Having had the heater running, his car was toasty warm which was an escape from her momentary exposure to the silently chilly and still night. Rubbing her hands together to generate some heat, she watched him from the passenger seat as he talked at length with Nick. From the snippets of drifting conversation she could hear, Nick was waiting on having the station legalize some papers in some sort of complaint he had filed against someone a while ago. She could see Hunter trying to placate him from his body language alone. He had that uncanny and annoying way of calming someone down, with his mere presence. She could see Nick relaxing throughout their conversation, his stiff posture unwinding and his shoulders dropping.
Once she’d had her fill of eavesdropping, she looked at the backseat and felt a sliver of surprise at seeing Hunter’s bags, along with a box of stuffed toys that she assumed were for his nephews and niece. Huh. He hadn’t gone home yet. He’d come straight here.
It made her feel funny, and she didn’t know why. There was just something so personal about that – that he’d made it a priority to make her a pit stop on the way home. Like – did friends do that? Were they friends now? God, this was going to drive her nuts. Chewing her lip as she sat there, she furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to defog her head. She was overthinking this. The bar was on the way to his house from the road that came in from Newcastle. It was only convenient.
She was so absorbed in trying to figure out why he had picked her up, that she didn’t see that he’d wrapped up his conversation with Nick and was already back at the Jeep. The moment he stepped into the drivers’ seat, her body filled with a rush of something she couldn’t pinpoint.
The emotions felt like a vague shade of appreciation. Of him simply being there – in front of her. She didn’t really realize it until after having spent a week away from him, but she simply enjoyed looking at him and breathing him in. He had a characteristically unique way of filling up the space he occupied both with his presence and his scent, and she took a moment to savor it.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he was actually disconcerted as he changed gears and the car jerked into drive.
“No reason,” she rolled her eyes and looked away, “Nick okay?”
“Nick’s fine. I still don’t want you working there.”
She made a face, “oh please. You want me playing your maid forever?” On that note, she remembered with a start that her ‘contract’ would officially be over in half a week. Four days to be exact. Two and a half weeks had flown by and soon, there’d be no reason for her to have a key to his house, use his Wi-Fi and simply lounge around. She’d been so preoccupied with what was going on that she’d simply stopped counting down, and truth be told, had stopped hating it so much too. Not that she enjoyed running his errands and changing his bedsheets (that part, she was excited to stop doing) but there was something charming about his house that she enjoyed. A sense of security and safety that she didn’t find elsewhere.
He glanced at her quickly, his blue eyes hooded and disgruntled. “It’s not safe there and you know that.”
“Is that the issue or the fact you don’t like my shorts?”
“We’ll deal with the issue of your shorts in a bit.”
She ignored the way that made her stomach flip, “someone’s testy.”
“Wouldn’t you be frustrated if someone refused to listen to any piece of advice you ever gave?”
Emma frowned, “you never listen to anything I say. Do you see me being grumpy about it?”
“Emma, you’re the textbook definition of grumpy.”
“You’re the textbook definition of grumpy.”
“Are you really just going to repeat what I say as a comeback?
“I’m just saying,” Emma tried to level the frustration that had snapped through her blood like the crack of a whip, “maybe there’s a connection between me being grumpy and being around you.”
“Are you saying I make you grumpy?”
“Yeah.”
He gave her a sideways glance, and actually had the audacity to look incredulous. “How?” “Are you being serious?” Was her dry response, and they held eye contact for a moment before Hunter broke into a grin.
“Ok. I’ll take 25% of the blame, but the remaining 75% is all on you.”
“Excuse me -.”
“Are we really arguing about this right now?” Hunter cut her off, just as he turned the car into the street that led to her house.
“You started it,” was all she said before resigning herself to look out the window. The two spent a little while in silence, before Hunter spoke again.
“Tell me about your week.”
She shrugged, not really used to sharing such intimate details with anybody other than her exboyfriend’s hamster back home. And Sarah when the girl was around. “Nothing really happened.
Nobody tried to kill me.”
“That’s good. Anything else happen or you just spent the day watching cable at my house and drinking my coffee?”
She wasn’t going to admit to either of those even though she was guilty of both. Slowly, and almost hesitatingly, she began to tell him about her week; the fact that she’d completed a rough draft of her town mural, that she’d put up a few paintings on Amazon and Ebay, and that she’d done a little bit of investigating for these supposed papers that her father had signed. She’d turned her house upside down by this point so if those papers existed, they were definitely not in her home.
Hunter listened intently to everything, not really commenting or saying anything until the end.
They had just arrived in the driveway of her house, and he killed the lights and engine before speaking.
“I’d be wary of Kat.”
“What?” the comment was so left-field, and came so suddenly out of nowhere, that of all things he could’ve said, that was something she expected the least.
“Just giving you a heads up that she’s being pulled in for questioning tomorrow -.”
“Is this about the letter that I found? They were all already questioned for that…” “No,” Hunter sighed, and Emma realized with a startled sigh, that he was being very serious right now. Hunter was always pretty serious but this was a do-not-joke-around-with-what-I’m-saying level of serious. “Forensics just came back with an ID on the fingerprints from that letter. Kat’s was all over it. Whether or not she put it there, she definitely had her hands on it at some point.”
Emma’s mouth dropped open and the betrayal she felt was immediate and fast. “There has to be a mistake.”
“It’s DNA. Kat’s fingerprints were in the system. She’s been pulled in a few times for small things in the past – shoplifting when she was fourteen, breaking and entering when she was twelve. It was a perfect match.”
“Oh,” was all Emma could say. Her mouth had gone dry and suddenly, she didn’t want to be there anymore. With him, in that car, anywhere. In fact, she felt a little numb. Without another word, she got out of the Jeep and began to head inside. She heard him come out after her.
“Emma, wait.”
“For what?” she stopped and turned around, looking at him expectantly. “Are you going to tell me that Clayton’s fingerprints were on that letter too? That I was dumb enough to think someone actually wanted to be my friend in this stupid, shitty, dumb fuck town?” She didn’t wait for a response. Turning around, she fumbled with her keys and let herself in. She heard Hunter sigh behind her but she didn’t care. She felt like having a temper tantrum, and she was entitled to.
“She’s innocent until proven guilty,” he followed her in, closing the door behind him. “All I’m saying is –”
“To be careful. I get it. But it’s sort of starting to look like the only way I can do that is by shutting myself off in quarantine. God, I can’t believe I was so stupid!”
“Will you stop pacing and just calm down?” Hunter’s voice was soft yet assertive and she found herself stopping by the unlit fireplace. “Look –”
“I let her into my house, Hunter!”
“Emma, Kat didn’t kill that girl. The body we found? It was dragged at least a mile through the woods. The girl weighed 143 pounds. Kat is 120 at most. There isn’t a chance in hell Kat would be able to drag somebody that weighs her weight and more for a mile through Southside Hills. And to add, she has an alibi for that night. She worked a late shift at the bar and then Nick drove her home.”
Emma suddenly felt exhausted, like none of this was really making sense anymore. “So what are you saying? That Kat has a sidekick?”
“That someone asked Kat to put that letter there. Maybe she was blackmailed, or maybe she
wasn’t. I just don’t want you being her BFF anymore until we figure out the details.”
Emma gave him a deadpanned stare. “Did you really just say BFF?”
“Isn’t that what kids say these days? What?” He actually looked baffled, “Did I say it wrong?”
“No, that’s right,” she shook her head, and then paused, “you think I’m a kid?”
It was amazing how quickly moods could change. One minute, he was trying to console her, and
in the next, she felt as if he was ready to devour her. “I definitely don’t think you’re a kid.” “I’m going to go shower,” was all she said, feeling her defenses shoot up like barracks. She wasn’t ready for that just yet. She’d just been given a few blows and needed time to process them. She’d trusted Kat so readily, and had never for a moment even considered that Kat had had any ill will towards her. For God’s sake, Kat had been the first person to actually be nice to her. When everyone else around her was still shooting her the side eye, Kat had wrapped her in and told her to toughen it out.
She left Hunter downstairs and made her way up to the bathroom. She’d never really been a fan of scalding hot showers, but lately, it was the only thing that had the ability to completely eradicate all of her thoughts and worries. The rosier her skin got, the better. Her bathroom was a little dingy, but the pipes still managed to do their jobs, and within minutes, she was standing under a stream of hot, delicious water. Standing there, she tried to come to terms with the coagulation of betrayal, uncertainty, doubt and loyalty that were swirling within her. She knew Hunter had just been trying to warn her, so that she could use sound judgement when seeing Kat next but in that moment and time, she wished that he hadn’t said anything at all.
Above everything, what she felt most of all was stupidity.
If Kat really had acted as some sort of sidekick, and Lord could tell that the odds weren’t stacked in her favor, that girl had really pulled the wool over Emma’s eyes.
The sickly feeling of embarrassment and hurt followed her, and she let it sink in and wash over her as she stood under the water for a good twenty minutes.
How? Was one word that kept circling through her memory. How in the world had Kat done it? Why had she done it? Emma use to believe that the girl had a somewhat good sense of character, and this was so unlike anything she would’ve expected Kat to do…
It didn’t make sense but considering she’d clearly judged Kat wrongly to begin with, she didn’t expect the situation to make much sense either.
Only when her fingers began to crinkle and the water began to lose some of its heat did she open her eyes and force herself to wrap up.
When she came into her bedroom, she found Hunter lying on bed, flipping through a magazine of hers. She admired the view for a second, taking in how the floral print and daisy pillows only made him look that much more manly. He looked concentrated, his brows furrowed as he read the Cosmo issue.
“Apparently the way to saving a sex life,” he started before turning the page to her so she could see, “is by trying something new and exciting.” He cleared his throat and turned the magazine back towards him so he could read out what was on the page, “Tip number one: place a donut around his shaft and mix up your blowjob by eating said donut and licking him at the same time. The sugar on your tongue will drive him crazy.” He looked at her pointedly, “that’s a sure fire way to some sort of infection.”
She giggled but before she could say anything, he went on.
“Feed each other ice cream in the dark. It’s messy and fun. When you spill the ice cream, it will only give you both an opportunity to lick the ice cream off of each other – do people actually do this shit?”
She feigned surprise, “What? You haven’t placed a donut around your dick?”
“Maybe a bagel.”
Emma laughed, despite feeling drained and exhausted, and went over to her closet to find some warm pajamas. The outlet in the bathroom wasn’t working so she hadn’t been able to blow dry her hair, which was only making her feel colder.
Hunter snuck up on her but when he did, she didn’t resist. His arms snaked around her chest and pulled her into him while one hand came around to pull her wet hair to one side. She closed her eyes, easing into his embrace as he kissed her neck softly. Goosebumps scattered across her skin immediately and she sighed as he trailed his lips up to her earlobe to give her a small bite.
He was already hard, something she could already feel and having done nothing but simply walk around in front of him with no makeup on and a basic t-shirt and jeans, she felt pretty smug about it. Hunter wasn’t wasting any time. He pulled her t-shirt up and over her head in one simple swoop and once that was done, he unfastened the waistband of her sweats and shoved them down hastily. Feeling the urgency in his movements, she bit her lip to swallow her moan. She wanted it as bad and as urgently as he did.
Her bra came off next but what he did next caught her off guard. Feeling him pull back for a momentary second, she heard him reach for something before he twisted her arms behind her back. “What are you -.” She heard it before she felt it. The click of metal closing, and the touch of steel against her skin as he tightened it. “Did you just handcuff me?!”
“Turn around and get on your knees.”
“Hunter -,” her words dried up on her tongue as he lightly pulled her head back onto his shoulder, cupped her chin upwards to give her a long, hot kiss on the lips. When he was done, Emma could feel her body flushing and any hesitation had pretty much dissipated on the spot. Turning around to face him, he kissed her again shortly before she slowly kneeled down and got on her knees. Looking up at him, she felt a rush of headiness course through her. Hunter had a way of looking at her that made her feel like in that specific point and time, she was the only God damn thing that mattered in the whole world. Kneeling there, only in her milkshake print panties (she really needed to get some sexy lingerie), she normally would have felt all shades of insecure. Instead, all she felt was this intense burning to have him push her down and satiate the desire rushing through her.
She bit her lip as he unbuckled his belt and popped the button of his jeans open. Taking his sweet as time, as if enjoying the fact he had her handcuffed before him, he took of his jeans and pulled off his jacket and shirt.
Her eyes widened, and she tried not to look like a deer in headlights as he stepped back in front of her. She didn’t want to stare at the bulge in his boxers, but didn’t want to give him the smug satisfaction at seeing her stare at his abs, so she found herself blushing and looking down at her knees.
“Look up at me,” he said quietly, which made her heart jump.
She did, and she was sure he could see the flush in her cheeks and the nervous quiver in her throat.
“I want you to take off my boxers with your mouth,” his voice was hoarse, but firm. As if barely controlled. “Can you do that?”
She found that words had pretty much escaped her and that her brain was filled with mud so she simply nodded in silence and tried to even her breathing. She was wet from his voice alone, and the chilly air kept nipping at her breasts and stomach, making her vividly aware of her own nudity. It was only when she leaned forward to grasp the waistband of his underwear with her teeth that she felt the strain of the handcuffs against her wrists. Using only her mouth made this so much more intimate and she felt slightly nervous about the fact that she literally had her face in his dick. Heart pounding, she pulled it down a few centimeters before the fabric slipped from her mouth and she heard him hiss.
This was probably driving him crazy. Leaning forward again, she took her sweet time getting the waistband in her mouth again, ‘accidentally’ running her lips against the base of his shaft before she properly did. Once her teeth had a firm grip again, she pulled them down as best as she could, swallowing her gasp as his thickness came free in front of her.
Once it did, he pulled her head back and leveled it upwards, holding his dick against her mouth. He motioned for her to open her lips and she did so agonizingly slowly, enjoying the way his fingers tightened in her hair as she did so. She licked the tip, circling it before sucking it with her mouth. He tugged on her hair and pulled her back, making her look up at him. “What?” she asked, disgruntled at having been interrupted.
“You’re going to take it all in your mouth and you’re going to hold it there until I say so, okay?” Fuck. Why was he so hot?
She nodded, squirming a little to relieve the tension building up in between her legs. Opening
her mouth, she closed her eyes as she pushed her head down. The angle made it a little bit hard to do and she found herself struggling halfway. She stopped there and pulled back, taking in a deep gasp of air as she pulled away.
He held her there, not allowing her to move her head away. “I know you can do it,” was all he said unsympathetically as he moved her lips back to his head.
She knew she could do it. She glared at him as she took him back in, relaxing her throat as she pushed down deeper.
She almost made it. This time, when she pulled back, she heard him grunt and pull her hair back to make her look up at him.
“Having a little difficulty listening to instruction, Emma?” he asked, letting go of her and she could sense from his voice that he was enjoying this thoroughly. He came behind her and she looked back, but he gently but firmly pushed her forward until her cheek was resting on the carpeted floor. She felt so exposed but all she did was let out a heady moan as he pulled up her ass and pushed himself inside her within one, heavy thrust. She bit her lip, feeling herself being stretched so quickly and immediately, without any expectation. “Fuck,” was all she managed to say.
“I’m going to give you a little incentive,” was all he said as he deepened his trusts, making her moan. “Because you can try a little harder, I think.” How did he sound so controlled!?
The question didn’t last long as she lost herself in his movements, focusing on simply not losing it right then and there. Having her hands cuffed behind her back, and being forced to rest on the ground, her body was completely and wholly at his mercy. She couldn’t even control the way her muscles were clenching and squeezing – which they were doing a lot of.
She was going to cum, quick and fast and she felt her body begin to clench when he suddenly pulled back. She’d barely taken note of what had happened when she felt him pull her up again and his dick was against her mouth again.
“Try harder this time and then next time you can finish,” was all he said before he pushed the tip in between her lips again.
That bastard. Breathing heavily, she let out a small whimper as she pushed her head down, tasting herself on him. Her body was burning, skin flushed and her mouth felt very full and heavy. She got further, but didn’t realize she’d taken it all in, until she felt his palm smooth over her scalp and hold her there.
He made her stay there for a few seconds before letting her pull back for air.
“Good girl,” was all he said as she took in a shaky breath.
He made her do it twice over, until her body was trembling from the effort, and from what she could tell so was his. When she pulled back a third time, she could see the sweat on his abdomen, and the way he was biting his lip in order to prevent himself from groaning out loud.
“And just what exactly do I get as my reward?” She heard herself saying and saw him smirk.
“You owe me, remember.”
“I feel this relationship is grossly unbalanced. How am I always in your debt?” She was standing up now and she jutted her chin in his face. He only responded with a mischievous grin.
“Is it?”
“No thanks to you.”
“I’m a cop. It’s my duty to be fair and even.”
“Wanna rethink your principles here?”
He pulled her to the bed where he sat down, pulling her on top of him. “I think I’m doing just fine.”
She moaned lightly into his mouth as he entered her again. Having no use of her arms, she felt disconcertingly unbalanced, but noticed distractedly that he was holding her closely to him to keep her in place. She forgot what they were talking about and instead, shoved her face into the crook of his neck. Everything felt so intense, and so acute that she found words simply didn’t make sense anymore the moment he pushed into her.
“You like that?”
“Mmmhm,” was all she said as he began to quicken his pace from beneath her.
She didn’t last much longer after that, and fortunately for her, he lasted quite a while.
x.x
She woke up sometime after six in the morning. She’d gotten up in the middle of the night to put on some pajamas since the heaters were still a little funky and would turn on and off whenever they wished.
Like typical Hunter, he had unabashedly entwined his limbs within her and she groggily tried to make out where her body ended and his began. The moment she stirred, she felt him move behind her. He snaked his arm around her stomach and she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. She was sore – that much she could tell straightaway. Having their first, completely uninterrupted space of time with a bed available, she’d lost count of the amount of times he’d waken her up to continue their ‘sessions.’ The bedsheets needed changing, from the amount of times he had finished in her, on her, and in her mouth. Her body felt satiated, but she had a feeling that Hunter’s appetite was pretty much entirely insatiable. And demanding. The man knew what he wanted – not that she minded.
“Why are you wearing clothes?” was all he said, his voice sleepy.
“How are you not freezing?”
“You’re like a mini heater.”
His phone went off and he sighed, pulling way to get the phone. She listened to his conversation for a while. Some raccoons had ransacked an unlocked cottage, and everything had been destroyed but considering Emma’s recent vandalism episode, the people wanted the cops to come by and check out the place to make sure it hadn’t been a human intruder.
She turned around to face him once he sat up, and admired the tendons that stretched in his back. She wanted to reach out and trace them, but her arm felt locked in place.
She needed to keep the intimate part of intimacy in check. What was wrong with her recently?! “I gotta have an early start,” he said and sat up to pull up his pants. His hair was ruffled slightly but aside from a little exhaustion in the lines of his face, he looked good as new.
She sat up, wishing she didn’t look like such a disaster in the mornings. “How are you going to explain to Jackson that your car was parked here overnight?”
“You were scared because you heard something so I kept you company.”
“He’s not going to buy this.”
“He doesn’t have an option but to believe me,” was all he said before pulling on his shirt again.
“Want me to brew a cup of coffee?”
“I only have Nescafe,” she explained, folding her arms across her chest. She giggled at the look
that cross his face, of pure bafflement.
“That shit isn’t coffee. It’s cat piss.”
“Take it or leave it.”
He sighed, buttoning up the last button of his shirt. He stood there for a moment, gazing down at her and she looked back. When he didn’t say anything, she squirmed, beginning to feel uncomfortable.
“God, you look so sexy in the morning,” was all he said as he leaned forward, crouching down to give her a quick, crushing kiss on the lips.
She blushed, feeling out of place, awkward and out of sorts. Well, that had been unexpected. She gave a small smile as he pulled back, and tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear. He thought she was sexy in the morning? She almost wanted to just be like, whaaaa?
After washing her face and tying her hair up in a ponytail, she followed him downstairs to the kitchen where he was boiling some water for the supposed cat piss. He was looking through the cupboards, a look of consternation on his face.
“What’re you looking for?”
He raised an eyebrow, “you know. Food. Any type of food.”
“There’s bread in the fridge.”
“The one with mold?”
Oh, had it already molded? “Fuck. You’re right. I guess it’s almost three weeks old.” “Has it already been three weeks?” was all he said, without saying the obvious connotations. Her contract was nearly up. Once her car was back, she had no reason to hang around his house or pester him. He didn’t say anything and the two sat in a comfortable silence until the kettle started whistling.
He poured the hot water into the mugs, in which he mixed in the Nescafe. He winced as he took his first sip.
“Oh shut up, it’s not that bad,” or maybe she had programmed herself to like this stuff.
“It is.”
He gave her a sordid smile, and she made a face right back. The two were completely and unashamedly avoiding the elephant in the room which was this big question mark surrounding the two of them, and just exactly what they were and what they were doing. The last time they had explicitly spoken to each other about having sex, and what that meant, Hunter had outlined that he’d only wanted to do it once and that was all. She was sure he had said something about not being able to stand her guts either.
Well, they’d done it a lot more than once, and she wasn’t quite sure he still hated her so much either.
She tried not to think about it. It didn’t matter. As soon as she was up on her feet financially, she was out of this town.
She looked out of the window and saw the lone lighthouse in the distance. The sun was coming up, basking the snowy landscape in a grey light.
In a somber way, it was actually quite beautiful.
“So my brother wants you to come Molly’s dance recital, specifically at her request,” Hunter said, sounding a little uncomfortable, but Emma barely heard the words.
Wait a minute…
“It’s tonight, around seven. You don’t have to come if you’re busy.” When she didn’t respond, Hunter waved a hand to gather her attention, “you even listening to me?”
“Hunter – look,” she pointed at the lighthouse, her heart racing already. “Look at the windows up at the top.”
He was with her instantly, and he looked out, but didn’t say anything. Finally, “Emma… what’re you talking about?”
“Wait here.”
A few minutes later, she came back with the painting that she’d completed earlier on in the week, of the very same lighthouse from the same view. “Look!”
Hunter looked down at her painting and then back again at the lighthouse. When he didn’t see it, Emma pointed at the very window on her painting.
“That green bar that keeps it shut. When I painted it, it ran the full length of the window. Right now, it’s only halfway. Someone’s been opening the window.”
“The police were here a few days to investigate -.”
“But they collected everything and left. I painted this after the police came. Someone’s been up there since.”
“Emma -.”
“Hunter, someone’s been up there.”
Hunter held her gaze for a moment before looking down at the painting again and back out at the lighthouse.
“What if you just didn’t see it properly because of the -.”
“Look at this painting. I’m not bragging but look at it. Does it look like I’d miss a detail like that?!”
He pressed his lips together before nodding. He pulled his phone out and dialed a number and quickly after said, “could we have a unit come by to the Callaway residence? Miss Adenson’s home, yeah. And please call Detective Jackson too.”
x.x
A/N: Responses to some reviews are at the bottom! Quick note – I won’t be able to update this coming Sunday on the 28th. Because of my trip, I will be quite MIA for a week. I’m hoping to update again on either the 31st or the 1st of September. Thank you for being patient with me! And thank you to everyone who wrote in. Glad to know so many of you are in the Stranger Things fandom too, haha.