Page 22 of Hunter

Kit chortles, then grabs her half-full coffee cup and stands up. “I think I’ll take a lap and give you two a minute.”

“Was that necessary?” I ask Isabella as Kit disappears around a corner of the deck.

“Well, it’s the truth, isn’t it?”

No. Yes. Sort of. I cross my arms over my chest, staring down at her. “What do you want?”

“My cousin’s afraid you’re going to try to sabotage us.”

“Is he?”

She tilts her head to the side. “Are you?”

I shrug. She’s paranoid and defensive, and I’m kind of enjoying it.

“Boy,” she says, shaking her head, “you sure know how to hold a grudge.”

“I’m not holding a grudge,” I tell her. “I’d just like some answers.”

“What do you want to know, Hunter?” she asks. “Why we didn’t work out?”

“Didn’t work out,” I scoff. “You didn’t even give us a chance.”

“Jesus! How big is your ego? Is it so unbelievable to you that a woman might break up with you? Mightnotwant to date you?”

“No,” I say. “It isn’t. There are plenty of women who wouldn’t be interested in me, and I’m cool with that. But it’s unbelievable to me thatyouwouldn’t want to date me, because we actuallyhadsomething, and connecting with someone the way we did isn’t an everyday thing. It’s rare. It’s special. And you threw it away.”

“Oh my god with the drama. It wasn’t all that.”

“I think it was.”

“You’re delusional. It was just some semi-decent sex!”

Semi-decent? Ouch. That hurts.

“It waswaybetter than ‘semi-decent,’ and you know it.”

“Do I?” she asks. “That’s presumptuous. You think you’re some kind of a sex god, Hunter?”

“No. I never said—”

“We had one hot weekend. We exchanged a few hot texts afterward. Big deal. I wasn’t the love of your life, and youcertainlyweren’t the love of mine.”

I recoil like she’s slapped me across the face, and honestly, in a manner of speaking, it feels like she has. Her words hurt me, and it pisses me off that she has that power over my heart.

“Got it,” I say, my cheeks flushing as I look back down at the piles of paper on Kit’s and my work table. “I was hoping forrealanswers, but if that’s the version of the truth you want to go with, I can’t do anything about it.”

“So you’ll leave us alone? Me and Beto? You won’t sabotage us or embarrass us or anything?”

“The way I see it,” I say, “you don’t have much of a right to ask me for anything. I’m just some guy in your rearview mirror with whom you had mediocre sex and never cared about.”

“Give me a break! I didn’t say that.”

“I don’t have time for any more of your games.” I gesture to the table. “I have work to do.”

“Your brother’s married to my best friend,” she says, her tone softening for the first time since she approached me. “Come on, Hunter. Truce? Please?”

I dart my eyes back to her face, feeling my expression turn frigid. “Whatever.”

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