Hunter, p.1
Hunter, page 1
Hunter
Gentlemen of the Emerald City
L.A. Witt
Contents
About Hunter
1. Scott
2. Hunter
3. Scott
4. Hunter
5. Scott
6. Hunter
7. Scott
8. Hunter
9. Scott
10. Hunter
11. Scott
12. Hunter
13. Scott
14. Hunter
15. Scott
16. Hunter
17. Scott
18. Hunter
19. Scott
20. Hunter
21. Scott
22. Hunter
23. Scott
24. Hunter
25. Scott
26. Hunter
27. Scott
28. Hunter
29. Scott
30. Hunter
Epilogue
The Gentlemen of the Emerald City Series
Also by L.A. Witt
Also by L.A. Witt
About the Author
Copyright Information
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Hunter: Gentlemen of the Emerald City series, book 6
First edition
Copyright © 2021 L.A. Witt
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Cover Art by L.A. Witt
Editor: Leta Blake
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher, and where permitted by law. Reviewers may quote brief passages in a review. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact L.A. Witt at gallagherwitt@gmail.com
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ISBN: 978-1-64230-122-9
Paperback ISBN: 979-8-47863-202-1
Created with Vellum
About Hunter
Scott
I’ve done a lot of soul-searching this season. I’ve been in denial about myself and a jerk to everyone else.
I don’t even know where to start to fix it all. I don’t know what to feel about anything.
How am I supposed to handle falling in love?
Hunter
I’m good at faking it most of the time. No, not that. I mean faking like I’m okay. Like something doesn’t always hurt, especially when I’m trying to earn my pay.
He gets it. More than anyone I’ve ever met, he gets it.
But he’s got pain no one can touch. Not doctors. Not me.
How do I convince him that shutting me out won’t take away that pain?
Gentlemen of the Emerald City
Hunter is Book 6 of Gentlemen of the Emerald City, a sexy series centered around the high class, high-dollar Gentlemen of Seattle’s most exclusive escort service. Each book is full of snark, sass, and sweetness, and like any Emerald City client, you’re guaranteed a happy ending.
Chapter 1
Scott
“By the power vested in me by God and the State of Washington,” the minister said, beaming, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
As my teammate Kramer kissed his bride, Elisa, everyone in the pews cheered, and I was pretty sure we startled all the guests who weren’t hockey players. What could I say? We were a loud bunch, and weddings were no exception.
The ceremony wrapped up, and the bride and groom made their way up the aisle, followed by the wedding party. Guests began to follow, filing out from the rows of chairs, heading toward the receiving line and the reception. On the way, people who knew each other said hello and chatted happily. Typical wedding.
It was a nice one, too. Kramer and Elisa had rented out a country club where a lot of us played golf, and the weather had even cooperated. The day was so perfect, in fact, that the groom had made a comment before the ceremony about delaying the wedding to play a round. Elisa had been out of earshot, and anyway, she would’ve laughed because that was her sense of humor. The mother of the bride? Ooh, boy. By the time that debacle had quieted down, we were all joking about seeing if anyone had their pads or helmets in their cars so Kramer could protect himself; couldn’t hurt to be suited up like a goalie if his new mother-in-law lost her shit again. That had earned all of us dirty looks from Elisa’s mom, and screw Kramer—we were keeping our gear for ourselves.
Mother-in-law drama aside, the wedding was nice. The bride was beautiful, Kramer was happier than I’d ever seen him, and he absolutely would be catching hell later for crying during the ceremony. Like I said… hockey players. We’d ribbed every tearful groom before him, and we’d do it to every one after. Those were the rules.
While the bride and groom left for photos, some food was served along with drinks. People mingled and caught up while country club staff arranged tables and chairs for dinner.
I was with some of my teammates but didn’t really hear the conversation. As I rolled a sip of beer around in my mouth, I moved my gaze around the room from one guest to the next. Or rather, from one couple to the next.
Four couples in particular.
The Seattle Breakers had four out gay players. Warner was married with kids. The others had been single when they or I had signed with Seattle, but one by one, they’d met boyfriends. Ethan and Luca were engaged. Dane and Cole were living together. Even Matt—Smitty to everyone else—had surprised the hell out of everyone by settling down with Andre.
And I felt…
I didn’t know what I felt about that. Just that I definitely had some feelings, and none of them were particularly good. Or familiar.
It was like every time one of my gay teammates had paired off with someone, especially as they’d taken steps to make it permanent—moving in together, getting engaged—it had chipped away at something in me. At my resistance to myself. I’d spent my whole life fighting that pull toward other men, giving in when I needed sex only to hate myself afterward because what the fuck? That wasn’t me. I wasn’t gay.
But…
But I fucking was.
I was gay, and I was tired.
And here today at a friend’s wedding, my four teammates were visibly happy with their male partners, and… God, I envied them.
So how do I get there?
I took another pull from my beer to push back the unexpected lump in my throat. I’d been fighting so fucking hard for so fucking long, and every time I even thought about going there—about not just admitting I was gay but being gay—the emotions came crashing in.
There was no way in hell I was in a place where I could get into a relationship like one of my teammates had. The best I could aim for right now was having sex without hating myself. I wanted that. I wanted to be naked with a man, enjoy it, and not feel disgusting afterward. So how did I make that happen? I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. How did I feel normal about being gay instead of wallowing in self-loathing like I had for all these years? I didn’t even know where to start.
Except maybe I did.
I let my gaze drift around the room until it landed on one guest in particular. On one of only two men in this building—hell, one of only a few men in this whole world—who knew I wasn’t as straight as I’d desperately wanted to be.
Luca.
As I watched him laughing with his fiancé, my throat tightened again, but this time it was with nerves and a sick feeling. I’d hired Luca a number of times while he’d still worked for Gentlemen of the Emerald City, and it’d taken my breath away the first time I’d run into him and Ethan together.
I’d seen Luca naked and hard. I’d felt him come, even if I hadn’t done much to get him there. But seeing him smile that way at Ethan—like no one existed in his world except for Luca—God, nothing had ever driven home harder how cold and detached I’d been when I’d had Luca in my bed. He’d gone through the motions with me, but there’d been no spark in him, not like how he came to life when he was with his fiancé. And if ever there was a moment when I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I really was gay, it was when I caught myself wishing a man would smile at me that way.
And Jesus fuck, could I have been more of a dick to him? I hadn’t even allowed myself to kiss him—I never kissed men—and that first time I saw Ethan steal a kiss from Luca’s soft lips had made me regret that more than I’d imagined possible.
Yeah. I’d been a real dick to Luca. And maybe step one of getting my shit together was setting things straight with him.
I drained my beer, put the bottle on an empty table, and started across the room.
Ethan saw me first. He turned and bristled as he sometimes did when I approached. I didn’t really blame him. I also didn’t blame his fiancé for having the same reaction, and the fact that Luca lost his smile and stiffened when he saw me made me even more determined to do this. I owed him that much.
I cleared my throat. “Hey, um…” I met Luca’s gaze. “Could I borrow you for a minute? To talk?”
He studied me as if he wasn’t sure what to make of the question.
“Just to talk,” I reiterated. “I’d just rather not…” I gestured at the people around us.
Luca turned to Ethan. My teammate glared at me, but he put a hand on the small of Luca’s back and quietly said, “It’s up to you.”
Ethan flicked his eyes toward me, but then he looked at Luca and nodded. “Okay. I’ll be here.”
They exchanged smiles before Luca and I broke away from the crowd and quietly walked outside.
We ended up on a small patio that appeared to be a designated smoking area. No one was out here right now, so the evening was quiet, the thick heat of the day still hanging in the air, and we were hidden from view of the reception.
Luca eyed the door, chewing his lip.
“Is this okay?” I asked. “We can go somewhere where people can see—”
“No, it’s fine.” He rolled his shoulders and met my gaze. “I’m good.” Clearly not happy to be out here, though.
I fully understood why, and I probably made him nervous too, so I deliberately positioned myself so I wasn’t between him and the door. For a moment, we stood in silence. It was so weird, looking at him now. I’d booked him plenty of times at Emerald City. We’d had sex more times than I could count. Standing here with him, it wasn’t that I felt like he was someone I used to know but was now a stranger. It was like he was the same person, but I was the stranger.
I’d been rethinking myself and my identity for a while now, but nothing was more jarring than being the person I was now—the person I was desperately trying to be—in front of someone who’d only known me as an insufferable asshole. As an abusive asshole. I didn’t want that to be me anymore, and it made my chest hurt to realize that when Luca looked at me, that man I didn’t want to be was the only man he saw.
He leaned against the railing and tilted his head, and I couldn’t tell if he was annoyed, anxious, or impatient. Maybe all three. “You wanted to talk.”
“Yeah.” I took a deep breath. “Listen. I wanted to apologize.”
Luca’s eyebrows flew upward. “Oh. Okay.”
It was a struggle, but I held his gaze. “When you were still at Emerald City…” I chewed my lip. “Before Ethan. You and me.”
His jaw worked and he broke eye contact.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m not going to tell you this excuses anything I did or said back then, but just to explain myself, I was… I didn’t like who I was then. I didn’t want to be who I am.”
“You didn’t want to be gay.” It wasn’t a question. Amazingly, it also wasn’t an accusation.
“No, I didn’t. I’m sorting that out now. Trying to figure out how to…” My stomach knotted. “How to be physical with a guy without hating myself afterward.”
Luca met my eyes again, and I cringed at the sympathy in his expression. I didn’t deserve that, damn it.
“I just wanted you to know I’m sorry,” I went on. “I was a dick to you. When I hired you, and also when I saw you with Ethan for the first time. I’m trying really hard not to be that person anymore, and I’m sorry for all the times I was unkind to you.” Shame burned hot in the back of my throat. “You must have thought I was an asshole.”
“I won’t apologize for that.”
“I’m not asking you to.” It was a struggle, but I held his gaze. “I’m just asking you to let me say I’m sorry.”
He acknowledged it with a silent nod.
“And I’m…” I sighed. “I’m just barely admitting who I am now. I still haven’t figured out how to be… Well, me.”
Luca tilted his head slightly, guarded but curious. “Who are you now?”
I furrowed my brow. “Didn’t I just make it pretty clear?”
“You have.” He shifted a little, folding his arms loosely across his chest. A comfortable gesture, not a defensive one. “But have you actually said it out loud?”
I swallowed.
“It goes a long way,” he said gently. “I won’t tell you it’s easy, but once you can say it out loud to yourself, it’s a lot easier to tell the rest of the world.”
My first instinct was to tell him that sounded like some hokey New Age bullshit, and that I didn’t need to say anything to anyone. I’d come out here to tell him I was sorry, not so he could actually hear me say…
Except I hadn’t said it. Not once. I’d thought about it a lot, but had I said it out loud? To anyone? No. I hadn’t come out to a single soul.
I moistened my lips. “I’m, um…” Why was it so hard to say it? My throat tightened around my breath, and I couldn’t look him in the eyes, but I finally pushed out the words. “I’m… gay.”
With a gun to my head, I couldn’t begin to describe what his reaction was, because I was too busy noticing how my knees suddenly wanted to collapse and my stomach tried to turn inside out.
“Fuck,” I whispered. “I’m gay.” I knew that. I’d known it for a while. I’d even begun to accept it. Why was it so damn jarring to say the words out loud?
“Hey.” Luca’s hand materialized on my shoulder, startling the hell out of me. When I met his eyes, his expression was full of empathy and understanding. “You all right?”
Was I? God, I didn’t even know.
I leaned back against the wall and exhaled, raking my fingers through my hair. “How did I get this far without ever…”
“This world doesn’t make it easy.” He withdrew his hand but didn’t step away. “Ask any queer person you know. Most of them have stories about how hard it was to come out. A lot of us fought it because we didn’t want everything that came with it.”
I met his gaze, eyebrows up.
Luca shrugged. “I came to terms with being gay when I was a kid. I had a supportive family, but it wasn’t a cakewalk. You better believe there were times when I wished I was straight just because it would be so fucking much easier.”
My lips parted.
He smiled faintly. “It’s not just you. I promise.”
“I think most people figure it out before their thirties, though.”
“Do you think you were ready for it before now?”
“I should’ve been.”
“And the world should be over its bullshit about queer people, but…” Luca gestured at himself, then me. “Here we are. Plus you’re in a sport where toxic masculinity is a thing, and I mean, come on, even with players coming out, there are still players and fans who hate it. Hell, I had a drink tossed on me as I was leaving a game.”
“You…” My jaw fell open. “Are you serious?”
Shifting his weight, he nodded. “Yeah. I had my Pride Night jersey on, and some asshole tossed his beer at me and called me—well, it doesn’t need to be repeated.”
“Holy shit.”
“Fortunately,” he went on, “times have changed, and there were some other fans who blocked him in while someone got security.”
“They… They did?”
“Mmhmm. The cops too, but I declined to press charges.” Luca grinned wickedly. “Having his season tickets canceled and being banned for life from the arena seemed like punishment enough.”
I breathed a quiet laugh, but mostly I was… Fuck. I was speechless. Even with four gay teammates and multiple Pride Nights every season, I still couldn’t quite get my head around the idea of someone getting his ass handed to him for being a homophobe. At best, I would’ve expected people to pretend they didn’t see the guy assault Luca. Fans stepping in? Security getting involved? The cops getting involved? Where the hell was I when people started standing up for gay people?
In the closet, that’s where.
Unaware of my mind reeling, Luca asked, “Are you still going to use Emerald City?”
I tensed. “Are you going to tell me I shouldn’t?”
