“Meg, I love you, and I will always be there for you whatever you need, but this?” He gestured between us. “Is not going to work. Your actions directly threatened the safety of my family. I can’t forgive that.”
“No. Hunter, I’m sorry I got involved with Leif,” I begged, trying not to cry because I was an ugly, messy, snotty crier, and it would for sure drive him off. “Please just give me another chance.”
“I can’t, Meg,” he said, pulling away from me.
“I love you, Hunter,” I choked out, starting to cry. “I can’t lose you.”
“I can’t trust you. You can’t be in my life.” He looked so heartbroken. I hated myself for hurting him.
“You would do the same if it were your sisters,” he reminded me.
“Your sisters!” I blurted out. “I’ll help you get them back!”
“Leif was arrested, and my sisters are still missing, probably dead, so it doesn’t matter now. I don’t need you.”
“But I need you,” I warbled.
He stroked my face one more time. “I’ll have Blade get in touch with you when he has your finances sorted out. But just please don’t contact me anymore.”
“Hunter, I’m sorry…” But he was already gone. I looked around in shock.
How had this happened?Hunterwas walking away from me?Hunterwas refusing to forgive me?
But I couldn’t completely be mad at him. He was right; it was my fault, and he was also right in that, if it were my sisters, I would do the same thing. And now, through my own stupidity, terrible decision-making skills, and paranoia, I had run off Hunter, the only true love I would ever have.
* * *
I had spentthe rest of the evening and into the wee hours of the morning giving a statement to the police then giving more statements to the FBI when they turned up to take control of Leif.
Then there was the impromptu press conference as national news organizations descended on our town, because when the polygamist cult father of numerous good-looking billionaires was taken out by a surprise alligator, well, that was a story everyone wanted a piece of.
After the alligator went to the local zoo, Leif went to federal jail, and the townspeople and news organizations went home, I headed to Kate’s Airbnb and passed out on her couch.
* * *
“Poke,”she said. “Poke. Poke.”
I winced as my friend jabbed my arm. The noon sun shone into my face.
“Meg, you smell like a sewer.”
I pushed myself upright, wiping the drool off my face. “I had the worst nightmare,” I mumbled, stretching. Then it all came back to me—almost getting killed, the fear, then finally, Hunter leaving me. “Why is my life such a shit show?” I sobbed to Kate.
“You need to shower, and I don’t think you brushed your teeth,” she said, clicking her tongue.
“He can’t be serious, can he?” I sniffled as Kate turned on the water.
“Have a shower whiskey,” Kate said, pouring me a paper cup of dark-amber liquid and shoving me under the water.
“He was probably just shocked,” she assured me. “Clean up, then give him a call. He’s probably had a change of heart.”
I did feel better after the shower and the drink.
“One incident can’t make him do an about-face,” Kate assured me as she ran a comb through my snarled curls. I nursed another glass of whiskey.
“Just start with an apology, then tell him how much you love him, and that you’ll make it up to him. Surely, he’ll understand,” she said. “After all, he’s made mistakes. That’s life.”
I drained my glass for fortification.
