Page 59 of Passion and Payback

“I expected you might need to roll me out of this place,” I said as we stood up. “But they managed to portion things out, although all that heavy food and drink is going to my head slightly.”

“I’ll try not to take advantage of you,” he said, holding his arm out.

It surprised me, considering how easily he’d kept his secret about being into guys for years. I suppose it technically didn’t count as hiding it since neither I nor anyone else had ever brought up the subject. Yet, I still expected him to want to keep his bisexuality private.

Clearly, that wasn’t the case, and with a happy flutter in my chest, I took the offered arm. “Aren’t you a gentleman?”

“I managed to learn a few things growing up.”

“Like what? How to drink, fight, and screw your life up?”

“Well, more like I learned whatnotto do. Once you have the worst as an example, it’s a lot easier to figure out what you should be doing.”

“See? I told you that once, and you told me I was being overly hopeful.”

“I was a bitch fifteen-year-old, what do you expect?”

We stepped out of the restaurant, and the immediate change in noise was jarring. The soft quiet of the restaurant was replaced by the honking of horns and someone talking loudly on the opposite corner. I pulled closer to him, feeling a little like our bubble had popped. He was warm against my body and smiled down at me in a way that might make me melt.

“I’ll get us a ride…unless you wanna walk,” he said, wrinkling his nose. “Mmm, not in these shoes.”

I laughed as he pulled out his phone. “At least neither of us is the heels type. That would be even worse.”

A flash of movement above us pulled my eyes to the screen on one of the nearby buildings. They had popped up in Port Dale over the past few years. Namely, they were just used as ad space, but now and then, the news would flash onto the screen, like the blond woman smiling widely.

“And in other news, a respected member of the [Last Name] family has spoken with us today to announce his intention to run for Mayor in the upcoming election,” she said in a clear, pleasant voice.

Hearing [Last Name] made my blood go cold as I whispered. “Please, not him.”

“Callum [Last Name] announced that his time on the city council has given him a great deal of experience in politics and dealing with the public,” she said, and my stomach rolled as a video began to play.

“Hunter?” I heard beside me, but Kai might as well have been a million miles away.

There he was, somehow managing to pull off those boyish good looks, his blue eyes glinting with amusement as he talked to someone else on the screen. It didn’t look like he’d aged at all, as though nothing had touched him in the past couple of years.

“The [Last Name] family has been involved in the development of Port Dale from the beginning,” I heard him saythrough a sound bite. My vision swam before me as his smooth voice continued. “And I intend to keep that tradition alive. I hope to bring great things to this city and eventually this state.”

“So you plan to aim even higher?” came another voice, clearly interviewing him.

“Eventually, but you have to start from the bottom and work your way up,” he said, his chuckle making the food in my stomach feel sour and acidic. “And what better place than to try for mayor of our fine city? I feel confident the people of Port Dale will show their trust in me and let me guide them to even greater heights than we already have.”

“You son of a bitch,” I hissed as I stared at the screen, feeling my disgust and horror give way to the rage I’d felt in that alley as I stabbed the dealer. “You absolute rotten, horrible, vile piece of shit.”

“Hunter!” My eyes snapped away from the screen to see Kai staring intensely at me, worry written into every line on his face. “What is it?”

“That’s one of them,” I said, fury bubbling inside me. “That was the one you’d call the head fucker in charge of the whole thing.”

“I…” he glanced toward the screen as the interview ended. The woman talked about something else, but I’d already stopped listening. “Really? He’s in politics?”

“Why not?” I said with a bitter laugh. “Perfect for the lying little snake. I bet his life has been nothing but blessed for the past couple of years. I didn’t even know he was on the city council. I was too busy looking up other things about him. I didn’t even check what he was doing for a living.”

“Shit, and he’s going to be mayor?” Kai asked, his face creasing even further.

There were no words to explain the hate that burned inside me, filling what felt like every inch of my being. I’d neverthought about what I’d do if I saw him again because I’d avoided anything that might come close to putting him in front of me. But there he was. Sure, it was on screen, but happy, healthy, and seemingly without a care in the world.

Why did he get to be alright when I had been fighting for the slightest taste of normalcy, of safety? Why was he permitted not just to live but to flourish?

That first part took me by surprise as we walked, my head down as my thoughts overwhelmed me. Without the slightest hesitation, I’d decided he no longer had the right to life. And not just him but the others as well. Hadn’t my research shown they, too, were living their lives in the best way while I was left to scrape together what I could from the gutter and Lucas was left to rot?

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