A cold bucket of dread slams over my head. My stomach tilts on its axis as nausea completely engulfs any hint of pleasure. Shunting backward, I grab his shirt and really look him in the eyes. He's confused for a moment, but then realizes what he's said.
"Oh, shit," he says. "No, no, no. You got the wrong idea."
Humiliation wraps around my throat like a vice. "Are you two still together?"
"No,” he adamantly replies.
My eyes flick down to his pocket, trying my hardest not to look at the bulge behind his zipper, when his phone goes off again. I bring my eyes back up to his.
"Then why is she calling you?"
I don’t mean to sound defensive, but it’s hard not to react after what we were just doing.
Huffing, he steps back and runs his hands through his hair in agitation. "I don't know, Harloe."
We stare at each other long enough for the call to go to voicemail. But immediately, his phone begins ringing once more. Rolling my eyes, I push him away to jump down. A hand on my upper thigh stops me.
Narrowing my eyes at his hand and then up at him, I growl, "Let me down."
"For fuck’s sake." He shuffles backward, thinking better than to try and assert his dominance in a time like this.
Should have known Hunter would make me out to feel like an idiot. By the time I'm off the counter, he's growling and grabbing his phone out of his jeans pocket.
Sure enough, her name is flashing across the screen. What's even worse? His phone still has her contact save with a picture of them together. Fucking gross.
Releasing a sound of disgust, I step away and pick up my water bottle while he answer her call. I try not to listen. Really, I do. But I can't stop myself, even if I wanted to.
This was the bitch who slithered in like a snake in high school. Let's just say a grudge is the least I hold against her.
"What?" he snaps, as I pour the rest of the water down the sink, tossing the bottle into the trash. Gathering a dish towel, I begin wiping up the mess while he tries to talk to her under his breath.
It doesn't work. I can hear whoever is on the other line, and she’s not happy.
"Yes, this is he." Hunter's body tenses with fury. His eyes meet mine briefly, but don't stay connected too long.
It seems whatever we had going is done—tough break.
Moments later, he seethes, "Fine, I'm fucking coming. But I'm telling you right now this is the last goddamn time I'm dropping anything for you.”
He ends the call with a curse. While still looking at the blackened screen, he holds his cell up like I didn't just know he was on the call with queen bitch herself.
"Goddammit,” he seems to mutter under his breath, then responds to the person on the other line. “Yeah. I’ll be right there.”
It's hard not to roll my eyes. "Same tricks. Different school."
"Huh?" He peers at me, confusion riddling his features.
Instead, I brush it off and shake my head. Jutting my chin toward the door, I quip, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out."
"It's not like that," he retorts, and what’s so terrible is he actually seems to mean it.
Still a sucker just like he was back then.
I've had it. All through school, she tried to get Hunter to notice her. Being the head cheerleader, and the biggest slut in school, she got what she wanted by using her body. And now, it seems like she's doing that again.
I will fight for no man. Not if he can't make me a top priority. That's too much to ask from Hunter, I know, and I don't even want that from him. But to not be dropped for a bitch like Cassandra Radcliff would be pretty goddamn nice.
Crossing my arms, I release a huff of irritation. "How’s it like, then?"
"It’s ... too fucked up to explain," he releases on a pained sigh. "It's my fault. I told her it was over, and we'd been together for three years."
"Oh, trust me, I know how long you've been together. I was there when it started, remember?"
He flinches but still tries to justify leaving his son to go console his ex-girlfriend. "I have to make sure she's okay. Lo, I did the same for you."
I laugh at that. "Did you? I didn't see you there when I was crying my eyes out, not knowing what I did to deserve such betrayal. She's known you intimately for three years?" I nod. "Bravo, give that slut a metal. I put up with your shit my entire life and only got a year of happiness before you tossed me to the side. So, sure, go run off and help her.”
Turning my back on him, I pull open the drawer for takeout menus. Hunter has Maverick all hyped up for pizza, and now, I have to live up to my boy’s expectations. Just like I always do. I can't drop everything to run off and play knight in shining armor to someone who doesn't deserve it.
After what she and her cronies did to me? Fuck, no.
All the anger at just the thought of what she did bursts out of me. Forgetting the pamphlets, I slam my hands down on the counter and try to breathe through the blaze of fury.
Finally, my hardened eyes meet his. "Did you know she tried to have me drowned in the girl’s bathroom? In a toilet, for Christ’s sake. It was right at the beginning of school, and I woke up in the clinic after it happened. God knows how I got there. Hunter, I spent the next few weeks coughing and hacking all because your little girlfriend nearly killed me!"
The more I stare at Hunter, sensing his unease and watching him fidget, the quicker I piece it all together. How he was nice after that day, and there was no more bullying. At least, not from him. My life had finally started settling down until I had to go get Maverick, and then, it all burst into flames again.
Putting a hand over my face, I don't know whether to cry because of how sucktastic my life is or laugh because this has got to be a joke.
"It was you, wasn't it?" After some time, I lower my hand enough to see him nod with guilt marring his features. "And even knowing what you do, you're still going to go to her.”
"Harloe," he begins, but I stop him right there.
Cutting him off with my hand, I peer in toward the living room, watching as Maverick remains oblivious to the goings-on in here. He's still vroom-vrooming in the living room as he bumps cars into each other.
With that small sound breaking through my lustful haze, I come to the realization I should have before losing myself and allowing Hunter to touch me. I may feel an attraction for Hunter, but I can't take the risk. Maverick is too important, and I just couldn't handle it if a broken—whatever this is—harms him from his extended family.
"Just go," I say, and there's a small part deep, deep down inside that still hopes he won't. Even after putting it together about him helping me to the clinic. Even about what happened. That hope burns brightly, and I need to shroud that bitch in darkness and smoke her out.
"I'll be back," he replies with a sad lilt to his voice, reluctant to go.
I shake my head, already forgetting everything that happened. It's hard to do since my body remembers, but I have to.
"Don't worry about it. I'll tell him his daddy had something more important to do, and he had to leave."
The last thing I allow myself to see is Hunter cringing as I walk out of the kitchen. I come into the living room, my chest aching, to see my little boy playing alone with his toy cars. The sight of him doesn't alleviate the sadness and dismay that exudes from me at the sound of the front door closing behind Hunter, but it does go a long way in helping me.