The smoke is strongest outside his cracked door. Glancing around, I catch all the other doors open and inviting, and then turn my head back toward his. I prepare to knock when I hear him talking. Instantly, I know who he's talking to.
What the fuck is she doing here?! I scream inside my mind. She is the one behind all of the pain and suffering Hunter and I have gone through. She shouldn't be here!
"Can't keep doing this, Cass," Hunter groans, making me slap a hand over my mouth to keep from making my presence known.
"Hunt, what we discussed before still stands." My eyebrows slant together. I really shouldn't be listening to a private conversation between them. Especially since it's not meant for my ears, and it’s behind a semi-closed door.
Plus, something tells me I'm not going to like her next words.
Sure enough, it feels like a dagger entering my chest when I hear Hunter grunt and Cass gritting out lowly, "That bitch is temporary. I'm your forever."
Not being able to listen to anymore, I race down the hallway and run into the first room I spy. Softly shutting the bathroom door behind me, my legs give out, and I slide down to the floor. The cool tile jolts me a little, contrasting to the heated fever encasing my skin overhearing Cassandra and Hunter's private conversation.
The way he groaned. His grunt. Fuck, they're probably in there right now about to have sex, and here I am, the pathetic ex, about to cry on his bathroom floor. Absolutely pathetic.
Still, it doesn't stop the tears from falling, leaving trails of pain and numbness in their wake. They drip off my chin in rapid succession, landing on my naked thighs and then sliding down to the floor. Hiccupping on a sob, I brace my face in my hands and can't fight it anymore. A heart-wrenching sob overtakes me, so much so, I pull my legs up to my chest and put my covered face in them to muffle the sound of my pain.
I don't know which emotion I feel more. Pain or jealousy. Pain at the knowledge that he hasn't broken things off with her, and he's still stringing her along—or jealousy that it's her and not me that he's giving his pleasure to.
Honestly, I'm baffled by the latter. I shouldn't be jealous of anything. I got the best part of him—our son. Yet, even that knowledge doesn't make me feel better.
I may have gotten the best part of him, but I can't call him mine. There's no claim I can lay at his feet that he would even want to pick up and cherish for the rest of his life.
Not knowing how much time has passed, I continue to sit there. Then a soft knock comes on the door as if the knocker is hesitant.
"Harloe, are you in there?" More tears leak from the corner of my eyes at the sound of his voice.
Leaning my head against the door, I open my mouth to reply, but nothing comes out—only a puff of air.
What is there to say? I caught you with your ex-girlfriend doing some very private things, and now I'm a jealous little hussy, even though I have no right to be?
That will make me the laughingstock of GOU campus, pining after a man who’s as unavailable as he is hot.
He's not with me. He can do anything he wants. "Why her?" I ask before I can stop myself. "After everything she did, why her?"
"Lo, baby ..." Hunter's voice softens, making more tears burn the back of my throat. "Open the door."
He sounds so fucking innocent, like he wasn't just in there betraying me. And that practically burns me up. I'm still sad. Oh, there's no changing that. But I'm also angry. Angry that I'm allowing my emotions to rule me when for so long, I've been in control of everything.
Crying over Hunter will do nothing to change the facts: he's not mine to cry over.
At the realization, I feel the resolve swimming around in my belly as I slowly climb to my feet. Wiping under my eyes, I sniffle, and then as much as I possibly can, I try to wrangle the emotions back into their cage once more.
Grabbing the cool doorknob, I jerk it open and come face-to-face with a solemn-looking Hunter. His eyes flit up and down my body, checking for ... what? I don't know. Not like he can see the wound right in the middle of my chest. It's in the place where my heart should be.
"I just needed a minute."
I'm proud. My voice holds no hint of emotion in it at all. Even though I can feel it burning my throat, begging to be released, it stays where it should be, never once showing its ugly face. Going to take a step by him, Hunter counters my movements, making me sigh.
"You're crying," he points out the obvious.
Such a man thing to do, I swear.
I go to move past him once more, this time, on the other side. He counters my step once again, effectively leaving me trapped in the bathroom. I huff, my eyes spearing into his.
"What is it?" I ask, maybe with a bit too much bite.
"Why were you crying?" he inquires, taking a step forward. His proximity causes me to take a step back into the bathroom. "When I left to get your drink, you were just fine and talking to Easton."
I don't miss the way he grinds out Easton's name like he doesn't like the idea Easton and I were so close while talking.
That's when I lose it. All the pain and betrayal and sadness I felt come over me like a tidal wave rushes out in the form of anger.
Unable to stop myself, I get up in his face. He's taller than I am, sure, but I can and know how to stand my ground. Even if that means he's a full head higher than me.
Pointing a nail into his chest, I release everything. "You're pissed at me for talking to your friend, yet you were in here with that bitch. After all the shit she did to us back in high school, and what she did to me the first month of school, and you're still fucking talking to her!"
He steps back, and his expression is one of stunned surprise. "How did you know that?"
I bark out a precarious laugh. "That's what you're going to settle on? How I knew you were talking to her?" Growling under my breath, I blaze, "Your priorities are seriously fucked up, Hunter Prince, if you think that's what you need to focus on."
With my last word, I take all of my anger and shove him. And like the asshole knew it would piss me off even more, he doesn't even move a muscle. Just stands there looking down at me like he's seeing me for the first time.
It's unnerving. Yet it's thrilling all at the same time.
Fuck, I'm messed up in the head. I need to get out of here before anger gets the best of both of us.
"You’re pissed," is all he says, and I know it has to be me, but I swear his voice gets lower with that account. "That means you care."
His tone takes on an edge I haven't heard since we were together, his eyes lighting up with an emotion that's both foreign yet so familiar at the same time. Oh, no, this can’t be good.
"Hunt," I say, watching his face cloud over with something akin to lust, his eyes sharpening and pinning me to my spot. I hold up a hand between us to keep him away.
"Lo." My name rumbles in his chest, and he takes another step forward, enough to slam the door behind him.
Within the span of two heartbeats, I'm in the small bathroom with Hunter blocking the only exit. But instead of being scared, I can't stop from feeling small tendrils of excitement light me up from the inside out—my scalp prickles with anxiousness. My flesh feels like there are hundreds of fingers caressing every inch of my skin. But I know it's only his eyes doing the wandering.