Page 88 of Altered

Never force me…

The memory of that night flashed through my mind then, and I physically flinched beneath him.

Breathing hard and fast, I closed my eyes and desperately tried to gather my thoughts and reign in my turbulent emotions as they threatened to overwhelm me.

It wasn’t coming easy to me, though.

The tears I had been battling so hard to keep at bay broke through and I burst into tears.

"What's wrong?" Hunter demanded. Pulling out, he shifted away from me as he readjusted himself and zipped up his jeans, giving me some much-needed breathing space.

Concern was laced in his tone, and even though he was slurring slightly, he was aware enough to know I was in crisis. "Hope?"

"I can't," I squeezed out, as my body shook violently. "I'm just –"

Icouldn’ttell him.

How the fuck could I tell him about something that I didn’t understand myself?

What happened that night?

It was a horrible, blurred memory that I dared not examine too closely.

I was afraid of what would happen if I did.

The disgust and self-loathing I felt because of it, though, had never been more potent than right in this moment.

"Did Ihurtyou?" Hunter asked, looking completely horrified. "Was I too rough?"

"No." I shook my head and blinked away the tears that were threatening to spill. "You didn’t do anything wrong." Scrambling into a sitting position, I quickly covered myself up and fixed my dress into place. "I'm fine."

"Him?" Hunter demanded then, still shirtless. "Has he hurt you?"

"No," I strangled out quickly – too quickly.

A dark shadow cast over Hunter's face.

"If he hurt you, I'll kill him," he stated in a deathly cold tone of voice. "Is that it? Did that fucking bastard put his hands on you?" His voice rose with his temper, and I watched as he ran a reckless hand through his hair. "I will fuckingkillhim!"

"No," I denied, shaking my head, his words only proving to me that I was doing the right thing by not telling him the truth.

He really would kill Jordan.

I hated him.

But I didn’t want him hurt.

Not when he was doing such a great job of that himself.

"I need to go," I whispered, needing to get out of here.

I was two seconds away from falling apart right here in the backseat of my truck.

Doing that, with the current state of mind Hunter was in, not to mention the sheer amount of alcohol flowing through his veins, would be a fatal mistake.

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Chapter Thirty-Four

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