wouldn’t be doing so well on my grades, even if I had managed to get myself into school.
Just as I started to get antsy on my small, attached to the ground plastic stool, the large barred doors clanged open, and in the inmates started walking.
There were squeals of delight, screams of excitement, and overall, a general enthusiasm from both the prisoners getting the visits, and the visitors themselves.
All but one single man.
Hunt had been tall and sexy before.
But now? Holy shit.
He was all tall, bearded badass with glasses.
I’d never, not ever, thought I would have a thing for a felon.
But there I was, lusting after the man.
I could no longer see his beautiful square jaw… but I didn’t think that mattered.
I now had a thing for beards.
It’d appeared in about two point five seconds as Hunt walked into the room, looking confused.