Gifted

Chapter Four - Hunter

"Good morning Sunshine. Rise and shine."

I heard a voice. The voice of Ruth, my family's oldest employee. Now when I say employee, she's always been more like my mother to me and my brother – more than our 'actual' mother, Elaine. Who as we speak is somewhere in the Bahamas living off Dads inheritance.   With her current toy-boy flavour of the month, topping up her tan on her newly re-modelled plastic body.

Couldn't say I missed her—never was much of a mother.  What the fuck my father saw in her was beyond me.

So, it was fair to say Ruth meant a lot to me and she's one of the few people whose opinion mattered.   And I let her talk to me like no other fucker would dare to.  But only because she's a bat-shit crazy old person who ran my house, nagged the fucking life out of me, and because she cared.

Honestly, she should have retired years ago but had taken it upon herself to stay until as she puts it. 'I find myself a respectable woman and settled down.'

Yeah, right—like that was gonna happen anytime soon.

Opening my eyes at the same moment Ruth opened the shutters, was a  really  bad idea. Grabbing the pillow, I crushed it into my face. "Fuckin' hell Ruth,  Give me a second to come around, yeah?"

She tutted loudly. "Aren't we the grumpy one?  Tell you what Mr Grumpy, how about we do a deal. I wake you up like the little princess you are —all gentle like.  And you grow up and stop all this drinking and staying out till all hours of the night."

The sarcasm dripped from her tongue... but she wasn't done yet.  No, she was just getting started.

"Should have seen the state of you last night.  James had to help get your sorry back-side up the stairs and I had to undress you again!"   She tutted again to emphasise, and to grind the point home. Before she carried on fucking nagging me.

"You're not a teenager no more Hunter. You're a grown man with responsibilities. You should be out finding yourself a good woman to settle down with and give me some little babies to look after, you listening?"

Here it comes...

"And your poor father would turn in his grave if he saw you still behaving like this. You're better than this Hunter."

My head was banging as I pushed the pillow from my face. "Give it a rest Ruth, it's too fucking early, and I need some paracetamol. Be a darlin' and run and get me some."

She huffed and puffed as she muttered something else I didn't hear—or didn't want to hear and left me in a peace for a few minutes.

I let out a groan running my tongue around my fury mouth. It tasted like wolf's arse.  What the fuck was I drinking last night?

Glancing at the clock; I'd roughly had about four hours kip.  I tried to piece together last night.  My stomach sank, sinking faster than a discharged anchor.  Memories came flooding back with a side order of regret.  Fucking hell!

I'd gone to the club and drank too much again... but that wasn't the worst part.

Yesterday, after I'd finished my meetings for the day; earlier than expected. I decided I couldn't head back to the office, because I needed to avoid her.  As I'd stupidly left a note, signing it off with a kiss.

A. Fucking. Kiss!

So, I headed to the gym and knocked ten tons of shit out of a punch-bag to get her  out my head. And try to rid myself of the strange feelings swimming around my gut.  A feeling that I couldn't shift since I laid eyes on her—Miss Sage Dufrene.