Page 35 of Hunt

At first glance, it seemed empty, but the cigarette smoke was still fresh. A crunching underfoot forced me to look down for a pair of glasses with smashed lenses. Riley.

Panic surged through my body as I swiped for her number again, and it switched to voicemail. I combed my finger through my hair wondering where the fuck she had gone. Gunner, Shaun, and I were the only people with a key to this basement. But I thought Gunner told Shaun to return his key.

“She’s okay,” a small voice echoed, and she glanced back, doing a double-take to find a girl with similar features to Riley Laws. For a split second, I thought it was her. Her large eyes widened in horror at the sight of the broken glasses.

“Where is she?”

She bit her bottom lip and shrugged, playing dumb.

“Where is she?” I asked, and it then occurred to me that she was the girl in Gunner's picture.

The girl, Katherine or Katerina, wanted Gunner to stay away from Riley. She hardly looked threatening, but she seemed like the type who was always in the right place at the right time, like now. “You just spoke to her, so where did she go?” My fists clenched, and I lost my patience with her.

“You’re Ronan Byrne, aren’t you?” she stated bravely.

“And so? Tell me where Riley is? She might be in trouble,” I snarled at her, until she got the message that I wouldn’t hurt her.

“Her dorm,” she stated, pointing her finger at the glasses. “She said her glasses were broken.”

“Okay, thanks,” I said, passing by her and swiping my contacts to call Riley again to ensure she was okay.

“And her phone is broken,” she added, scanning the floor, likely looking for her phone as well. “She seemed upset and…”

I paused to wait for her to finish, but she shook her head, apparently changing her mind about what she was about to say. “Do you know how her phone and glasses got broken?”

She shook her head, swallowed, then pushed her glasses back against her nose, reminding me of Riley.

My patience wore thin speaking to this little weirdo, so I left. Once outside, I returned to my car and drove to her dorm. I couldn’t get into the building without a keycard, so I had to wait until someone came out of the dorm, allowing me to rush past them and run up to her door.

“Riley?” I knocked gently on her door with the knuckle of my finger and listened for a sound.

Footsteps treaded toward the door, and she opened it a crack. She was wearing glasses and a furrowed brow, looking sweet. “Hi,” she sighed. “I called you.”

“I know that’s why I’m here,” I said softly, my heart melting for her. Mikky ordered us to stay away from her, but she captured my heart the moment I saw her swimming in the forest pool, riveting, alive and so fucking beautiful. But the girl I was looking at now was not that girl in the pool. This girl was broken and terrified.

I held up the frames of her glasses, which were missing the lenses, scattered in a thousand pieces on the basement floor. “What happened, Riley?”

She hesitated, bit her bottom lip, and stepped back, opening the door wider so I could enter her room. It’s small, featuring a single bed, a chest of drawers, a desk, and a window that overlooks the road. I inhaled her scent, which infiltrated this small space, and it was warm and inviting.

“I had a spare,” she sighed, pointing to her glasses as she sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m blind as a bat without them.”

I chose my spot on the window frame to sit, keeping my distance from her, so she wouldn’t feel intimidated. “I bumped into a girl with glasses who said that your phone was also broken, so what happened?”

“That’s probably Cheetos,” she said softly, “I mean…Kat, but I call her Cheetos.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Long story.”

“Riley, did someone try to hurt you?” I pressed firmly, but softly.

She found a spot on the floor and stared at it, her hands wringing together as if cold, even though it was warm in there.

“You called me, so…” I urged her to open up, but it was evident that she was frightened by something or someone.

She bowed her head in a graceful nod, then propelled herself to her feet, pulled open the drawer in her desk, and took out a pen and paper. Then, she wrote down something before folding it and handing it to me. I opened it slowly and read her words:I’m being watched and don’t know who to trust.

I nodded, “Let’s go for a walk,” I beckoned, stepping to the door as she grabbed her bag and followed shyly behind. She was hesitant to be alone with me, and when I glanced back at her as she closed and locked her door, I could see the strain on her pretty face and the trembling of her warm hands.

We didn’t speak again until we were outside on the street. “I might sound nuts, but I found a camera in my room.”

“Oh,” I grunted, knowing it was Gunner who had done that, and perhaps she was not as naïve as we had first thought.

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