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Unfortunately, they kept solidifying on Kate, on the feel of her breath against his skin. He kept comparing that to the image of Michael’s hand on Hannah’s hair in the kitchen.
“You still like that Kate girl?” said Nick out of the blue.
Hunter almost choked on his own breath. “She’s all right.”
“She texted me to see if anything was going on this weekend, so I invited her over. Becca will be here, and Layne and her little brother—”
Hunter looked over at him in the darkness. “You—invited Kate over?”
“Yeah.” Nick’s voice was a little challenging. “That okay?”
Hunter told his heart to quit knocking around his rib cage.
Nick had asked her over.
She was probably coming for some sort of reconnaissance or something.
But Nick had asked her. And she’d accepted.
When had this happened? Why hadn’t she mentioned it?
Kate hadn’t texted Hunter all evening. He checked his phone just to be sure.
No messages from her.
He didn’t care.
He didn’t.
He didn’t.
Oh, who the hell was he kidding?
A pillow hit him in the head, and Hunter jumped a frigging mile.
He was so keyed up it was probably a miracle he didn’t draw his gun.
“Easy there, Zen Master Ninja,” said Nick, a wry note in his voice. “I invited her over for you.”
Hunter didn’t move for a moment. He studied Nick’s silhouette in the near dark. “For me?”
“Yeah,” said Nick. “Because seriously, dude, if anyone needs to cut loose with a chick for an hour, it’s you.”
CHAPTER 24
Hunter was hiding in the basement.
Well, not really hiding. He was showing Simon how to break some basic holds. But if he was down here, he didn’t have to see Kate, and he didn’t have to listen to Gabriel’s minute-by-minute jabs. Much more of that, and Hunter wouldn’t give a crap about his promise to Michael—he’d finish what they’d started last night.
Everyone else was out on the back porch with pizza and soda, a scene straight out of a deodorant commercial or something.
He hadn’t started out hiding, but he’d heard the doorbell, the resulting footsteps overhead, and finally Nick’s yell that “everyone” was here.
Hunter said he’d be up in a minute and asked Simon if he wanted to keep working.
That was an hour ago.
If he was being honest with himself, he craved the simplicity of this. Teaching something to someone who needed the skills. No ulterior motive, no elements, no betrayal. Seeing Simon gain confidence as he figured out that he wasn’t powerless at all.
