Page 16 of The Pact

HUNTER

When she walked into Jace’s living room, I was a goner. My heart stopped for a moment, then started again, the same as it did for her all those years ago. Yeah, we made a pact. We were young and dumb. I didn't understand back then that if we made the pact that someone else would end up getting the girl.

It wasn't until she came to me and told me she wanted me—Hunter West—to be her first kiss that I realized the huge mistake we’d made. But it was too late. She was leaving.

I’m outside in my yard, throwing a stick for my dog, Chewy, to catch. Mom and Dad are inside arguing about something again, and I don’t want to be here. But the boys are home today. No one wanted to do anything because she’s leaving.

Mila, the girl who has been my best friend since I was six, is leaving, and I don’t know if I will see her again. It isn’t fair. I’d cried this morning, and I didn't even care if the others found out. She had been such a big part of my life up until now. I couldn't imagine life without her.

Chewy brings the stick back, and I reach for it with my bandaged hand. I feel the pull of the skin where it was cut, but I welcome the pain. It means she’s still real to me. She exists.

She told me we'll be together again one day. But I want that day to be today and every day after. I don't want her to leave me. I need her more than she knows.

Glass shatters against a wall inside the house, then the slamming of doors. I sink my knees into the grass. Why do they always have to fight? Why can't they see me, see I’m upset? Why is it always about them, and I'm always an afterthought?

Chewy gives up when I don’t throw the stick and runs off.

I hear the sound of my dad's car pulling out of the drive. He always leaves and goes to his office after a fight. Mom stays home, but she’ll leave me for a bottle of whiskey in her room. I wouldn't see her until tomorrow.

Everyone leaves me.

“Hunter?”

I glance up, my eyes blurry from the tears. I wipe my face with the back of my hands and see an angel running toward me.

“Hunter? What are you doing?”

I scramble up, confused. Am I dreaming? She’s supposed to be leaving today. Mila isn’t really here. I’m dreaming and wishing she was, and now that's all I can see.

“Are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost.” Mila chuckles, and I look around my yard. This is my yard…this is the girl I’m in love with, standing in front of me. She’s really here.

“What are you doing here? Don't you have to leave today?”

She shrugs and giggles. Whenever she giggles, it gives me butterflies. The sound of her happiness always does that to me. She hasn't laughed for a few days, so the sound is like music to my ears. My own smile appears for the first time in days too.

“Yeah, I have to leave at two. But I couldn't leave without asking you something.”

Her blonde hair is up in a high ponytail, and she reaches for it, pulling it in front of her. It’s one of her signs, I know she’s nervous right now. Mila doesn’t do that very often; she’s always so strong. I’d only seen her do it a handful of times, and one of those times was a few weeks ago.

We had gone to the lake; it was just a regular day. Not that any day could be considered regular when Mila was wearing a bikini. I’d had many, um, dreams about that bikini. It was embarrassing. Okay, it was all I could think about. My body responded to hers in a way I hadn’t known it would, and last week, I’d almost drowned while trying to hide what was happening in my swim trunks.

She was sitting in the grass watching Jace and Roman swim. I walked up to her and sat beside her. “Why aren't you out there, swinging off the rope?”

I was chicken on that rope, something she teased me about. But I didn't hate the taunts, she wasn't being mean. It always made her giggle that I wouldn't do it.

“I don't feel good.” Her brows were pinched, and she put her hand on her tummy.

“Oh no, are you going to be sick?”

She shook her head, then her eyes widened.She looked at her bike, then back to me. She went to stand but then sat back down just as fast.

“Do you think I could borrow your basketball shorts to ride home?” she asked, looking down at my black baggy shorts.

I wasn’t going to swim today. I’d realized my basketball shorts were loose enough that if something were to happen, and I got another boner, she wouldn't notice it.

“What? No.”

I had on my black boxers underneath, and those wouldn’t hide anything from her. They were tight. Why would she want my shorts? She wore her bikini on her bike all the time. She didn't even bring a towel, as she always said, “If we ride fast, it’s like a dryer.”

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