by M. J. O'Shea
Getting the treasures back to where they belonged was probably going to be a lot more difficult than Alo even imagined. There were ambassadors, legal teams, and representatives from families all over Europe. He didn’t get in trouble for what he’d done. Instead, he’d been called a hero.
Still, the pressure was intense, and Alo, well, for better or worse, he was involved. It was complex and long-term, and most of what the lawyers his parents had insisted on hiring told him made his head spin.
He’d tried to get out of making any public statements, but it wasn’t to be. Which was why he was waiting in the back of a car outside of a hotel where a huge press conference was about to start. Without him.
“Dad, I can’t go in there.” His mom was already waiting inside, but Alo had asked his father to ride with him around the block a few times.
“Of course you can. Look at what you’ve accomplished, Son. Don’t you want to tell the world about it?”
“Not really. I just want my life to go on.” And I don’t want to see Jack.
Jack, who was inside with Kendra and Brad and an empty chair reserved for Alo. He’d been getting floods of invitations—museums, galleries, and private collectors who wanted to thank him for his contributions or hear his story. Alo still wanted all of it to disappear.
“It will. Just get this done and things can go back to normal. At least mostly.”
“Yeah. Mostly.” Alo took a long deep breath and opened the door of the car. He could do it. He could.
He was grateful for his dad’s presence, though, as he walked into the hotel. He went to the back entrance of the ballroom as instructed.
The others were already at the table draped in cloth. Kendra had on a sweater and a skirt and her hair was down. She looked so different than she ever had on the road. Brad was in a suit and smiling at the crowd. And there was Jack. Jack. It had been two weeks since Alo had seen him. Two long weeks. It almost felt like he wasn’t real, that Jack was not right there in front of him. Especially with how they ended. Or not-ended, as it were.
Alo shuffled into his seat and smiled at everyone. He got a grin from Brad and a side hug from Kendra. Jack smiled too. Politely. What the hell? Alo had literally never gotten such an impersonal look of any sort from Jack. It hurt. A lot.
The crowd of reporters quieted down. Alo’s back broke out in a cold sweat.
“Um, hello everyone. I’m Alo Green. Nice to see you tonight.” Alo felt like an impostor, somehow. Press conferences weren’t his thing. He should let the experts deal with it. Kendra rescued him.
“I’m Kendra Porter. Thanks for having us.”
Jack, and then Brad introduced themselves as well.
After that it turned into what press conferences always seemed to be—question after question after question. Alo spoke when he was personally addressed, or when he knew something that the others couldn’t talk about as clearly. It wasn’t his favorite half an hour for sure. He breathed a sigh of relief when the press was dismissed to file out the large double doors at the back of the room.
Alo stood, along with Kendra, Brad, and Jack, and made his way back to the curtained-off area where he’d come in originally.
“It’s good to see you guys,” he finally said when they were back there alone. Kendra and Brad smiled at him. Jack made a non-committal face and checked his phone.
“Car’s here. You two ready?”
What the hell?
Alo couldn’t think anything else. Since when was Jack like that? Alo wanted to know what the hell he’d done wrong.
“Talk to you soon, sweetie.” Kendra gave him a sympathetic look and a kiss on the cheek. Brad clapped his shoulder gently as he walked by. If Alo wasn’t horrified at the thought of making a huge fool of himself in front of a bunch of people, he would’ve cried.
Was it all a lie? He was starting to think it had been.
Their show aired right around when classes were picking up again. Alo still hadn’t heard from Jack. He didn’t want to watch. He refused to watch. The network sent over an advanced copy for his family the night before. Alo just handed it to his parents and went up to his room to pass out from a long first day of classes. He didn’t want to deal with Jack—not if Jack didn’t want to deal with him in return.
Alo’s chest ached. It had been nearly a month and the ache didn’t go away. He still dreamed about Jack. He still thought about him constantly. Alo kept waiting for the sensation to go away. He thought if he ignored Jack’s existence, refused to talk about him, pretended he’d never crashed into Alo’s life and changed everything that he might forget. Alo was still waiting for that to happen.
Most days he felt like he was walking around underwater.
Two months later....
It was freezing cold on campus. Alo struggled through the sleet that seemed to refuse to turn into outright rain. It was early March but the winter seemed to be going on forever. He was more than ready for spring. Or something. To be fair, Alo didn’t know what he was ready for. It just seemed like everything in his ordinary life ever since the insanity had died down was... ordinary. Which was exactly what he wanted until he had it.
“Hey Alo,” someone called. Alo looked up. Derek.
Seriously, you asshole.
Derek was the same guy who had mocked him and called him Robert Langdon only a few short months—and a big helping of crow— before. All of a sudden he wanted to be friends. Alo rolled his eyes and kept walking.
He’d become a bit of a campus celebrity. That part hadn’t quite died down yet. On his way to the library he got waves and smiles from people he’d never talked to before—people who for sure would’ve never talked to him.
By the time he got to his desk, he was nearly worn out just from the smiling and waving in return. Alo kind of hoped they got tired of him soon and he could go back to being the quiet guy behind the library desk.
“Hey there, celebrity,” Jenny said.
She’d been teasing him ever since he got back. For his newly found fame, and the way he sometimes stared moodily at the library ceiling like he hoped something, or someone would appear from it.
“Hey, Jenny. What’s up?”
“Not much. Just planning my weekend. What are you up to?”
He’d forced himself to get out of the house more in the past few weeks. He and Jenny had a standing coffee date outside of the library twice a week, and he’d even let her drag him to a few clubs.
One night, Alo had drunk a few too many cocktails and he’d ended up telling her about Jack. Which was a mistake. Because Jenny was constantly on his ass to deal with it.
Call him or Alo, you said you were falling in love. Don’t you want to see him?
Alo did want to see him. Desperately. But it had been nearly two months and he hadn’t heard a word from Jack. Of course he hadn’t exactly reached out either. But it was starting to look like the best thing to do was forget about him.
“I need to get that paper written. I’m really behind and it’s due early in the week.”
“Really. You’re going to write a paper?” Jenny rolled her eyes.
“I’m serious. I should be at least finished with the research and moving on to the writing part by now. I’m totally screwed if I end up late on this.”
Alo had lost his drive to succeed somehow. With a new advisor, one who hopefully wouldn’t try to kill him, and a new semester of classes, he’d hoped for a fresh start. All he felt was... lethargic.
“Maybe we can grab some dinner Sunday night if you’re not still writing away. Or I’ll come over to the house for dinner?”
Alo had introduced Jenny to his mother. Much to his horror they got along amazingly well and spent many hours discussing Alo, his life, and their opinions on it.
“Why don’t I just give you my mom’s phone number. That way you don’t have to go through me,” Alo grumbled.
Jenny grinned. “I’ve had your mom’s number for weeks, babe.”
“Of course you have.”
> Alo made it through class that day, and the next day. And the day after. At least it was Friday finally. Even though Jenny had conned him into one dinner out, he was planning to spend most of the weekend at home. He’d managed to hammer out the beginnings of a subpar paper, but he still wanted to spend the weekend alone, work or not.
He slung his bag over his shoulder at the end of office hours, said good night to Dr. Jamison, his new advisor, and headed across campus toward his subway stop. Alo would’ve fallen right over when he ran into a big, solid body, if strong arms hadn’t reached out to catch him.
“Sorr—Jack?” Alo looked up, and yes, it was Jack. Beautiful, strong, tired-looking Jack. Alo thought he might be an illusion.
“Yeah, kid. It’s me.”
“Where have you been?”
Sure, Alo hadn’t contacted Jack either, but he’d been given zero reason to think it would be okay for him to do that. Jack had been weird when they got back. Cold. Nothing like the Jack that was standing right there, staring at him with soft, tender eyes.
“I’ve been around. Thinking a lot.”
Alo nodded. “That’s great.” He didn’t ask Jack what he was thinking. A big part of Alo was fairly sure he wouldn’t want to know anyway. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to find you. Obviously.”
“Yeah, I know that. But why?”
“I... had a hard time when we first got back. All the press and the attention. Even for me that was intense. I didn’t want them to...”—he looked pained—“I didn’t want us to turn into the same circus everything else has been. I’ve just had a lot to deal with.”
“Yeah, so you’d have to imagine what it felt like for me. And all the stuff with Perry. It’s going to pick back up when he goes to trial. For all of us most likely. And again if they can ever pin any of this on Watson.”
“I hate the thought of going to court,” Jack muttered.
“I know. I’ve been thinking about it for two months, Jack. I’m kind of ready to move on.”
“Y-yeah. Wait, move on? What do you mean by that?”
Alo looked around. He and Jack together had gotten a few curious looks from students. If he’d gained notoriety on campus, being with a quite recognizable Jack in tow was enough to cause stares. “Listen, why don’t we go somewhere. Coffee or, like, my house. Your house?”
“You okay?”
“People are staring. I get tired of the staring sometimes,” Alo said.
“I have my car here. We can go anywhere you want.”
“Your place is fine,” Alo said. “Let’s just get out of here.”
He followed Jack to his car and slid into the passenger seat. “Nice,”
Alo said. He stroked the leather seats.
“Yeah, she was a vanity purchase. I still love her, though.”
They drove through Friday afternoon Manhattan traffic. At least it was warm in Jack’s car. And Alo wouldn’t have to deal with the rush hour trains. They were quiet for the rest of the drive, but Alo felt hopeful. Jack pulled into the lot near his building and handed the keys to an attendant.
“It’s only about a block from here to my place,” he said.
“Okay. That’s fine.” Alo didn’t know what was going to happen when they got there, and it was silent with no distractions. Jack must’ve felt the same way.
“Listen, do you want to go get a drink instead?” he said. “There’s a bar down the street. It’s usually pretty quiet until about ten.”
Alo nodded. “Yeah. I think drinking can only help.”
Jack chuckled and let Alo walk a few steps before he followed. He put his hand on the lower part of Alo’s back and led him down the block. It was still nice. It still felt intimate, like Jack cared, which was a hell of a lot different than the message Alo had gotten back in December. Jack opened the door at the bar as well, and led Alo to a cushy booth. It all felt very familiar. Alo wondered if it would end with a very familiar “see ya later, kid” too.
“Hey, before anything else. I have something for you. You might be interested in it.” Jack pulled an envelope from his coat.
“What is it?” Alo went to open the envelope. That wasn’t exactly what he was expecting, but whatever. Jack had sought him out.
Jack put out his hand. “Wait. Before you do that... it’s about your great-grandfather. Kendra, Brad, and I found him, as a thank you to you and your family. Those papers say what happened to him.”
“O-oh. Wow.” Alo didn’t know what to say. His chest felt tight. He clutched at the envelope trying to figure out whether he even wanted to open it.
“Yeah. I figured I’d tell you before you got broadsided with it in the middle of a bar.” Jack reached up and cupped Alo’s face. “I don’t think you’ll be surprised by anything in there. Your guesses were mostly accurate. It’s not... pretty, but it’s the truth. An ending, I suppose. Closure for your family.”
“Thanks, Jack. I think I’ll give this to my dad to give to my grandpa. Let him decide what he wants to do with it. If nothing else, it’ll be good to know what finally happened to him.”
“You’re welcome. It’s the least we could do after dragging you into all this.”
Alo snorted. “Let’s be realistic. I dragged myself into it the second I published that paper. Probably even before. I doubt Watson would’ve left me alone for a second. And Perry—you guys really were the best part of it all.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
“Why are we here, Jack? I got a pretty clear impression that you were done with me and all of this once we landed. Like you’d gotten what you wanted.”
Jack reached across the table and covered Alo’s hand with his own. “I’m really sorry about that. That’s not what I wanted you to think at all.”
“Then what?”
“Shit.” Jack laughed and looked down at the table but he didn’t move his hand from Alo’s. “I don’t know what my goddamn problem is. I’m an ass? Will you accept that answer?”
“Sure.” Alo cracked a grin. “But I’m going to need more than that.”
“I might be overstepping here, but what we started in Europe... it felt like something to me. Not just physical. Not just because we were stuck in the middle of all that together.”
Alo’s heart started to race. “It felt like something to me too. A lot. You have to know that.”
He remembered how hurt he’d been when Jack dismissed him back in December. How he’d hoped, no thought, there was more to them than a bit of fun and stress relief in the middle of a tense ordeal.
“You probably would’ve been better off thinking that I’d used you, to be honest.” Jack gave him a self-deprecating smile. “I’m not exactly a catch, you know.”
“I need to know what you’re saying.” Alo wasn’t used to speaking clearly. Especially about his emotions. He tended to veil things in sarcasm and avoidance. This moment with Jack wasn’t the time for evasion. He had to know. “What are you trying to tell me?”
“That I don’t want to lose you. Us. Whatever it is we had. I think about you all the time. I’ve been thinking about you.”
“I think about you too. All the time.”
“I told you I didn’t want the press to catch wind of us and turn into something ugly, but I couldn’t have dealt with it in a worse way. Is there a possibility that you’ll forgive me for acting like a stupid ass and maybe give us a try?”
“Do you mean...?”
“Together. I’d like to be with you, if you’ll have me.”
Alo bit his lip and nodded. He should’ve acted cautiously and said maybe, or even rejected Jack altogether after the way he’d behaved, but Alo couldn’t do it. His dumb heart pounding in his chest couldn’t do it. He put his other hand over Jack’s and squeezed.
“Yeah. Yes. I want to be with you.”
“I don’t do this very often.”
“Well that’s fine because I’ve pretty much never done it. I’d say we’re on fairly even ground.”
“That’s not the ending I was thinking of.” Alo laced their fingers together and squeezed. “I was thinking more like you and me riding off into the sunset. Maybe on a pair of horses with a theme song. You do kind of look like Indy.”
“Oh, shut up.” Jack poked Alo in the chest. Then he pulled Alo closer and kissed him across the table. “I’m good with that ending too. Definitely. If it’s really what you want. I’m old.”
“You’re not even forty,” Alo said.
“Yet.” Jack rolled his eyes.
“Listen, Jack. I know we weren’t together very long, and the situation was unique.”
“That’s a word for it.”
“But I... I want us to have an actual chance.”
“A chance.” Jack smiled. “I can do a chance.”
“Especially now that you’re Mr. Successful. Back on top and everything.”
“I am. But I might want to quit while I’m ahead, you know. Try something new, hand the reins over to Kendra.”
Alo choked on a laugh. “After all that effort to keep Treasure Quest?”
Jack shrugged. “Somebody’s gotta help you spend your chunk of the finder’s fee we’re probably going to get.”
“And that’s going to be you, I guess.” Alo cracked a big grin.
Jack grinned right back. “I was hoping so. Hey, Alo?”
“You called me Alo.”
“Yeah. I did. Hey, Alo...”
“Yes?”
“I think I might be falling in love with you. Just in case you hadn’t figured that out.”
Alo couldn’t help ginning. “Hey, Jack…”
“Yeah?”
“Me too.”
Hi Everyone!
Thanks for reading Hunter’s Hope. I had an awesome time putting this one together — doing research and looking at maps and pictures and talking to people who’d been to all of these places. That’s the last book in my little adventure trilogy, but I have a couple of other series:) I’ll include a sample of one of them right after this.
