Page 43 of Glad You Exist

I’ve dated other guys but none of them have evoked this kind of feeling before.

As we walked past them at the gaming station, it felt different. Like I was angry and nauseous at the same time.

My stomach wouldn’t stop churning and my teeth clenched at the sight of them together.

Thankfully Kim really had to go and dragged me upstairs, so I didn’t get caught glaring at them, or worse, shovingCourtneyoff the couch.

I sigh, wrapping my hands around my bare arms.

It is way too chilly to be wearing a dress and definitely not a dress this short, but Kim insisted. It isn’t too bad in the backyard with the tiki torches but as I go around back to the kitchen, I start to feel the chill all the way down to my toes.

As I push open the door and step into the kitchen, I realize it might be from something else entirely. There had been people in here drinking earlier.

Now it’s basically empty. Except for one person.

Hunter.

Drinking a beer.

Looking absolutely wasted.

I turn back around hoping I can quietly slip out again before he sees me.

“Elizabeth!”

Crap.I hastily paste what I hope is a bright smile on my face.

“Hey. Hunter.” I realize I say that with a biting tone and grimace inwardly.

My sour mood has nothing to do with Hunter and everything to do with my mounting social anxiety and the conflicting feelings currently waging a war inside me.

He grins and stalks around the island to me, swaying a bit. “Hey you.”

There’s something to the look in his eye that gives me goosebumps.

And not the good kind.

Then he proves its warranted by crowding in to my personal bubble and I feel my Spidey senses tingling. He looks like a predator going after its prey as he looks me up and down.

His gaze lingering on my chest and then my legs.

He has definitely already had a few drinks and from the smell seeping out of his pores, I’d bet my GPA he has smoked a joint or two at some point tonight.

I take a small step back and he follows.

My smile drops because he’s never been this forward with me.

Before I realize it happening, he’s… hugging me.

My arms dangle at my sides. I’m unsure how I’m supposed to react. He’s almost a foot taller than me and weighs twice what I do. Plus, all that muscle.

I’m not strong enough to push him off.

“Please get off me.” I mumble through his chest, trying to wiggle out of his grasp.

“You look like you could use a hug.”

Is he smelling my hair?

---