Page 116 of Always You

“Charls.” His voice tells me he knows I’m right, and with that thought, I say goodbye once more.

“Don’t call me anymore, Hunt.” Before he can say anything else, I hang up the phone with a heavy heart, before I slide my body to the floor, breaking down. Burying my face in my hands, I sob, feeling Julie’s arms wrap around me. The pain is threatening to pull me under, pouring out of me like the Hoover Dam just broke, the hole getting bigger when I notice my phone next to my knee, relentlessly buzzing over the linoleum floor.

Hunter.

I close my eyes, tears flowing heavily, because I know I can’t pick up that phone again.

“Sssh, it’s okay, girl. I got you.” Julie strokes my hair, cradling me as I let it all out.

The frustration of last year. How badly we tried to make it work, to stay friends, to stay connected, but no matter what we did, we both knew we were slipping away with no clue how tohold on. It takes me a few minutes to calm down, and I reachfor my phone, seeing twenty missed calls from Hunter.

“You think I made the right choice?”

“Hard to say, girl,” she answers honestly, brushing my hair out of my face. “But I think it was necessary.”

I nod in agreement, looking at my phone.

“He’s gonna keep calling.”

“Yeah, he is.” She lets out a sad chuckle. “You want to answer it?”

“No.” I shake my head, wiping tears away with the back of my hand. “I don’t.”

Answering that phone will give him the chance to lure me back in, and I need to break loose from Hunter Hansen, preferably before it tears me apart.

If it hasn’t already.

44

“You think Barrington will make him first driver?” I nudge my chin toward the Formula One race on the TV, then take a sip of my beer. It tastes bitter, a good combination with the nagging feeling that has permanently settled inside of me, like a leech on my back in a spot I can’t quite reach.

I’ve been drinking more. It seems to be the only way to get through the endless parties Laurie’s dragging me to, the only cure to get out of my own head for a few hours.

“Oh, yeah, for sure,” Jason replies. “He’s ending in front of his teammate for three races now. Mark my words, he’s the newest champion. He’ll break records.”

I nod in agreement, then twist my head at the sound of the front door getting slammed shut with enough force to knock it out.

“Look, baby, I get that you’re doing your job and all, but trust me when I tell you that you’ve got nothing to worry about,” Jensen grunts, rolling his eyes as he strolls into the living room. “So, what?” he continues. “You’re just here to make my life miserable? No calling youbaby. Got it. Anything else you want to bitch about,Miss Stafford? Great. Bye.” His sports bag falls to the floor with a loud thud as he rounds the couch, then lets his phone clatter to the glass coffee table and drops his body beside me.

“Your little PR girl is still giving you the cold shoulder?” I smirk.

“More like determined to set my ass on fire.” He pulls my beer from my hands, pouring the last of it down his throat.

“That was mine,” I deadpan.

“Wasis the right description.”

“Why does she hate you so much?” Jason’s amusement is audible, though he stays fixed on the race.

“She must be a fucking alien.”

I snort with humor. “What, because she can resist the almighty Jared James Jensen? Son of a politician? Hockey rebel?”

My sarcasm earns me a death glare that only makes me chuckle. “Don’t you have somewhere to be? You don’t even fucking live here anymore.”

That results in a similar glare from me. “Shut up.”

“Oh, trouble in paradise?”

---