Page 125 of Hunter

And it wasn’t until the sun rose that I was finally brave enough to step out of bed and get ready for my day.

My eyes felt tired from the lack of sleep, my body too high-strung, too wired from all the adrenaline of the early morning, yet I had no energy in my system to try to work out the stress.

I knew I hadn’t imagined the noise from this morning.

Yet it had been soft enough, subtle enough to have me questioning whether it was real.

And if it was real, what the hell could have caused the noise to sound like it came from inside my apartment?

I stumbled my way into the kitchen after I brushed my teeth. I hadn’t changed or brushed my hair, considering I had no energy to do anything today, and what was more, I didn’t know if Xavier was going to come home or not, and that just pissed me off.

Shouldn’t I have known, more or less, about his schedule?

If I was someone important in his life, or someone he wanted to make important in his life?

I couldn’t even put on the label of boyfriend and girlfriend, afraid that might be too presumptuous of me, and yet, if that wasn’t it, what the hell were we?

All I knew was, I was in a bad mood from the lack of sleep, and I felt a sharp pang of annoyance bounce through me when I heard a knock on my door and knew it was Xavier.

I stomped my way over to it and opened the door to his perfect face.

Despite having such erratic work hours, he still looked bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

It was fucking irritating.

He took one look at me and frowned. “What’s wrong?”

I didn’t answer him. I didn’t know how to open my mouth without demanding answers from him. Instead, I shot a glare his way and walked back into the apartment, leaving the door open. He could decide if he wanted to come in.

He came in.

I heard him close the door and then his heavy footsteps coming after me moments later.

The sound just reminded me of my nightmare, and I resisted the urge to shudder in fear.

He wrapped his hand around my middle and pulled me toward his body. “What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice low, his lips pressed close to the side of my face.

As pissed off as I was, I was still affected by him.

And how I hated it at this moment.

I was always affected by him.

Was he the same way?

Or was this nothing more than a game?

Tears stung my eyes at the thought, and I shook my head, trying to get away. He tightened his hold on me.

“No, baby. I’m not letting you go until you tell me what’s wrong.”

Wrong thing to say.

I kicked my leg back, my foot connecting with his shin.

He let me go, though I thought that was more from the shock than because I really hurt him.

“What the hell?” he asked. “What was that for?”

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