Hunter

Chapter Seven

Hunter ~

Hunter couldn't stop thinking about Kenzie's hellish upbringing throughout the day, still stunned that she was a blood relative of someone he considered to be a monster of the worst kind. Lethal abilities with money as motive was a dangerous combination and Miles was known for being particularly ruthless. His reputation was drenched in the blood of innocents. Nothing was off limits or considered too extreme or unethical for Miles teams of mercenaries. Miles would hunt and kill anyone for the right price, even women and children. He was disgusting and everything that Kenzie wasn't.

Hunter rubbed at his temples as he tried to rid himself of the horrific images that were starting to form in his mind of how Miles must have treated Kenzie as a child and it set Hunters blood on fire.

Part of him was pissed that Kenzie hadn't divulged that information, but on the other hand he could see why she'd deny him as her father and take another man's last name. A simple criminal background check and questionnaire wasn't nearly in depth enough to have caught that hidden secret, but at the time he was simply looking for a dog walker and didn't realize Kenzie would become so...well whatever Kenzie was.

He huffed out an irritated breath as he filed some last minute paperwork and glanced down at his watch. It was time to pick up Zeus which was part of Hunters typical day, but today his stomach was in knots. He wanted to confront Kenzie about her biological father, but knew it wasn't going to be an easy topic to breach.

On the ride over he thought of a million different questions to ask and about a hundred different ways to approach the topic of Kenzie's father but he forgot them all instantly as soon as she opened the door to her apartment.

"Hey Hunter." She said brightly.

"You comin' in or are you in a hurry?"

She was always so warm and inviting, like she ran on a never ending battery of positivity and joy. Hunter was exhausted just looking at her.

"I got a few minutes."

Zeus hopped down off of Kenzie's couch and stretched against the carpet, letting out a big yawn.

"I see you let him up on the furniture." Hunter said flatly.

"You don't?" Kenzie asked, whipping her head around as if Hunter was insane.

"No. He sheds like crazy."

Hunter walked over and rubbed the top of Zeus' head as he made his way into the living room, letting his eyes roam all over Kenzie before he could stop them. She was in sweat pants and a cropped t-shirt that hung loosely exposing the smallest bit of her toned abdomen. He swallowed hard and got a hold of himself quickly, shaking his head to physically regain control of his wandering eyes.

Quit being such a fucking creep.

Lowering himself down into a chair, Hunter watched as she took an empty plate and set it by the sink before turning to join him in the living room.

"You gonna put that in the dishwasher?" He asked, keeping his eyes glued to the plate on the edge of the sink.

Kenzie stalled and looked over her shoulder at the plate before giving Hunter and knowing smile.

"Eventually, yeah" she chuckled.

Eventually? You were just standing right there. Why didn't you just put it in the dishwasher?

"Why not now?"

Hunter's eyes never left the plate and he briefly considered getting up and doing it himself, but he wasn't trying to fight that battle with her right now, especially when he was trying to get some information from her.