Page 78 of Wild and Bright

I sigh heavily. “Hunter, where are you? Tell me now.”

“That’s my bossy girl.” He chuckles, and the sound gives me chills. I’ve grown to hate the sound of his laughter when he’s drunk. It’s so oddly foreign—high pitched and nasally—completely unlike his real laughter. “I’m at the diviest dive bar in all of Nebraska. You would seriously love this place. It reminds me of that bar we used to go to in high school—the one in Banker’s Hill that never used to card. I think I’m the only person here under the age of sixty.“

“Just tell me where you are.” I wince after I say it. Sternness is the wrong approach with him right now.

“Only on one condition.”

Changing tactics, I soften my voice. “Okay?”

“Number one, you can’t tell Cam I’m here, and number two, you have to promise to have a drink with me.”

My eyelids flutter. “So two conditions?”

“What?”

“You said you had one condition, but that was two.”

He chuckles. “I didn’t go to college. I can’t do math. What do you say?”

“I say Camden’s going to know where you are because he has your phone location.”

“He told you about that?” Hunter makes a deep grunt at the back of his throat. “Well, I turned it off before I took the Uber out here, so he won’t find me.”

“He’s going to notice you turned it off.” My heart aches for Cam. After what he confessed several weeks ago, I can only imagine the panic he’ll feel the moment he notices Hunter turned it off. He may even be feeling it already. But I can’t think about that now. “Alright, give me the name of the bar.”

After he tells me, I launch from my seat, repeating the name under my breath as I walk to the chair and grab the hideous neon-pink snow jacket Cam had Brayden buy me before this trip.

I need to get to this place as soon as possible. I can’t trust Hunter’s word that he’ll stay at the bar. Nothing he says is reliable when he’s in this state. Depending on the company he meets, he could disappear before I even get there.

“Okay, I’ll be there ASAP. Do not—I repeat—do not leave that bar. Don’t even get up from your seat.”

“What if I have to pee?”

“Pee your pants.”

He cackles, a high-pitched, artificial sound that pulls up cloudy memories—the pressure of his arms around my shoulders as I tried to carry him out of clubs when I was wasted myself. God, I’m so glad I don’t do that shit anymore.

The drive to the bar is interminable, every stoplight feeling like an opportunity for Hunter to slip away. And it’s agony keeping Cam in the dark. What if he’s back at the hotel already, wondering where I am? I ought to just call him and tell him everything. Hunter probably won’t even remember that I promised him I wouldn’t, but for some reason, I can’t bring myself to do it. Maybe it’s because I’m dreading his reaction.

He’s going to be devastated.

As we pull into the small parking lot, I turn to the Uber driver. “Can you wait a minute? I want to make sure he’s still here.”

He nods, and I practically leap out of the car and run to the entrance. I halt in place when I take in the sight in front of me. “What the fuck, Hunter?” I say to myself.

The building is so old and poorly maintained that it almost looks abandoned. If not for the murmur of voices coming from the doorway and the abundance of wet cigarette butts all over the icy concrete, I might actually think that it was.

When I press open the wooden door, my nose is assaulted by stale cigarette smoke mixed with even staler sweat. It takes me no time at all to find Hunter, and immediately my shoulders relax.

When I march over to him, a lazy smile spreads across his face. Thankfully, he doesn’t have that faraway look that comes with pills and alcohol, which fills me with determination to get him back to the hotel.

As soon as I get close, Hunter yanks me against his chest, pressing his cheek to my head. “I’m so happy you came.”

I shove him back. “Well, I’m not.”

He hesitates for a moment, his heavy-lidded gaze roaming my face before a little pout settles on his lips. “Don’t be grumpy. I promise tonight will be fun. Just look at this dive.” He gestures around the area. “Isn’t it amazing?”

I frown. “No, it’s not. It’s beyond a dive bar. It’s a my-life-is-in-the-toilet bar. An I’m-drinking-here-because-I-have-nothing-left-to-live-for bar.”

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