Chapter Thirty-One
Emma groggily opened her eyes, wincing as the blinding light struck her pupils. The light swimming around her only confused her further, and she shut her eyes immediately. Her head was spinning, and she could immediately feel bile pooling at the base of her throat. Ugh, she muttered either out loud or in her head, feeling as if her entire body weighed a hundred pounds heavier, weighing her down and pinning her to the ground.
She lay there for a few minutes or, at least, what felt like a few minutes before opening her eyes again. This time, the light hurt a little less, and she groaned as she blinked and tried to move around a little.
Her knees felt sore, and she licked her dry lips as she tried to adjust to the hard floor underneath her. She must have slipped and fell as she was leaving Hunter’s home. The last thing she remembered was leaving the house before everything went dark.
Gingerly, she raised a hand to her head, and grimaced as she felt a deep throbbing at the back of her head.
Something wasn’t right.
She opened her eyes again and tried to adjust to where she was.
This didn’t feel familiar.
The high ceiling was a dark woody auburn, with beams criss-crossing in large triangles above her. A ceiling fan lay dormant, accompanied by large cobwebs hanging off its rectangular fans. There was a dusty red carpet stretched alongside the center of the hardwood floor, making it the only furniture in the vast room.
Emma lay there for a bit, absorbing her surroundings. It was only after she blinked a few times (to make sure this wasn’t a dream), that it finally began to sink.
No, this was definitely not Hunter’s home, or her home, or anywhere that she recognized. Her memory was fuzzy, but she remembered slipping, struggling in the process.
She felt her stomach clench and she suddenly retched, hot bile swimming up her throat and spilling onto the hardwood floor.
This was not right.
Holding her hand to her mouth when she was done, she sat up and rested her back gingerly against the wall. The reality slowly sank into her, hardened by the soreness around her neck where she’d been put in a chokehold.
Fuck.
x.x
Hunter grimaced as the light spilled into his room, his eyes dry, his forehead throbbing. The alarm from his phone was ringing from where he’d drunkenly dropped it in the living room when he had returned last night. He swore under his breath as he sat up, noticing that he’d only managed to take one sock off, and had slept in his work uniform.
Silently thanking the Gods for letting it be his day off, he groggily stomped down the stairs to turn the annoying fucking alarm off, before collapsing on his couch again. God, he felt like absolute horse shit.
How many had he had last night? Six pints? Seven? More? He couldn’t remember, things had gotten a little hazy after two in the morning, where he’d returned back home to continue drinking alone in the kitchen.
His phone rang then, and he winced at the sound, the shrill noise ringing in his ears.
“What?” he garbled into the phone, wanting only to turn the sound off.
“Where are you?” It was his brother’s voice, and he could hear the sound of Molly crying in the background.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s Saturday, you said you’d come over for brunch,” Ernie sounded distracted and there was a short pause before Hunter heard, “Molly – put down the cat litter.”
Hunter brushed a hand through his ruffled hair, still trying to wake up. “I can’t make it today.”
“Hungover?”
“Overworked.”
“Come on man, Jessica’s been dying to talk to Emma about the beautiful mural she’s painting on town hall. We’ve just put on the bacon.”
“Emma’s gone.”
Silence on the other line, “What?”
“Yeah, she left last night.”
“Oh.”
“I’ll see you later.”
“Hunter -.”
Hunter clicked off the line before his brother had the chance to finish, and he sat back and closed his eyes. He needed Advil, coffee, and something to ease the uneasy churning in his stomach. Or maybe a thousand of those things to ease the unsettled feeling like he’d really fucked up, in some big way, and that it was too late to fix the clusterfuck that he was sure he’d played a huge part of.
Sitting there, he brooded. He never was one to self-pity, but he felt entirely incapable of doing anything else. All of the emotions that the alcohol had subdued felt amplified, and the anger that had been peacefully resting awoke to the sliver of sunlight peeking through his white curtains.
Why did she have to go so quickly? She’d only just told him that she was considering it. What stubborn-to-the-core woman refused to have a conversation about life-choices before jumping in head first?
He clenched his jaw, fully recognizing what the pitiful feeling that he was feeling in his chest was. He already missed her. Her irritating banter, her nonsensical chatter, her stubborn defiance. The absence of it was painstakingly noticeable.
Against his better judgement, he pulled out his phone and went through his contacts. Before he could change his mind, he dialed her number. He didn’t exactly know what he was going to say. He felt like telling her off. You didn’t just up and leave like this. It was irresponsible. Wasn’t she aware of that?
The phone went straight to voicemail, and he hung up before he was asked to record a message.
Fuck it.
She’d turned off her phone, so that no one would be able to reach her.
After a moment’s silence, he sighed. “Fuck that,” he muttered under his breath as he got up to shower and get ready for the day. He had to shower, shovel, drink some more to cure his hangover, and then… he had no idea. His thoughts kept traveling back to Emma, but a pang of irritation kept nagging at him. He wouldn’t call her again. If she wanted nothing to do with him, then he would give her space. He would never chase a girl. That was not something that he did.
He dragged himself to the bathroom, and the hot steam of the water felt like a salve to his aching muscles. He spent more time in there than he should have, simply standing in the shower with his head bent forward to let the warm water hit the back of his neck.
An hour later, he had dried himself, dressed and bundled up to get his chores done. He had tried to shave but staring at himself and the dark circles under his eyes had promptly changed that decision. Anything to keep his mind off his gnawing thoughts that were blistering away in his mind. He put his phone away, not wanting to talk to anyone or interact with anyone for the rest of the day.
He grabbed his shovel and stepped outside. The blizzard had eased, and the snowfall had nearly stopped. The brisk air of the chilly afternoon filled his lungs, the sun making the snow on the ground shine brighter than normal. The neighborhood was quiet, just as he liked it.
The shoveling was a good distraction. The snow was heavy and the repetitive motions of shoveling and throwing slowly started a nice burn in his arms, and abs. The ache distracted him, albeit momentarily.
He had reached the sidewalk when the shovel came into contact with something metallic, making a sharp clink as it came into contact. He pulled it out, throwing it off to the side.
He paused as he saw it, straightening as a pair of keys fell softly onto a tuft of snow near on the neat snow bank that he had created. Puzzled, he leaned forward and scooped them up, examining them in his palm.
These were Emma’s keys.
He furrowed his eyebrows, as he continued to stare at them, his body frozen in place like the icy landscape around him.
Dropping the shovel down slowly, he took off one glove re-entered his apartment. Taking the phone off the charging pod, he quickly dialed the number to the auto-garage.
“Auto-garage,” was the short greeting on the other end of the line when the line was answered.
“It’s Hunter,” he placed the keys on the table, and leaned against the head of his sofa. “Did Emma pick up her car yesterday?”
“The jeep?”
“Yeah, the jeep.”
“Nah, Sheriff – it’s catching dust over here. What do you want me to do with it?”
His heart dropped.
Fuck.
A moment passed in silence as he tried to think past his hangover, the cobwebs in his mind slowly giving way.
“Sheriff?” the man on the other line called out, but Hunter barely registered it, his other hand rubbing his eyes as pieces of everything slowly kicked into place.
“Shit,” was all he said as he hung up, and quickly kicked into gear. Barely a second had passed before he was out of the house again, this time with keys to his car. The tires screeched as he pulled out of his driveway, the car skidding on the frozen ice on the road as he sped up the street.
He was at Emma’s house in record time, and he jumped out as soon as the car skidded to a stop. Thundering in, his dread only deepened as he saw the house was untouched. Emma’s belongings were everywhere. Her laptop on the couch. Her purse on the table. A change of clothes messily hanging from the kitchen doorway.
“What are you doing here?” Sarah sleepily looked down from the staircase bannister, her hair ruffled and pajamas creased. “What time is it?”
“Where’s Emma?”
“I thought she was with you,” Sarah narrowed her eyebrows. “She isn’t with you?”
Hoping there was a chance he was still wrong, he asked the question anyway, “she didn’t leave town?”
“Leave town?” Sarah looked even more puzzled, but a sense of concern had already filtered across her body. She crossed her arms as he pounded down the last steps, “no, she said she needed a few weeks to get things wrapped up here. She wouldn’t leave without me.”
Hunter’s chest rattled as he exhaled, “Ok – Sarah, stay here and tell me if you see anything unusual.”
“Where is she?” Concern laced her voice heavily this time, and she followed Hunter out of the door in her pajamas. “What’s wrong?”
“Emma’s missing.”
“So she wasn’t at yours last night?”
“No.”
“Oh my god.”
Hunter stopped outside his jeep, and turned to her. “I need you to stay here and tell me if she comes back.”
“Hell no, I’m coming with you.”
“Sarah -.”
“Hunter, I’ve known Emma my entire life. I’m not going to idly stay here if she’s in trouble.”
Hunter didn’t have time for this. His chest felt shaken, and his blood felt like it was thundering through his veins. How could he have been so fucking stupid? “I need you to stay here.”
“You may be the boss around this town, but you don’t get to tell me what to do. I’m coming with you.”
Hunter gritted his teeth, “Sarah – I need you to stay here, and tell me if she comes back. That’s the best way you can help her right now.”
She looked torn then, and she bit her lip. She faltered in her step. “What happened to her?”
“I’m not sure,” he paused then, finally letting the concern that he was hiding inside spill into his body, “but we’ll find her.”
“Okay…” Sarah shivered, a deep frown on her face. “I’ll start… calling people.”
He nodded, “Let me know if you hear anything.”
“Ok.”
With that, Hunter jumped back into his car, turned on the police sirens, and sped down the road.
x.x
let me know what you think!!!!! next chapter coming shortly within this next week! SO awesome having you guys write in and see my new website - I feel so lucky to have such amazing readers!!! I’m working on a new erotica and that will be published shortly, along with new chapters for a third new story i’ve been working on! On a side note, any game of thrones fans here? Can we please talk about that ending?