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“Jesus Christ, baby, what happened? Please, talk to me,” Hunter says, voice now thick with his own unshed tears.
Baby? Who the hell is this guy?
“Hunter,” she sobs and the fucker wastes no time pulling her into his arms. She buries her face in his chest and proceeds to let out gut-wrenching sounds as she cries. I look between my brothers and I can see similar looks of anguish on both of their faces as we stand by silent and helpless.
Finally, they step away from each other and I have to strain my ears to hear what he says to her. “What happened, Ella? I’m not going to ask if you’re okay because you’re obviously fucking not.”
I scoff. Understatement of the year.
“Can we have a little room guys?” Ella murmurs, looking immediately at Gage. He grits his teeth, clenches his fists, and has his moment, but nods his head reluctantly and walks into the kitchen, plopping his ass on his chair. She turns to look at me and her beautiful blue-green eyes, red-rimmed from crying, soften me. Sighing, I walk right up to her, making a show of glaring at Hunter as I bend down and kiss her forehead, before following Gage to the kitchen.
Surprisingly, Nyx glowers at Hunter the longest. He cracks his neck to the side, the popping audible in the quiet room before rising to a standing position. He rolls his shoulders back, works the tension out of his hands, and takes a menacing step toward Hunter.
Hunter, who had been oblivious to Nyx’s entire show because he was staring intently at Ella from the moment I kissed her, has just now realized the imminent danger in the room that was lurking right behind him. He shoots his eyes towards Nyx, then back at Ella, then towards us, then back to Nyx, and though he’s smaller than all of us, he straightens his spine like he's ready for Nyx to punch him. Again, dude has balls.
“Stop!” Ella snaps at Nyx. “Hunter isn’t going to hurt me. He’s my best friend. Just….” she sighs, “just give me a minute, please Nyxon.” Nyx turns his lethal glare on Ella, making her gasp. My fist slams on the kitchen table, ready to fuck Nyx up myself.
“Fucks sake, Nyx. Back the fuck off!” Gage snaps, causing Nyx to blink rapidly and shake his head, obviously coming back to reality.
For the next thirty minutes, I sit at the kitchen table, pretending to do shit on my phone when in actuality, I'm watching them. No, I'm watchinghim. The way he touches her, holds her, comforts her. Every single brush of his fingers, when his lips press against her head, the way his arm curls protectively around her shoulders, makes me want to kill him. There is no way this dude is just her best friend. No fucking way. He's clearly ass over tits in love with her and I'll be fucked if he thinks he can come in here and take her from me.
Mine.
I'm pulled from my possessive thoughts when I hear their murmured conversation gaining volume. Giving up the charade, I turn my full attention to the living room and I have honestly never been more thankful for an open concept space in my life.
“You couldn’t have stopped this, Hunt. Neither of us could have. And I’m glad you weren’t there. Who knows what he would have done to you? He’s fucking crazy. You didn’t see him, Hunter. We’ve seen evil, but this, this was something else altogether. It wasunhinged. Drew has fucking lost it,” Ella softly says before asking, “Where have you been Hunt?”
Hmm, good question. I haven't heard anything about this guy nor has he been here for her.But I've been here, every fucking night.
“I fucked up when I kissed you, El,” he chokes out. Before I can even process what he just said, Gage lets out a loud as fuck growl. Ella shoots her panicked eyes my direction and the fear and anxiety in them has me slapping Gage on the back of his head. I throw her a wink and smirk, making sure my dimples are on display in an attempt to calm her, even though there is a fire burning inside of me. I tamp it all down so I can hear what's being said. She whispers something too low for us to catch but his next words make me want to pull my gun back out.
Fuck, maybe I need to put it away. Clearly killing her BFF isn't the way to her heart.
“I kissed you. I shouldn’t have, but I fuckin did. And then, I just fucking left you, drunk and alone, without a word. Who does that shit, Ella? Fuck! I’m so fucking mad at myself. After I dropped you off, I went home and finished off a bottle of I don’t even know what. I blacked out and woke up the next day, called out of work, and got fucked all over again. I was drunk for days. I was drunk when you texted me and when you called. Fuck.You fucking called me, Ella!” he chokes out a sob at the last sentence. “I’m so fucking, sorry. I was drunk and wallowing, and you fucking called me for help. To fuckingsave you, and my phone was off because I was tired of listening to it. Jesus Christ, you could have fuckingdied!”
He jumps up and paces as he falls apart and a very small percentage of me feels sorry for the guy but the rest of me is just seeing red at his words. He kissed her. He fucking kissed her, left her drunk and alone, and then abandoned her, and out of all of the people she could have called when she needed help, it was him and he was too fucked up to care.
Nah, fuck this guy.
Salt-RY X
“Hunter!” Ella shouts, shooting to her feet. “Listen to me, please,” she says, placing her hands on his shoulders, forcing him to stop moving and to pay attention to her. “It’s not your damn fault! It’s no one’s fault but Drew’s, and apparently his father's. And honestly, maybe Alyssa’s. I still haven’t processed that at fucking all. But it’s not your fault and it’s not their fault,” she says, pointing towards us where we are sitting in the kitchen before she continues. My nerves are frayed as I fight every single one of my instincts to take care of her, keep her safe, even if it's from her friend.
Apparently, Gage has also had enough. He's been sitting in silence but gritting his teeth with his fists clenched on the table the entire time while he listens. He slowly stands, turning toward them in the living room, but they are both too distracted to notice. Looking up, I see Nyxon sitting across from me. His back is to the living room and he's doing everything in his power to pretend to be unaffected by all of this. He can pretend all he fucking wants but I know him better than that. He's just as fucked over her as we are.
“It’s Andrew Remington the fucking third’s fault. That piece of shit is insane. He is literally fucking nuts. And I knew it.I knew it. I think I sensed it in him even at the beginning. I pushed him off an entire semester. And when I finally agreed to go out with him, I forced him to take everything at a snail’s pace. I was afraid of him for so long, Hunt. You know that. I was scared to date him, I was scared to stand up to him, and I was scared to break up with him. Even when he was nice. Even when he wasn’t treating me badly. Even before he hit me for the first time. And after? After he attacked me atThe Grind?I still didn’t go to the cops. I didn’t report him.I fucking did this.I may not be responsible for his actions, but I am responsible for staying. I am responsible for not getting out and protecting myself sooner. I decided to be brave too fucking late. Okay? It’s not on you. If anything, it’s on me—"
“Enough!” Gage booms from right behind Ella, causing her to jump. “Eso es suficiente, Cariño!” She drops her hands from Hunter’s shoulders and turns around to face Gage, confusion all over her beautiful face.
“Isabella, juststop. I understand what you’re doing here. He’s your best friend, I see that. You’re trying to ease his guilt. And, I agree, it’s not his fault. But for fucks sake, baby, it’s not your fucking fault either. None of this is. The first time that son of a bitch raised his voice at you, it was his fault,” Gage says as he takes a step towards Ella. “The first time he broke up with you, claiming it was something you did, only to manipulate you into getting back together with him? He wasgaslightingyou, baby.Hedid that. ¿Me entiendes?” Another step, and another, until he's toe to toe with her. His words have me breathing heavily and swallowing down my own emotions. He's fucking right and I cannot wait to get my hands on that sick fuck.
“The first time that motherfucker put a hand on you in anything, but complete and utter fucking devotion was on him. Threatening you? Controlling you? Lying and probably cheating too. He wasabusing you, Cariño. And there is no other fucking way to spin that. You may not want to be a victim, but you’re a fucking victim. You’re a victim of domestic, physical, and mental abuse. And now, fuckingsexualassault. All at the hands of that sick motherfucker. He tortured you and he raped you. Doesn’t matter if he stuck his cock in you or not. I know you don’t want to, but fucking put a label on it. Call it what it is. That fuck deserves nothing else but to be called what he is,a psychotic, abusive, rapist.So, I don’t want to hear you claim any fucking second of responsibility for his actions again, do you understand me?”
She stands in silence for a few moments with tears steadily flowing down her pink cheeks. Finally, she nods.
“Good girl,” he murmurs, bringing his hand up to caress her cheek gently, wiping away her tears. “And you may be a victim, Cariño, but that doesn’t make you weak. You’re a fucking survivor. Youhavesurvived so much in your life, and you will survive this too, baby, I promise. And like Madd said, we don’t make promises we can’t keep. You trust me, yeah?”
“I trust you, Gage,” she whispers. He smiles down at her like she's his fucking world, and I get it. I really fuckin do because I'm pretty sure she's mine too.
