Finding Forgiveness (Finding Series, Book 4) (19 page)

As Roman increased the speed, Hunter pulled Roman’s cock against his own abdomen and held his palm flat over the flushed shaft. He leaned forward just enough so that his own body could act as a counterpoint for his lunges into Roman’s body. Every time Roman pulled him forward so that he was pressed as deep into Roman as he could go, the cocoon he’d created with his palm and his gut slid down Roman’s length. When he slid out of Roman, Roman’s cock surged through the tunnel his hand at created. As soon as Roman realized what he’d done, his movements became frantic and he began desperately slamming his body against Hunter’s to increase the tension. Roman ended up coming first but even as his come spilled onto Hunter’s stomach and down his hand, Roman kept dragging Hunter’s ass forward and back until Hunter let out a wail of completion. Then Roman held him as tight against his ass as he could and groaned every time Hunter’s body convulsed inside of his. When the aftershocks finally stopped, Hunter carefully pulled free of Roman’s body and got out of bed just long enough to get cleaned up and to bring a washcloth back to bed for Roman. Then he crawled under the covers. He snatched up the tablet and handed it back to Roman so they could look at the available houses.

“Would you come with me to Dare tomorrow?” Hunter asked.

Roman put the tablet down on his lap and turned to look at him. “Sure. What for?”

“I’d like to see my grandmother and I want you to meet her.”

A wide smile passed over Roman’s mouth and then he nodded. “I’d like that.”

Hunter settled against Roman’s side as he picked the tablet up and began scrolling through the different screens.

I forgive you, Hunter.

With those words, Finn had somehow released him. It was something Hunter had staunchly refused to believe would happen even if he ever did hear those words come from Finn’s mouth. But it was one time he was a hundred percent glad to have been in the wrong. He still had every intention of making things right for Finn with the town but knowing that Finn didn’t hate him had lifted an additional weight off his shoulders that he hadn’t even known was there. And while he wasn’t sure if they could ever be friends, the four of them had had a really good time at the coffee shop the day before. But if there was even the remote possibility of that happening, Finn had to take the final steps to fix things. And that meant it was time to go home.

Chapter Twelve

Roman pulled his car into the driveway of the Victorian style home and parked it next to a black SUV that was sitting near the porch stairs that led up to the house. A police cruiser was sitting next to it and from earlier conversations with Luke and Gray, he knew it belonged to Dare’s other deputy, Jax Reid. Neither he nor Hunter had seen the deputy since that day that Finn and Hunter had run into each other for the first time so Roman had no clue if the guy was going to be receptive to their visit or not. Gray had said that Hunter’s grandmother babysat for the couple and since she hadn’t answered when they’d driven to her house, Roman had figured she was on duty for the vet and his cop boyfriend. He really hoped Jax and Dane turned out to be as open-minded as Rhys and Finn because he doubted that Hunter would be able to take any more emotional trauma at this point. Even though the visit with Finn couldn’t have gone any better, Hunter had still been wrung out by what had happened and continued to struggle with the feeling that he’d somehow gotten off too easy. Roman had no doubt that those feelings would ease as time went on but he definitely didn’t want any more shit dumped on Hunter by people who didn’t know what a good heart he had.

Roman and Hunter got out of the car and started walking towards the house when they heard a commotion coming from the small building near the house. A door opened and then there was a shout. All of a sudden, an almost entirely white puppy raced out of the building and across the driveway, its big ears flapping around its wide head.

“Jax, he got out!” someone yelled.

Hunter knelt down on the ground and called to the puppy who quickly changed course from where it was headed towards the road and ran straight into Hunter’s arms. He scooped it up just as a man came out of the building and frantically began searching the grounds. He already had a puppy under each arm and was struggling to keep them in his hold.

“He’s here,” Hunter called as he showed the man the puppy and the man slumped in relief.

“It’s okay, Jax! We got him!”

Roman recognized the deputy as he hurried out of the building, also carrying two puppies. “Oh thank God,” Jax said as he shifted the puppies to get a better grip on them. All of them were white but had splotches of black on them. They also appeared to be bigger than the one in Hunter’s arms.

“Thank you,” the slightly smaller of the two men said. Roman stepped forward to take one of the puppies from him. His eyes shifted to Jax who was studying Hunter. He clearly recognized him. Roman automatically stepped back so he was standing slightly in front of Hunter and he didn’t miss the way Jax’s eyes took in the move.

“Dane, this is Hunter Greene,” Jax said. “And I’m sorry, I don’t think we actually met the other day,” Jax said as he tried to reach out a hand but then abandoned the idea when the puppy tucked under his arm started squirming.

“Roman Blackwell,” Roman supplied.

“Roman, Hunter, this is my fiancé, Dane,” Jax said.

Dane’s whole countenance lit up at the word ‘fiancé.’ “It’s nice to meet you both,” he said as he reached out his hand to shake both of theirs.  “Hunter, your grandmother has told us so much about you.”

Hunter stiffened at that and Jax quickly said, “We didn’t tell her you were back in town.”

Hunter relaxed. “Is she here?”

“Yeah, she’s inside with Emma,” Dane said. “You mind helping us take these guys inside?”

“Sure,” Hunter said as he snuggled the puppy in his arms. “Do they have names?”

“All of them except for the one you’re holding,” Dane said. “We’re letting their adoptive owners name them.”

“They’re not yours?” Roman asked.

Dane shook his head. “We’ve been fostering them after someone found them abandoned on the side of the road when they were only a few weeks old. The one you’re holding, Hunter, is the runt so we’re having a little more trouble finding him a permanent home. He’s got a few health issues that means he’ll be on medication for a while and not a lot of people want to have to deal with that.”

“Poor baby,” Hunter murmured as he dropped a kiss on the puppy’s head. He got a kiss for his trouble and chuckled as they followed Dane and Jax up the stairs.

As soon as Dane opened the door, a shrill voice called, “Those puppies better not have dirty feet like last time because I spent all morning mopping the floor.”

Hunter froze in the doorway as his eyes focused on the stairs leading to the second floor. An old woman with a baby in her arms was carefully walking down the stairs. Her eyes were focused on each step so she didn’t see Hunter until she reached the last one and then she froze, her mouth open in a wide O. The woman was as thin as a stick and had her silver hair piled up in some fancy look that almost reminded him of the beehive hairdos women used to wear. She was wearing a black and white linen dress with a matching jacket and a pillbox hat. With her perfectly applied makeup, she looked like she should be sitting in some fancy tea room somewhere eating watercress sandwiches. Well, except for the shoes. Because instead of matching, dressy shoes, she was wearing a pair of sneakers that had some kind of jewels bedazzled on them.

“Oh, my darling boy,” she cried as she moved forward and handed the baby to Dane who ended up shoving the puppy he was holding into Roman’s arms.

Hunter didn’t move or make a sound as his grandmother’s arms went around him and neither reacted when the puppy began squirming between them.

“Gran,” Hunter finally whispered. He succeeded in pulling the puppy from between them and somehow Jax managed to take it even though his hands were full. Jax gave Roman a quick nod and he followed him through the kitchen to a small laundry room where a gate was set up to keep the puppies in the room. Roman carefully put the puppies he was holding down on the other side of the gate and then hurried back to the front door. Hunter and his grandmother were still hugging but Hunter was anything but lax as he held her close.

“Come, come sit,” his grandmother urged as she began leading him towards the living room.

“Gran, um, there’s someone I want you to meet,” Hunter said as he held out his hand to Roman. Roman took it and watched Hunter’s grandmother for any sign of contempt as Hunter said, “Gran, this is Roman Blackwell, my boyfriend.”

The old woman looked him up and down several times before saying, “You got a job?”

“Yes ma’am, I do.”

“A savings account?”

“Uh, yeah,” Roman replied.

“You aren’t hiding some wife and kids somewhere, are you?”

“No ma’am.”

Her sharp eyes flashed back to Hunter before settling on him once more. “You love my grandson?”

“More than anything else in this world.”

She studied him for another long moment before nodding her head. “Okay, you’ll do.” Then she was wrapping her spindly arms around him before turning her attention back to Hunter and leading him into the living room. Roman wasn’t sure where Dane and Jax had disappeared to but he was glad for the privacy. Roman wasn’t sure if Hunter wanted him present but he didn’t have to ask the question because Hunter held out his hand expectantly. Roman took it and followed Hunter into the cozy living room and settled down next to him on the couch. His grandmother kept patting Hunter’s face as if to confirm he was really there.

“My baby, what happened? Where have you been?”

“I’ve been at school Gran.”

“You never came to visit. You didn’t call me back.”

Roman had his hand on Hunter’s thigh so he felt him stiffen at his grandmother’s heartbroken tone. “I know Gran, I’m sorry. I was too ashamed to face you.”

“Oh my dear, I shouldn’t have been so hard on you. I never took time to listen to your side of things,” his grandmother said softly.

“I’ve been pretty messed up about everything, Gran. I didn’t want you to see me like that. But I talked to Finn, told him how sorry I was and he forgave me.”

“He is a sweet boy. I knew you two would work it out.”

“I’m going to set things right with the people in town too. Tell them what really happened.”

“Well, if any one of them gives you a hard time, you tell them to come see me, you hear?”

Hunter laughed. “Okay, I will.” He hesitated and then sought out Roman’s hand for support. “Gran, I need to tell you something else.”

“Okay, honey, you can tell me anything.”

“That night that I lied about Finn…I did it ‘cause I didn’t want Dad to hurt me again.”

It seemed to take his grandmother a minute to understand what Hunter was saying. “Hurt you?” she whispered.

“He’d been doing it for a really long time, Gran. I knew if he found out I was the one who kissed Finn, he’d hurt me really bad. He ended up doing it anyway. That’s why I didn’t want to come see you that morning when you called me, do you remember?”

Hunter’s grandmother seemed to be in shock because she nodded and said, “I wanted you to come have breakfast with me so I could ask you what had happened at your party.”

“I had no way of hiding the bruises so that’s why I said no.”

“No,” his grandmother finally said. “No,” she repeated though it sounded like less of a denial and more anguished. Tears began spilling out of her eyes as she leaned in to hug Hunter. “My baby, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay, Gran. No one did.”

“Your mother,” his grandmother said.

Hunter just shook his head and his grandmother covered her mouth as another round of tears hit her.

“Gran, I’m safe now. They can’t hurt me ever again. And I’m so happy, Gran. Roman…Roman, he saved me and he loves me. I have what you and Pops had.”

“Oh baby, I’m so glad,” she said as she pulled a tissue out from under her sleeve and dabbed at her face. She struggled to compose herself and said, “How did you two boys meet?”

“Roman’s thinking about buying your land, Gran. We met while I was showing it to him.”

Hunter’s grandmother’s face fell and then she shook her head and looked at Roman. “I’m sorry, but there must be some kind of mistake. That land’s not mine anymore.”

“What?” Hunter said in shock. “You sold it?”

“No,” she said as she shook her head. “It’s yours, Hunter.”

“What?” Hunter asked.

“The land – it’s yours. Your grandad and I talked about it before he died. He knew I’d never want to live there without him so we decided that if something happened, the land would go to you. He set it up as a trust until you turn 21 and then you can do whatever you want with the property.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted it to be a graduation present – that was one of the reasons I asked you to come over for breakfast the morning after your graduation.”

Hunter glanced at Roman.

“Mrs. Greene, are you the trustee until Hunter turns 21?”

“I was along with Hunter’s mother. But Hunter’s father-”

Hunter’s grandmother suddenly went silent.

“He what, Gran?”

“He…he convinced me to sign the trusteeship over to him.” Her eyes widened in horror. “He said you hated me for not believing you…”

Hunter’s grandmother looked so forlorn that Roman actually wanted to give her a hug himself. But Hunter folded his arms around her and said, “It’s okay, Gran.” To Roman he said, “As trustees, do my parents have the right to sell the land?”

“They do,” Roman nodded. “I got an email from your dad this morning saying he had another buyer. I had already planned to buy it but I was going to talk to your grandmother about cutting your father out as the realtor so he wouldn’t get the commission.”

Roman noticed Hunter’s crestfallen look and realized the cause. He gently grabbed Hunter’s chin and forced him to look at him. “Baby, I decided a long time ago that I wasn’t going to develop the land. I wanted it for us…either to live on it someday or just to go there because it’s our spot.”

“Really?”

Roman nodded. “I can easily outbid any other sellers but that land is yours and they shouldn’t get to profit from it. As co-trustees and your parents, they wouldn’t have much trouble accessing the funds until you turn 21 – they can say it’s all in your best interest.”

“Is there any way to stop them?”

“Mrs. Greene, do you still have the document you signed when you transferred the trusteeship to your son?”

“It’s in my safe deposit box at the bank. I can get it in the morning.”

Roman focused his attention on Hunter. “We’ll need to challenge the trusteeship in court. If we can’t break the trust early, at least we can try to get it so it’s just in your grandmother’s name.”

“Hunter, I’m so sorry I let this happen,” his grandmother said as she hugged Hunter again.

“I shouldn’t have waited so long to talk to you, Gran. I should have known you and Pops would have taken care of me.”

Roman sat silently as Hunter and his grandmother talked about all the changes in his life but Roman only half listened because his mind was racing with what he needed to do to get Hunter back what was rightfully his.

***

Hunter smiled as his grandmother waved the little girl’s arm at him from the doorway. After they’d finished talking, his grandmother had introduced him to Emma, Dane and Jax’s ten-month old baby girl and he’d fallen instantly in love with her chubby face and animated gestures. He’d gotten to hold and play with her for a while and he’d felt Roman’s gaze on him more than once. It had opened up a whole new realm of questions about what their future would hold and he couldn’t wait to find out.