"What are you doing here?" I asked him and he gave me a flat look.
"You're really asking me what I'm doing in the store?"
I chuckled and pushed my cart forward. "Whatever." said and placed a pack of bread in the cart. "Are you here alone?" I asked as I continued walking with Dylan following me.
"No, I'm with my mom." he said and frowned afterwards. His eyes grew wide and now it was my turn to give him a confused look. "Shit! I lost my mom!" he yelped, making me laugh.
"You better go find her, because losing your mom in the store is one of the worst things." I said and he nodded in agreement.
Just then Hunter decided to show up with a box of cereal and milk in his hands. He raised his eyebrows at Dylan and Dylan did he same, trying to look tough. Hunter raised both eyebrows at him and Dylan just stared at him for a few seconds before shaking his head furiously and taking a few steps backwards, making laugh at his goofiness.
"Nope." he shook his head. "You still scare the fuck out of me." he said and ran off, shouting a goodbye.
I laughed as he did so and I heard Hunter chuckle. "This kid is crazy." he said and I nodded.
"Obviously, mental people make mental friends." I said referring to the day he dragged me out of math class.
He shook his head at me. "You really are mental."
"But you love it." I stated it in such a way, that there was no space for him to argue against it.
He simply just shook his head and shoved the cart forward. "Let's just go pay." Hunter said and walked over to the counter.
"Hunter?" I called him and he hummed in return. "Remember the day you literally carried me out of math class?" I asked and he looked at me before nodding. "The teacher threatened you to call your parents again, but how would they do that?" I frowned and Hunter chuckled humorlessly.
"I have cousins here. They cover shit up for me." he said and I didn't need to ask anything further.
I watched as Hunter paid the cashier and placed everything in a bag. "Hunter, what job do you have?" I asked and he froze.
"You'll find out someday." he said and continued putting his stuff in the plastic bags.
I crossed my arms over my chest and didn't say anything. I really wanted to know what job he did, but I don't think he was going to tell me anytime soon.
"Come on, let's go." Hunter said and carried the two plastic bags to the car.
I even offered him to let me carry one, but he refused. He unlocked the car and placed the two plastic bags in the backseat. We got into the car and we were soon on our way home. It felt kind of funny how Hunter's home was my home now. It was basically our home. That means that Hunter is quite serious about this. That just led me to another question.
What are Hunter and I now?
"Hunter, dinner's ready!" I shouted and not long after, Hunter jogged into the dining room.
He sat down and I placed his plate with his food in front of him. He was about to eat, but then he looked at me. "You're not going to eat?" he raised his eyebrow at me and I shook my head.
"I'm not really hungry. You carry on." I said and he rolled his eyes at me.
"You haven't really eaten properly since this morning, you know that, right?" he said and I avoided eye contact.
"Let me tell you this, I'm not eating, until you're eating." he said and crossed his arms over his chest, giving me a look saying that I better agree or else.
To be honest, the look he was giving me kind of scared me. I turned around to walk back to the kitchen, but then he stopped me.
"Where are you going?" he asked and I huffed in annoyance.
"I'm going to get my food." I said and he shook his head.
"You don't have to, eat this." he said, pointing at his plate.
"That's yours, Hunter." I said and he shrugged.
"I like sharing my food with you." he said and I couldn't hold back my smile.
I shook my head at him, walked over to the dining table, and sat down. Hunter pushed his plate towards me and placed his elbow on the table, resting his cheek on the palm of his hand. He nodded at the plate and I grabbed the spoon and silently started eating. Hunter looked at me as I ate my food, and for he first time I didn't feel uncomfortable while someone stared at me while eating. I kind of liked this side of Hunter. His protective and caring side. I am so happy he entered my life.
After eating half of the food, I pushed the plate towards Hunter, telling him that I was kind of full now. He didn't say anything and started eating with the same spoon I ate, surprising me a little.
"You're eating with the same spoon." I said, acting kind of stupid.
"Yeah, so?" he raised his eyebrows at me and I just shook my head, hiding my face behind my hair, hoping that he won't see me blushing.
He continued eating his food as he stared at me. I, on the other hand, was avoiding eye contact, so I don't really feel uncomfortable. After a while I got annoyed by it and I looked at him. He didn't stop staring though. He kept on eating as he continued staring at me.
"What?" I asked and he shook his head.
"You're beautiful." he said and my eyes grew slightly wider, but I blushed once again when I realized what he said.
He chuckled and got up. He placed the plate in the sink and then walked over to me.
"Does it hurt?" he asked, pointing at my shoulder.
I looked at my shoulder. "It does, kind of..." I trailed off and he shook his head.
"Come on. I'll get it cleaned up." he said and extended his hand, gesturing me to place mine in his.
I stared for a few seconds before finally placing my hand in his, and I stood up. We walked into the bedroom and he made me sit on the bed. I stared at his face as he cleaned the wound. I just took the time to look at him. He was wearing sweatpants and a plain black shirt. Although it was so plain, he still managed to look hot in it. His tattooed arms moved as he cleaned my wounds and his eyebrows slightly furrowed. He bit his lip, as if he was trying to focus, and his blue eyes stared at the wound.
"Your boobs are distracting me." he said and I gasped.
"What?" I narrowed my eyes at him.
He shot me a flat look. "You're not deaf, Zoe. You heard what I said."
"Shut up." I playfully hit him on his shoulder, making him shake his head.
After cleaning up my wounds, he sat on the floor and rested his head on my lap. I sighed and started playing with his hair. Suddenly Hunter his phone started ringing. He grabbed his phone from the bedside table and frowned at the screen. He looked at me. "I'll be back." he said and I nodded.
He walked back into the room a few minutes later, snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked at him as he walked over to the closet and grabbed his jacket and some jeans. He looked at me before walking out of the room, only to return after changing. I frowned at him as he placed his hand on my cheek, looking very serious.
"You can call Dylan over if you want to. I don't want you to stay home alone at this hour. I have to go somewhere. I will be back in three hours or less. Okay?" he nodded his head at me and I nodded back.
"Are you at least going to tell me where you're going?" I asked and he shook his head.
"I'll tell you when I come back, okay?" he said and I nodded.
He gave me a quick kiss on the forehead before walking out of the room. Okay then.
I lay on the couch, cuddling the pillow as I stared at the television. It was two in the morning already and Hunter was nowhere to be seen. I just hope that he will be back soon, because I am really wishing that it was him instead of this pillow. I kind of regret not calling Dylan over now. I feel kind of lonely. I know I'm supposed to be used to it, but being with Hunter kind of changed that. I'm not used to being away from him for this long.
I am getting very attached to Hunter now.
As soon as that thought crossed my mind, there was a loud knock on the door. Finally, he's here. I got up from the couch and practically ran towards the door. I opened it and my smile immediately fell. In front of me was s
tanding Hunter, with a bag in his hand and his face was all bruised up and bleeding.
What!?
Chapter Seventeen
“Hunter! What in the living hell happened to you?” I panicked.
Hunter took an abrupt stop, standing like that for a few seconds without answering the millions of questions that I had. I swallowed harshly and clenched my hands into fists, not out of anger, but out of desperation. He dropped the bag he was holding in his hand and I swear I heard a sigh.
“I’m so sorry, Zoe...” I heard him mumble.
I placed my hand on his shoulder, gently tugging him to turn around, which he silently obeyed. “You’re sorry for what, Hunter?”
“I didn’t have a choice...” he cried. “I didn’t want to do it...”
“Hunter...” I pulled him to the couch and let him have a seat. I stroked his face gently, letting him know that he was safe with me. “I’m all ears...”
He stared at me for a moment. Perhaps he didn’t know what to say, or he maybe didn’t know where to start. But what I did know was that there was this emotion in his eyes. An emotion I never thought to ever see. The emotion of guilt and regret, and to be honest, I was scared.
“He left me no choice... He found out that I have a weakness now and he started blackmailing me. I had no choice, Zoe...”
“Are you talking about Zachariah?” I held his hand as I sat next to him on the couch. He diverted his eyes from me, slowly nodding in a painful sense of regret. My heart started beating even faster, if that was even possible. “What did you do?” I asked after a short period of painful silence.
He didn’t say anything for a while. I couldn’t urge him to say anything either, because that might bring him on edge even more. I didn’t want his guilt to transform into anger. That wouldn’t be pretty.
“His men told him about you.” he started. “He called me and threatened me with you. In the past he tried to do it with Blaze, but he was going nowhere with her. He couldn’t because of a pact we made, but now that you’re in the picture, it’s different. He made me assassinate someone...”
My eyes grew wide. I felt as if I was hearing things, but I knew for a fact that I heard everything perfectly well. Hunter was once again a murderer.
“Hunter... you have to resist him. Otherwise he’ll keep doing-”
“He won’t do it anymore.” he cut me off. “It was a kill for my own peace. I told him I’d only do it if he left me alone afterwards.”
“But how can you trust him?”
“The mafia takes its pacts very seriously, Zoe. If he breaks it, I’m going to kill him, end of story.”
That was all he said before getting up and walking to the bathroom. I was dumbstruck. I didn’t know what to say; I didn’t know what to feel. I felt sorry for Hunter in a way. The way he cried, saying he didn’t want to do it...
But on the other hand, I wanted to know who he killed. Did this person have people that looked forward to seeing them home?
"Zoe!" Dylan hugged me as I giggled, hugging him back.
"So, where is your creepy boyfriend?" he looked behind me and then back at me.
"He's not my boyfriend, Dylan." I rolled my eyes at him, making him frown.
"Then what are you guys? You act like a couple." he raised his eyebrow.
I chuckled and sat down. Dylan sat down too and stared at me, waiting for an answer. I felt my cheeks going pink. "I don't know what we are." I said and Dylan rolled his eyes.
"You're both stupid." he said and I was about to protest, but he cut me off. "Where is he anyways?"
"He's somewhere, taking care of stuff." I said, not wanting to tell him about him going to the hospital.
Dylan nodded and started fidgeting with his phone. I frowned at him. "Are you okay?" I asked.
He was acting different today. He nodded. "Yeah..." he looked at me. "I'm fine..." he said and looked at his phone. After a short silence he looked at me. "No, I'm not fine." he sighed and I leaned forward, placing my hand on his.
"What happened?" I frowned.
"It's my parents..." he said running a hand through his hair frustratingly. "They're... They're splitting up." he rubbed his face, clearly frustrated.
I gave his hand a squeeze. "I know this is hard, Dylan. No kid deserves this, but sometimes it's for the best. Sometimes they're just not meant for each other. I know what it feels like, Dylan, but that doesn't mean you have to stress over it constantly. Just know that if you need someone, Hunter and I are always here for you. Even if Hunter is a pain sometimes, he will care. Just give him some time. If you need someone to talk, you have my number, you can call me anytime you want. Even if it's three in the morning." I said and Dylan smiled slightly.
"Thank you, Zoe. I have no idea how I would be able to cope with this without you." he gave my hand a squeeze.
I giggled and removed my hands from his. "Want to go buy some food? I'm starving." I said and he released a chuckle, shaking his head at me.
"Obviously." he rolled his eyes playfully and we walked towards the cafe out of the school.
You could say that Dylan and I were really good friends now and I had to say, it felt pretty good. Just as I stepped into the cafe, I heard someone calling my name. I groaned in annoyance and turned around to see Alyssa jogging towards me. I placed my hand on my hip as I waited for her to reach me. In a few minutes, she finally stood in front of me, giving me this look. I rolled my eyes and raised my eyebrow at her.
"What do you want?" I asked rather rudely. I wasn't really in the mood to talk to her.
"I want to apologize" she said.
"Apologize?" I raised my eyebrows at her. "I have already forgiven you, Alyssa." I said and Dylan frowned.
"Then why are you not talking to me?" she asked and I sighed.
"Look, I don't think that I can trust you as I did before. In fact, I don't trust you at all. You know everything about Tony. You know where he is and you might even have his phone number." I said and she shifted nervously, convincing me that everything I just said was right. "You might have even told him that I'm still alive." I said and turned around, tempted to walk way, but then I froze. I turned around and shot Alyssa a suspicious look. "Did you know?" I asked and she frowned.
"Know what?" she asked and I saw her swallow.
I took a step closer towards her. "Did you know about Tony abusing me?" I asked and she swallowed once again.
I eyes grew wide. "You knew this all along..." I said in disbelief.
"Zoe, please, you have to believe me!" she took my hand in hers. "Tony told me he would stop. I didn't think he would become this massive psychopath. Please, Zoe. Please believe me."
A tear slipped down my eyes and I yanked my hand off hers. I can't believe this. All this time she actually knew. That meant that she and Tony still talked after the break up. Maybe they never broke up. I stared at her. I can't believe that the person I used to call one of my best friends, did this to me. All I wanted now was just go home, curl up in a ball, and cry my eyeballs out. I can't believe Alyssa did all this.
"I hate you." I finally managed to say in a low whisper. "I fucking hate you!" I yelled at her and ran away from there.
The Tattooed Bad Boy Page 9
