Page 18 of Hunter

“Apologies for the intrusion, my name is Daniel Hunter,” my boss says with his professional voice, holding out his hand without any hint of fear; his confidence should make Seth less suspicious of him. “I’m Louisa’s boss.”

“Ah, yes,” Seth laughs, releasing some of that manly tension from his shoulders. “Phoenix has told me all about you,” he says without much subtlety, “can’t say he’s overly enamored with you, my friend.”

“No, I got that impression,” Daniel says, then looks to me for some sort of explanation as to who this guy is.

“Phoenix is just being a douche,” I sigh. “This is Seth, known him since childhood.”

“You’re like the little sister I never had,” he teases, “so, look after her, Mr Hunter.”

“Of course,” Daniel replies with a strange look on his face, but I choose to ignore it and get to my feet instead.

“I best follow idiot features into the tent for the sake of our fake relationship.”

I kiss Seth on the cheek and wave goodbye, expecting my boss to follow. Weirdly, Daniel doesn’t move. I don’t stop to wait for him, instead, I walk straight into the tent that clearly states, ‘Filming and Photographs are Not Permitted Beyond This Point.’

_____

Daniel

I watch Louisa saunter inside the tent and inadvertently take a moment to watch her little bottom shaking from side to side as she disappears. I force myself to shake out of it by turning back to face the leather-clad biker and his crew. I find him less intimidating than Louisa’s brother, so I take a chance to do a little digging. It might well be the last thing I do if they choose to take offense, but let’s call it an extreme sport of mine, nosing around to find out as much as I can. After all, it’s part of an agent’s job to find out someone’s secrets.

“May I ask why her brother is so averse to my employment of Louisa?” I lean against the bar, mirroring his position as he gulps back on his beer. He looks at me slowly and in such a way, I can tell he’s currently deciding whether to tell me or beat my ass up. Fortunately, he breaks into a smile, not that it’s particularly comforting, but I think my ass is safe for now.

“She tell you about her last employer?”

“She did, yes,” I admit, sighing over the memory of her telling me what the bastard tried to do to her. “But surely that must prove to him that Louisa can take care of herself.”

I look up to see the guy staring at me in bewilderment as if I just admitted to killing his family dog, or to sleeping with his girlfriend. Suffice it to say, it’s not a reassuring look. When I frown over his strange expression, he eventually tips his face toward the ground and smiles sadly, all before looking me right in the eye.

“What did she tell you exactly?” He stands up straight and folds his arms across his chest. It’s intimidating and meant to be so, so I find myself standing up tall to match his imposing stance.

“She said he had tried to…attack her,” I begin, but when he shakes his head and bites his upper lip with an angry grimace, I instantly know Louisa’s not been entirely truthful with me. “She told me she fought him off; her brother had taught her how to defend herself and did so well.”

He laughs but there’s no humor whatsoever in it. It’s a number of things, but nothing remotely funny.

“Christ,” he mutters toward the ground before looking up at me again with a strange sort of pity in his eyes. “Louisa fought him off, but it didn’t stop him from doing what he wanted to her.”

The blood drains from my face and I feel sick; she lied. She lied and I’ve coerced her into having a fake relationship with an idiot who’s everywhere in the public eye.

“Fuck!” I whisper shout before shoving my hand over my mouth. If nothing else, my reaction at least convinces the guy that I’m being genuine. Not that I care given what I’ve just found out. He pats me on the shoulder before smiling sadly at me.

“Don’t worry, that fucker was laid to rest less than two weeks later,” he says, though it does nothing to soothe my guilt right now. “Godspeed, my friend,” he says before eventually leaving the bar with his friends in tow.

Chapter 9

Daniel

I want to run after Louisa and make her talk to me, but I know that’s the last thing I should do. I can’t force her to open up, much like I can’t force her brother to trust me when there are so many reasons not to. I knock back a shot, burn my throat in the process, then slide off my stool to find Trent. I wander through the opening of the VIP tent, bypassing the sign that says, ‘Filming and Photographs are Not Permitted Beyond This Point.’. I spot RIP first, for he pretty much grabs everyone’s attention due to the sheer size of him. To his left, is the bar where I find Louisa looking thoroughly unimpressed by the sight of Trent dirty dancing with a girl who is dressed in barely anything. She looks bored, incredibly so, but he's clearly humiliating her, which riles me up even more than I already am.

I walk up to her, trying to act as though I haven’t just found out about her past, which is easier said than done. I still want to pepper her with questions, mostly about why she told me a different version of events, but now is not the time. As I get closer, she tilts her head and sighs.

“Do you want me to go and intervene, Daniel?” she asks without looking my way at all.

“I don’t know,” I reply, staring at the idiot myself. “Perhaps this is all a bad idea, putting you through this. I mean the guy’s a total ass who seems hell-bent on self-sabotage.”

She smiles but continues looking at the girl shoving her behind into his groin as he gyrates against her. I wince over the scene; the guy is supposed to be presenting himself as a mature, charming, sophisticated man, but he looks more like a teenager who’s just discovered girls. Thank God no one is allowed to film or take pictures inside of this tent.

“Urgh, I can’t watch this anymore,” she mutters, almost to herself, and begins to walk slowly up to the lewd couple. She taps the girl on the shoulder and signals for her to get lost. Initially, the girl tries to argue, but when she sees who it is, his supposed fiancée, she throws up her hands in surrender and makes a hasty exit. Trent, on the other hand, who has been drinking for the past few hours, looks like he’s going to lose his shit, so I prepare myself to go and kick his ass.

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