Page 23 of The Hunt

How had I been so fucking blind?

The realization had hit me like a punch to the gut: Ev was a liar, and a manipulative one at that. And worse, she was exactly the kind of person I couldn’t stand. The kind I usually saw coming miles away. But this time, I’d been too wrapped up in her looks and irresistible spark to notice until she was spewing all that bullshit right to my face.

My fists clenched, and I let out a growl as I kicked a fallen branch out of the way, anger at Ev mixing with anger at myself. How could I have missed the warning signs that showed what a shitty person she was?

I knew I wasn’t a good person myself. Not by any means. I beat a guy half to death with my bare hands two weeks ago, for fuck’s sake, and I didn’t feel an ounce of remorse over it. In fact, I relished the sound of his bones cracking and savored the feeling of his warm, sticky blood dripping off my knuckles. And that wasn’t even close to the worst thing I’d ever done.

So no, I wasn’t good. But at least I was honest.

I knew for sure that Ev was lying about all the shit she said. Had to be. It already seemed obvious enough when she claimed to be Jake’s ex-girlfriend who broke up with him recently, because Jake had a long-termboyfriend,and they’d been together for three years.

Even if Ev dated him before he came out, all the way back in fucking high school or whatever, I didn’t believe for a second that he would ever cheat on anyone. He was one of the best guys I knew.

Other Wilders? Sure, I could easily believe a story about them two-timing—or even ten-timing—a girlfriend or boyfriend, given their lack of integrity when it came to getting their dicks wet.

But Jake? Fuck no. He was a genuinely loyal guy.

Based on that, I already had my suspicions about Ev’s motives when she started shit-talking him, and those suspicions were confirmed when she started saying all that nasty shit about him ‘hating women’ and having ‘disgusting sexual fetishes’, which then snowballed into her calling him a ‘sick pervert’ and a ‘sick freak’.

That was when I knew she wasn’t just a liar. She was a raging bigot too.

I’d heard ignorant, intolerant shit like her shrill rant many times in the past, and it always made my blood fucking boil. It was 2024. How had so many people on this planet still not figured out that other people’s love lives or sex lives simply didn’t affect them? I couldn’t give less of a fuck about it, and I couldn’t even comprehend why others did.

On top of that, the way Ev seemed to imply that Jake didn’t like or respect women just because he didn’t want to fuck them pissed me the hell off. As if not being attracted to women wassome sort of hate crime, or whatever the fuck she was trying to say.

What a joke. Jakelovedwomen.

Hell, just two years ago he’d helped to coordinate a fundraising effort that paid for multiple schools in the state to give out free pads to girls, all because he saw a news article about period poverty in those areas, and it made him think about how shitty it would be for his little sisters to go through something like that. Hardly the actions of a guy who hated and disrespected women. But Ev still certainly seemed to think his lack of attraction to her constituted ‘hatred’.

For fuck’s sake.

I just couldn’t stand hearing that shit. Couldn’t let her run her fucking mouth for a second longer tonight.

She kept saying that I needed to hear her out, but she didn’t deserve that. Not when I could already tell exactly what she was getting at. I really didn’t need to hear any more of that bullshit, and as for Jake… he really didn’t need any more of that shit in his life.

He already had a hard time coming out all those years ago, because he was so nervous about being accepted, and he still had hard moments sometimes. Like last year when some protestors showed up on campus to rally against the college’s LGBT club, holding signs about sinners and screaming about gay people supposedly being ‘sick perverts’—the exact same words Ev had slammed him with.

I, along with the other Wilders, got rid of those assholes as fast as we could, but the damage had already been done. I saw the hurt on Jake’s face. The hollow look in his eyes as he doubtlessly wondered when these fuckers were finally going to leave people like him the hell alone and let them live their damn lives in peace.

The fire crackled louder as I got closer, the warmth reaching me even before I stepped into the clearing. It seemed fitting, because there was something primal and consuming about the flames that matched the fury coursing through me.

I wanted to forget all about Ev, to erase the memory of every time I’d thought maybe, just maybe, she was worth my time. A worthy challenge to pursue. But there it was—the ugly truth, staring me right in the face. She was no good. Not for me or anyone. And if anything, I hated her more for making me wish she was.

“Hey, man,” Jake called out, noticing my arrival in the clearing. “Everything okay?”

I hesitated. Part of me wanted to tell him about Ev’s bullshit, but a bigger part of me figured I should keep it to myself. At least for now. Jake didn’t need to have his good night ruined by the knowledge that some crazy homophobic bitch was going around trying to smear his reputation.

“Yeah, I’m good,” I said, forcing an amiable grin as I stepped closer to the fire. “Just need another drink.”

“I was about to go grab another beer.” Jake rose to his feet. “I’ll get one for you too. Anyone else?”

After he’d gone, I dropped down onto a log near the fire, barely feeling the rough bark digging into my palms as I braced my hands against it.

JJ looked over at me, brows lifted. “You sure everything’s okay?” he asked in a low voice. “You look pissed as fuck. Did Ryan try to show his face?”

I shook my head. “It’s nothing, really,” I said. “I was talking to some girl, but she turned out to be a total piece of work.”

He glanced toward the path I’d just come down. “You mean Ev? I thought I saw you with her.”

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