Page 20 of The Hunt

“No. He’s out.”

“What’s stopping him from leaking all the secrets now? As revenge for getting kicked out?”

“He knows what’ll happen to him if he breathes a single word, and he’s lucky it didn’t happen already.” As he spoke, Rhett’s eyes flickered with a dark intensity, something dangerous lurking just beneath the surface. “I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have actually leaked the stuff online.Ever.But Lila didn’t know that when he approached her.”

My upper lip curled. “God, what a slimy, cowardly little prick.”

“Yeah.” Rhett’s dark brows lifted. “So… do you still think I’m an asshole? Or do you understand why I decided to beat the living shit out of him?”

I sucked in a deep breath. As much as I hated to admit it, I’d definitely judged Rhett too harshly after our first encounter. “Yeah. I get it.”

“Like I said, you can’t tell anyone about this.”

I shrugged. “It’s not like you revealed any real secrets to me.”

“I know. But society business is meant to stay in the society.”

“So why did you decide to tellme, then? I’m practically a stranger to you.”

Rhett slowly rubbed his jaw again. “I guess I meant what I said earlier. I don’t like it when hot girls hate me for no reason,” he said. He smiled wickedly and leaned in a little closer, minty breath ghosting over my face. “I’d rather give you a good reason to hate me.”

I laughed softly. “Wow. Just when I was starting to like you,” I said. “But seriously… I think you did the right thing. I kinda want to beat the shit out of Ryan myself right now.”

“Don’t worry. I took care of him.”

I let out a light, nervous laugh. “You know, when you talk like that, you kind of sound like you’re in the mafia.”

Rhett’s wicked grin widened. “Aren’t women into that? The whole bad boy thing?”

“Maybe some.” I shrugged. “But not me. If I ever decide to date again, all I want is a nice guy.”

“I bet I could change your mind about that.”

“Oh, really?” I arched a brow. “Good luck with that.”

Rhett’s grin disappeared, replaced by a slight frown. “Are you sure we haven’t met before?” he asked. “You look so familiar. But I can’t figure out why.”

“I don’t think we’ve met. I only moved here a few weeks ago,” I replied. “Maybe you just hooked up with a girl who looks a bit like me, or something like that.”

As I spoke, I kept my voice airy and casual, like it was just a throwaway comment, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t using those exact words to gauge his interest in hooking up with a girl who looked like me.

Not that I was interested. No, definitely not.

Rhett’s tongue briefly darted out to wet his bottom lip as he regarded me with that dark, intense gaze of his; the one that made my knees feel like jelly.

“Nah,” he finally said. “I wouldn’t forget hooking up with a girl like you.”

As he spoke, he leaned his head even closer to mine. The air between us crackled with tension, filling my stomach with nervous butterflies, and when his gaze dropped for a moment, lingering on my lips, I felt a rush of heat flood my cheeks.

I couldn’t tell—was he actually interested in me, or was this just some game he played with girls? Feeding them all the right lines until they fell at his feet minus their underwear?

Either way, the thrilling idea of his lips brushing against mine sent a surge of desire through me, mingled with the nervousness that had settled in my chest. But letting him kiss me was a bad idea… right? Especially as I’d already decided that I was absolutelynotinterested in him.

Oh, come on.

Who the hell was I fooling? I was obviously interested.

I sucked in a shaky breath and glanced off to the side, anxiously chewing the inside of my cheek. As my eyes swept over the woods and the distant fire surrounded by Wilder guys, I took a step back.

---