You Need to Tell Him

Moments later, Hunter arrived at the club with Cage's brother following close behind. Seconds behind them a group of privately hired paramedics arrived at the scene. The more this was kept under wraps, the better. Cage rushed over to meet them at the door. His face was panic-stricken and had gone completely ashen white. It was often Hunter had seen this Cage shaken. It wasn't that he was afraid of what happened, it was more he knew Hunter well enough that none of this was going to be pretty.

"There's been an um..incident?" Cage muttered. As much as the punk deserved this, having to face Hunter's fury was not an enviable thing. For the first time, he felt a moment of fear for the kid. Maybe he should try to soften the blow a little? Or even try to put a different spin on things. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could Hunter beat him to the punch.

"You don't need to tell me. I can already take a guess what happened." Hunter cursed under his breath. Schooling his features, he took a deep breath. Admittedly, he had wanted to see the kid. He would be lying to say otherwise. But this was not exactly what he had in mind.

Hunter didn't need anyone to tell him what had happened. All he had needed was one look at Charlie laying there on the table, unconscious and bleeding, with the damned punk leaned over him to figure things out. He curled his fingers into a fist as he barked at Cage.

"I expect a full report on this incident in the morning. In the meantime, you have clean up. I need names and contacts."

Hunter had gone into full out leader mode. There wasn't one person who would walk out of this unscathed. Hunter immediately walked over and pulled the panicked looking Luke away from Charlie's blood-drenched body. Having pried Luke away from his friend, he made room for the paramedics to access Charlie so he could be rushed to a hospital and treated. In the meantime, Cage had already begun his interrogations.

Hunter took Luke by the collar of his jacket and pulled him toward his bike.

"Get on!" He barked. He wasn't letting the punk get away this time. Not after the mess, he had created.

Numbly Luke mounted the bike behind Hunter and gripped either side of his jacket. In a matter of moments, they were driving. Luke, who was still in shock from watching Charlie take a knife from him almost hadn't heard Hunter speak.

"You need to tell him." The words were like cold water splashing into Luke's face. His ashen complexion turned two shades whiter, and then red.

"Bloody hell I do" He muttered. Petulant at Hunter's heavy-handed approach the subject. Sure! Tell my best friend and brother, he had been lying to him? Yeah right!, What was this idiot thinking.

Hunter pulled over the side of the road. The area was secluded without a light a person in sight. He had spent enough time on the streets to know exactly which areas had high visibility and camera coverage, and which areas didn't. He shut off the engine, and just as he had drug Luke over to the bike he now yanked him off.

"Lookit here, you better damned well listen! And listen good! Regardless of what you think we might have had and what happened, the Soldiers are still my territory. Tonight, you almost cost me one of my men. Not to mention I have been cleaning up after your bullshit tantrum bar fights for the last three weeks. Now the way I see it, you have one of two choices. You tell Charlie, or I do. Either way, he needs to know. Before this damned cloak and dagger secrecy bullshit gets him killed."

At this point, he had already pushed Luke against the side of an abandoned building. He stood towering over him, one arm placed on either side of the kid's frame and glared down at him. He was so mad right now. But Luke was so close. He hadn't seen this stupid punk in weeks. Not even once since he had returned to the warehouse. And having that body so close to him was bringing back so many memories.

Hunter shut his eyes. His body was already waking up in the proximity of Luke's warmth.

"Take me to your place. You need to change before you go back to face Charlie. And I need to know where I can find you in case this goes south."

These were all valid reasons. But the reality was he had been worried as well. He had gone back to the house where the kid's grandfather lived once he had received word of his passing. But when he had arrived there, there was nothing left but a shell of the building. Any clues that might have been left behind were gone.

In the meantime, Luke's heart was beating a steady pace in his chest which was rapidly ascending in intervals. Looking at the man in front of him, he remembered everything. Every touch, every kiss. It was a bittersweet torment. Although he had told himself no more distractions he was sorely tempted to give in once more.

Luke nodded his head meekly. So many things were happening so fast and with Charlie's life in the balance, he didn't have the strength to argue. The two men mounted Hunter's bike once more. Speeding through the streets, Hunter was able to find his way to Luke's place with relative ease.

Hunter was appalled at how sparse the place was when they arrived. It afforded only the bare necessities for living and allowed for little to no comfort. As Luke numbly walked in the room he began to strip away all evidence of his hidden identity and made his way into the shower. Hunter in the meantime hadn't had an opportunity to notice. His eyes had been drawn to a corner of the room which was filled with photos and map covered with notes and addresses. All of these addresses were the bars which the kid had been frequenting, and as Hunter studied the collection a steady knot of anxiety began to form in his stomach.

Hunter had lost track of how long he had been studying Luke's collection when he heard the bathroom door open. Out stepped a slender, dark-haired girl. Water dripped off her body in droplets as she towel dried her hair. Her clothes lay in a pile on the floor and around her torso was another threadbare towel.

Hearing the door open Hunter turned on his heel. The questions he had been wanting to ask seemed to lodge in his throat as he stared at her. Dammit! He was the leader of the Soldier's. He was Satan himself. Yet here, this slip of a girl, without even trying managed to make him forget all that. And as she stood there before him it was taking all his control not to pull her into his arms and take her right there on the floor.

He swallowed against the ever-growing dryness in his throat and shut his eyes. Counting to five he spoke, slowly, and carefully.

"Would you care to tell me what this is about?" He didn't need to point it out. Her intel lay scattered in various places across her apartment. At its center was the map covered in photos and notes, all of which were written in her handwriting.