Page 53 of Playing My Rivals

Was Jami right?

“Hunter, that’s irrelevant.” I reach up and touch my locket.

He squeezes his eyes shut and grits his teeth. “Answer the goddamn question.”

My heart misfires, and my chest hardens. When his eyes open, there’s a fiery warning shooting in my direction. With my hand on my pendant, I wrap my fingers around it with a need to protect it like it’s my childhood blanket I don’t want to lose.

Something powerful, like my guardian angels, whispers for me to answer with the truth. I have a feeling he already knows, so I take a breath and brace myself for the wrath that’s sure to follow.

“Jamison gave it to me.”

My words become a slap across Hunter’s face. A trail of betrayal skids through his expression. He stares at me for a brief moment.

His eyes flick with a storm brewing, covering them in dark, ominous thunderclouds. “Take it off.”

I shuffle back as I race through my words. “No. Anything you think it means doesn’t mean that at all. He knew I was hurting over my miscarriage. He had an immense loss too. He gave it to me so I could remember the love I had for my baby. That’s it. Nothing more.”

“And how would he know something so personal about you? It’s not something that just comes up in casual conversation.” Eerily calm, Hunter takes a step toward me.

I back up more, trying to grasp any hope of a peaceful resolution. I’m not even close to believing I’ll get one.

“But it did come up, Hunter. It doesn’t matter when or how. He knows about it and gave me something to honor it with.”

His jaw ticks, and he comes toward me. “You won’t be wearing anything Jamison gave you. You know how I feel about the way he is with you. If our relationship means anything to you, you’ll take it off.”

My body stills. I consider what Hunter’s saying, but I don’t want to take off the locket. It means too much to me. It stands for too much. My eyes cast to the floor while I try to figure out a way to get out of this.

“Take off the necklace or you can consider us over.” His voice cracks.

My eyes snap to his. “How dare you give me an ultimatum!”

“No. How dare you wear something from another man!” His glare sends strikes of lightning bolts to my core.

I scowl. “It’s not like that.”

He eyes it again. “If you need to have something around your neck to comfort you, it’ll be from me. Unless the safety you feel in wearing it is because it was from him. Is that the case?”

My gaze darts around his face. I deny the hurtful truth. “No.”

Hunter could twist into a raging tornado, and I’m not going to create the perfect storm for my demise. I take a minute to calm down. If I react to him, I could be without shelter and directly in his angered path.

I escape to the couch and sit. My eyes dash around the room as I try to figure out how I missed his thunderous clouds brewing. He’s trembling and looks as if he could explode. Anything could unleash the restrained downpour of heated emotions he’s keeping at bay.

“At least you had the decency not to lie to me about who gave it to you.” His shoulders relax. “Now, let’s get back to the first question.”

Teetering on the edge, I shake my head. “What question is that?”

“Tell me what’s going on between us.” He stands before me, taking quick, shallow breaths to calm the wild winds in his lungs.

“Up until you got a chip on your shoulder, I thought we were doing well. I don’t know what happened, but you obviously have something on your mind. Why don’t you sit down and tell me what that is?”

Pretending the sun is shining brightly between us and this is all a misunderstanding, I pat the seat next to me. I need the storm to pass so I can figure out what all this is about.

The haze covering his eyes starts to lift as he considers it for a second. I offer a sunflower in the form of a gentle smile and hope it suffices.

His body softens and he sits. “Do you really love me, Dorothy?”

“Yes. You know I do.” I reach for his hand. “Why are you doubting that?”

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