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I open my mouth, not entirely sure what is going to come out of it, when he takes me by the wrists and pulls me inside. He takes my mouth into his, and the most sensual moan escapes my lips before I have a chance to stifle it.
The door closes behind me, and we are intertwined. I drop the books that were in my hand, my phone. I feel tears staining my cheeks and my makeup running. He ensures me in his arms, reminding me that life is meant for pleasure, erasing any shame in regard to the indulgence of our bodies.
After a moment, we part. We are breathless, and my mind is spinning.
He asks me again, like I was supposed to remember the question at all. “What happened, Wren?” he says firmly. “You’re shaking and crying.”
I want to tell him that my body may be shaking for an entirely different reason, but the mood isn’t right. Instead I wipe the streaks of makeup from my face and start to walk further inside.
Hunter snatches my hand. I snatch it back.
“Can we please not talk about this in the foyer?”
Hunter grunts, and I start to wonder if Cash is her. They are, after all, really good friends. Supposedly, anyway.
I don’t know how much Hunter has told Cash about us, or if our sexual dalliance is all part of the flogging and shame process. Looking at him as he leads me into the living room, I can’t conjure up a reason why.
Hunter walks inside and goes immediately to the couch. He pats his leg, still looking at me with that intense scowl that has set permanent grooves between his eyebrows.
“Come on. Tell me what happened.”
I go to him. He is a safe place, maybe the only one.
22
HUNTER
The key to winning a real fight, not a wrestling match or an action scene, is to be quick and decisive. That’s a lesson I’ve learned many, many times. If you haven’t got a decisive advantage by the second or third blow, you might as well back off.
With Cash, I have him pinned against the locker with one arm under his throat before he even knows I’m there. I knee him hard in the stomach twice. The wind goes out of him.
“What did I tell you, Cash?” I snarl. “What did I say about messing with Wren? Tell me what I said!”
He looks at me, and he’s not just angry. He looks like a mad dog who would tear me apart with his teeth if he got half a chance. I had hoped that my friendship with Cash might regrow eventually. The moment I see that face, I realize that’s never going to happen.
That’s okay,I decide.I’d rather stand up for Wren than be friends with him, anyway.
“What the hell happened to you, man?” Cash spits out, trying and failing to sound calm. “You used to be actually cool. What’s with this white knight bullshit?”
I step back and bash him against the locker. “You don’t get it, you absolute scum. You think I’m doing this for her? You think Wren wants me to be in here, shoving my fist in your face?”
“I think the Hunter I knew wasn’t this whipped,” he sneers.
“Wren didn’t even want to tell me about the shit you were up to. She tried to hide it. To just take you treating her like that, all because she didn’t want me to stir things up with you. Well, I’m stirring them up anyway. But this is about us. You and me. You get that?”
“Screw the big speeches,” he says. “Just get it over with.”
“Wren is mine,” I growl, leaning in uncomfortably close to his face. “If you mess with her, you’re messing with me. You’re messing with what’s mine, and when someone does that, I’m going to get mad. Do you understand that?”
“Do you think I’m not going to get you back for this?” he says.
I punch him, straight in the stomach. He groans.
“I’ll fight you anytime you want,” I tell him. “But don’t you dare bring Wren into it again. Because the next time something like this happens, I’m not just going to warn you. I’m going to hurt you.”
“What do you think the rest of the team’s going to think when they hear you’ve been attacking me?” he manages.
That’s one of the things I’ve been thinking about a lot, actually. Cash is mean, but he’s also charismatic and damn good out on the rink. I don’t have any illusions that the team will believe me over him. Even if they’ve seen how much of a bully Cash can be, it’ll just be easier to decide that I’m overreacting than to risk making waves.
