“When I failed, I found out pretty quickly that none of those people who were so quick to befriend me when I was on The View wanted to hang around,” I continued. “Before I realized it, I was alone and trying to find inspiration and ... it was over. It was already over at that point, but I didn’t see it.”
Hunter shook his head. “It’s not over. You loved writing more than anybody I knew. You’d absolutely lose yourself in the worlds you created. Don’t you remember telling me about those places? You had joy in the process. You’ll find that again. You’re just going through a bad spot.”
“I don’t even know if I want it.” The words were out before I thought better of them. I wasn’t sure if I meant them or was simply feeling sorry for myself.
“What?” Hunter was shocked. “Of course you want it.”
Did I? “I’m starting to realize that I gave up everything to get one thing that I thought I wanted. I don’t know that it was worth it. Giving up everything, I mean. I feel so empty most of the time.”
I didn’t know I was crying until Hunter used his thumb to wipe the tear from my cheek. “You listen here,” he said in a stern voice, leaning close enough so that only I could hear. “I always knew you would do great things. That hasn’t changed. You might not have gotten everything you thought you would the first go-around, but you have plenty of chances to try again.
“Life isn’t one strike and you’re out, Stormy,” he continued. “You have infinite chances to get what you want. You just have to decide what it is that you really want.”
He was so earnest. I was just about to tell him that, thank him for bolstering my spirits, when Tristan rounded the nearby tree. I saw him out of the corner of my eye and cringed when his eyes lit up. “Oh, geez.”
Hunter followed my gaze and frowned. “I didn’t realize he was still here. I thought he’d left.”
“We’re not that lucky.”
“There you are.” Tristan swooped in and positioned himself directly between Hunter and me, boxing out my ex-boyfriend and trapping me. “I thought you forgot about me.”
“I’ve been catching up with people,” I said. “I could never forget about you.”
“Of course not. I’m memorable.”
Hunter rolled his eyes behind Tristan’s back. “Most douches are,” he muttered, forcing me to press my lips together to keep from laughing. “It’s just not for the reason you want to believe.”
Tristan’s gaze darkened. “Do you have something you want to say, Hunter?”
Hunter managed to blank his face, but it looked as if it took monumental effort. “I’m good. Thanks.”
“Then you should probably get back to your girlfriend,” Tristan said pointedly. “Last time I checked, she was on the other side of the clearing looking for you. She couldn’t figure out where you went.”
“She’s a smart girl,” Hunter shot back. “She’ll eventually find me.”
“I think she already has.” Tristan’s expression was smug as he inclined his head toward a spot behind me.
When I turned, my heart plummeted to my stomach at the look on Monica’s face. She was furious ... and I really couldn’t blame her. I wouldn’t be happy to find my boyfriend hanging out with his ex. Etiquette demanded she call him on deserting her to hang out with me, and it looked as if she was about to do just that.
“There you are.” She stomped over, her eyebrows knitting together when she caught sight of me. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing is going on,” Hunter replied smoothly. “Everybody was just talking.”
“Well, actually Stormy and Hunter were talking when I found them,” Tristan countered. “They had their heads together and looked to be having a very serious conversation.”
I frowned. Tristan always did enjoy stirring the pot. “It was innocent. We were just talking.”
The plea fell on deaf ears. Monica’s face contorted into something straight out of a horror movie. “Is that so?” The look she pinned Hunter with sent shivers down my spine. He was probably quaking in his hiking boots, though he looked perfectly calm in the face of her fury. “Do you want to explain yourself?”
“Not really.” He was calm as he gathered my cup and started toward the keg. “Stormy and I were talking. That’s it.”
“He was stroking her cheek,” Tristan snapped. “Don’t bother denying it, officer. I saw everything. You had your thumb on her cheek.”
He must’ve been watching us longer than we realized. “My eyes have been burning from the bonfire smoke,” I lied. “He just wiped away a tear.” That wasn’t entirely untrue.
“I knew this was going to happen,” Monica snapped, her eyes flashing with mayhem. “I just knew it. I warned you that she would try to suck you in, Hunter. She’s obviously still attracted to you. She’s a user. She doesn’t really want you. She’s just bored. Are you really going to let her destroy our relationship because you’re still harboring a crush on her after all these years?”
Despite my best efforts, my temper flashed. “Hey!”
Monica swiveled so fast she almost knocked me over with her flying hair. “It’s the truth,” she hissed. “I’m not an idiot. I knew from the moment I saw you that you were after my man. Well, guess what? You can’t have him.
“I know everyone in this town talks about the Hunter and Stormy mystique as if you guys were something special, but you were teenagers,” she continued. “It was puppy love. He and I have the real thing. No matter how you try to ruin it, you’ll never be equal to me. I’m an adult, and I didn’t have to come running home to live with my grandfather because I couldn’t control my own life.”
My temper flared, anger I didn’t know I possessed taking root. My hands clenched into fists at my sides and I was certain I would lose control and pummel her face. Instead, something wrenched free from inside of me and pushed through my chest in an explosion of energy.
I couldn’t explain it. Heck, I couldn’t even see it. I could only feel it, and apparently I wasn’t the only one.
At the exact moment my anger grew teeth and attacked, Monica cried out, her hands immediately going to her forehead.
“What was that?” she screeched.
“What was what?” Hunter snapped. He looked angry. His disappointment was aimed directly at Monica. “What are you complaining about now?”
“My eyebrows! They’re ... on fire.”
Hunter rolled his eyes and nudged away her hands, his eyes widening when he saw what used to be her eyebrows. She was right. The perfect arches were definitely burning. In fact, they’d burned completely off. The only hair left were the scraggly remnants of what had once been magnificently manicured half circles.
“How did that happen?” He looked dumbfounded.
That was nothing compared to what I felt. He didn’t realize it — and I certainly couldn’t say it — but I had a sneaking suspicion I was responsible.
17
Seventeen