Unmaking Hunter Kennedy

by Anne Eliot

  Vere cried harder as she replayed what he’d said to her. He’d been so honest. He’d bared his entire heart. Every inch of it while sitting next to her and gazing into her eyes.

  She froze, cringing at the memory, mostly at the memory of how she’d rejected him.

  The guy had been down on his knees! Wasn’t that supposed to be the most romantic thing a guy could do?

  Vere groaned and put her hand to her head, while the room faded into a horrible, black fog. “I suck. I’m the worst. He’ll never forgive me.” She moaned and her tears flowed unchecked down her cheeks. “Oh. Oh, no. What have I done? How will I ever apologize? How will I? Jenna, I want to die.”

  Jenna slowly pushed her along, misunderstanding Vere’s anguish. “I’m pretty sure there’s no getting back with Curtis after this one. And he doesn’t deserve an apology the way he was pawing you. Now keep moving the feet. One step in front of another. If the floor seems to be melting that’s not real...walk through it.”

  “Have I told you that I love you?” Vere sobbed openly now, shuffling her feet little by little while she gasped for breath. Jenna had every right to think she’d gone bonkers.

  If Hunter’s feelings were even half as strong as the imploding, desperate, crippling madness she felt squeezing her heart this very second, Vere figured she’d totally crushed him. She hoped he’d let her explain. Vere looked up and realized the room had finally quieted and everyone was staring at her.

  Watching her cry her ass off.

  Worse, she was still in Kristen Hodjwick’s living room.

  She felt like she was in a really weird dream. Vere gasped for air and tried to get control of her tears. “What will I do?”

  Jenna took her hand. “I’ve got you.”

  Kristen Hodjwick marched straight up and blocked their path. “I’m sure you two don’t have to be asked to leave? I can’t believe you started punching people at my party, Vere.” She shot a grimace at Jenna holding Vere’s hand. “OMG. You are both, such FREAKS.”

  Jenna jumped in. “Whatever, cow. Consider us already gone.”

  “No way! No way! Dudes! Charlie Roth is on TV. Looks like he’s standing in his own front yard!” Howie screeched from the den. “Something must have happened. There’s cop cars and everything!”

  Vere’s heart dropped to her stomach. She and Jenna peered into the den at the supersized flat screen on the back wall. Vere could see Charlie squinting away from twenty microphones as he was being interviewed by their local TV news reporter.

  “Why would Charlie be on TV? He’s supposed to be at this party,” Jenna whispered.

  Vere’s entire body filled with dread. She tugged Jenna’s hand as hard as she could.

  “No Shit!” Howie bellowed. “He’s talking about Dustin. Dustin McHugh is actually Hunter Kennedy! Charlie’s been holding out on the team. It’s a whole story about the GuardeRobe lead singer dude living in disguise in our town. Next door to the Roth family! And going to our high school! No SHIT! Dustin McHugh is Hunter Kennedy! Did any of you know about this? HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! We should head over there. Who knew about this?”

  It took one second for everyone in the room to swivel their heads to search for Vere and Jenna.

  But they were gone. Long gone.

  **

  “You better talk as fast as we’re about to be running, Vere Roth. If you think I’m ever going to forgive you for keeping this secret from me, think again!” Jenna hissed at max whisper. They were now creeping as fast as they could, heads low, through the Hodjwick’s yard, heading for the front gate.

  Vere couldn’t speak all over again. She felt so sick.

  Charlie had blown Hunter’s cover! Her over-protective, vendetta seeking brother had gone way overboard.

  Could this night get any worse?

  And it was all her fault.

  Jenna continued her tantrum, “The only thing that saves you at all is that I get to trade you out now. I’m going to be Hunter Kennedy’s new best friend. If you made out with him, and he says he loves you, then you’re his girlfriend!”

  They hit the front sidewalk and started running.

  Jenna went on, “This means he has a vacancy in the best friend department, just like I do! OMG. I’m Hunter Kennedy’s NEW BEST FRIEND! OH. MY. GOD. Aaaahh!”

  41: misunderstandings

  HUNTER

  Hunter, Nan and his mom had just finished dinner. It had been strange at first to have his mom sitting at the table, but by the end of the meal, he admitted it felt great that she had come. He stood and picked up his dishes to bring to the sink. “Aunt Nan, mind if Mom and I clean up?”

  Nan smiled, getting the point. “Not at all. I have some work to do upstairs.”

  Hunter’s mom stood, grabbed her plate and smiled. “Thanks, Nan. Thanks for everything, the dinner, letting Hunter stay here, all of what you’ve done.”

  Nan waved her arm from the doorway of the cozy kitchen. “Stop. We’re family. No need for thanks. You two have a good talk.” They watched her in silence as she made her way down the hall.

  “Hunter, you look great. Really great. I’m glad to see you’ve put on a little weight.” Hunter’s mom ruffled his hair. “The brown color suits you. When you’re older, I bet this will probably be your real color.”

  “Yeah. I like it.” He smiled. “The glasses and retainer suck, though. What happened to your hair? And for that matter, why are you so Colorado casual?” Hunter downed the last of his water as he leaned on the counter.

  “I’ve been rethinking my wardrobe. Rethinking everything really. I needed a change.” She was busily gathering up the remaining silverware and serving dishes on the table and brought it over.

  “Well, I don’t know how the urban housewife look goes over in Los Angeles, but you’ll sure fit in perfectly in this town with that get-up. You aren’t serious about it, are you? It’s so, not you.” Hunter opened the dishwasher and started to load as she passed the plates toward him.

  “What if I came here hoping not to be going back to Los Angeles for quite some time? I want to stay, for the rest of the year. Here, with you and Nan.”

  “Oh, no you don’t. You and I are so out of here. I am done with this town, this disguise, all of it. It’s killing me. I want to go back. Back to work.”

  “Nan said you had friends. She told me you’d settled in well and liked it.” She wrinkled her brow. Her concerned mom expression was something he’d forgotten.

  Hunter grabbed a sponge and walked over to wipe the table. His mom could read him as well as he could read her. He didn’t want her looking too closely, not tonight.

  “It was fun for a while,” he started. “As for friends, I’m down to zero. I hoped your arrival meant you had good news for me? Did you drop the charges? Will you let me go back?”

  “You mean you haven’t spoken to Martin or the guys? I’m surprised.” Her eyes were wide. “I assumed you knew everything and that you’d decided my idea wasn’t so bad. When you called me and asked me to come—the way you hugged me outside—I thought.” She shook her head. “I thought you knew. I thought that you’d finally read the letter.”

  Hunter paused and turned to face her. “Nope. I told Nan to send it back to you.”

  “Oh, God. You don’t know.” She sighed. “I guess you can add this to my list of parenting screw-ups because I really did it this time.”

  “Know what? How in the hell am I supposed to know anything if you didn’t call me once.” Three months of frustration let loose like a storm in his chest. He sat on the table and put his feet up on a chair. “Why didn’t you? Call me this whole time? Why didn’t you visit me at Falconer?”

  “I did it on purpose. I didn’t visit you because I wanted you to have some space. To figure some stuff out on your own and...because I thought you wouldn’t listen.”

  “I’m listening now, Mom. You’re freaking me. Start talking.” Hunter’s heart beat uncontrollably against his rib cage but he leaned back and faked his most relaxed e
xpression.

  His mom swallowed, and turned back to the dishes. “I— sabotaged Martin. I refused to drop your charges. I set this all up while you were in Falconer. Your therapist and I were convinced that you needed this change. It’s quite unconventional and underhanded the way we didn’t tell you all the details exactly; but if you understood why...”

  “But Martin said—I thought—I was here to hide from the press, to keep my reputation clean. That’s what Martin thought too.”

  “That’s what I wanted you both to think.”

  “But why Colorado, why the disguise? I don’t understand.”

  “I sent you here so you could hide from yourself.”

  “What?”

  “The Hunter Kennedy fame had turned you into a machine of sorts. Once GuardeRobe became popular, I felt like I couldn’t find you. It was like you were hiding. And every day you would shut down on me. You were losing yourself.”

  “That’s stupid. I was right there the whole time. We lived in the same house. It was you who hid out, not me.”

  She scrubbed madly at a pot but still didn’t turn around. “You’re right. I was. I was scared to make a change. I thought, eventually you and your fame would time out. End. I was waiting for something besides me to make that call. So you and I could go on with more normal lives.”

  “You wanted me to time out? Who says that?” Hunter shook his head.

  “Martin told me every child star had sort of a ‘shelf date’ where the fans would suddenly tire of them and move on. I believed him. But then GuardeRobe started up and became so big. And you loved it. You loved the music part of it. I didn’t know how to make it slow down. When Barry mentioned you could use a long rest this seemed like a good plan. I thought, if it worked, that I could save you from yourself.” She walked over and sat at the kitchen table next to him looking totally deflated.

  “Save me from myself? You have got to be kidding.” Confused, Hunter stood to get away from her to pace the room. “You have about two minutes to explain why you thought any of this was a good idea before I walk out of here forever.”

  “Hunter, please. Try to understand. Our communication was closed off. You wouldn’t talk to me. You sure wouldn’t take advice from me. I thought I was losing you. For real, losing you.”

  “Oh, you’ve lost me all right. This whole experience has made me lose my freaking mind. Is that what you wanted, because it’s still going on. Right here, right now, two hundred more brain cells just burnt up.”

  She tapped her fingers on the table. “I figured if you came out here as Hunter Kennedy, the superstar, then you’d get swept up in all the hype that surrounds you. You’d never have the time or the chance to sort out who you really are.”

  “Your plan has been backfiring since day one. This deal has messed with my head so much I feel like I know less and less of myself every freaking second. I have no idea what is real anymore. Now I have to wonder if I even have a mom, because a real mom wouldn’t do something like this to their kid.”

  That had gotten to her. She shifted uncomfortably and smoothed her hair behind her ears, something his mom always did if she was going to cry.

  She squared her shoulders. “A real mom does whatever it takes to keep her kid safe. Intervening and sending you here was my attempt at that. I’m only sorry it took me so long to realize that I needed to fight for you. I should have never let you sign the contract with GuardeRobe.”

  “So you think you can just rip it away from me now? You’re way off, lady. You’ve just admitted to me that you wanted to kill my career. If I truly have to finish the year here because of what you’ve done, GuardeRobe is over. And that will mean I’m finished. Or timed OUT!”

  She nodded. “Maybe. Probably. I still hope so.”

  He flung his arms wide. “How did you ever get Martin to agree to this? Why haven’t I heard from him about your bullshit sabotage?” He leapt off the table and headed for the door. “I’m out. I’m going to call him.”

  She hopped out of her chair and blocked his path. “I tricked him. I made him believe I was doing everything in my power to get you back to LA. I actually have to credit Martin for part of it, though. He came up with the last piece of the puzzle for me. He invented the disguise idea. Once that was in place, I knew you’d have a chance out here.”

  When he met her gaze he knew it was true. “Let me get this straight. I didn’t really have to come here? You lied to me, played me and Martin for fools, and ruined my career on purpose. Is that all of it?”

  “No. Well, yes. If you put it that way. If only you’d read that letter.”

  The pounding in Hunter’s head had started to slow. He worked hard to understand all that she’d said. He tried to walk in her shoes as Aunt Nan had suggested he do, but this was too much to handle. “What was in that letter that would make any damn difference between us now?”

  She sighed. “I thought I was going to lose you, like I lost your father. The letter I left you was about him. How he died.”

  His mom gasped back a breath, holding back tears.

  “Keep talking if you can. It’s time for both of us to do this.”

  She nodded, sucking in another breath. “I’m surprised I beat Martin here. I know he’s coming. He must be losing it, especially if none of us returned his calls. Aunt Nan told me you’d turned off your cell. That move bought my plan an extra week.”

  “I hope Martin’s losing it. I hope to hell he’s on his way right now. I so, need a real rescue from you and your insanity!” Hunter shouted now, “Why in the hell didn’t he call me, here? He had the number!”

  “Martin did call here. A lot. Nan’s been hanging up on him,” she said. “She kind of hates the guy. Don’t blame us too much.”

  “Aunt Nan...?” Hunter couldn’t breathe. His entire body hurt. “I will blame the hell out of anyone I please. Now tell me about Dad. What happened with my real dad?” Hunter’s voice cracked.

  His mom looked directly at him. “He killed himself. I can’t prove it, but I think he did. He got really depressed and he got drunk just like you did.” She blinked, holding back tears. “He went out driving and he crashed his car into a tree. I think.” She gasped. “When you wrecked your Porsche and then I found you all cut up and drunk...” She choked on a sob. “I flipped. I did what I had to do. I felt like I had to save you....”

  “Mom...no...I didn’t. Fine. I did. I did.” Hunter shook his head and looked away, unable to meet her gaze. His mom’s words poured over him.

  He suddenly got it. Got her.

  Got why things had become so broken between them.

  She went on, “Martin figured the whole thing out last week, right when you called me. When you asked me to come, I thought you’d read the letter. And that you knew. I hoped you’d made your choice, and that you were inviting me out to stay for good. I guess I should have called you first. I’m sorry. I just got a plane ticket and came. I wasn’t thinking. I only wanted to see you. To hug you.”

  Hunter risked a glance deep in to her eyes. She was sincere. Afraid. And as sad as he’d been all along.

  She also had huge, dark circles under her eyes like she hadn’t slept much...in months. He understood where she was coming from now, but it still didn’t make him feel any less messed up. Didn’t make what she did right?

  Or...did it?

  She was his mom, after all. A mom, protecting her son the best way she knew how. Aunt Nan was all he and his mom had ever had. It made sense that she’d send him here.

  His throat tightened and his eyes grew heavy with his own unshed tears. “You should have told me. You should have talked to me about Dad’s possible suicide years ago. We should have talked about him. About what happened with me and the intern two years ago.”

  She nodded. “I never knew how to bring up the topic of your dad. I thought it would hurt you. As for the intern...and that dirt bag I married. I’m sorry, but it wasn’t the easiest topic to bring up. Plus you were on tour that whole year.” She s
ighed. “I thought you wouldn’t listen.”

  “I guess I probably wouldn’t have. I was so pissed off at everything after they left.” Hunter let out a deep breath and sat back at the table. His fury had completely disappeared leaving behind a raw feeling, but he had to acknowledge the it was a full feeling instead of the emptiness he usually felt when he talked to his mom.

  He leaned his head on a hand and met his mom’s gaze. “You have no idea how impossible and freakish my life has been, masquerading as Dustin McHugh.” Hunter took in a deep breath, trying to set the information his mom had given him into some sort of order inside his mind.

  “You have no idea how ugly and terrifying your agent is when he’s angry. This whole time I’ve been only a few steps ahead of him, playing this game from the other side. It’s been hell for me too.”

  “What did you mean when you said you thought I’d chosen?”

  His mom sighed and sat next to him. She was taking small, short breaths, obviously still trying not to cry. “When Martin shows up, he will most probably have his lawyer in tow or, at the very least, some emancipation papers for you to sign. He’s been working on them since the day he figured out my scheme. If you want me to sign them, I won’t contest it.”

  Hunter shook his head. “Mom. He’s been working on that since Falconer. He tried to get me to sign something long ago.”

  “Oh.” She paled. “I guess I underestimated him. I should have understood how difficult it would be for you to be an imposter for the long term. I’m happy I got to talk to you before he got here. I can imagine how Martin would have twisted this story and made me look like the bad guy.”

  Hunter nodded, thinking about that. Martin would have made his mom sound like a psychopath. One who surely drove his real dad to his death. Sadly, Hunter, most probably would have believed Martin over his own mom. But not anymore. Not after today. He owned his part in it.

  “Well. At least we’re communicating again,” he said quietly. “Even if this plan totally sucked.”