Flawed (Hunt Brothers Saga) Read online

  Flawed

  Hunt Brothers Saga, Volume 1

  Timothy S. Allen

  Published by Timothy Allen, 2019.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  FLAWED

  First edition. January 10, 2019.

  Copyright © 2019 Timothy S. Allen.

  ISBN: 978-1386827382

  Written by Timothy S. Allen.

  Also by Timothy S. Allen

  Hunt Brothers Saga

  Flawed

  Bruised

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Also By Timothy S. Allen

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Epilogue

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  Further Reading: Bruised

  Also By Timothy S. Allen

  To my mother. Thank you for giving me the courage to tell my stories.

  Chapter One

  Streaking past the stable of horses, the outdoor pool, and the freshly cut grass, I sprinted to the woods behind the Hunt’s house.

  Above, the summer sun shined with only a few clouds in the distance, obscured by the rising trees that grew taller and taller with every yard covered. Sweat poured down my skin, though not just because of the temperature. I felt my heart pump well beyond what a boy of my age and fitness level should have felt.

  When I got to the rendezvous point, I hurriedly looked around. Sarah and I had agreed to this meeting point just a few days prior when we had last seen each other—it allowed us to quickly return to our respective homes, but also have enough privacy so that her parents and the Hunts could not spy on us. Just enough privacy, and just enough proximity.

  But she wasn’t here yet.

  Just calm down, you’re Chance “Hunt.”

  You’re awesome. She’ll come. She has to. There’s no way she won’t.

  And it was true, it wasn’t just self-talk. Even at a mere twelve years old, I had a confidence to impress girls of any age, a charm to pull many of them in, and the appearance of high status to make it work.

  Even if I despised the latter for not truly belonging in the world of wealth, business, and success, not like Morgan did.

  “Chance!”

  That melodic, feminine voice—the sound that could make butterflies dance with joy, boys’ stomachs flip, and heads turn. That sound reached my ears, through the clearing of the trees. I turned immediately and saw her.

  Sarah Hill, the most beautiful girl at Ridge River Middle, with her early blossoming curves, her long, golden hair, and that face that looked lifted out of the cover of a women’s magazine, smiled and ran to me.

  Sometimes, I liked to let her run to me as a way of reminding her that I didn’t have to have her. Of course, truth be told, I knew that I had it good with Sarah Hill, and to lose her or have her slowly lose interest would hurt like hell. It was a game, really, a game that I felt silly playing but felt I had to.

  Today, though, there was none of that.

  I ran up to her, lifted her in my arms, and kissed her. Oh, how good that felt. How good it felt to plant my lips onto hers. A mere four days had passed since I had the chance to be with her alone, but it felt like three days and twenty-three hours too long. I squeezed her like I was going to pop her, and only after she tapped me and asked to be put down did I finally acquiesce.

  “Chance Hunt,” she said.

  I did my best to keep my smile up. I had to keep appearances up and I had to keep the charm going. To let her know the truth...

  “Sarah Hill,” I said back, a rare moment of my words caught in my throat.

  What more could I say? What could have possibly topped the two most perfect words in the world—her name? I don’t think I could have come up with a better response at 32, let alone 12. Even then, I knew sometimes the best approach was just to let our eyes do the talking more than our mouths.

  “I missed you.”

  “I missed you more.”

  “Nuh uh.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Nuh. Uh.”

  “Uh. Huh!”

  We once more broke out laughing and kissed again. I can’t lie, I couldn’t help myself, my hand started to move down the small of her back as I went to feel her curves. But just before I got to the good part, Sarah pulled back and smirked.

  “Chance Hunt,” she said, pretending to be a Southern belle in this Connecticut suburb. “You know to have patience.”

  “I know,” I said, half exasperated and half trying my best to be patient. “But—”

  “But you know that good things come to those who wait.”

  Her smile told me everything I needed to know. Damn if I would have a hell of a time waiting.

  But, then again, she knew full well she couldn’t wait forever. We were both too curious for our own good.

  “Should we move further into the woods?” Sarah asked. “I don’t want to get poison ivy or anything gross, but I feel like your mom and dad could see us right now if they tried.”

  I thought I had gone back far enough to hide from Mr and Mrs Hunt. I took a few steps forward, grabbing for Sarah’s hand. Her fingers curled easily into mine, and my confidence somehow soared even higher. She might have prevented me from getting what I wanted in the moment, but she wouldn’t prevent me from getting what I wanted eventually.

  “Can’t hurt to go out a bit more,” I said.

  Truth be told, I did not think there was any chance the Hunts would discover us. Unless we started howling like wolves underneath a full moon in winter, unless we started a fire like in California, unless we deliberately drew all the eyes of the town upon us, it would take a deliberate awareness and effort on the Hunts part to discover us. It felt like there was less than a one percent chance.

  But why was I going to risk any chance today? I had Sarah Hill by my side, the most beautiful girl in our school. Even Morgan had to acknowledge how cute she was. Only someone like me could have gotten her, and I was not about to waste any time with her.

  “OK, I’m following your lead.”

  Of course you are. You’d be silly not to.

  We held hands, ducking under branches and stepping in as much of the dirt as we could, the better to avoid the plants which had who knows what kind of poison ivy or other itch-producing leaves. Above us, birds chirped with an unusually excited pitch, the kind that suggested something ominous—or, in our case, enticing—would soon come. The skies above had gotten a smidge cloudier, but nothing that left me concerned we’d get rained on.

  And if we did? Well, Chance Hunt was there to save the day.

  We got about five minutes worth of walking in before we came to a small creek.

  “It’s so beautiful,” Sarah said.

  “Just like you,” I said, drawing cooing and some hugs from Sarah. She kissed me on the cheek, and then the neck, and oh how I wished she kept going but instead she stopped and leaned into me.

  “Hey, I got an idea,” I said.

  It was daring, dastardly, and a bit stupid. If it failed, Sarah was
probably going to storm off on me and I’d have a lot to apologize for. It could even mean losing her.

  But something besides my brain was pushing me forward. And damn if I couldn’t help myself.

  “We should go skinny dipping.”

  “Here?!?”

  Well, her first response wasn’t no at least. That’s promising. Just take a little bit of that Chance charm.

  “Yeah, why not? What, do you want to head to Brooklyn and do it there?”

  “Well, no, but it’s just, the water is so shallow, and...”

  “And that’s the fun of it,” I said with a wink. “Anyone can go skinny dip in a deep lake or the ocean at night. It’s more fun this way. Besides, it’ll build trust between us. And that’s what relationships are about, right?”

  Sarah smiled and stammered. I knew if I could just press a little bit, it might work out. I just had to find out how to...

  “Let’s play a little truth or dare first,” Sarah said.

  “Can I dare you to go skinny dipping?”

  “Sure, but I go first,” she said. “And I’m going to go with truth.”

  “Alright,” I said, completely unfazed and unconcerned with what she was about to ask me.

  “What’s your most closely guarded secret?”

  Duh.

  No, don’t tell her that one. Do not tell her that one.

  But...

  I struggled. The answer had come to mind immediately, and if humans had not had a verbal filter, I would have spilled it before she had finished saying the word “secret.”

  I feared what would happen if I said it. It was no secret that the town all held the Hunts in high regard—hell, much of the business world held us in high regard. Everyone knew the name, everyone saw the name, and even if they tried not to, they heard the name. “Hunt” was as synonymous with business deals and negotiating as any other name anyone could produce.

  And if she found out I wasn’t actually a part of it?

  OK, yes, the Hunts called me son and I called them Mom and Dad and I called Morgan my brother. But we all knew the truth—or at least, we meaning everyone under that roof.

  I was no Hunt.

  Honestly, I wasn’t even sure what I was. My earliest memory is of me winding up in a foster home, the face of a woman peering at me as if I were a lab subject more than a human being. The Hunts, thank God, had taken me in, though to this day I have no idea why—it’s not like I had the blood of nobles in me or the brains of an academic. Their support made me look smarter and more successful than I was, but I knew the truth.

  And if that got exposed to Sarah? What would she think? The Hills weren’t on the level of the Hunts, no one was, but they were still a rich family... could I be accepted still?

  But Sarah, I felt sure, was different. She didn’t look at me the way she did because I was rich and the next business magnate Hunt. If she wanted that, she would have seduced Morgan. If she wanted money, she would have gone for my brother. But she didn’t want that. I could tell she wanted a fun person, and while Morgan had many things going for him, he did not have the sense of adventure that I did.

  “You really want to know?”

  It felt like an hour had passed in my head, though the lack of confusion from Sarah suggested not that much time had passed.

  “If I’m going to go skinny dipping, yes,” she said, but she said it with a smile, not with malice. That was all I needed to hear.

  “I’m adopted.”

  “You are?” she said, her face dropping.

  Oh no. No, no, no, please no. No...

  “I,” I said, swallowing. I had crossed the point of no return. There wasn’t anything I could do now except own it and hope that this was just a temporary shrug to her. “I got adopted by the Hunts at age three. They... they said they wanted another boy in the family, and so, well, here I am.”

  “Oh,” Sarah said, her face still having not returned to that cheerful smile that had adorned it just moments before. Please, no. Don’t hurt me like this, Sarah. You know what you mean to me.

  “What’s wrong?” I said, beginning to grab at straws. “Hey, I kept my end of the promise, now you gotta—”

  “Chance...” Sarah said. Her eyes began to well up. I knew now, all too sadly, that this was not just some momentary shock she would get over. This was something... more serious. That dreaded word. Serious. “My father... he said I have to be with someone who understands our life. Who has the kind of power—”

  “I’m a Hunt!” I said.

  But even when I finished saying that, I knew the strength of my voice and the weakness of my facial expression gave the truth away. No matter how much I said it, no matter how much I tried to believe it, I just wasn’t a true Hunt. I was as much of a Hunt as the family dog, maybe barely more since I could speak with the Hunts, but not by much.

  “You just said you were adopted,” Sarah said, doing her best not to cry. “My dad said...”

  She couldn’t finish her words. She didn’t need to. The damage had already been done, and there was no reversing it. It wasn’t like I could go back in time and change the fate of my genes to come from the Hunts instead of my real parents. It wouldn’t have done any good to keep it a secret for now—it would have come up anyways when we got... serious. And the Hills would have rejected me with even more shame and force then.

  “I’m sorry, Chance,” she said, and without warning, she began walking back.

  For a few seconds, I stood dumbfounded. The Hunts had always given me a good life, and while that had not changed, I had gotten almost used to life being perfect. Great school, a great brother, a beautiful girl... even if I wasn’t a Hunt, I had the benefits of being a Hunt.

  And now... because I’d been honest... I had lost the girl of my dreams.

  “Sarah!”

  My shout did not bring her back. It did not make her turn to face me.

  “Sarah!”

  My cry, more strained and emotional than the one before it, did not stop her either. I had a feeling only her father could stop her, and her father would only stop her from seeing me ever again.

  “SARAH!”

  She buried her head in her hands, at least an acknowledgment that she had heard me but not one she could stand to face me for. Still, I remained by the edge of that riverbank, paralyzed and stricken with horror. This is what being honest had got me, huh? This is what telling the truth did?

  I couldn’t take it anymore. I sprinted after Sarah, my own tears threatening to pour out of me. I refused to let that happen, not in front of a girl, not in front of Sarah, but it took a lot of effort to prevent those from appearing. Gasping for air, I saw Sarah just at the edge of the woods.

  “Sarah!”

  I shouted loud enough that my voice probably carried to the Hunts’ house, but I could no longer care. I had to do anything and everything to get Sarah back, no matter who heard or saw or told on me.

  Finally, at the clearing, she paused.

  Do not blow this. Do not lose this chance. Go, now!

  “Sarah,” I said, grabbing her hand. Much to my hope, she squeezed back—not as much as she might have before, but enough that I knew she hadn’t just gone all cold-hearted on me and quit. “Please. I know I’m not a Hunt. I know that I was not born of Mrs. Hunt. I won’t pretend that. But I am family to them. Ask them. I’ll take you right now. They’ll tell you I am as much a part of the family as Morgan. I swear to it. It’s even better, actually, because I have more charm than Morgan. So you get—”

  “Chance, stop,” Sarah said. I could feel her wanting to pull her hand away, but I wasn’t ready to let go. “My family is also going to adopt a little girl soon, you know. I don’t have any other sisters.”

  I paused and gulped. I had a bad feeling where this was going.

  “But she just isn’t as much of a family member as we all are. She just isn’t. I’ll still love her, but she’s not a Hill. You’re not a Hunt. You probably came from a lower class family, and that’s OK
. You’re in a great spot. But...”

  I bit my lip. I wanted to retaliate and say all sorts of ferociously negative things, but there was one thing I knew that meant I could not attack Sarah.

  “How much of that is what your father told you versus what you think?”

  Finally, she looked me in the eyes. Her eyes, bloodshot and still wet, told me the answer. She didn’t want to believe her Dad. She wanted to make her own decisions. I would bet she even still liked me.

  But we were 12, not 22. We weren’t adults. We had to follow our parents rules.

  And I knew no matter how much Sarah wanted to rebel, there was no chance of that.

  “Goodbye, Chance,” she said.

  With that, her hand left mine, leaving mine hanging, alone.

  Chapter Two

  She’s gone.

  Just like that.

  One confession, and I’m worthless.

  What a fucked up world. What a fucked up girl. All because I’m not truly a part of a rich family.

  Fuck girls. Fuck money. Does it really matter that much, Sarah? Does it really mean a damn thing, Mr. Hill? Does it?!?

  In anger, I screamed, turned to the nearest tree, and kicked it as hard as I could. I had hoped for some sort of cathartic release, but the only thing I released was an onslaught of pain from stubbing my toe.

  The worst of it, though, had only just begun.

  Because in the distance, perhaps drawn in by my screams and cries of frustration, came Morgan, my “brother.”

  I wouldn’t ever admit to the tears making tracks down my face, just like I wouldn’t admit to my new shoe getting scuffed from kicking the tree. There were a lot of things about the scene that had just transpired that I was never going to admit to, especially considering that Morgan was, well, a real member of the Hunt family.

  I lifted my hand resolutely, swiping furiously at the tears that had leaked out, and tried not to glare at Morgan. Truthfully, my brother was my best friend, there was no denying that, but there were some things I just didn’t share with anyone. And that was especially true after what had just happened.