Page 44 of The Hunted
“Tell him you like him so he can gently turn you down and you can move on with your life.”
Amra’s fists clenched at her sides. Silva was a little too aware for her own good, though it wasn’t that Amra really wanted Santino. On the surface it might have looked like that but deep down, he was the only one who didn’t fawn over her like everyone else and went out of his way to ignore her, which shouldn’t have been unusual if he treated everyone else the same. He might have been anti-social, but he kept up conversations when asked. With her? He walked the other way when she entered a room.
What are you hiding?
“She really got under your skin, huh?” Martin nodded his head toward the bar. “Nightcap?”
“I don’t think so,” she murmured, itching to get out of here and away from him. She had things to do.
“What’s the matter, Benson?” He took a step closer to her, and she fought to keep her feet rooted in place. “Afraid we’ll end up in the same position like our last nightcap?” He hummed low in his throat and licked his lips. “I wouldn’t worry too much about that. We can always change things up this time.” He leaned closer to her. “I remember exactly what it is you like and how you need to be handled.”
Amra closed her eyes, wishing the sensation of his voice hadn’t left her feeling achy.
Don’t get swept up. You have things to do.
Amra slowed her breathing, letting her pulse ease. She wouldn’t fall for his charms again or use him to stroke her ego, because that’s what this was between them. She slowly opened her eyes, feeling a lot more settled than how she started her night. She unwound her fingers, letting the excess energy coursing through her seep out with a few handshakes.
“You’re amazing, you know that?” She kept her voice steady. “You just tried to get with my friend.” He snorted at the word friend, and okay, fine, she didn’t exactly view Janelle as a bestie but that was beside the point. “And before that you heard Silva lay into me about Alvarez.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and looked him over with new eyes, wondering if his friendship with Alvarez wasn’t much of a friendship at all for him. “Is this your way of stroking your own ego and getting one up on Alvarez?” she questioned, curious as to his motives.
Amra had neatly put him in a box of the over eager puppy who wanted to be center of attention without having to do any real work. He used people as props but not in the way Alvarez did. Alvarez did it to keep the world out, Martin did it to make himself appear bigger.
“Nah,” Martin smiled. “I just figured I could help you work through your parental issues and stroke your ego after Santino and his girl obliterated it tonight.” He shrugged. “And before you ask, I’m not doing this out of the goodness of my heart. I’m just looking to get my dick wet without the work.”
Amra laughed despite his dig about her parental issues and ego. That one night she had let it slip about her being unwanted. Her parents had given her up because it had been too late for the alternative. It was the reason for her drive to succeed and be the best at everything she did. Something years of therapy hadn’t been able to unwind.
“I can appreciate your honesty. But that’s still a no. I’m not in the mood for a lapse of judgment.” She brushed past him to head to her car on the other end of the corner.
She didn’t get far before she felt Martin’s rough hands wrap around her wrist. He leaned down so his lips were by her ear. “Don’t use this rejection as an excuse to fuel your witch hunt. I know you think someone in that office helped the Poet—or is hiding something that the Poet knows about, but it’s not any of us.” He paused, letting his fingertips draw circles against her pulse.
“It’s not Alvarez.” The conviction in Martin’s voice had her looking up at him.
“How are you sure it’s not? Everyone has secrets. Everyone has skeletons hiding in their closet,” she murmured, wondering what made him so sure. Was it just the camaraderie of those he worked with, or had he known something about Alvarez that she missed?
Martin chuckled as his grip on her tightened. “You know it’s funny, your body seems to want a repeat of our time together. I can hear the slight hitch in your breath and the way your pulse is hammering against my fingers tells me my closeness has an effect on you.” He leaned down, letting his lips hover over hers. She should have pulled back but was too curious to see what he would do.
“You talk about secrets and skeletons. Tell me, Amra, how many are you hiding?”
ChapterNineteen
There was a tense silence that filled the car. Santino peeked over at Silva to gauge her reaction to what he said. He had been honest. He did look her up, and it was almost too easy to find out what he could, but that was one of the many problems with the world today. Nobody really stayed hidden for long. All it took was a phone number and a name most days to pull up information on someone on the internet. So much of what people did in their day to day left a digital footprint.
The sound of laughter broke the silence when Santino stopped at a red light. He looked over to see Silva’s head thrown back and her body shaking as a cackling sound pealed out of her.
Laughter was a good sign, right?
“Oh, Santino Alvarez,” Silva sing-songed his name and he tensed, unsure which way this would land, which he found interesting. He could never quite fully pin her down. He could appreciate the novelty of never knowing, but could that work in the long run when he had to sate the gnawing in his stomach?
Probably not.
I’ll just have to be extra careful, then.
The thought surprised him. He wanted to keep Silva close, and he was starting to believe it had less to do with keeping up appearances and more because he actually liked her.
“You’re really stalking me.” She chuckled. “Have you snuck into my house and sniffed my underwear yet?”
“I wasn’t aware that was on the table.” He had no idea how to navigate this.
