TWELVE

Jade sighed as she shivered, tightly holding her arms around herself as she huddled under a large willow tree by the road, trying to keep warm and somewhat dry. It had begun to downright pour down rain and she could barely see anything in front of her. She wished that she had brought her phone along with her so she could call or text Hunter.

Hunter looked out the living room window. "Shit." He grumbled loudly as he turned and grabbed his keys off the table beside the front door and quickly walked into the garage, jogging to his truck. He ran his hands through his hair before starting his truck and pulled out of the driveway and turned down the road, on the search for Jade as he knew there weren't any shelters to hide under unless she knocked on someone's door.

'Soaked, that's what I am right now.' Jade thinks to herself as she now sat at the base of a very large tree, shivering and jittering. Even in the middle of summer, rain was cold as hell and right now Jade was freezing. 'Please find me.' Jade thought to herself as she hid her head in her legs, her butt soppy and soggy, her whole body water logged, hoping that Hunter would realize she was gone and find her.

Hunter drove slowly, looking on both sides of the road, looking for any place that Jade could have huddled down for shelter. He tried to check on the porches of homes, hoping to see her sitting on a chair but so far he hadn't spotted her. He had made it about a block, barely able to see the road in front of him due to the rain when he thought he could see a huddled ball under a giant willow tree. He stopped and stared a moment, looking through the gaps of the giant willow tree's limbs when he finally noticed the color purple, the color of Jade's pjs. He quickly climbed out of his truck after blasting the heat and ran towards the giant tree, moving the limbs aside to see Jade huddled in a ball, her head buried in her legs, pushed to her chest. She hadn't even noticed that he was there in front of her. Without a word, Hunter scooped Jade into his arms, cradling her to his chest. Feeling her wrap her arms around his neck he turned and headed towards the truck, still running in the middle of the road. He got to the passenger seat, and fumbled a bit before getting the door open and sat her inside. He knew his seats would get wet but he didn't care. He grabbed a large blanket he kept in the back seat for the girls and wrapped her in it knowing he needed to get her home and get her warm.

Jade had felt herself being lifted and then put into something that felt very pleasantly warm. She opened her eyes to see the interior of Hunter's truck and that she was tightly wrapped in a thick blanket and the heat was on full blast. She smiled softly, quickly feeling herself drift back into a slumber from being so warm. 'He found me.' She thought before quickly drifting into a light sleep.

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Hunter walked into the house from the garage, cuddling Jade tightly to his chest, still wrapped in the blanket from the truck. "Let's get you out of these soaked clothes." He said gruffly as he continued upstairs, a very happy Lucky, hopping his way up behind him, Chancey sitting at the base of the stairs with a small whine. Walking into Jade's room Hunter quickly opened a dresser door with one hand and grabbed a pair of long sweats and a t-shirt before making turning around and walked into the bathroom holding Jade, shutting the door behind them both.

"What's going on?" Jade asked, the shutting of the door had woken her. "What're you doing Hunter?" she mumbled, still groggy.

"Need to get you out of these soaked clothes and warm you up." Hunter answered softly as he sat Jade down on top of the toilet. Seeing that she could sit up by herself he removed the blanket from around her, causing her to draw herself up again. He sighed softly as he then gently removed her soaked shirt, pants and underwear, having seen everything already, he didn't give it a second thought. He then put her in the tub before turning on the water, making it warm, but not too hot before he grabbed the sprayer from the wall and gently ran it over her body, propped up on the side of the tub, opposite of her.

Feeling her mind clear, Jade looked over at Hunter as he ran warm water over her body with the sprayer. "This is nice." She said quietly.

"Feeling better?" Hunter asked, seeing a bit of pink in her cheeks and seeing her mind was clearer again.

"Much… I'm glad that you noticed I was gone… I just had a lot on my mind and I didn't know it was going to rain an-".

"Stop putting yourself down, I've had a lot on my mind too, and I am going to tell you right now, this little escapade you went on, you scared me." He stated as he turned off the sprayer and proceeded to start filling up the tub.

"I did?" Jade questioned. "The way you were acting late last night and this morning, I thought you regretted everything that happened."

Hunter felt himself take a deep breath before he answered her. "I'm not gonna lie, I wondered if I did the right thing for a while, we got caught up in the moment so fast and everything just happened." He said as he added bath mix to the water, watching the tub reach Jade's calves.

"What did you decide?" Jade asked but it was barely a whisper. She was scared of the outcome and what he thought of everything that had transpired lately.

Hunter smiled as the tub was full he turned the water off, then silently stood before Jade as she stared at him. He then removed his soaked shirt before sitting on the toilet and removed his shoes and socks before standing again and unbuttoning his jeans and letting them fall so he could kick out of them. Then lastly he removed his wet boxers. "Scoot up." Hunter said quietly and he watched as Jade did as she was told before he stepped into the large tub behind her and sat down in the hot bath water. He then slowly pulled Jade up to lean against him, her back against his chest. "This is what I decided." He said softly in her ear.

Jade smiled as she leant up and half turned to give him a chaste kiss on the lips before resting back against his chest. "Are you warm now?" she asked. She had noticed that he was shivering while he was taking care of her.

"Yes, very much I was freezing." He said lowly, which resulted in a full of laugh from Jade.