Page 21 of The Hunt

“Look… since you were so honest with me about the Ryan thing, I think I should be equally honest with you about something,” I said, lifting a palm.

“I already know you don’t date,” Rhett said. “You told me.”

“It’s not that.” I swallowed thickly. “It’s something else.”

He stepped back, the electric tension still humming in the air around us. “What is it?”

I sighed and glanced at the fire again. “I think you should know what kind of men your friends are deep down,” I said. “Well… one of them, anyway.”

Rhett frowned. “What do you mean?”

“One of your Wilder friends happens to be my recent ex, and he also happens to be a terrible person. Even worse than Ryan.” As I spoke, I gestured to the Wilder fire, eyes narrowing. “I’m pretty sure he wants me gone from Hollingsworth so I don’t spill his dirty secret to anyone, but unfortunately for him, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Wait, who’s your ex?” Rhett asked, turning his head over his shoulder to look back at the guys around the fire.

“Oh, sorry. I forgot to say. It’s Jake.”

“Jake?” He glanced at me, then turned to look over his shoulder again. “As in the tall blond guy standing right over there?ThatJake?”

“Yeah, that’s him.”

He whirled back around, eyes narrowing. “You’re seriously telling me he datedyou?”

I bristled, not appreciating the implication that I wasn’t good enough for Jake. “Yes. He did.”

“All right. I’ll bite.” Rhett crossed his arms over his chest. “What did he do to you?”

“Tomespecifically… well, it turned out he was lying to me and cheating on me the entire time,” I said. I lifted a hand and went on. “But that wasnothingcompared to what I caught him doing to other wom—”

He cut me off. “Hold on. Jake cheated?”

“Yes,” I said impatiently. His skeptical interruptions were getting more annoying by the second. “But like I was saying, he didmuchworse than that. Honestly, he’s a total monster. And I don’t say that lightly.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Rhett’s tone was noticeably colder now. “What did he do that was so bad?”

I lifted a palm as I tried to piece together my jumbled thoughts. “Just so you know… it’s kind of hard for me to talk about this.”

“You’re the one who brought it up.”

“I know. I just… I don’t quite know how to put it all into words, because it’s such a long story. I don’t even know where to start. And really, it’s not evenmystory to share,” I said. “But look, the main thing you need to know is that Jake is seriously sick. I’m pretty sure he hates women deep down, and he has a disgusting way of showing that hatred. When I caught him doing this shit, he tried to claim it was some sort of sexual fetish, but—”

“Okay, Ev.” Rhett cut me off, lifting a commanding palm. “I’m going to stop you right there. I’ve heard enough.”

I frowned, taken aback. “What?”

“We’re done talking.”

“But I haven’t even told you what he—”

“You don’t need to say any more,” he said, nostrils flaring. “I’m not going to stand here and let you spew all this hateful shit about my best friend.”

“Look, I get that he’s your friend, so it might be hard to believe bad things about him, but I can prove it,” I said. An anxious tremor had slipped into my voice. “At least… sort of. It’s not really enough, but I—”

Rhett cut me off again, eyes filled with cold fury. “You know, when you stepped into the tunnel that night, I thought you were feisty as fuck. Brave, too. It was a huge turn-on,” he said. “But now I can see I was just thinking with my dick. I obviously confused feistiness and bravery with you being a brazen fucking bitch.”

I stepped back, shaken. No one had ever used that word on me before… except Jake.

“Wow, now I see why the two of you are best friends,” I said. “Neither one of you has any respect for women, huh?”

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