Page 66 of Enemy Games

I turned to the guy I'd never seen before. “Excuse me?”

He shot me a smile. “We all know Hunter only keeps girls around for a night or two. Once you're done with him, give me a call, gorgeous.”

I couldn't believe this guy was actually saying that to me. I waited for Hunter to say anything in my defense or his, but he stared at the ground, avoiding everyone’s gazes.

I let out a fake laugh, and they turned to me. “You just assume I’d be into a guy like you?” I gave him a look over. “I’ll pass.”

He scoffed, “Whatever. I’m not into sluts anyway.”

My jaw nearly hit the floor. My first instinct was to throw a right hook into his cocky face, but I’d rather not get in trouble over this jerk. “Oh, no. See, we don’t call women that anymore. We don’t shame them. Do better.”

A few of his friends shot him looks, like they knew this wasn’t a road they wanted to go down.

I pulled my shoulders back and tiled up my chin before glaring at them and turning away. Hunter followed, and once they were out of earshot, he tried to take my hand, but I tugged away.

“I'm not sure what that was about, but I'd like to go home now.”

He nodded, still not meeting my eyes. We walked in silence until we reached the front of my house, and I wasn't sure what to say. Up until the last ten minutes, this had been perfect. Conversation had been easy, and it felt comfortable being with him. But when he hadn’t said anything against what those guys insinuated, things shifted.

“I'm really sorry about that.” He finally spoke as I was getting ready to leave.

“You don't owe me an explanation for your past, but it would have been nice if you had said something, anything so we didn't have to stand there and listen to that.”

“You're right. I froze.”

I waited for him to continue—to explain himself—but he stayed quiet. “What happened?”

I don't know why I was being more compassionate than he deserved at the moment. I didn't have to stand here and wait for an explanation from him. This was playing out to be exactly how I expected a night with him would have gone, but I didn't want that to be the case. I wanted him to prove me wrong.

“I haven't always been someone to be proud of. I've made mistakes, but I'm trying to change. I'm trying to do better.”

I felt the sincerity in his words.

“They’re right. Everything they said was right about the person I used to be. That's not who I am anymore. It's not who I want to be. I've always had this belief that love isn't real. From the things I saw and experienced, I truly believed that no two people could belong together. That no relationship could survive with both sides being happy. But I don't want to think that way anymore.”

I didn’t move, didn’t blink as I waited for him to continue.

He sucked in a breath before speaking again. “Since you came back into my life, things have changed. I know it sounds cheesy. I know it's hard to believe, especially after what I put you through, but I want to be a better person. I want to be a better man. I want to be someone worthy of you.”

It was too much. This night. His words.

Was I crazy for thinking that things between us could change? That we could be new people?

I needed time to process everything that happened. Alone.

Chapter 18

Hunter

I screwed up. But I wasn't sure how to fix things.

I opened my heart to her. I tried to be the man that I wanted to be rather than the man that I was, but how could I prove that I’d changed when my past haunted me.

I couldn’t change who I’d once been. I couldn’t change the things that I’d done. I could only prove that I wasn’t that person anymore. But was it too late for me? For us? Was there too much baggage for us to move past?

Maybe things should just stay the way they were. Presley and I made amends. She’d forgiven me for the things I’d done to her when we were younger. For the scars I left on her heart and maybe that was all it needed to be. All it could be.

Sometimes there was just damage you couldn’t ignore. Part of me wanted that to be the answer. I wanted it to be simple. Something I could walk away from. But as I entered the weight room and felt the eyes of my three best friends on me, I knew that wasn’t an option.