Page 39 of Hunter
“My apology ain’t for you, it’s for her.”Wrong answer, pal.I’m ready to send his ass packing for that comment alone, until I feel her little hand curl around my arm and yank me back, giving him and me some breathing room. “And you’re causin’ a scene, man, stop embarasin' her and yourself, I ain’t tryin’ to fight you.” Oh, he’s got a pair of balls. He must get ‘em from Red.
“Carajo! Pinches idiotas!”she shouts, and I eye a crowd starting to form around us. I swear, more drama goes down in this dining hall than anywhere else on campus.
“Both of you need to shut the fuck up. None of this shit is worth repeating or brawling over. Enough!” she snaps and glares at us. The laser beams shooting out of her eyes are likelightsabers. And if looks could kill, we’d both be in pieces. She looks so fucking hot like this.
“You still haven’t answered me, what the fuck happened?” My mind is racing with possibilities of what coulda gone down, and my hands clench into fists, demanding an answer. My dragon is pacing back and forth in the bowels of my gut and losing patience. We both wanna know what happened in their class.
“Just to be clear, darlin’, I meant no harm then, and I mean none now,” Davis says in a calm voice like he’s some cool guy that has all his shit together.Yeah, good for you, man.
“I’ll see ya around, you both enjoy your lunch now.” He grips the edge of his brim and dips his head, showing her the respect she deserves before lifting his chin to me. Then he walks off like he didn’t just ruin our moment.
Part of me wants to go after him and make him tell me word for word what happened, but I also really want to stay right where I am. And that feeling is so fucking strong that I can’t ignore it. So she’s gonna have to be the one to tell me.
“Oh Diosas, Hunter, fucking sit down already. He just came over to say sorry for some shit that happened in class. It wasn’t a big deal, and you’re over here acting like it’s the end of the world,” she says while staring into my soul and stabbing a crouton with her fork, completely ignoring the lettuce or chicken on her plate. “I don’t know why you keep acting like I owe you some explanation or something. I don’t need you in my business like this.”So I guess my pissed off black cat is back and ready to claw my eyes out.
“You need to stop saying that shit because you are my business.” I’m trying to stay calm, but I’m also about to flip this table out of the way, straddle her body over my lap, and show her how much of my business she is.
“And I keep saying you don’t fucking listen,” she sasses back.
“And you keep avoiding answering my question. Why’d he come over here to apologize to you? What happened in your class, Ed?”
“Literally nothing, I made a bigger deal outta shit than I should’ve. He tried to talk to me and tried to, I don’t know, help me with my bag or something, and I freaked out,” she shoves a forkful of food into her mouth, and I process what she said while she chews. “There, now you know what happened and how dumb it was.” She breaks away and looks anywhere but back at me.
“It wasn’t dumb, Ed, you were looking out for yourself.” She’s always playing defense and anticipating that someone’s gonna hurt her. It must be exhausting for her, and I hate it. I hate it so fucking much.
“I know, it’s all I fucking do,” she says while picking up her phone from her tray. I can hear how tired she is in her voice. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced the kind of tired she has had to live through. This girl shouldn’t have to go through her days like this. I don’t want her to anymore. I want to make them better— every single one.
“¡Carajo, wey! Debería haberme ido hace quince minutos. ¡Uf, me hiciste llegar tarde! (“Fuck, dude! I should have left fifteen minutes ago. Ugh, you made me late!) ”She shouts out and starts stacking her dishes on her tray.
“What did you just say?” I really need to download Duolingo and learn some fucking Spanish.
“That you made me late,” she snaps while eyeballing me like I just did something criminal.
“How did I do that?” I stand when she does, and I watch her pack her food.
“You distracted me, and I lost track of time.”Oh, I did, did I?I’m counting that as another point for the day. I’m up to twogoals and one assist. The assist was her kissing me. If I kiss her before the day's done, I’ll have myself a hat-trick.
“Where we going now?” She pinches her whole face together and twitches her little nose.
“We’re not going anywhere, you’re not coming with me.” We both grab for the handle of her bag at the same time, and our hands collide over the fabric loop. She pulls her hand away and shakes out her fingers just as sparks break out over my skin.
“Don’t be a stubborn little shit, let me carry this for you.” I throw her bag over my shoulder and watch her cross her arms over her chest and stamp her boot-covered foot on the floor.
“Oye!You of all people know what happens when I’m late for a session! If I don’t get paid, I can’t eat. So give it back,pendejo, I don’t have time for your shit right now!”
I step toward her, feeling the powerful electrical current between us. And I’m about to turn it up to high-octane levels when I lean into her personal space and tell her, “You don’t have to worry about that anymore, Ed. You get to eat here whenever you want, eat however much you want, and as often as you want from here on out.”
“What? How?”
“Because I took care of it, and I’m gonna keep taking care of things for you, so get used to it.” She’s looking at me like I have three heads, and the shocked look on her pretty face is priceless. She’s frozen where she stands, and I nudge her ever so slightly, encouraging her to move, and she does when I say, “Come on, little demon, let’s get you to the library.”
VEINTE
I pullmy beanie down my forehead until it’s nearly covering my eyes. They can’t be trusted right now. Not when they keep flickering over to him. And for what? To make sure he’s stillthere?Fine, I’ll look just to make sure. Sí, todavía está ahí. Yup, he’s still there.
I thought he would just drop off my bag and leave to go on with his life for the day. I know how much he hates his own tutoring session, so why would I assume he’d stay for someone else's? As soon as I mentioned I was tutoring a swimmer to cover a shift for this idiot that I work with, he sat his fine-ass down next to me.
I couldn’t handle him being so close. My stomach immediately started practicing an Olympic-level tumbling routine, and I couldn’t concentrate. I became hyper-aware of the inches between us, and so did all my senses.
