Page 7 of The Hunt

“Yes! Exactly!” Relief flickered over his face. “It was just—”

“This is the part where you say it was just a joke, huh?” I hissed, pulling him forward before slamming him back into thestone wall again. I followed that up with a swift punch to his gut. Just a warning tap, really. The next one would be harder.

A grunt of pain escaped Ryan’s mouth, followed by a rattling gasp as he tried to catch his breath. The faint light from outside the underpass cast shadows across his face as he raised his hands in an attempt to defend himself. His petrified expression was pitiful. Pathetic.

I felt no sympathy for the little prick. What the fuck did he think would happen when he crossed the Wilders like this? He knew better. Everyone did.

“Rhett, please,” he ground out, pre-emptively wincing as I yanked my right hand off his shoulder and curled it into a tight fist.

Just as I raised the fist, a voice echoed down the tunnel. “Hey! What the hell is going on down there?”

The words cut through the cold air like a knife, halting me in my tracks. I turned my head sharply to see a girl standing at the far end of the underpass. She was just a silhouette, but her stance was clearly defiant.

“Help!” Ryan yelped. “Call the pol—”

I clamped a hand over his mouth to shut him up, thumb moving downward to press down on his Adam’s apple until he was letting out gurgling gasps of pain through my fingers. “I think we both know what’ll happen if the cops get involved, and it won’t be good for you, will it?” I growled.

He stared up at me through wide eyes as understanding dawned on him. Then he nodded shakily.

“Hey!” The girl took several steps forward. Behind her, she was dragging an enormous suitcase on squeaky wheels, and a large tote bag hung from her left arm. “Leave him alone!”

I was about to tell her to fuck off and mind her own goddamned business, but then I realized how cute she was. Longblonde hair and a stunning body clad in tight skinny jeans and a loose jacket that did its best but still couldn’t hide her curves.

She took a few steps closer, eyes narrowing.Fuck.This girl wasn’t just cute. She was gorgeous. Plump, pouty lips I desperately wanted to bite, a heart-shaped face, and wide, flashing eyes that instantly telegraphed her spitfire attitude.

“Do I need to call the cops?” she asked, eyes fixed on Ryan.

I drew back and lifted my hands in mock surrender. “Nah, we’re cool here,” I said. “We’re just messing around.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You call that messing around?”

“Relax. It’s all part of a game.” I cocked my head and flashed the girl the same grin that usually made women stumble and fall at my feet. “You’d understand if you were a player. Are you interested?”

She scoffed. “Agame? That’s seriously the best excuse you can come up with?”

Ryan gulped. “He’s not lying. I-it’s kind of like… a hazing thing.”

“See?” I raised a brow. “It’s nothing. You just walked in at a bad time.”

The girl’s jaw tightened, and she took another step forward. “I’d be more inclined to believe him if he wasn’t so clearly terrified of you,” she said, eyes darting between Ryan and me. “Also… hazing? Last I checked, that’s not a good thing.”

The grin stayed affixed to my face, and I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms. “Well, speaking of being terrified… why the hell areyou, a barely five-foot woman, walking down a dark tunnel alone at night? Aren’t you scared?”

She returned my smile as she reached into her front pocket to reveal a small, sleek Taser. “Life becomes a lot less scary when you have one of these babies,” she replied, letting the faint blue spark crackle in the darkness. She held my gaze, unfazed, hersmile widening just enough to hint at a challenge. “Do I have to use it, or are you going to let yourfriendgo?”

I shrugged. “He can leave whenever he wants. Like I said, we were just messing around.”

Ryan took that as his cue to flee, feet loudly scuffing against the concrete in his haste to scurry out of the underpass. I didn’t watch the dirty little rat go. Didn’t care that he’d escaped my wrath, either. I would’ve liked to finish the job tonight, but it wasn’t the biggest deal in the world. I could easily find him another time.

For now, I wanted to stay and talk to this gorgeous blonde girl. I hadn’t found someone as alluring as her since… well, fuck, as long as I could remember.There was just something so damn magnetic about her confidence. It was like an invitation; a thrilling challenge that stirred the darkest parts of me.

It made me want to unravel her, to chip away at each bold layer until I finally found the vulnerability beneath. I wanted to watch the steel in her gaze soften, then shatter. See those pretty eyes fill with fear to replace the certainty that was once there. Fear that would eventually melt into desire.

Just imagining it all sent a surge of satisfaction through me—the thought of her finally breaking, her lips parting to release a scream of terror. One she’d been so sure she’d never, ever let slip.

Those were the best kinds of people to play with. The real challenges. Not the ones who were already a blubbering, shivering mess from the very start.

The girl’s eyes narrowed. “You really expect me to believe that was just a silly frat boy game?” she asked. “Isawyou. You were beating that guy up.”

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