Pure Illusion (Web Of Deception #1)

by Michelle Watson

  He laughs humorlessly.

  I turn my back to him and sling off his jacket and shirt, frantically glancing around his room for my dress.

  Where the hell did I put it last night?

  Somewhere between me standing and searching for my dress, Hunter moves in front of me, caging me in with his huge body, a severe scowl on his pissed face.

  I take a step back and the backs of my thighs collide with the bed.

  Hunter advances forward and stops just in front of me. His frosty eyes drop to my chest and run down the length of my body.

  Spellbound, I watch his eyes alter from frigid to hot, peaking to a scorching degree. Red tings his cheeks. I find this odd and even cute; I haven’t seen Hunter blush in a very long time.

  Why is he blushing when I’m seriously pissed off?

  His tongue darts out and wets his lips.

  I notice my chest swelling and heaving, my heart drumming in my ears. Awareness creeps in and I realize that I don’t have any panties on. My breasts might not be exposed to him, but everything else is.

  I cover my sex with my hands, narrowing my eyes at him, pushing my embarrassment down and standing my ground. “Where did you put my dress?”

  “You’re not wearing that piece of scrap anymore. That shit is too short.”

  “You can’t tell me what to wear,” I yell, frustrated.

  “Just did. You’re not wearing it again.”

  “Are you insane? Because I’m pretty sure I’m a free woman and I can do whatever I want.”

  His jaw clenches, then he shifts his hands to my cheeks.

  I flinch instinctively as they gingerly settle on either side of my face.

  Sadness or maybe disappointment contorts his features. “I’m not going to hit you, Isabel. It pisses me off that you think I would. I would never intentionally harm you like that. You have to know and understand that.”

  My eyes drift to some space to the side of him. “I know you wouldn’t hurt me.”

  “Good.” His thumbs swipe my lower eyelashes. “What have you done to your face?”

  My gaze flickers back up to him as he wipes at my face, removing something. “What?”

  He shows me the back of his thumbs that are smeared with black eyeliner.

  “Makeup?”

  “I don’t want you to wear it. It takes away from your natural beauty. Sit down. I’m gonna get a rag and wipe your face clean.” He releases me and strolls into the bathroom.

  Scoffing, I throw his shirt back over my head and search his drawers for boxers. I find a dark blue pair and shimmy them up my legs, flopping down on the bed.

  He comes back with a washcloth in hand, grave eyes zeroed in on me.

  I swallow hard, forcing the lump down my throat as he starts to wipe my face. His movements are slow, gentle, and tender. His face is so serious right now and he’s very focused, as if wiping my face could turn catastrophic if not done correctly. I have no choice but to laugh.

  “What’s funny?”

  “Is that serious, Hunter?”

  He’s mute for heartbeat, removing every trace of makeup from my face with pinpoint accuracy. He stills the washcloth on my cheek, staring down into my eyes. “Yes, it is that serious.”

  My stomach flutters.

  I let my gaze drop to the floor.

  His free hand cups the back of my neck.

  I tip my face up to look at him.

  His eyes roam over me for a while, an inquisitive expression on his granite features, then his lips press in a thin line. “Are you staying out of trouble?”

  “Doesn’t look like it,” I grumble, annoyed, turning my face away from him.

  His hand spasms on the back of my neck and then he moves it to grip my chin, forcing me to look at him, his fingers pinching my skin, not enough to inflict pain though. “That mouth is going to get you in a lot of trouble. Do try to control it, at least when I’m around. Understand?”

  Choosing the wise option to ignore him and his ridiculous demand, I roll my eyes.

  His fingers dig deeper into my flesh and an impish smile slowly spreads across his face, blinding me.

  I wish Hunter wasn’t so freaking attractive, handsome, good-looking, striking, and gorgeous. He’s all that multiplied by a billion. I’m dazzled by a stupid smile that comes so easily to him.

  “Don’t roll your eyes, either,” he commands with that stupid smile still plastered on his face.

  “What can I do?” I reply with sarcasm dripping from my voice.

  His smile vanishes, expression turning grim. “Love me like you do.”

  My breath hitches and my heart stutters in my chest. I search his eyes to see if he’s teasing, but the sternness of his features never wavers. “Whatever.” I glance at my name sketched across the left side of his ribcage. My hand lifts to touch it. He stills and stiffens as my fingers sweep across the letters. It’s surprisingly smooth, not rugged like I imaged.

  “Did it hurt?”

  Hunter drops his hands from my face, letting them dangle at his sides. “Nope.”

  “It’s big.”

  I earn another smile. “It’s mine.”

  “Was there a lot of blood?”

  “Nope.”

  I explore the patch of skin there. My name looks like a scar but doesn’t feel like one. “How did you get it so smooth and flawless?”

  His muscles tense beneath my probing fingers. He releases a long exhale. “You think I cut myself,” he states in an accusing tone.

  My throat constricts and I look anywhere but in his eyes. I feel guilty just thinking about it. I hope he didn’t harm himself because he feels guilty about the scars that tarnish my arms.

  His hand roughly cups the back of my head, tipping it back so Hunter fills my vision. “Jesus, Isabel, it’s a tattoo.”

  My brows knit together. “A tattoo?”

  “Yeah, a tattoo. I got it in white ink, that’s why it looks like a scar. I didn’t cut myself, alright?”

  I nod, understanding. “But why?”

  His eyes fall to my lips and back up, holding my eyes hostage in an ardent gaze. “Cause I marked you a longtime ago. It’s only fair that I’m scored as well. It’s not even; I don’t think it’ll ever be even.”

  “You’re keeping tally of how many times we screw each other over?”

  “Not exactly,” he answers immediately, “I just need things to be right between us. Starting with what happened between you and Hero last night.” His stormy gaze narrows and, for a moment, I think he can see right through me. “Did you fuck my baby brother, Isabel?”

  My eyes screws shut. God, the betrayal in his expression and accusation in his voice is enough to stop my heart.

  His fingers grip my hair by the roots, waiting for a response. “What do you want me to say?” I whisper almost too low to hear.

  “The truth.”

  “I…he,” I stutter nervously, “I wanted to. He said he couldn’t but…we did fool around.” Each word feels like an agonizing stab in the heart. I never imaged myself having this conversation with Hunter, not last night when it happened, not ever.

  “Do you wish you had?”

  “What?”

  “Do you wish you went all the way with Hero?”

  “No.” My reply spews out before I can really consider his question, but it’s the truth though.

  “Are you going to apologize then?”

  Can he truly forgive me that easily?

  I’m so reckless, only thinking about myself, not Hunter, Hero, or Taylor, or even Tyler. Oh my God! Tyler. He loved Hero with every facet of his being and it’s like I’m pissing all over something so extremely sacred.

  How could I go there with Hero, Hero of all people? It shouldn’t have happened at all, no matter what I was feeling or saw. I’m such a freaking idiot, so stupid, a pathetic excuse of a human being.

  I’m a terrible sister.

  I’m a terrible sister.

  I’m a terrible sister.

  My
nostrils sting as the compressed wail rattles inside my chest. I squeeze my eyes tighter, hoping to block out everything, including Hunter.

  “Apologize, Isabel,” he commands softly, brushing his lips across my forehead repeatedly in a gentle assault.

  “I’m so-o-ory,” I mumble through sobs. “I didn’t m-me-mean to hurt you or Hero. I’m not a good sis-sister. Tyler would hate me if-if he was still here, still alive.” Salt fills my mouth as the powerful wails shake my shoulders.

  He strokes my hair, letting me cry and saying nothing.

  I’ve cried myself to exhaustion. My lungs can’t suck down enough oxygen to soothe the fiery ache inside my chest and my body is struck with uncontrolled, jerky spasms.

  Hunter wraps a hand on the back of my neck and shoves my face into his stomach. My arms curl around his middle as I cry into his abs, my wet flesh sticking to his. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you. I’m sorry…” I trail off, hiccupping.

  His warm hands cradle my face as he gazes into my eyes. “Baby, it’s okay. I forgive you. I’ll always forgive you. Tyler loved you. You were the best sister he could ask for. Okay?”

  Lips trembling, I nod, a new current of tears obscuring his face.

  Hunter leans forward, forcing me to lie down on the bed. The top half of his huge body rests on top of mine, giving me some of his weight. Our chests are pressed together. My hands sift through his silken hair as the last of my tears slide down to my ears. He kisses the wet trail they leave in their wake and my closed lids. I lock my legs around his hips, holding him so very close to me.

  His heart thuds erratically against my own. Hunter’s mouth touches mine in a sweet closed-mouth kiss.

  A spark that I’ve never known blooms in my chest and begins to surge through my veins, searing everything in its path. A moan slides from my throat and his fingers dig into my sides. Hunter presses his lips behind my ear and his tongue touches there.

  “Hunter,” I gasp softly, my entire being quivering. My pelvis tilts up towards him as I shamelessly dry hump him to gain some kind of friction to ease this unbearable pressure between my legs.

  His vibrating growl ripples through my body, fingers digging deeper into my flesh.

  My hands frantically push him closer and closer to me until I’m breathing his air but somehow unable to catch my breath. I cling to him with everything I’ve got. The incredible heat he has inside of him is bursting out and nearly scalding me to death. But my God, it feel amazing, it’s unbelievable. For the first time since Tyler’s death, I feel like I truly can breathe, finally breathe, and it’s only when Hunter is here, holding me in the safe haven of his arms and smothering with that remarkable heat that chips away at the ice case that surrounds my heart.

  Hunter delicately traces the features of my face with curious fingers and presses kisses up my neck, placing a sweet kiss on the tip of my nose.

  “I love you so fucking much, Hunter,” I confess quietly, salty wetness rolling down the sides of my face and into my hairline.

  Our eyes lock; mine wide and tear-filled, his scrutinizing and assessing.

  The doorbell rings.

  Chapter twenty-four

  More than Okay

  Hunter mutters a curse under his breath and pushes himself off me, storming down the corridor and jolting down the spiral staircase. I follow him on shaky legs. He flings the door open with an irritated, “What the fuck?!”

  “Morning, Hunter. Isabel here?” I hear Max question. The memories from the night I had with Max overwhelm me. I jump away from the door and press myself against the wall next to it, sinking down into a crouching-position, praying he didn’t catch a glimpse of me.

  “Why?” Hunter asks, his patience thinning very quickly.

  “Falcon called. He’s worried. She didn’t come back last night. Rex told me she left his party with Hero. Checked with your mom, Hero’s there. She told me to check with you, thought Isabel might be here.”

  “Called you or the station?”

  “Me,” Max says as if offended that the thought ever crossed Hunter’s mind. “Everybody doesn’t need to know Isabel’s business.”

  “She’s safe.”

  “Is she here?”

  “She’s safe,” Hunter repeats, refusing to answer him.

  “Is she here, Hunter,” Max snaps.

  Hunter’s spine straighten and his shoulders square. I stand, snatching my damp boots from the floor and sidestep Hunter. They don’t need to fight. Hunter doesn’t have the best record in the world, and he doesn’t need assaulting a police officer to the list. I force my gaze to the ground, unwilling to look Max in the face. I’m dressed in Hunter’s T-shirt and boxers while my hand was down Max’s boxers only a week ago. I clutch my boots to my chest, keeping my head down and stepping out the threshold of the door. “Yeah, I’m here.”

  “Let me drive you to Falcon’s. They are delirious over there,” Max says, his voice super gentle. “Everyone is worried about you.”

  “Okay.”

  “Sure you want to leave with him, Isabel?” Hunter asks cautiously.

  I keep my eyes on the wet ground and nod. I just confessed I loved him. I can’t afford to look at him yet and see nothing back in return. “Yes. I’ll call you later.”

  “Wait,” Hunter whispers. He briefly disappears in the house and comes back to put his gray jacket on me, zipping it all the way up to my neck.

  “Thank you,” I mumble. Without another word, I dash to Max’s cruiser.

  It’s silent as we pass the vast areas of wilderness. Cherry Creek is such a lovely place to live. Open fields, streams, and cherry trees that go on forever. The scenery takes my breath away.

  I feel Max’s eyes bore into me. I think he’s upset with me; he has every right to hate me.

  God, I’m such a fucking mess.

  “Max…?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m sorry…for everything.”

  We stop at a red light and watch as a herd of wild deer gallop across the street and into the other part of the misty woods. “You know, Isabel, pain is a greedy and vengeful thing. It doesn’t care who it burns. The inferno you have within you will char people; some might not be able to endure the blaze. Just remember that when you feel like going off the deep end,” Max says, as if speaking from experience.

  My throat tightens. “I’m so, so, sorr—”

  “Enough,” he says firmly, cutting me off. “All is forgiven. I was worried about you when you disappeared from my house, thought you ran off to the nearest football player—” he teasingly wiggles his brows and I shake my head, smiling “—but Hunter stopped by and we had words.”

  I lift a brow. “You had words?”

  He nods, idly tapping his fingers against the steering wheel.

  “Words, really?”

  He glances over at me, his lips lifting up at the sides and an amused expression crosses his face. “He basically told me to stay away from you or he’d break my neck. Since Hunter is Hunter, I know that he’s very capable of doing it. But the way I see it, you’re worth more than a broken neck.”

  The herd clears and we’re moving again, heading back into the inhabited part of town. “I don’t think I am,” I mumble sheepishly.

  “You are,” he replies earnestly.

  “I don’t know if you have noticed, Mr. Officer Man, but I’m really sick,” I say in a sugar sweet voice of innocence.

  “Oh, I have no choice but to notice, Pumpkin. You’re terribly ill,” he teases.

  “Possibly deranged,” I add, laughing.

  “Certainly deranged, no doubt about it,” he jokes, laughing with me. His violet eyes twinkle when they meet mine and he smiles in a way the leaves me breathless.

  My heart flutters. “I don’t get it, Max. You were such a jerk in high school. You’ve changed, drastically. What happened?”

  “I was young and stupid, still young but a little less stupid,” he answers truthfully.

  “I thought you hated me.”<
br />
  “I did, or I thought I did,” he confesses matter-of-factly.

  I sag back in the passenger seat, my brows snapping together. “What?”

  He looks at me briefly, raises his brows. “I did, only because I wanted you and Hunter made sure I never had you. We fought so damn much back then. He protected you from every single guy, except Falcon. I think in his mind, he owed you Falcon if he couldn’t have you in that way. I was an ass and took out my frustrations on you. I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah.”

  “B-but I was there in the bathroom when you guys rushed in. He said I didn’t exist. I was invisible, I still am invisible.”

  “You’re anything but invisible, Isabel. It’s all an illusion with Hunter. He wants you to see what he wants you to see. It’s a major game of deception, know the rules and play it the best you can.”

  “So he wants me, or wanted me?”

  “Positive.”

  “Do you want me?”

  He glances at me warily. “After the other night, I’d be lying if I say no.”

  My stomach does a somersault. “I had no idea.”

  His stunning eyes roam my face and he smiles. “Clueless looks cute on you.”

  I smile back, but Derrick’s voice creeps from the corners of my mind.

  “Everyone says that Max raped Lily and that’s why they’re not together anymore.”

  Max pulls into Falcon’s driveway. He reaches for the switch on the main console to unlock the doors, but before he does, I blurt out, “Did you rape Lily, Max?”

  His spine stiffens and he turns to look at me, eyes narrowed and darkening. “Did, Hunter tell you that?”

  The first initial emotion that surges through me is fear, fear because Max didn’t immediately deny it. “No,” I whisper, my hand reaching for the door handle. “Just forget I asked.”

  He gives his head a slight shake, dragging his hand down his face and then sags back in the seat, staring straight-ahead with a faraway expression in his eyes. “I never meant to hurt Lily,” he murmurs almost too low to hear.