“That I want us to be more than friends,” he finished for her because it seemed like maybe she didn’t believe him or she needed to hear it again.
“Yes. That. Are you sure?” Disbelief shone in her eyes.
“That I want you? Yeah. Definitely sure about that.”
“Do you even like me?”
He chuckled. “Yes. You’re a handful, that’s for sure. But you also care deeply about the people you let in. Like Shelby and Mrs. Phelps. While your love for speed and cutting loose once in a while gets you in some minor trouble, you’d never do anything to purposely hurt anyone. While people love to talk about you, I’ve never heard you talk about anyone else. In fact, I know that you go out of your way to be nice to people who feel ostracized or like they’re an outcast. I’ve seen little girls run up to you because they like your hair and makeup and clothes. You always stop and chat with them like they’re your best friends.”
She tilted her head. “Are you stalking me, Wilde?”
“It feels that way sometimes, because lately everywhere I go, there you are.”
She smiled at that. “Are you getting tired of finding me everywhere you go?”
“Only when I find you shoved up against a wall by a guy we know is an abuser at best and more than likely something far worse. You scared the hell out of me lastnight.” He rubbed his hand over the back of his tense neck so he wouldn’t reach out and pull her close again. Where he desperately wanted her.
“Sit down, Wilde. Eat this. Drink this.” She set the plate and coffee to-go cup in front of him. “Now tell me what you know about my sister and niece. I know you left early because you hoped you’d have good news for me, but you don’t, or you would have come back and woken me up.”
Hunt avoided thinking about how he’d like to have woken her up and pulled the foil off the plate and stared at the food, inhaling the delicious aroma. “Did you make this for me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” He couldn’t believe she’d gone to all the trouble to make his favorite breakfast.
“To thank you for coming to my rescue last night and reining in my crazy. If I’d killed Rad the way I wanted to and intended to after what he said to me, then I’d probably never find my sister.”
“What did he say to you?” Hunt dug into the pancakes topped with fresh strawberries and drizzled with honey because he was starving, she’d made it for him and there was no way he was letting her effort go to waste.
“Basically, he said if I didn’t get rid of you and fix the situation I’d never find my sister.”
Hunt went still with a forkful of fluffy scrambled eggs with diced tomato and chopped green onions in them an inch from his mouth. He set the fork down and stared at her.
“You caught it, too. Not that I won’tseemy sisteragain, but that I won’tfindher.” Cyn fell into the chair across the desk from him and wiped the tears from her pale cheeks and under her bloodshot eyes. “I’m headed over to my mom’s house. She needs to hear it from me. You think I’m nuts? This will be a whole other level of denial and grief and blaming me for... everything.”
“I’m not blaming your sister. She was in a dangerous situation. But she chose Rad. How is that your fault?”
“Welcome to my world. I get blamed for a lot of things I didn’t do. Like Rad saying it’s my fault this happened. If I’d stayed out of his and Angela’s relationship, all would have been just dandy while he beat her. My mom... she’s not really the hands-on type and always left me to take care of my sister. If something happened to Angela, Mom will blame me.”
Hunt took a sip of the coffee, noting she’d added milk to it. How did she know that’s how he liked it? “By your logic, if you’re to blame, then so am I. Rad was right about me getting him fired.”
Cyn rolled her eyes. “He got fired because his boss didn’t want to keep an abusive asshole on the payroll.”
Hunt leaned forward, desperate to believe that’s how she really felt. “So you don’t blame me for not thinking about him going home and taking out his anger and frustration on your sister?”
Cyn leaned on her arms on the desk. “No. And I’m sorry I lashed out at you last night and made you think I do blame you. I can be a hothead sometimes.”
He grinned. “Really? I hadn’t noticed.”
She sat back again. “What happens next?” She didn’t mean between them.
“We’ve got a large geographical area where her cellphone last pinged between three cell towers. It’s off the highway and remote. Thick forest and hills with a river winding through it. We’re getting search teams together and dogs. We’ll start in a couple of hours, go until nightfall, then start all over again tomorrow until we’re satisfied she’s not there.”
“But it’s likely she is.”
“For all I know, Cyn, she did leave in her car with the baby and is holed up in a motel somewhere hiding.”
Cyn shook her head. “She doesn’t have a job or any money of her own. She’d come to me.”