Altered: Carter Kids #6 Read online

  Lucky: You're laughing out loud right now, aren’t you?

  Hope: Oh yeah!

  Lucky: Little weirdo.

  Hope: What do you call a ship that sits at the bottom of the sea and shakes?

  Lucky: You need some new material, HC. Goddamn, we're not in the first grade here.

  Hope: You love my jokes. Stop lying.

  Lucky: Fine. Tell me the ship one.

  Hope: You have to repeat the question.

  Lucky: Seriously?

  Hope. Do it…

  Lucky: Jesus… What do you call a ship that sits at the bottom of the sea and shakes?

  Hope: A nervous wreck!

  Lucky: I have no words.

  Hope: Wanna come up to my room and hang out?

  Lucky: You inviting me because you wanna hang out, or because you want me to get you something from the kitchen?

  Hope: Both?

  Lucky: You put the movie on. I'll get the cookies.

  Hope: God, I love you!!

  Lucky: Because I'm your bitch.

  Hope: My best bitch!

  September 7th 2016

  Hope: You still at the store?

  Lucky: At the counter. Need something?

  Hope: Um…never mind, it's okay.

  Lucky: ???

  Hope: Forget it. It's fine. I'll go later.

  Lucky: Tampons?

  Hope: Please…

  Lucky: Blue box?

  Hope: Yep…

  Hope: Is this weird?

  Lucky: Is what weird?

  Hope: You buying me tampons.

  Lucky: I've had the talk, HC. I know where babies come from.

  Hope: Hmm. Okay.

  Lucky: What's your flow?

  Hope: WTF???

  Lucky: There are a shit ton of boxes here with little droplet symbols on them. What one should I get?

  Hope: It's too weird. Put the tampons down!

  September 23rd 2016

  Hope: I'm hungry.

  Lucky: You're always hungry.

  Hope: Are you going to come home and feed me?

  Lucky: Someone has to give you a night feed.

  Hope: Make tonight's night feed Chinese.

  Lucky: Want me to burp you afterwards?

  Hope: Not after last time.

  Lucky: I told you; that was an accident. My hand slipped.

  Hope: From my back to my ass?

  Lucky: It was an honest mistake.

  October 1st 2016

  Hope: Did you listen to that song I told you about yet?

  Lucky: Nah. I'm not suicidal.

  Hope: Listen to the song or I'll come sit on you.

  Lucky: With that ass? Yes fucking please.

  Hope: Fine. Listen to it or I won't sit on you.

  Lucky: I'm rolling my eyes at you while I'm scrolling through YouTube.

  Hope: Oh please. You know you love me.

  Lucky: Won't argue with that.

  October 6th 2016

  Hope: Got your email with the notes on the WIP.

  Lucky: And?

  Hope: You're a genius.

  Lucky: I know.

  Hope: Wow. Cocky much?

  Hope: Hunter?

  Hope: Hello???

  Hope: Where you at?

  Lucky: The bar. Sorry. Didn’t hear my cell. It's loud as hell in here.

  Hope: With company?

  Hope: Noah?

  Hope: My brothers?

  Hope: A woman??

  Lucky: Jealous?

  Hope: Nope.

  Hope: Couldn’t care less, actually.

  Lucky: I'm with your dad.

  Hope: Oh.

  Lucky: Don’t worry, HC. You're the only woman in my world.

  October 28th 2016

  Hope: I'm sorry for running out tonight. I panicked.

  Lucky: It's okay if you're not ready, HC.

  Hope: Really?

  Lucky: Yeah, sweetheart. I can wait.

  Hope: What if I'm never ready…

  Lucky: I'll take that bet.

  November 11th 2016

  Hope: Are you really never going to talk to me again?

  Lucky: Depends. Are you really gonna go back to him?

  Hope: Hunter…

  Lucky: Hope…

  Hope: He's my husband. I have to give this another shot.

  Lucky: You're making a mistake.

  Hope: Then it's my mistake to make.

  Lucky: True. Just don’t expect me to stick around and watch it.

  November 29th 2016

  Hope: I miss you.

  Hope: You leaving was the last thing I wanted to happen.

  Lucky: Don’t Hope. Just…don’t

  Hope: I'm sorry.

  Lucky: It wasn’t a mistake and you know it.

  Hope: I know…

  Lucky: Damn, I think you knowing that makes it worse.

  December 20th 2016

  Hope: Hey.

  Lucky: Hay is for horses.

  Hope: Always with the smart mouth?

  Lucky: What can I do for you, Hope?

  Hope: Forgive me?

  Lucky: Hope…

  Hope: I need you to come home.

  Lucky: Everything okay at home?

  Hope: No. Teagan's catatonic. Noah's a wreck.

  Lucky: I've got a plan. I'm handling it.

  Hope: Don’t do anything stupid, Hunter.

  January 10th 2017

  Hope: I feel like I've lost my best friend.

  Lucky: Teagan will get through this, HC. She's the second strongest woman I know.

  Hope: Second to who?

  Lucky: You.

  Hope: You think I'm strong?

  Lucky: You're the only one who doesn’t.

  Hope: Thank you.

  Hope: And I wasn't talking about Teagan…

  February 14th 2017

  Lucky: You good, HC?

  Hope: A little rattled after what happened last night, but yeah, I'm good.

  Lucky: See. Strongest woman I know.

  Hope: Ha. Funny.

  Lucky: Only a call away if you need me, sweetheart.

  Hope: Don’t worry. I have your number on speed dial.

  Lucky: That's my girl.

  March 5th 2017

  Lucky: Your breasts were fucking delicious last week, HC. I can still taste your thighs on my tongue.

  Hope: Well I hope you enjoyed my breasts and thighs, asshole, because that's the last meal I will ever cook for you!

  Lucky: Fine. I'll cook for you next time. I'll let you sample my sausage. Le Cock De Lucky. In English, that translates to Lucky's Cock. You'll need to work up an appetite though. I've been told it's bigger than most.

  March 5th 2017

  Hope: Because I'm married and flirting with me is inappropriate. And especially considering what happened between us on Halloween.

  Lucky: Admit it. You still want me.

  Lucky: You're thinking about it now, aren’t you? What you ran out on that night. It's driving you insane.

  March 20th 2017

  Hope: I really need my friend tonight.

  Hope: I'm lonely Hunter.

  Lucky: Want me to come and break you out of the tower of doom, Cinderella?

  April 9th 2017

  Hope: I'm sorry. I was drunk. Call me.

  Hope: Please don’t tell anyone I did that.

  Hope: I need to talk to you.

  Hope: I'm at the front door. Let me in.

  April 15th 2017

  Lucky: Where you at, HC?

  Lucky: You okay?

  Lucky: Call me and check in, HC.

  Lucky: I'm getting worried. I don’t like it. Call me.

  April 18th 2017

  Lucky: Running out on me? Thought you hated cardio, HC.

  Hope: I'm so sorry.

  Lucky: I'm not.

  Hope: The kiss was a mistake.

  Lucky: For who?

  Hope: You promised you'd forget it…

  Lucky: Goddamn HC.

  Hope: Thank you xx.
r />   May 1st 2017

  Hope: Thank you for last night. I needed it.

  Lucky: Whatever you need, HC.

  Hope: I actually slept the whole night.

  Lucky: Feel free to come over any night. Every night, if you want.

  Hope: Be good!

  May 12th 2017

  Lucky: Being inside you tonight? Feeling you come around my dick? I can't fucking get it out of my mind.

  Lucky: This isn’t wrong, Hope. WE aren’t wrong. Being with you feels like the only right thing I've done my whole life.

  Lucky: I'm done hiding this HC. I'm done helping you lie to yourself.

  Lucky: I'm so fucking in love with your stubborn ass.

  Lucky: I tell you I'm in love with you, and you tell me to shush? Fuck me, HC, you know how to kick a man when he's down. I'm not letting up so you might as well call me back. I have no problem flooding your inbox until you do.

  May 13th 2017

  Lucky: Where are you?

  Lucky: I need to see you.

  Lucky: Tell me where you goddamn are, HC!

  Lucky: You need to come over. I need to talk to you!

  Lucky: Answer me, dammit!

  Hope: I need some time, Hunter. I'm staying at my parents' place tonight. Please give me space.

  Lucky: Don’t you dare go there on your own!

  Lucky: Get out of that house, Hope Carter!!

  Lucky: I'm on my way over there now.

  Lucky: Goddamn, you're lucky I love your stubborn ass.

  And there it was.

  Staring me straight in the face.

  Taunting me.

  Fucking torturing me.

  All my life, I was the last to know. Weddings, engagements, babies being born, pregnancies being announced, divorces?

  I was always the last person to find out.

  My wife was having an affair, and just like always, I was the last to know.

  Motionless, I sat and absorbed the feeling of having the last person in my life that hadn't hurt me, rip my world to shreds.

  She was all I had.

  The only good thing.

  The only pure part of me left.

  And now, it was gone.

  "Jay," Annabelle whispered. Reaching over, she wiped the tear that was trailing down my face. "I'm so sorry."

  "Don’t tell anyone about this."

  Annabelle gaped at me. "What?"

  "I don’t want her to know that I know."

  "Why?"

  "Nobody has to know about this."

  "Jordan, you can't be serious."

  "Goddammit, just do this one thing for me, Annabelle!"

  "She doesn’t deserve you."

  Sniffing, I sank back on the couch and quickly batted away the tears filling my eyes as my mind desperately tried to make sense of this.

  Sex.

  Everything always came down to sex.

  She was getting that from him now.

  The messages I'd just read assured me of that.

  She wanted heat and I was a lukewarm.

  I couldn’t give it to her.

  I wanted a normal, quiet life.

  I'd been through the wringer and I was tired.

  I needed peace and quiet.

  Of course a man like Lucky Casarazzi appealed to her.

  That kind of scum appealed to most women.

  He was the opposite of everything she'd ever known.

  Wayward, tattooed and drenched in dirty blood.

  He was dangerous and a risk and tempting her away from everything she had ever known.

  Blackened with the pain of betrayal, only one thought kept me sane: revenge.

  I knew it was too good to be true.

  Everything was going too smoothly.

  And now I was done.

  It was too fucking much.

  Because in all honesty, what was the point in fighting for my life when this was the result?

  What was the point of anything?

  To my fucking detriment, there were only two things jumping out at me.

  Two ways to ease the pain.

  To help me forget.

  Even if it was only for a little while.

  God forgive me, I chose the latter.

  "I need to go," I choked out. Leaping off the couch, I grabbed blindly for my keys then staggered towards the door.

  "Where are you going?" Annabelle demanded, chasing after me.

  "Out!" I barked, needing to get away from her. From this house. From all of it.

  "Jordan, don’t go," she called after me, following me out the front door and into the street.

  "Leave me be." Kicking off the stand, I sank down on my bike and cranked the engine. "Just…stop talking to me…"

  "Don’t do anything stupid, Jordan!" Annabelle yelled out as I tore off down the street with only one destination in mind.

  Thirteenth Street.

  ****

  Chapter Five

  Hope

  Dressed in borrowed clothes, I sat at my parents' kitchen table, in the middle of my personal nightmare, watching Hunter clean up a mess I had unintentionally dragged him into.

  Curtains were drawn.

  Doors were locked.

  The body of my would-be rapist was wrapped in blankets and taped.

  The gun I had always suspected Hunter carried was loaded and lying on the table beside me.

  More than a dozen cigarettes had been lit and smoked in my parents' very nonsmoking house.

  His phone was out and pressed to his ear once more, but this time, he wasn’t trying to confess a crime; he was trying to conceal one.

  I didn’t need to ask who was on the other side of the line.

  It didn’t take a genius to know who he would call in a crisis.

  Every once and a while, Hunter cast a glance in my direction, and every time he did, he ended up cursing like a sailor and kicking the body at his feet.

  I was afraid to move – to make a dent in his thought process.

  He was all business, prowling around the house, taking stock of every window and door; preparing for battle.

  I could practically see the wheels of his mind turning as he desperately tried to find a way out of this for us.

  Everything we had touched tonight were in his possession now, packed in a trash bag on the floor.

  He was erasing us, I realized. Erasing this night.

  Meanwhile, I sat motionless at the table, held together only by the strength he was displaying.

  If this wasn’t such a peril situation, I would have taken the time to admire Hunter's remarkable skills. It was obvious he was talented at evasion, and I was so damn glad he was here with me. Keeping me safe, settling my nerves with his calmness.

  My father's oversized hoodie and sweats swamped my body and I was glad. I wanted to disappear behind the fabric and protect myself from the world. I could smell his cologne on the sleeves and it gave me comfort.

  But the truth was I didn’t know if I would ever close my eyes again.

  Walking into dark rooms was out.

  And this house?

  Once I walked out of this house, I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to stomach walking back in.

  This was the kitchen of death.

  No less than three bodies had lain on this floor since my family had taken up residency in Thirteenth Street, and all of those deaths were a result of murder.

  The only luck we had tonight, if you could call it that, was there were no gun shots.

  Nothing to alert the neighbors.

  Everyone on the street was used to the noise and boisterousness that came from our home.

  Having five sons in one place caused noise.