As we neared the outside area of the bar, I peeked in and could see a few people, but no Hunter. I was ready to give up, when someone standing at one of the tables walked off, revealing who was sitting at the bar.
My heart constricted. I didn’t know what the hell had happened earlier, but I certainly didn’t think I deserved this.
Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped, looking around to find Darren. “I’m sorry, Ayden. Do you want us to go talk to him?”
I shook my head, feeling the tears well. “No. I’ll do it myself. Thanks anyway.”
Darren nodded. “Okay. If you need anything, you know where we are.”
I tried a smile, but it was an effort. They all had that look. The one that said they felt sorry for me. I hated that look.
Once they all started walking away, I turned my attention back to the sight before me. Hunter was at the bar, but he wasn’t alone. With him was a leggy brunette, and they looked close. Intimately close. In fact, Hunter was leaning in and playing with a lock of her hair. He was looking at her almost the same way as he looked at me. It made my gut twist.
I swallowed the bile down and walked up to him. No matter what the circumstances, I deserved an explanation. Especially after he went crazy over me and Scott that first day we arrived.
As I neared them, Hunter must have seen me in the corner of his eye as he turned to me. He dropped the girl’s hair and opened his arms out to me. “Ah, baby sis, how are you?” He had been drinking. A lot. He started pointing to the other girl. “This is... This is... What’s your name again?”
“Lucy.”
He pointed—half closing his eyes. “Lucy, sorry, I forgot. Lucy, this here is my little ray of sunshine, AJ ray-ray.” He started laughing and nearly fell off his stool. I rushed forward to stop him from toppling over.
“Hunter, what are you doing here? I’ve been trying to call you all night.”
Lucy grabbed Hunter’s shoulder. “He’s okay with me, babes. You can go back to your hotel. I can look after him.”
I glared at her. “First of all, I’m not your babes, and second of all, you can go fuck yourself.”
Lucy straightened her posture like she was ready for a fight. “Bitch!” she shouted.
Hunter started waving his hands around. “Hey, ladies... no fighting, please.”
I was seething mad. How dare she talk to me like that? If Hunter hadn’t been there, I would have really laid into her.
“Tell your little sister to go away, so we can go back to having some fun together.” She started pulling at his arm, and I had this overwhelming urge to karate chop the fucker off.
I was going to tell her to fuck off again when Hunter beat me to it. “Don’t fucking talk about her like that. She’s worth fucking ten of you.”
Lucy screwed up her face, got up off her stool, and stamped her foot. I could have laughed, but this situation was far from funny.
“You’re not worth the fucking toss anyway. With the amount of alcohol you’ve consumed, you’re unlikely to even get it up.”
I watched her storm off and turned to Hunter. “Well, she was a nice girl. Well done, Hunter.”
I turned on my heels and walked off. “AJ, come back. I’m sorry, okay?”
I kept on walking until I was on the beach. I walked further along out of the way of all the noise and people. All the while, I knew Hunter was following me.
“AJ, slow down.”
I spun around and faced him. “What the fuck is going on, Hunter? Jeffrey told me you got a call from your dad and just stormed off. I’ve been trying to call both you and your father, but no one fucking answers their phones.”
Just as I said that, my phone started ringing. I looked down and could see it was Mason. I laughed sarcastically. “Look who it is,” I answered. “Mason, I’ve been trying to call you.”
“Are you with him?”
I looked up at Hunter who was swaying slightly on his feet. “Yes, I’m with him. He’s as drunk as a skunk, but I’m with him.”
Mason sighed. “Don’t be too hard on him. He’s had a shock tonight.”
“I wouldn’t know. No one has told me anything yet.”
“You don’t know yet?”
I let out a big sigh. “No.”
Mason fell silent for a moment. “Well, I’m sure Hunter will tell you soon enough. Sorry you couldn’t reach me earlier. My phone ran out of battery, and I was miles away from a landline.”
I pinched my nose with my thumb and finger. I was starting to get a headache. “Don’t worry about it, Mason. The main thing is that I’ve found him now.”
“Yes. I’ll let you two get on with it then. Are you sure you’re going to be okay with him?”
I nodded. “Yes, I will.”
“Call me if you need me.”
“Will do.”
We both hung up, and I looked up at Hunter. “Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”
“My mother’s dead.”
My jaw dropped and I stepped towards him. “What?”
I saw anger flare up in his eyes. “She’s dead, AJ. D. E. A. D. Dead. She used the money I gave her and shot fucking half of it in her vein. She died of an overdose. Isn’t that just fucking peachy?” He threw his hands up in the air and looked towards the ocean.
“Hunter, I’m sorry.”
Hunter huffed. “Sorry? Why should you be sorry? She was a fucking drug addict. It’s just... The irony of it all is that I am the one who killed her.”
I walked towards him. “Hunter, you weren’t to know. You never bought the drugs or handed her the needle. She did those things. She made that choice—not you. You are not to blame for this.”
He turned to face me. “Am I really not, AJ? I may as well have stuck the needle in.”
Tears started welling in my eyes. How ironic was it that the two of us had parents who died, and we both felt to blame for it. Hunter had no reason to feel guilty for what his mother did.
“Hunter, if you hadn’t have given her the money for the drugs, she would have found them from somewhere else. She was an addict. No matter what, she would have taken drugs whether you supplied her with the money for them or not. You gave her that money under false pretences. She lied to you. None of this is your fault.”
Hunter shook his head. “You shouldn’t have gotten involved with me, AJ. I’m no good. I’m poison.”
I walked up to him and grabbed his arm. “That’s not true. You could have come to me tonight. You could have told me. I would have been there for you. There was no need for you to rush to a bar, get drunk and... ”
“And what, AJ? Fuck some random woman? It’s who I am. It’s what I do.”
I shook my head, tears falling down my face. “That’s not true. I refuse to believe it. You’re so much more than that. You’re so much more to me.”
Hunter couldn’t look at me. Instead, he stared straight up at the moon. Despite being drunk, he still looked beautiful. It hurt me that he was in so much pain. I wanted to take it away. I wanted to be able to comfort him.
“I love you, Hunter.”
It just hit me in that moment. I had been trying to kid myself that what Hunter and I had was just a passing fling. I had to stop fighting it, and he had to know how I felt about him.
At first, Hunter didn’t say anything. I started to panic a little. I was going to ask him to say something, but then he did.
“You can’t love me, AJ. I’m not a good man to love.”
I sniffled, wiping the tears away from my eyes. “I don’t believe that. I don’t believe you.”
I walked up to him—about to touch his arm—when he turned to me and looked me dead in the eye. “I would have fucked her tonight.”
I gasped, taking a step back. “I don’t believe you.”
He leaned forward. “It’s true. It’s what the great Hunter Davenport does, sweetheart. I told you from the start the kind of person I am. You can’t love someone like that. I would have taken that fucking Lisa, Leila, w
hatever that fuck her name was, round the back of that bar, spread her legs and fucked her raw. Is that what you want to hear? Do you still love me now?”
He saw the shock in my eyes and turned his head towards the moon again. At first, I couldn’t move. I just stood there unable to take in what he had just said.
When I let go of a breath, I snapped out of it. I had my hand on my chest. Fuck it hurt. What was that? How could he have said that to me? I thought I meant more to him than that.
With that last thought in my head, I ran. I ran as fast and as hard as I could back to the hotel. Tears were streaming down my face, but I didn’t care. People were staring, and I just let them. Nothing meant shit to me anymore.
Once I got to the hotel, I raced up to our room, packed my bags, and went down five floors to Lindsay’s room. I knocked, hoping she was there. Luckily, she answered soon enough, and her eyes widened when she saw the state I must have been in.
“Do you mind if I stay with you tonight?”
Lindsay rapidly shook her head and moved out of the way to let me pass.
I always knew Hunter and I would end. I always knew we could never go on the way we were going.
I just never knew it would end like that.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Lindsay sat with me that night as I poured my heart out to her. She listened attentively and made the right responses at the right times. Yet nothing could take away that gaping hole in my heart. Hunter’s words stung. They stung worse than anything I had ever experienced. This was worse than my mother’s hand and worse than that knife she had brandished on me.
Hunter was trouble with a capital T. In fact, another irony was that after I had woken up at the crack of dawn, changed, and gotten the hotel to order a taxi to take me to the airport, the taxi was playing “Trouble” by Taylor Swift. I just sat there with tears in my eyes, laughing in my head at how stupid I was to fall for him. Yeah... shame on me.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do once I got home. As I sat in the airport waiting to change my ticket, I contemplated ringing Christian and asking if I could move in with him a little sooner than planned. All I knew for certain was that I couldn’t live under the same roof as that man. It would, quite frankly, kill me.
“Señorita, we have a flight we can put you on in two hours. Would you like me to book you on that one?”
I sighed my relief and smiled. “Yes, please.”
He looked up at me a moment, and I knew he saw something. What it was, I didn’t know, but he gave me a half smile. A smile that made me think he knew everything. Was I that transparent? Really?
After a couple of minutes, I checked my suitcase in and he handed me the ticket back. “Flight is leaving at ten-o-five. Details of the departure gate will show on all of the available departure screens around the airport. Enjoy your flight.”
I nodded with a smile. “Thank you.”
I grabbed my handbag and ticket and went to order some coffee. It was only when I was sitting there drinking it that I realised I hadn’t eaten anything since lunchtime yesterday.
As if knowing this, my stomach growled in protest, but all I felt was sick. I couldn’t even begin to think about putting food next to my mouth without wanting to heave.
I felt the tears well again, but fought them back. The last place I wanted to cry was in the middle of a packed airport. It didn’t stop them from coming though. It didn’t stop one tear from falling, which was followed by another, and then another—until it got so bad that I put my sunglasses on to hide my eyes.
I mentally kicked myself again. How could I have really been that stupid? How could I have let myself fall for him when all I was to him was a fuck toy? Just like that Lucy last night, I was simply an opportunity to get his rocks off. I had no doubt that he would soon find another Lucy and finish what he had started. I was just glad I was well away from it. It was probably a good thing that things came to head when they did. All I had to do was just concentrate on getting home. Then, I would have to try to get on with my life as best I could.
I wasn’t sure how long I sat there, but a loud binging noise over the speakers sounded, making me jump. Then a voice came over saying, “Last call for flight two-four-two.” I frowned, thinking that sounded familiar. When I checked my ticket, sure enough, it was my plane.
In a blind panic, I rushed towards the departure gates and once through security, I raced down towards gate six. Luckily, once I was there, a queue of about five people were still getting on board. I waited in line, and then I was the next to go. The lady smiled at me, and I handed her my ticket.
“AJ.”
I looked at the lady, and she looked at me. Tears welled my eyes again, and I could see her sympathy.
“AJ, please look at me.”
I inhaled a sharp breath, not wanting to turn, but desperate to do so at the same time. The lady saw how conflicted I was and placed a hand on mine. “You have two minutes, okay?”
I nodded, and Hunter’s voice startled me again. “She won’t need two minutes. She’s not getting on that plane.”
I turned. Once I did, I faltered. Hunter looked a mess. A sexy mess, but a mess nonetheless. He looked like he hadn’t slept. I could tell he was hung-over by the dark rims under his eyes and the green tinge he had to his complexion. He also hadn’t shaved this morning.
“I’m getting on the plane, Hunter. Don’t try to stop me.”
I turned, but Hunter grabbed my arm. “AJ, please, hear me out.”
I felt my nostrils flare in anger. “Don’t call me by that name. You have no right anymore.”
Hunter sighed and let go of my arm. “I know. Fuck, I know that, AJ. Listen, just hear me out. Miss this plane and hear me out. If you still want to go afterwards, I will make sure you get on the next flight with no arguments. I promise you that. I just need you to listen to me.”
I didn’t know what to do. One part of me wanted to leave. He had hurt me more than words could say. I opened up to him. For the first time ever, I had bared my soul to him—only for him to shoot me down.
But, on the other hand, I still cared. Hunter had just lost his mother. Of course he was going to be angry, scared, disappointed, and hurt. First and foremost, he was my friend.
“Do you have any idea how much you hurt me? Over the past few weeks, I considered you my best friend. I opened up to you and told you things I’ve never told anyone else. Do you realise how much it hurts to know that after opening myself up to you last night, you could just treat me like I was nothing to you? That you could tell me straight to my face that you were going to fuck some random girl because that’s what the great Hunter Davenport does?” I could feel a sob bubbling up to the surface.
Hunter stepped forward, a panicked look in his eye. “I wouldn’t have slept with that girl.” I looked away in disgust, but Hunter grabbed my chin and made me look at him. “I wouldn’t have slept with her, I promise. She’s got nothing on you, AJ. How could I possibly ruin such a good thing?”
I looked into his eyes and almost got lost. He looked so sincere, but the hurt was still coursing through my veins. “You tried your best last night.”
Hunter sighed. “I know. I’m a complete fuckwit who doesn’t deserve your time.”
“Then why are you asking me for it?”
He grabbed my shoulders. “Because we have something amazing together. I know you feel it, and so do I.” Hunter smiled suddenly. “And because I’m appealing to your good nature, AJ. You’re my best friend before anything else. Please don’t leave us like this. I beg of you.” I stayed silent for a moment, staring into his eyes.
“Ma’am, I’m afraid I can’t hold the plane any longer.”
I kept my stare on Hunter as he pleaded with his eyes. Why did he have to pull that best friend crap on me?
A war raged inside my head. I really didn’t know what to do. Hunter could see how conflicted I was, and the panic in his eyes grew.
I shook my head and looked away. “I don’t know if I�
��”
“AJ, I love you.”
I looked back at him in total shock. Were my ears deceiving me? “What did you just say?”
Hunter searched my eyes. “I love you. I felt it that day at the ice cream parlour, but was too pig-headed to say anything. I didn’t know what love was, AJ. All I know is how I feel when I’m with you. You make me want to be a better person. Your sweet, pure nature has turned me into a person I can finally learn to live with. A person who, for once, I can like. You did all this, AJ. You did it. How could I possibly live without that? How could I possibly live without you?”
I looked into his eyes again, tears welling as I stared. “Ma’am, we really need to close the doors now.”
Hunter’s eyes pleaded with me one more time, and of course, I caved. How could I not after that little speech? Eventually, I sighed. “I won’t be going back on this flight.” Hunter visibly relaxed, and I turned to the lady. “I’m so sorry for the inconvenience.” The lady just nodded and left, so I turned to Hunter.
He exhaled. “Thank you.”
“My suitcase is on that flight.”
Hunter smiled. “I promise you I’ll take care of it... no matter what. Let’s go find somewhere to sit and talk. I have something I need to say, and I need to say it with at least one cup of coffee inside of me.”
“Feel rough?” I asked.
“As a badgers arse.”
I chuckled. “Good.” I gave him a wry smile, and Hunter just shook his head. At least some of the colour was returning to his cheeks.
As we walked out of the lounge, Hunter grabbed my hand. “I’m still mad at you, Hunter. After last night, I don’t know whether I can trust you anymore.”
Hunter nodded, a sad expression on his face. “I know, and I understand. Let’s just find somewhere, and I’ll try my hardest to explain the situation to you, okay?”
I nodded. I had no other choice. His declaration of love really put a spanner in the works.
We walked back out of departures and went to sit down at the coffee shop. Once Hunter sipped his a couple of times, he sighed. “You frighten me, AJ.” I looked up, shocked. “The way you make me feel—it frightens me. When I got the call from my dad about my mum dying, the first person I wanted to run to was you. Straight away, I had this urge to get to you, to soak in your warmth... your goodness... your purity. But then, I got scared. That urge scared me to fuck. I didn’t know what else to do. So, at first I just walked. I walked and walked and walked... until my feet got tired. I was going to go back to the hotel, but then I felt guilty. I couldn’t bear to face you, knowing what I must have been putting you through.
A Step Two Close Page 24
