Page 22 of Passion and Payback

“Because we always told each other everything important, you know? I’d warn you about the new bruise I got because I pissed my dad or mom off, and you’d tell me about how you hadto eat butter and bread because your parents forgot you existed again while they were out. I told you about my crushes, and you didn’t mention you were getting laid on the regular.”

I snorted, picking up my glass. “I don’t know about ‘on the regular,’ but yeah, I can see what you mean.”

“It was pretty regular,” Hunter chuckled. “At least from what I heard.”

We’d had this conversation before. “You know, people in high school always exaggerate about everything. And when they aren’t, they’re usually lying.”

“Well, still,” he said, pushing up from his seat. “C’mon, if we’re going to drink and talk, we might as well do it in comfort. The furniture in the living room shouldn’t go to waste.”

I followed him. “You know, it wasn’t about keeping things from you.”

“No, I know. I didn’t figure out what was happening until you had your first girlfriend. You told me about her pretty quick.”

“Well, yeah, that was important.”

“Which was what I needed to realize. You tell me everything when it’s important. You getting laid wasn’t important, but finally dating someone was. So, I learned to let go of being hurt because…well, you are the way you are. I’ve always loved you for who you are, no point in starting to get upset about it that far into the friendship.”

We walked into the living room, which I believed had once been a meeting room when it was a business. The obvious clue was that one of the three walls was made entirely of glass, including the door with its curved metal handle. Like the rest of the apartment, it was covered in smooth tiles, and there was a large rug in the center of the room, which most of the leather furniture sat on, a TV on one wall, and shelves full of plants under the large windows looking out over Port Dale.

Hunter slid onto one end of the couch, facing the windows. “I thought about making this my bedroom, you know? Have the bed under those large windows, but I didn’t in the end. Chose the room at the end.”

“Didn’t want to spoil the view?” I asked, nodding toward the skyline as nearby downtown was illuminated by the setting sun, giving the illusion the city was on fire.

His face fell as he swirled the contents of his glass around, making the ice and glass tinkle. After a moment, he sighed. “That would have been my first counterargument a couple of years ago. But after everything…well. That all changed for me. My first counterargument couldn’t have been more foreign to the man I was.”

He drifted off, and I looked at the windows. Then, I glanced behind me toward the wall of glass. I remembered the security system, the double-locked thick metal doors, and where his room was. “You didn’t want to be exposed to anyone who might have gotten in, did you?”

“That’s it,” he said with a shake of his head. “It’s funny how many changes can be made to your life due to one thing. Now, I live like I might be under siege at any moment. I carry a knife and a taser whenever I leave the building. And I even got a gun.”

That caught me by surprise. “Did you now?”

He smirked. “I’ll give credit where it’s due, you almost managed to hide your surprise.”

“Well, you were never against guns, but you always said you never trusted yourself to hold one. Even when I offered to take you to the range and show you step by step, you refused,” I told him.

He took a big drink and grimaced, probably more at the thoughts in his head than the smooth liquor. “Well, like I said, things change. So much about my life changed two years ago,and I’m still finding different ways it has. It would almost be amazing if it weren’t so depressing.”

There wasn’t much I could say to that other than, “I know what you mean.”

“About your life changing because of one thing?”

“Yeah.”

“What was it?

“Two things.”

“Um, okay. What were they?”

“The first time I killed a man, and the first time I watched a friend die.”

He swallowed hard. “I see, okay, yeah. I guess it’s two things for me too.”

I could guess one was Lucas, but Hunter averted his eyes. Was the second that he’d been attacked as well? I knew he’d been beaten badly and stabbed three times before being left to die. He damn well nearly had too. If it hadn’t been for a trio of drunks, Hunter wouldn’t be sitting here talking with me, and I’d be mourning the loss of him. Sometimes, being in this city felt hopeless, being surrounded by so many people who didn’t care because of how numb they were, and then there were people like those drunks who could have easily minded their own business but instead chose to help a stranger.

“The friend was a guy I got along with pretty well in my first squad,” I told him, trying to pull him out of his thoughts.

He looked startled. “Oh…no, don’t…you don’t have to tell me.”

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