Heartless

by Jennifer Sucevic

  Hunter Price is so much more dangerous than I allowed myself to believe. No matter what, I can’t forget that.

  Chapter Ten

  Hunter

  I drag a hand over my face before grabbing a pair of boxer briefs from the top drawer of the dresser and yanking them up my legs. By the time the elastic band snaps against my waist, Skye has already ripped open the bedroom door and is racing down the staircase like she’s narrowly escaped becoming a human sacrifice. The pounding of her feet echoes off the bare walls before reverberating in my head. I grab athletic shorts, a T-shirt, and shoes before taking off.

  What the hell am I supposed to say once I catch up to her?

  That I’m sorry?

  Well, guess what?

  I’m not.

  I’ve had a major hard-on for that girl since she stepped foot on campus. It was only a matter of time before the sexual energy brewing between us exploded. I wasn’t lying when I told her that I’ve used other women to try and obliterate her from my mind.

  The operative word being try.

  Only now is it apparent that I’ve been deluding myself.

  There’s always been undeniable chemistry between us. What I didn’t anticipate was that it would have grown in strength. Skye Sinclair has annihilated the willpower I’ve always prided myself on having. After the way that girl stomped on my heart, she should mean absolutely nothing to me.

  Less than that.

  Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth.

  By the time I make it to the first floor of the house, the front door is hanging open on its hinges. None of the fuckwits in the living room seem to notice. They’re too busy playing video games and drinking. I barrel through the door, not bothering to close it behind me. As soon as I hit the sidewalk, I see her familiar figure striding toward campus. I’m tempted to shout her name but decide to keep my trap shut. There’s no reason for me to alert her to my presence and make this any harder on myself.

  The heel of my foot lands on a pebble and I remember with a yelp of pain that I’m holding my shoes instead of wearing them. With my gaze focused on Skye, I stop long enough to slip them on my feet before setting off at a quick jog. It doesn’t take long for me to close the gap between us. By the time Skye realizes that I’m hot on her heels, it’s already too late. I’m there.

  She might have dodged me once tonight, but she won’t get the chance to do it again. I’ll turn her loose when I’m damn good and ready. And not a moment sooner.

  Heat fills her cheeks and her blond hair is mussed. Instead of a freshly fucked afterglow mellowing her mood, her eyes spit green fire. I’m almost tempted to lay my hands on her one more time just to prove that even though she’s angry, I can still bend her to my will.

  She stops and swings around to face me. “Stay away from me, Hunter! I’m not interested in playing anymore games with you.” Her voice shakes as her hands bunch and tighten.

  I can’t help the chuckle that breaks free. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m only getting started.”

  She growls before whipping around and trying to stride away from me.

  If only this were a game. My life would be so much easier if Skye was nothing more than a piece of ass I could fuck out of my system before moving on to the next conquest.

  But that’s not the case. This is the one girl who has always held power over me. And it pisses me off to realize that she still does.

  Silently I fall in line with her and try to collect my scattered thoughts. I refuse to apologize for what happened in my bedroom. She wanted it. Hell, she begged for it.

  The only sound that fills the quietness is the soles of our shoes striking the cement. Skye’s body vibrates with pent-up tension until it becomes impossible to contain. She gives me a sidelong look before grinding to a halt.

  With her hands planted firmly on her hips, she snaps, “What are you doing?”

  “I’m walking you home.” I may be angry with her, but that doesn’t mean I want to see anything happen. It’s confusing to feel both pissed off and protective at the same time.

  “You do realize that you’re what I’m running from, right?”

  The irony isn’t lost on me.

  All the unwanted emotion that Skye dredges up inside me was easier to deal with when there was a thousand miles between us. I didn’t think about her on a daily basis or see her around every damn corner. It’s become a vicious cycle. The more I see her, the more I think about her.

  Know what I should be focused on?

  I’ll give you a hint…it’s not Skye fucking Sinclair.

  When I remain silent, she adds in a weary voice, “I can’t drop this class, Hunter, and it doesn’t seem like you can either. The only thing you can do is talk to Dr. Bennet and see if she’ll change our partner assignments. If not, we don’t have any choice about working together.”

  Is it possible for me to sweet talk my way out of working with Skye?

  Probably.

  Dr. Bennet and I go way back to first semester of freshman year. She seems to like me well enough. It certainly wouldn’t hurt for me to drop by office hours and talk to her about the situation.

  But…

  Why should I let Skye off the hook so easily?

  The girl had to know what she was getting herself into when she decided to transfer to CU. That decision has wreaked havoc on my life. As far as I’m concerned, she can suck it up and pay the price.

  So…am I going to talk with Bennet and try to get us reassigned to different partners?

  Not a snowballs chance in hell.

  “You heard what Dr. B said,” I remind. “No exceptions. I’m not even going to ask.”

  Skye’s shoulders slump as if she was expecting the answer but was hopeful for a different one.

  Well, that’s too fucking bad.

  She glances in my direction before admitting softly, “I wish it didn’t have to be like this.”

  That makes two of us, but there’s nothing Skye can say that will soften my feelings toward her. Not after the way she destroyed me. Even though I don’t want to dwell on the demise of our relationship, I can’t help but mentally sift over the wreckage.

  Our breakup had come out of nowhere. There hadn’t been any problems or arguments leading up to it. Hell, I’d been busy mapping out our future. It went a little something like this—we’d spend the summer together after graduation, attend Claremont in the fall, I’d enter the NFL draft junior year, and then we’d tie the knot. A couple of years down the road, we’d have a few kids and live happily ever after.

  What a naïve asshole I’d been.

  Instead, Skye accepted a position as a camp counselor in Wisconsin.

  Wisconsin.

  She claimed that I would be too busy with football during the summer and she wanted to spend time with her mother before we started college. I wasn’t thrilled about the unexpected change in plans, but she said all the right things and made me feel like everything was okay. This was a favor for her mom’s friend who owned the camp, and we’d visit as much as we could.

  But that never happened.

  Once she got to Wisconsin, she was too busy to talk or even text. And I was swamped with football camp. Before I knew it, weeks had flown by with only a few sporadic messages between us. Unable to stand the separation, I got in my car and drove the seventeen hours to Camp whatever-the-hell-its-name-was. Instead of being happy to see me, Skye dropped the bomb that she was staying in Wisconsin to attend college. Her mother had pulled some strings and got her accepted at UW-Madison.

  I’d thought she was joking.

  Who the fuck wants to live in Wisconsin?

  She wasn’t.

  Then she unceremoniously dumped my ass. Something about our lives moving in different directions and us growing apart—blah, blah, blah. My brain clicked off and I stopped listening to the bullshit excuses, since that’s exactly what they were. None of it made sense.

  How could she throw away our relationship?

  I’
m not proud of myself but in a moment of weakness, I told her that if being closer to her mother was so important, I’d transfer, too. I would talk to the coach at Madison and see what could be worked out. So what if I had to red shirt my freshman year? Did it really matter? I was a hot commodity. I could have gone to any Division I program in the country.

  Skye shot down the idea. She wanted a chance to be on her own without anything weighing her down. And just like that, I was cut loose. Confused and angry, I returned home. After a couple of weeks, I tried reaching out again in hopes that she had come to her senses and changed her mind.

  Know what she did?

  She blocked me.

  Can you believe that shit? The girl fucking blocked me from her phone and all social media.

  I sulked for the rest of the summer and into the fall. It was Mason, my older brother, who finally pulled me aside and told me that I was fucking up everything I’d spent my entire life working toward. I needed to pull my head out of my ass and play the way I could before someone stole my spot.

  It took time for me to find my groove again, but eventually I got there. I learned to enjoy the benefits that came along with being starting QB for the Claremont Cougars. Which means I screwed and partied my way out of the funk I’d fallen into.

  After a while, I forgot all about Skye Sinclair.

  Or so I’d thought.

  I shake myself from those thoughts as my gaze falls to her lips. After a moment, her tongue darts out to smudge them.

  “Hunter…” she whispers thickly.

  I flick my gaze to hers and angle my head. “Yeah?”

  It doesn’t escape me that I could have her down on the ground in a heartbeat if I wanted. I could have her begging me to fuck her. That little bit of knowledge assuages the pain buried deep inside me.

  “What happened in your room,” she shakes her head, “it can’t happen again.”

  Want to bet?

  All I’d wanted to do tonight was see how far I could push Skye before she crumbled. It had taken less than a handful of minutes before I’d had her spread out before me, begging to come. The memory brings a smile of satisfaction to my lips.

  “And why’s that?”

  Her gaze darts away as she mumbles, “We’ve both moved on with our lives.” She swallows and forces out the rest. “We can’t be anything more than friends.”

  Friends?

  I almost choke on my laughter.

  Is that what she thinks? That I’m interested in friendship?

  I step closer, invading her space. Her body jerks when my fingers slip beneath her chin, tipping her face upward, until she has no other choice but to meet my steely gaze. “You and I will never be friends.”

  “What?” Her eyes become impossibly wide as hurt flashes in them.

  “There’s only one thing I want from you and it sure as hell isn’t your friendship. You need to wrap your pretty little head around that.”

  “No.” She breathes out the word as if it’s painful.

  My lips lift at the corners. “The only thing I want is closure.”

  When she attempts to shake her head, my fingers bite into her chin to keep her from moving.

  “I-I don’t understand.”

  “Of course you do.” I step closer until the tips of her breasts brush against my chest. “I want to fuck you out of my system until you’re nothing more than a distant memory. Tell me that you don’t want the same damn thing.”

  Even before she opens her mouth, I see the refusal perched on the tip of her tongue and shake my head to silence her. Skye can deny it all she wants to herself, but she isn’t going to lie to me.

  “You owe me that much.” I lift my other hand and tangle my fingers through her hair until she’s rendered powerless.

  A whimper leaves her mouth.

  “Are you really going to deny me?”

  She presses her lips together as I bring my face inches from hers. “It destroyed me when you left town.” It hurts to give voice to the words, but she needs to hear them almost as much as they need to be vented. “You stole all the light from my world and left me to rot in the darkness.”

  A sheen of tears brightens her eyes, making them shimmer in the moonlight. “That was never my intention.”

  “Does it really matter?” I bite out. “It was the end result. I want what should have always been mine.”

  “Hunter…”

  “I’ll give you some time to think it over.”

  Before she can tell me no, my hands fall to my sides. “Come on, I’ll walk you home. I’ve still got a shit ton of work to plow through tonight.”

  She inhales a shaky breath before giving me a sharp nod. I was expecting her to put up more of a fight. It surprises me when she remains silent.

  We walk quietly, each of us lost in our own private thoughts that we’re unwilling to share with the other. I have no idea if Skye will give in to my demands. If I’m being completely honest with myself, I don’t want her to. At least not right away. I want to give chase before slowly wearing her down. And only then, do I want to claim my prize.

  Chapter Eleven

  Skye

  “ Exactly who does that bitch think she is?” Lanie seethes as she paces back and forth in front of the bed I sit on.

  The bitch in question is Tasha Adams.

  “Calm down, they’re just working together on a project. It’s not a big deal.”

  Lanie whips around and plants her hands on her hips. I gulp, glad that I’m not Tasha. I don’t think I’d want to be on the receiving end of Lanie’s jealousy.

  “Shows how much you know. Tasha has been trying to sink her skanky claws into Jaxon ever since freshman year.” Her eyes cloud before she reluctantly admits, “Maybe I didn’t mention it before, but they’ve hooked up a couple of times.”

  “Oh.”

  “It’s not like they ever went out or anything,” she tacks on hastily. “He’s got much higher standards than that. But she had a hard time accepting that it was a casual relationship. She followed him around like a puppy and would show up at the parties he was at.”

  Well, that definitely changes the circumstances. Now I understand why Lanie is uneasy about her boyfriend working with Tasha. But I don’t think she has anything to be concerned about. Jaxon loves her way too much to jeopardize their relationship.

  “If it makes you feel better,” I tell her, “he didn’t ask to be partnered with her.”

  “I know,” she mutters as her rigidly held shoulders collapse. “I hate the thought of them spending so much time alone. Even though we’re together, she still hangs on him and Jax is way too nice to tell her to get lost.”

  “That might be true, but you’re not.”

  “You’re right,” she snickers, “I’m not. I’ll take that girl down if I have to.”

  “You need to keep it in perspective. They’re working at the library. Not a hotel.”

  She rolls her eyes before giving me an are-you-crazy look. “Do you have any idea what happens at the library?” She pauses for a beat. “Last year, I saw some guy get a blowie in the stacks.”

  “Jax would never cheat. The guy is head over heels in love with you.” To the point where, sometimes, I can’t stand to be around them. They serve as an in-your-face reminder of what I used to have and let go of.

  The heat in her eyes dies down as a small smile curls around the edges of her lips. “I know. But still…I can’t stand that girl. You mark my words, she’s going to make a play for him.”

  “And he’ll turn her down flat,” I reassure. Tasha can’t hold a candle to Lanie. Not with her dark Greek looks, lean body, and fierce personality. And she’s smart as hell. Hello, the girl is going to be a veterinarian. Everyone knows it’s more difficult to get accepted into vet school than medical school. Lanie has nothing to worry about. Tasha is like an annoying fruit fly that you have to swat away.

  “He’d better,” she mutters darkly. “I’d hate to mess a bitch up.” Her eyes flash with renewed f
ire. “And his ass would be gone.”

  “It’ll be fine,” I soothe.

  “I want him to get home so we can have sex,” she blurts.

  “Didn’t you two knock boots before he left for the library?”

  A confused expression flits across her face. “Yeah, I was marking my territory.”

  “Hopefully, I’ll be gone when you remark it.” I can’t resist adding, “You two are ridiculously loud.”

  She grins before throwing herself on my desk chair and spinning from side to side. Lanie has always vibrated with energy. She can’t sit still to save her life which is exactly why she ran cross country in the fall, played volleyball in the winter, and ran track in the spring when we were in high school.

  “I need something to take my mind off Jaxon and that skank-bag.” She drums her fingers on the armrest of the chair. “Tell me what’s going on with Hunter.”

  Ugh. I’d prefer to keep talking about the skank-bag. Hunter already occupies too much of my head space and that’s becoming a problem.

  I shrug and stare at my lap. “There’s nothing to tell.”

  When she remains silent, I tentatively lift my gaze to hers. As my best friend, I owe Lanie full disclosure. If anyone could give me sound advice on handling the situation with Hunter, it would be this girl.

  “Hmmm.” She twists on the chair, arcing back and forth in a semi-circle with the tips of her toes. “Why don’t I believe you?”

  Heat floods my cheeks as unbidden memories from the other night crash through my head. I’m embarrassed to admit that I begged him to touch me and make me come. When I had decided to move back home, I’d convinced myself that my feelings for him were part of the past. They were nothing more than fond memories of a first boyfriend. But clearly, that’s not the case. My heart still belongs to Hunter. Not only is that a scary prospect, it’s a dangerous one.

  Maybe I should come clean and tell Lanie everything. This isn’t a situation I can handle on my own. If it was, I wouldn’t have allowed him to touch me in the first place. It barely took him any time at all, and I was putty in his clever hands.

  “Skye?”