Page 3 of Hunt

“No,” she said, swallowing as those eyes behind her glasses grew larger. I didn’t know someone had broken in here. What did they take? Was there any damage?”

“Why should I tell you anything? You tell me nothing about yourself. You deal in illegal activities, so why should I trust you?” I spat to see if she’d drop her guard and reveal a small piece of personal information. Anything would do.

“I researched you one day. That day, when the masked man was staring at you. That day,” she told me honestly.

“Good for you,” I hissed, losing my cool. “I bet you found an array of wonderful things about me, while I don’t even know your name, Cheetos.” I bustled about as anger burned through my body – anger toward Judith and the dirty cops, anger toward my mom, anger toward my twin standing two feet away from me. “Would you excuse me…I have my bags to unpack.” I hinted for her to leave and nodded toward the door.

She received the hint loud and clear and shuffled backward to the doorway, her eyes fixed on my face. “Katerina,” she finally expressed after watching me for a few seconds as I aggressively shoved my clothes back into my drawers.

“And?” I frowned, wondering why she hadn’t left yet.

“Katerina is my name. My family calls me Kat, but I don’t particularly like that,” she confessed.

“Okay,” I said, and shrugged as if I didn’t care. Right now, I don’t care about anything except keeping myself alive. That was my number one priority, keeping me alive so that once my job was done, I could hit the road running and disappear from this place.

“Ivanovis my surname,” she announced as if that should mean something to me. “That’s why I hesitate to tell people who I am.”

“And who are you?” Her cheeks burned red as if divulging this information was difficult and might get her in trouble. But it was her name. She couldn’t tread the earth of Gotland and attend class without eventually telling someone her name.

“You haven’t heard of my surname before?” she questioned.

I shook my head. “I’m new here, so…”

“Do me a favor,” she said, backing away. “Don’t Google my surname, and…it’s okay to call me Cheetos.”

“Okay,” I agreed casually, then she vanished from view, and I called after her, “That’s a Bart Simpson, Cheetos. Telling someone not to do something, you know, it makes them want to do it even more.”

I expected her face reappear at my door after making a false threat, but she didn’t, so I closed the door and continued to unpack while my head spun with everything that had occurred in the last two hours.

2

Have you seen her today?” I asked Gunner as he sauntered into the basement pool room under the Science Library. It’s rare to walk in here and for it to be empty, especially this close to midday when Gunner’s classmates would come here to eat lunch and play pool while some girl jacked them off.

He held up a small flashcard between his fingers. “Just came from her room, so I’ll review the footage later.”

“Why not now?” I asked him. “I’ve got time.”

He shrugged his broad shoulders where he held tension, made worse when we discovered that we were fucking the same girl. And that girl also happened to be someone Gunner believed might be Annika. “I like watching on my own,” he argued.

I snorted in laughter at how ludicrous and protective he was being. “Why?” Then I caught a look on his face, and it occurred to me that he had gotten off watching her alone in her room, and if she happened to be changing, then even better.

His black eyebrows dropped low over his sharp eyes, glaring at a spot on the floor. I knew this guy long enough to see that he was pissed that I was fucking Riley, and the girl wasn’t just a possible enemy but a cheat.

“Spit it out, Gunner,” I demanded. “Tell me how much you fucking hate me because I fucked your girl.”

“I don’t fucking care,” he grumbled, and I didn’t believe him.

“I swear I didn’t know,” I added.

“She’s not my girl,” he mumbled. “I pursued her to find out if she’s Annika.”

“Do you like her?” I asked, but I could tell he did. He liked her a lot.

“Yeah, obviously,” he leaned forward to grab his bag and unzipped it to reveal a laptop.

“But, you don’t mind that she might be Annika? I mean…what would you do if Mikky…dealt with her? And there’s the other issue that you are kind of related, brother and sis-”

“We’re not blood-related, and she was disowned by our family the moment she betrayed us. And if Mikky…” he puffed his cheeks out like a blowfish, “if we found out she was Annika, then if Mikky wanted to…” he exhaled. “Then she might end up eating fish, and that’s her fate, and I’ll have to accept it.”

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