Page 92 of Hunter

“You should have,” I pouted.

He let out another chuckle, and I narrowed my eyes at him before pushing his arms away and walking slowly toward the front door.

It didn’t take him long to catch up to me, and I glowered at him when he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, though I didn’t push him away.

I could use the support.

“You’re so fucking cute,” was all he said, and… yeah, all of my annoyance just disappeared after that.

I was really in trouble.

* * *

I hit send onthe laptop, feeling a small weight lifted from my shoulders.

I’d been working on this project for weeks, and it had been a lot of back and forth with the writer. Still, the final illustrations were submitted, and the writer seemed happy with the results.

And the art was something I had created with my hands, plus it paid the bills—something my parents were adamant wouldn’t be possible. For a moment, I believed them.

I stared blankly at the screen once the email was sent.

It had been weeks since I talked to any of them, and I was tempted to pick up the phone to call them.

Only the thought that I was always the one who made the first call stopped me.

She had called before, but she hadn’t since, and I wondered if she regretted putting in that first phone call now.

Did she think because she put in the bare minimum of work, I was now going to be reaching out to her?

I didn’t want to call her. I didn’t want to hear what she had to say when I already knew.

She would tell me I was wasting my life, and she would tell me she was only doing things that were best for me, only it never felt like it.

I wondered what they were saying to their friends about me because despite her trying to pretend she was strong enough not to let things like social standing affect her, it did.

She even married my dad to ensure she would continue to keep that high status among everyone else.

I blinked and looked away from the screen.

This should have been a happy moment for me, yet I was letting my parents ruin it. And there weren’t even here.

I got off the chair without thinking about it and walked to the apartment next door.

I hadn’t heard from Xavier since he dropped me off after our breakfast date yesterday, and he said he had something to do at work.

I knocked on the door three times, not letting myself think about what I was doing. The door opened to an unruly-looking Xavier, with his hair standing up on strands, in dark gray sweats and a black tee. My mouth went dry.

He looked hot.

He made unruly look good.

His mouth quirked up in a small smile the longer I stood there, staring at him.

“All right, baby girl?”

I nodded.

He laughed.

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