Page 55 of The Hunt

Oh.

Despite the tense way we left things, Rhett had still gone ahead and ordered all the food he insisted on me having tonight.

I inwardly sighed, letting the door swing all the way open. “Yes, it’s his room,” I murmured. “Thanks.”

I let her wheel the cart in and place the food on the table. My cheeks flushed hot as I wondered if she suspected what Rhett and I had done up against it mere minutes ago.

When she was finally gone, I sat down and stared at the heavenly-smelling halloumi burger in front of me, mind racing with thoughts I didn’t want to deal with. I couldn’t help it.

Every time I thought about the intense moments Rhett and I had just shared, my body seemed to react all over again. His touch, his kiss, the way he made me feel like I was on fire…

I put my head in my hands and let out a frustrated groan. It was a bad idea. A mistake, like I said. Like webothsaid. But I wanted him anyway. Badly. In spite of everything.

What the hell was I supposed to do with that?

12

Everly

The crisp nightair bit at my skin as I made my way down the sidewalk, the faint glow of the bus stop flickering in the distance. I shifted my bag on my shoulder and tightened my scarf, groaning lightly. My mind was still running crazy circles around last week’s events.

The memory of my encounter with Rhett burned constantly in my thoughts, no matter how hard I tried to shove it aside. His intensity, his touch, his voice issuing dark commands, those damn piercings… all of it lingered like a tattoo on my brain.

Still, I was committed to doing the right thing, so I’d studiously avoided him since then. He hadn’t made any attempts to contact me either. That admittedly stung a little, but at the end of the day, I knew it was for the best.

That whole night was a mistake. Letting him kiss me was a mistake, and sinking to my knees in front of him wasdefinitelya mistake. The sex was the biggest mistake, of course. And the best orgasms of my life were…

“A mistake,” I muttered to myself through gritted teeth, hating that my mind kept slipping back to wanting more from Rhett.

I inhaled deeply, lifted my chin, and forced my mind to focus on something else. Did I have any assignments due soon? Some class readings I needed to go over?

Yes.

I let out another weary groan, wishing I’d skipped tonight’s lecture. It’d turned out to be a total rehash of last week’s class, since the professor was off sick and left it in the hands of his TA, who was wildly out of his depth.

If I’d known how pointless it would be, I would’ve headed to the library to study for two hours instead. Maybe even let off some steam with the girls at one of the college bars afterwards.

Thankfully, I was no longer an unwelcome presence anywhere on campus. The bigot rumors had died down ever since Holler issued the retraction about me, and now I was only known as ‘that girl whose dorm got broken into twice’.

Not exactly the most positive reputation to have, but certainly far from the worst.

Speaking of the dorm break-ins… I hadn’t seen or heard from Jake since he called me from that private number, trying to worm his way back into my life. That was a relief, though it came with its own kind of unease.

I had to wonder what he was planning next, and how terrible it would be. Thenthatmade me circle back around to Rhett, wondering if he would finally listen to me and believe me after it inevitably happened.

But then what? We’d magically forget we hated each other and ride off into the sunset together?

Hell no.

Rhett didn’t strike me as a relationship guy. He seemed more like the type of guy who’d fuck his way through an entire sorority in the space of a week, leaving total chaos in his wake before moving on to the next one.

Maybe I was being a little judgmental—especially for a girl who’d allowed herself to be totally dick-matized by him in the space of a few minutes—but realistically, guys with multiple cock piercings weren’t usually known for being sweet, white-picket-fence types, were they?

As I neared the bus stop, a prickling sensation crept up the back of my neck. I whirled around, half-expecting to see Rhett in that skull mask of his, watching me from the shadows.

Instead, I spotted two girls with a leashed dog making their way along the path that ran off the sidewalk into the nearby forest. They weren’t even looking in my direction, let alone staring at me.

I was just being paranoid. But who could blame me for that after everything that had happened recently?

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