Hunt actually chuckled.
“I’m surprised you find that amusing. I thought you two were best buds.” She didn’t know how two men so different could be friends, especially when one was a cop and the other a rage-induced murderer-waiting-to-happen.
“I haven’t hung out with Rad since I arrested him.” Hunt rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “Longer than that, really. The job makes people distance themselves. Ever since I became a cop, Rad looks at me like he’s waiting for me to accuse him of something.”
“Guilty people feel guilty sometimes, I guess. Though he doesn’t seem to give a shit about how he treats my sister. Oh, sure, he apologizes up and down, but what good are words when you don’t back them up? What the hell does a promise mean if you don’t follow through?Sorryis just a word if you don’t mean it.”
“Tell me how you really feel.”
“I don’t say things I don’t mean. I don’t treat people like shit because I feel like it. I don’t hit the people I care about. He’s not a man, he’s a little boy acting out, thinking he’s big shit when he’s less than most of us.”
“How is your sister?” Hunt’s voice was warm and coaxing.
“She’s trapped and she doesn’t even know it. Even more disturbing, she thinks she’s in love. And it willonly end one way. Badly. I just hope I get her out of there before it’s too late.”
“No one from the department has been called out there in a long time.”
“Because the last time a cop showed up”—meaning him—“he beat my sister bloody. Worse than he ever hurt her before. I don’t call the cops anymore. I go and pick her up and put her back together only to watch her go right back to him.”
“Cyn.” Just her name and the world of feeling he put behind it. Frustration. Resignation. Understanding. She hoped the regret she heard was genuine and he really did care about what happened to her sister.
She sighed. The whole situation made her tired. “I know Shelby is right. You did your job to the best of your ability, but that doesn’t mean I’m not pissed off that when it comes to domestic abuse, the system works far better for the criminal than it does the victim all too often and the victim pays an even higher price. I’m tired of watching my sister suffer for what she thinks is love but is nothing more than that asshole tearing apart her heart and soul. Who my sister used to be is fading away. I don’t think she even recognizes herself anymore.
“I know it’s not her fault. He’s made her afraid. She believes his lies that she’s inadequate and does everything wrong. And if she’s not good enough for him, she’s certainly not good enough for anyone else. He made her believe that he’s the only one who’ll want her. I’ve tried so hard to erase that from her head, to show her that I love her more than anything. But she doesn’t hear the words. She only hears him in her head now.”
“I wish there was something I could do.” Hunt pulledup in front of her cute little home, the place she’d hoped her sister would come and live with her.
“I’m not sure there’s anything anyone can do at this point. And right now, she’s deep in depression and just existing day to day. I’ve tried to get her to go back to the doctor, but she won’t.” She shook her head. “Sorry. I’m sure you spend your day listening to other people’s problems, you don’t need me adding to it.”
“It’s okay.” He shifted to face her across the console and the computer between them and studied her. “I’ve never seen you like this.”
“That’s because I’m usually a happy drunk. He killed my buzz, the asshole.”
Hunt chuckled. The deep rumbly sound made her stomach flutter. And what the hell was that about? Obviously, she’d been without a man too long.
“I’m sure you’ll go back to yelling at me the next time I catch you speeding.”
Damn right. “You could just let me go, you know.”
“What fun would that be? You’re entertaining as hell when you’re irritated and know you’re in the wrong but want to get away with it anyway and think every man should let you.”
“You’re just not any man, are you?”
“No. It’s my job to uphold the law. And I’ll remind you, I did give you a warning.”
“One time.”
“A warning means consequences are coming the next time you do it.”
“Ugh! You’re irritating.”
“You’re obstinate,” he shot back. “How do you and Shelby even know each other?”
Cyn sat up straight. “What? I’m not good enough for your brother’s fiancée? Seems to me you didn’t like her much either a while back.”
“I always liked her,” he corrected.
“You have an odd way of showing it.”