Page 46 of Hunt Me
Vish clears his throat behind me.
Fuck that dick head for cockblocking me.
‘I’ll just go over here,’he must wave in some direction behind me as I watch Fauna’s eyes follow his movements, her cheeks slightly tinged pink.‘Got plenty gas for the stove and I have beans and sausage cans and some Bovril. Do you like those, I—’
‘Vish,’I say.
‘Yeh?’
‘Go cook,’I grind out.
‘On it,’he replies in his usual chirpy tone.
A smirk crosses Fauna’s lips, and my chest swells at the sight.
‘He’s kinda cute,’she says, laughing as the prick strides away.
The fuck did she just say.
Forget my swelling chest, its about to burst for an all-new reason.
Jealousy.
Vish is a good lucking man. He’s huge, for one thing. He has long, lean limbs, and he’d received one or two jokes about looking like that spaghetti Mr Men character when we were younger. He’s grown into his body now, with defined muscle and he is without a doubt the most handsome out of us Skulls. But he falls over the majority of steps he takes for fuck sake. It’s a mystery how he’s not dead already. He’s not right for Fauna.
He looks nothing like me. And he acts absolutely nothing like me.
He’s all golden retriever, and I’m… not.
Does Fauna want him rather than me?
I’m not an insecure man, never have been, but right now, a slight doubt nips at me. And it’s nipping is in the form of a golden retriever named fucking Vishrut Atwal.
The fucking prick.
The sound of a gas canister being turned on, followed by the flint and steel, has me looking in his direction.
Fucker will not be cooking my girls food. What the fuck was I thinking. Fauna’s probably starving, no wonder he’s more appealing to her than me. He’s providing for her. He’s providing for my girl.
I storm over to where Vish is setting up the stove, with smoke probably bellowing from my nostrils as I grow more and more pissed off. Fauna’s whispered‘what the fuck’reaches my ears but I keep moving towards Mrcutein front of me.
What the fuck indeed my Little Deer.
Vish looks up with a big grin as I approach.‘Kept this one quiet, didn’t ye, man?’
‘Move, I’m cooking.’I state no room for question.
‘Eh?’Vish says the confused expression back on his face as he looks between me and where Fauna must still be stood where I left her. Then as if he’s a telepathic fucker his eyebrows shoot up and the grin is back on his face.‘Ahh I see,’holding his hands up and scootching back.‘All yours.’
‘Shut up.’
Vish doesn’t say anything about my sharp tone, but I can feel the amusement radiating off him in waves. This fucker is enjoying winding me up and the small rational part of me can’t blame him. If I was in his position and the roles were reversed I’d probably be the same.
Most of us back in the stadium are single, and it’s not like there is an abundance of opportunities in the apocalypse to date. None of us have seen each other be possessive about another person before, and we’ve definitely not seen jealousy. But we have spent plenty of time learning new and inventive ways to wind each other up, and Vish is one of the biggest windup merchants in the gaff.
I stir the can of sausage and beans, watching as it begins to bubble. Once it's steaming, I turn down the heat and angle my head, indicating for Fauna to sit with me.
‘Will this do you for now and we can have something better later?’I ask. I'm not quite sure where I'll get better around here, but I’d sprint back to the stadium and ring a chicken's neck in no time if that’s what she wanted.
