The last person I glance up at is Leo, who looks like he's swallowed his tongue.
"This whole time you had a kid and didn't tell me?" he murmurs so low, I barely hear him.
"Couldn't tell you. It would've gotten back to Hunter," I explain.
"You could've told me. I would have guarded your secret with my life."
See, that's the problem with these Golden Crew boys. The only secrets they guard are their own, no one else's. And they think us civilians don’t know that. Well, that’s his mistake.
I bark out a rasping laugh. "Never thought I'd see the day Leo Sutton would lie to me." I shake my head, disappointed. "Why would I risk him finding out about his son if he doesn't even believe he's his?"
Leo's eyes round in shock, his gaze darting back toward the hallway, before his eyes find mine again. "Oh, yeah." I nod my head. "Didn't tell you, did he? Your boy back there? He thinks I fucked Owen back in high school, and he's whose baby I had."
I leave without another word, slamming the door behind me. Fuck Hunter. Fuck the entire Prince name. Just as soon as I can, I'm ridding Maverick of that filth and making him a Rose. If it weren’t for my dad, I’d probably just change both of our last names and be done with it. You know, start fresh.
All I know is Maverick doesn't deserve the kind of attention he’ll get if his own father denies him, nor does he deserve the hurt.
So, I won't tell him about any of this. When he gets old enough to ask about his dad, I'll make up a story and stick to it. Maverick will never know that he was unwanted.
By the time I get halfway across campus, I hear my name being shouted from behind me. My eyes nearly roll into the back of my head as I groan long and hard.
It's Hunter.
Hastening my steps, I'm near my apartment before he catches up with me, jerking me around by my elbow.
"What do you want?" I seethe, jerking my arm away from him.
He gasps for air, saying, "A paternity test."
All the air in my body whooshes out like I've been punched in the gut. A paternity test? He wants proof that Maverick isn't his.
Looking at him like he's crazy, I merely shake my head in disbelief at such a request. I start walking backward, keeping him in my sight at all times.
If he can make a request like that with a straight face, then it's untelling what other crap he'll do to get his way. Hunter has sunk to an all-time low.
What sucks the most is the fact he can't just take my word for it. It's not like I'm asking him to help out with Maverick, financially or emotionally. If that were my plan all along, regardless of how I felt about Hunter, I would have shown up and demanded child support.
That's not what this is about. Never in my life have I felt so low, even that night he cast me out of their house like I was a walking disease. All because he thought I lied to him, cheated on him, with his brother, of all people.
I've never lied to him before, and I don’t plan on doing so now.
If you can't do something without having to create some elaborate story to cover your tracks, then by God, maybe you shouldn't be doing it. And I never created some story, I just didn't say anything. Why should I have? I never expected to see Hunter again. I never expected things to go down like this and have to explain myself for not telling them about Maverick.
I didn't think any of them deserved to know about the precious soul who literally saved my life. They didn't need to taint Maverick's innocence with filth and lies.
And again, I didn't think I'd ever see Hunter! That needs to be said twice because it's the most important.
“Are you freaking kidding—”
"Yes," he interrupts me. "I want a paternity test."
"Because you still think he's Owen's."
When he doesn't answer, my insides feel like they're being overrun by lava. Heat encases every sliver of my being, and it's all directed at the man standing in front of me.
I feel like one of the mentally deranged—stoic and blank on the outside, but on the inside, I'm bouncing off the walls, grabbing my hair by the handfuls, and jerking it out.
Hunter makes me feel like I'm insane.
For God's sake, he's the only guy I've ever had sex with! He's the only man who’s known me intimately, and that includes something as innocent as fucking kissing. Even when I dated Leo, he and I never kissed. Never so much as tried.
"You are fucking crazy if you think I'm putting my son through that when I already know, for a fact, who the father is. Fucking. Crazy."
"Stop jumping to conclusions,” he growls, looking fresh with anger. “A paternity test is the only way."
I snort. "I don't care what you think the only way is. You'll either believe me or you won't, and Hunter, I really don't give a shit if you do."
Hunter advances on me as I backtrack toward my apartment. "Lo, work with me here, okay? I'm not saying this shit to hurt you."
You're doing a fairly good job of it, anyway. That's all he's been capable of doing since that dreadful night.
Hurt me with his villainous actions.
Hurt me with his words.
Hurt me with his absence.
And now, he's hurting me with his doubt.
Hunter is a bottomless pit of hurt, and I've been burned by him enough to last a lifetime.
"All you do is hurt people," I snark with a cruel expression. "You pushed me out of your life over a lie. A lie you, apparently, still believe. Did you ever stop and consider that maybe, just maybe, the one who could be lying is your brother?"
"That’s not what this is about. Furthermore, what reason would he have to lie, Harloe?" He looks away, jaw ticking in anger. "When you told me it was a lie, I almost believed you. I was ready to call my brother a liar and stomp his ass again. But then a kid pops up out of nowhere, with the evidence already lined up against you. What am I supposed to take from that? We. Were. Always. Careful."
"He is lying!" I cry out, frustrated. "Instead of making up excuses, stop blaming me for something I didn’t do! Ask him! Get to the bottom of it! You know, like I told you to do weeks ago. Also, the reason I never told you about Maverick is because I knew, I knew in the bottom of my heart, you'd eventually do the same to him that you did to me."
I head into my apartment complex. I'm seriously thinking someone has a curse on me or something because my life has gone to shit all within the span of a week. No sooner than I start up the stairs, Hunter's shoes pound the concrete behind me as he closes in.
I groan. The fight that's been burning inside my gut is pretty much all steam at this point. Fighting with Hunter is like fighting with a brick wall. He's not ignorant, but he is bullheaded and stubborn. He always thinks he's right.
Just like his mini-me always thinks he's right.
All the fight drains out of me. My body feels like it weighs a thousand pounds by this point. I am absolutely through with this. I expected Hunter to take it terribly, yes. But I never, in all my wildest dreams, expected he'd try to outright deny that Maverick is his son.
Never. And that fucking hurts.
Grumbling under my breath at the absurdity that is my life, I get to the top step and can't take it anymore. Turning toward him, I cross my arms and refuse to move. "Hunter, go away."