10 Years

8 - Hunter

HUNTERS POV:

Fuck, answer the fucking phone Amara. God damn it, 8 times I have rang her this morning and 8 times it has gone straight to message bank. I knew where the fuck she was, despite her old mans attempts to cover for her - I knew she had ran to him last night.
I knew she was with him yesterday too - he left his mark on her, like a dog marking his territory - what a fucking dick, he probably did it so I knew exactly what they had been up to, but her - shit I don't even think she realised he'd even done it - she was clearly to caught up in him - again.
God damn it - this was driving me crazy, I just needed to talk to her before we get on the plane, we are meant to be leaving in 5 hours and she isn't even here.

I heard the front door open and close, and tried to remain as calm as possible as I made my way down the hall to see if it was her, and sure enough there she was.
My heart was pounding heavily against my chest as I took in her appearance, her hair was wet from showering maybe? she wore no make up and her shoes were carried in her hands.

"Hunter, Shit" She jumped when she noticed me watching her, "I didn't see you there, you scared me"

"Sorry"

"Where is everyone, where is Lily?"

"They are all still sleeping, I was going to wake Lily after I'd made her breakfast"

"Ok, I um, guess I'll go shower"

"Again?" She turned to look at me, I sighed "Come on Amara, I think we need to talk yeah?"

"Hunter"

"Nope, come on - we're not doing this here, lets take a walk" she nodded her head, I closed the door behind me as she sat on the step to put her shoes on - we walked down the block a bit, neither of us willing to start the conversation - but there was only so much I could stand,

"So, are you back with him?"

"No, not really"

"But you slept with him"

"Yes"

"He's married Amara"

"I know"

"And you're with me"

"Hunter"

"No Amara, yesterday you were hiding Lily away from this man, asking me if you should tell her the truth, you didn't even want him to know he had a daughter and now less than 24 hours later what - Asher is back into the picture and we all get fucked over" My voice was much louder than I intended it to be, she was cowering beside me,

"I can't help it Hunter, I also can't explain it - its just different with him"

"You're in love with him"

"I don't know ok, everything is so messed up and I just don't know"

"Lily clearly likes him" The smile on her face spoke a thousand words and I knew right then our relationship was all but finished,

"She does, he is really good with her, He will be a really good Dad"

"And what about us Amara, we are so good together" I stopped walking and pulled her to me,

"I know Hunter, but he is her Dad and I have so much history with him its just"

"For fucks sake Amara, you are the one who fucking left HIM, you didn't even want him to know you were pregnant with his kid and now you want him to have a relationship with her, after 10 god damn years, FUCK!"

"Hunter, please calm down"

"Calm down you are joking right" I ran my hands over my face and threw my hair in frustration, "Look we need to get moving, our flight leaves in 4 hours, we need to get Lil ready and"

"We aren't going back with you" My heart literally just sunk to my stomach,

"What"

"I am staying here, with Lily"

"Why?"

"I told Ash we would spend a week with him, let him build a relationship with his daughter"

"And Lily's school, your job - they just get thrown away for Asher fucking Michaels?"

"My job will cover for me for a week, and I will talk to the school and anything that is urgent they can email to Ash and she can do from here"

"Don't do this Amara, please"

"This isn't about you Hunter, its not even about me - this is about Lily and Ash"

"Ok" I nodded,

"Ok?"

"Yep, If this is what you want to do, Ok"

"Thank you Hunter" she reached her hands up, brushing them across my face, I almost leant into her touch before I remembered where she was last night, grabbing her wrist in my hand I pulled it away,

"You have a week Amara, do whatever it is you need to do, whatever it is you think you are going to achieve, when you come home I want a decision ok - It's either me or him"

"Hunter please, don't make me choose"

"You did this Amara,  I am willing to try and work this out because I really do believe in what we have, what we could have - but I am not going to be strung along while you compare your options, so take your week, play happy families with Asher, but before you make your decision, remember this is a guy that cheated on his wife" I pulled her body to mine placing my forehead against hers

"Hunter I don't want to lose you"

"I know little one, but you can't have it both ways. I'm gonna go say goodbye to Lil Ok, I'll see you in a week" placing my lips softly over her I left a small kiss on her mouth before I pulled away

"Bye Little One"

"Bye Hunter"

Walking away from her as tears fell across her cheeks was one of the hardest fucking things I had ever had to do, but she wanted this time and I would do my damn best to try and give her what she wanted, and hope to god she would realise exactly what is was she wanted - maybe it was the boy she left behind 10 years ago I just hoped she didn't make that choice because it was his blood that ran through Lily's veins, I hoped she would look beyond the fact that they shared DNA. At the end of the day, I would never stand in the way of a family that stood a chance at being reunited, yeah I wasn't confident, they had years and years of friendship, of love - and whilst I know it was her decision to leave him, I also know there is a part of her that never stopped loving him - and now she would have to choose, Asher or me.