Page 46 of Hunter
She’s looking at me like she’s calculating something in her head.
” You're gonna go pro, right?”
“I’m gonna ask you again, why’d you call her Valentine?” She’s got this curious look on her face as she tilts her head. She narrows her eyes like she’s trying to figure out some unsolved mystery that’s kept her up at night.
“Wait, what do you call her?” The uptick of curiosity in her voice has all the hairs on the back of my neck standing straight up. This girl has a deceitful vibe, and I can tell she’s scheming. She’s shady as fuck, and I don’t trust her.
“Hold on, are you with her?” she gasps. I fucking glower at both her and her dumb question. The tight scowl strains every muscle in my face. “There’s no way that a guy like you is with her. You’re way out of her league.” Disbelief spreads over every one of her words, and I grind my molars into dust. “Trust me, I would know,” she goes on, with a knowing smirk as she skips over my point of no return. Edison fucking Santos is not only out of my league, but she walks fucking circles around the Payton Pierces of the world. This girl’s got it all wrong.
“You don’t know shit,” I spit. I don’t give a fuck what she thinks.
My phone goes off with an incoming text, and the noise interrupts whatever it is that she was about to say. I don’t care; she can say whatever she wants. Her version of Ed isn’t mine, and mine just showed up.
Alvi texted the words that I’ve been waiting for, and they have me turning away from Payton to run straight to the shop.
Alvi:
She’s here.
I don’t need anyone to fill in the blanks. I’m gonna pull them from the fucking source… right after I kiss the shit outta my demon girl.
VEINTICUATRO
¡Carajo,wey!The queue to get in is longer than usual, and I stick my head out to start counting how many people are in front of me.Veintidós.Damn, twenty-two.
I spot some new admits holding up the line. I don’t like new people staying here. It’s been a steady flow of the same faces for years now. Everyone who stays here has to be registered and goes through this admission process. Then we’re all inventoried in some database to keep track of how often we stay here and how many of us are in shelters across the state. This building holds thirty. And if there’s twenty-two in front of me, there's a good chance that I’m not staying here tonight.
Even if I don’t sleep here, I need my laptop from Amy’s desk. I can’t leave without it and want to have it with me in case I end up needing to take a bus to NOLA. That’s where I’d go if I had to run again. I’d find Señora Úrsula down there.
It’s getting darker, and a motion light that’s mounted to the side of the building catches me in its spotlight. I usually try to avoid being highlighted, sticking to the shadows and tiny-ass spaces that not even the sun can reach. Right now, I’m grateful for it as I quickly walk around the corner just as I reach the heavy metal door.
Está cerrado. It's closed.Damn, okay, maybe she’ll pick up for me. I pull out my phone, and the amount of notifications popping up on my screen makes me fucking jumpy as my mind goes straight to crazy with one long fucking paranoid thought.Oh, Diosas.What if it’s them who found me, y they know who I am, y now they have my number, y can now track me?
Todo está bien, todo está bien, todo está bien.I remind myself over and over again while scrolling through the unread messages, and take a deep breath. These aren’t from the X. They haven’t found me. These are all from him, with a few from Evie and Sloane.
Oh, Diosas, Hunter.This man hasn’t stopped calling me, leaving voicemails, and sending texts since I dipped. I can’t with these messages, he’s fucking insane. Each one is more and more demanding, emotional, and unhinged, and now I havemariposasin my stomach because I like how they make me feel. I like this fine-ass man’s type of crazy.
He’s got my heart freaking the fuck out as he fills up my head with girly ideas about romance and that he might actually care about me. It was in his kiss.
That kiss hit deep and had my toes curling in my Docs. His big-ass body was caging me in, and I liked it. I liked it so much that I wanted his fine-ass to drop his hands from the shelf above my head so that he could squeeze me just as hard. I’ve never wanted a man’s touch, but he had me internally begging. This man is starting to make me weak.
But I gotta be strong. If he knew why I booked it outta there, he wouldn’t be trying to pull me back in.
Payton could destroy me, and the last thing I need is for him to become collateral damage. The ripple effect would be too strong. It’d take Evie down if something happened to her brother. And then it’d hit Sloane and the other brother who follows her around like a fucking lost dog.
I can’t let her get the upper hand. I need to stay ahead of it. Knowledge is power, and I can’t let her gain any more over me. I need to get my shit and get to work.
I pull up Amy’s number and hit the green button to connect the call. She’s always got her phone in her hand, and even if she’s in the middle of intake-hell, I’m hoping she picks up.
And she does because she’s literalmente the nicest person alive.
I let her know that I need to grab my computer from her office, and she breaks the news that the shelter is full. I had a feeling it would be. It’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last. It’s why I always have to have another plan.
All she can do is hand it off to me, and I let her know where I’m at. We hang up, and within two minutes, she’s out at the back door.
“I found a laptop sleeve case for you, it’ll help protect it,” she says as she hands me my computer. She has a smile on her face, but it’s short-lived as she adds, “I hate when you aren’t able to stay here. Where will you go?”
“I’ll be alright, don’t worry about me,” I assure her. If Amy knows too much, she tries to fix more than she can.
