Page 149 of Always You

“Came to see you.”

I let out a sigh, slamming my book closed, and throwing it on the wooden planks with an audible thud. My eyes lock with his as I mimic his stance, crossing my arms.

“You can’t just appear on my doorstep.”

He just laughs.

“I mean it, Hansen!”

“Is that some kind of thing?” he asks, with a dull look on his face, silently calling me out on my bullshit. “Because I just did.”

It’s like I’m thrown back into time, that cocky son of a bitch like a blast of my past to fuck with my head.

“Shut up, smartass. What if my boyfriend was here?”

His eyebrow raises in confusion, before the corner of his mouth softly starts to tug on his lip. “You mean, he isn’t?”

“No.”

He purses his lips, clearly doing his best to suppress a smirk. “So, you’re not living with him?”

“You didn’t know?”

“No.” He casually shakes his head. Somehow that makes it even worse.

“You just dropped by, even though he might be here?”

“I don’t care if he is,” he huffs, making my jaw tick.

I hate him.

“Hunter!” I growl.

“What? Friends, right?” He cocks his eyebrow, daring me with his piercing eyes. “Nothing to hide if we’re just friends, Charls.”

I stare at him, too pissed to say a word, too annoyed with myself to admit he might be right. I hate and love his arrogant stance, loving him for it when he’s that confident ass who woos me off my feet, but hating him when he’s using it against me to get his way.

He makes it so hard to to resist anything that revolves around Hunter Hansen, and apparently, him ripping my heart out didn’t change that one bit. Because here we are, and instead of throwing my shoe at his head, I keep my stance statue-still. If anything, I have to keep myself from jumping up and wrapping my arms around him.

Because fuck me, I can play hard to get all I want. But deep down inside, I missed him like crazy. Not the heartbreak, not the pain in my chest, but just him. I missed mybestfriend. It’s been eleven months, but looking at him now, it feels like eleven minutes.

Every single time the darkness of losing Mama got a hold of me, he was the one I wanted to call. And every single time, my heart broke a little more because he wasn’t there. Now he’s here, and I don’t know what to make of it. I keep begging my heart to keep the gates closed, but no surprise there, she’s stronger than my mind, who’s the sensible out of the two.

“Or are we more than friends?” he dares.

“No.”

“Well, you’ve never been bothered by me stopping by unannounced.”

“I am now.” I swallow the rest of the words that are on the tip of my tongue, while he slowly pushes off the porch post, sauntering toward me. He stops in front of me, looking down with a lustful stare that makes me swallow hard, before my lips part, and I push out a breath.

“Let me rephrase that. I never cared if you didn’t want me to come over unannounced.”

“Glad to see you are still an asshole.” I avert my gaze, dropping my focus back to my book on the floor, as if it will help me ignore him. Like he’ll actually leave if I just don’t acknowledge his presence.

Hunter Hansen has always been in my personal space, long before we crossed the line we should’ve never crossed. I’d be stupid to think this time things are going to be any different.

“Come on, let’s go.” He offers me his hand, and I eye it with a glare, turning my head back to my book.

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