Page 61 of Hunter

“We were good together, weren’t we? Before that animal attacked you?” I look away before nodding reluctantly. “We can be good again, I’d treat you like a fucking queen, Lou, I would worship you and treat you like the lady you deserve to be. You, me, Phoenix, Javier…we’re family and you know that!”

“We were, Tony, but family don’t beat you when you’re already down,” I whisper, stroking at his soft hair, just as Ava might have. “You destroyed me that night, Tony!”

“Kiss me…” he says, looking deep into my eyes as he returns to his feet again. He then moves in so close, it’s enough to feel his breath against my lips. I shake my head, but part of me wants to, if only to say goodbye once and for all. To show him that this is goodbye; we’ll both have closure, something to wipe away all the hurt. “You want to, Lou, I can tell, kiss me…”

Before I can stop it, he closes that final gap and presses his lips against mine. His chest leans in against my thumping heart and we kiss. It’s warm, it’s slow, it’s childhood, and it’s nostalgic. He tries to run his tongue along my lip, asking for permission to sink deeper, to go back to the past and fall in love again, but I refuse to let him. Instead, I press my lips slightly harder against his just one last time before pushing him away.

“Lou?” he breathes out with desperation in his voice.

“No,” I whisper as I push him away.

When I look back up and toward the safety of the street, I find Daniel watching us, bearing witness to my betrayal. He looks sad, lost, shocked, and horrified, all in one go. I open my mouth to say his name, but he shakes his head, looks to the ground, and walks away.

“Daniel?!” I finally call out, shoving at Tony who is watching all this with an angry and confused expression.

“Who is that, mi corazon?!” He grabs hold of my wrist, practically spitting the words at me.

“I am NOT your corazon! I’m his!” I shout as I throw my wrist down so hard, he drops it and I take my opportunity to run. I just hope I’m not too late.

Daniel

Fuck! What a fucking imbecile! I knew I wasn’t enough for her, knew she needed something closer to her brother, someone who I will never be. I can’t believe I let myself fall for someone who obviously needs someone who just isn’t me! I’m cursed to always fall for the girl who is in love with somebody else.

I pace angrily through the office, running my fingers through my hair, wondering what the hell to do. I can already hear her running up behind me, shouting out for me, chasing me for I don’t even know what; to absolve her guilt? Who knows, but I just want to get to my office and shut the world out. Forever would be good enough for me. I growl out to Mary to hold my calls, and when she stares up at me, together with the girl running after me, she nods and looks straight back down at her desk.

I slam the door behind me but within seconds, Lou is opening it again, trying to reach for me, but when I hold up my hands in a defensive stance, she stops and steps back. She leans against the closed door, giving me the time to get my breathing back to normal. I angrily shove my hands inside of my pockets, walk to the window and rest my forehead against the coolness of the glass, where I finally shut my eyes to the world. I fell for a girl who is unavailable all over again; I am never enough.

“Daniel…?” she whimpers but stays exactly where she is. “Daniel, please…look at me, please?” I can’t though, so I just shake my head against that glass window, huffing as I do so. “Daniel, that wasn’t what it looked like…I promise!”

I release a laugh with no mirth in it, still keeping my eyes closed to her betrayal, her lies.

“So you weren’t kissing your ex-boyfriend in the street just now? I just imagined that?”

“That did happen,” she says guiltily, and I eventually turn around to see her looking toward the floor with tears streaming down her soft cheeks. I want to touch them, to kiss them away, but I’m not what she wants. “But so did me pushing him away, Daniel. It was a goodbye kiss.”

“What?!” I shout a little louder than I intended to, causing her to jump. “So, would it be reasonable for me to go and find my ex-girlfriends and give them a kiss ‘goodbye’, would you be ok with that?”

“Daniel, you said so yourself, you’ve never had a serious relationship with a girl before,” she says, finally looking at me with a little defiance. “Tony and I were childhood sweethearts, Daniel, we went through so much-”

“Then be with him, Louisa!” I shout, this time with anger and frustration.

“I don’t want to-”

“Excuse me, Daniel, Louisa,” Mary rushes out as she bursts in, and if weren’t for the white-as-a-sheet complexion she is sporting right now, I would be biting her head off. Instead, Louisa and I both look at her with concern written all over our faces. “It’s the hospital, they’re looking for you, Louisa, they have your brother, Warren.”

“W-Warren? Phoenix?” Louisa gasps before throwing her hands over her mouth. The fear on her face makes me want to run to her, to hold her in my arms, but then I remember her lips being locked together with Tony’s.

“They need you to go there straight away, to identify him, fill in paperwork and such-”

“Identify him?!” she gasps in a pitched tone of voice, turning a sickly shade of green.

“No, no, no, they say he’ll be fine but he’s currently unconscious and all they have is his wallet to identify him, but he’s ok, dear,” Mary reassures her before resting her hand on top of Louisa’s shoulder. “Come on, I’ll take you; if that’s ok, Daniel?”

“Of course,” I reply tightly.

Louisa whips her gaze back to me and we look at one another for a while before I nod and turn away again. I can’t look at her falling apart anymore, especially when I’m breaking just as much as she is.

“Thank you,” she whispers and then I hear the click of the door. She’s gone and I have no idea if I’ll ever see her again.

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