He holds out his hand, and Traven looks down at the proffered hand with a quirked brow before he hesitantly takes it. Shaking once, Hunter looks between Traven and me, a silly smile on his face.
Then, his eyes settle on mine. “If sex is all you’re looking for, Lockridge, I’d go somewhere else. Too many fingers have been in this honey pot if you know what I’m saying, and she’s not even that good.” He taps his finger against his chin in thought. “She’d put you in the mind of a dying cow, but that’d be disgracing the cow.”
Shock completely blindsides me, and following quickly afterward, embarrassment tints my cheeks and neck red. Without vile words, he’s called me a whore. It’s not the first time he’s hinted at it, but it is the first time he’s said it with another person present.
I hate the fact it gets to me, too. He knows as well as I do that the only person I’ve ever been with is him—no one before and no one after.
Emotion builds behind my eyes. A tight ball rises into my throat. I try to swallow it down, but it’s too thick to dislodge it. His words hurt. Far more than any he’s ever said before.
The moment Hunter’s eyes finally land on mine after he dropped that bomb of fabricated lies, I can’t even watch as the sadistic mask slips and real emotions shine through for barely a second, like he’s remorseful.
“Oh, yeah.” I clear my throat, but nothing can take away the tightness of impending tears, so screw it. “Just like I told you before he interrupted us—you can’t get involved with someone like me.”
Clearly, the game has changed on Hunter, and he’s not liking it. Don’t give a shit if he likes it or not. It’s my name he’s running through the mud. This is the school I’m forced to stay at—no matter what happens—because I have responsibilities I need to take care of while I go to school.
Hunter has no idea how hard he’s making it for me. And you know what … I don’t think he’d care if he did. The day he betrayed me is the day any bit of good left him.
He tries to butt in, to get the upper hand once more. But I talk over him, not allowing myself to care about the manic anger softening into pity around his eyes.
I want none of his false sense of pity. There’s no room left in me to even care.
Never once taking my gaze off him, I talk to Traven while spitting the spiteful words in Hunter’s direction. Even though none of this will accomplish a thing, I need Hunter to know just how deeply his arrow pierced my flesh.
“As you can clearly see, I’m a whore, after all.” I lick my lips to moisten them, and the action seems to be what causes the first tear that built in my eyes to fall. “I’ll use you up, Traven. I’ll give you a false sense of hope—of having this fan-fucking-tastic future—then dash all of your hopes and dreams, and then leave you to pick up the pieces.”
Finally, my eyes rip themselves away from Hunter to stare up at Traven. His nostrils flare in anger, and I find he’s not even looking at me like I thought he’d be. Instead, he’s staring daggers at Hunter.
I release a heavy, exhausted sigh that finally seems to draw his attention to me. Shrugging, I whisper emotionally, “Areas of my life are poisonous. Nothing good will ever come out of getting close to me.”
Sparing them both one more glance, I turn around and head back to my apartment instead of the library. I can’t even think about being around anyone right now. The only person who would be able to make everything better is two hours away. He’s having the time of his life, and I’d rather cut my arm and bleed out than use him to make myself feel better.
By the time I get back to the apartment, I feel drained and useless. Facing Hunter tends to make that happen. Opening the door, I slam it shut behind me. I drop my bag next to the front door and step out of my shoes. Sauntering through the apartment toward my room, all I want to do is faceplant onto my bed and sleep for the next year, instead of until my next class. However, before I can get there, Jenna’s bedroom door opens.
Then, I hear his freaking voice.
“Hello again, marshmallow.”
My eyes close as the air hisses between my clenched teeth. “Please, God, tell me I’m hearing things.”
Reluctantly, I open my eyes and see that I’m, in fact, not hearing things. That douche from orientation is standing in Jenna’s doorway, lazily running his eyes up and down my body.
Seconds later, Jenna comes up behind him. Her breathing is hard, giving me an inkling what the two of them were doing in her bedroom. Not that I needed any help putting two-and-two together, but damn.
I shoot an unimpressed look at both of them before walking into my room and slamming the door behind me. Falling face down onto my bed, I press my face farther into the mattress. Maybe the quilts will do the job and put me out of my misery.
A soft tap on my door comes a little later. Groaning under my breath, I twist around to my back at the same time Jenna opens my bedroom door, thankfully clothed this time.
“Bad day?” she asks timidly.
If you knew Jenna as well as I do, then you’d know there’s nothing timid about her.
Deciding to get right to the point, I pin her to the spot with an uninterested glare. “One of his friends, huh?”
She has the nerve to look guilty. I may not have been around for the past three years, but even over the last week, I know exactly who Easton Banks, Zeke Savage, and Leo Sutton are.
They are the other three that make up the Golden Crew of their generation. A little clique of athletic guys who attended Golden Oaks high.
Each quad of guys must graduate the same year, no matter how they swing it. They all have to play a different sport at Golden Oaks. Surprisingly, Hunter is baseball, Easton is basketball, Zeke is football, and Leo is soccer.
Four guys, two of whom I’ve never seen before, and one I never want to see again. They were in the graduating class of 2015—the best of friends, since, apparently, after my family left to go live with Gammy.
How is it that I can find all of this out and not be very social, yet Jenna, my supposedly best friend, who just so happens to be the social butterfly of campus, has not?
She doesn’t. She knows who Easton is, and fuck if I can’t be mad at the fact she’s letting him dick her into her mattress. None of those losers deserve anything except a stick shoved up their ass.
“Easton and I …”
I shake my head. “Not my problem. But when he has another bitch hopping on his dick, I don’t want to hear nothing.”
Jenna’s eyebrow’s slant inward, but I can tell she doesn’t really take it to heart. Even after all this time, our friendship has never changed.
“Seems like someone got an extra shot of bitch in their coffee this morning.”
I sigh, feeling that familiar pressure building once more like it did earlier. Only this time, I can’t stop the tears as they leak down my temples and fall onto my bed.
“Fuck. What happened?” She hurries over to the bed when she sees my distress, scooting in beside me.
Turning on my side, I sniffle, meeting her concerned eyes. “I just wish I knew what I did that makes him hate me so much.”
“What did Hunt do, Lo?”
A gut-wrenching sob comes out of nowhere, shaking my entire body. It’s painful to breathe, let alone tell her all of the nauseating things Hunter’s done to me today.