Dylan nodded and took out his math book, making me frown. He looked at me with a pleading look. "Can you please help me out with this?" he asked and I chuckled.
"Well, I pretty much suck at math, but I can try." I said and he grinned.
"Awesome." he grinned and flipped through the pages. "So, yesterday in math class, the teacher was talking about something like square roots of something, something, something. I have no idea what he was talking about, for real. He is kind of fast and stuff. We even had to draw something and we did Geometry. I don't understand a fucking thing about Geometry." he groaned, making Hunter and I chuckle.
"We'll help you out." Hunter said.
I looked at Hunter. "You just smiled in front of someone besides me." I smirked and Dylan shot his head up.
"And I actually saw it!" he grinned, giving Hunter a teasing look.
"Shut the fuck up and focus on your stupid math problem." Hunter glared at us, making Dylan and I burst into laughter.
"Well, look at the bright side. At least your fucking face doesn't stay like its glued together." Dylan shrugged and Hunter hit him at the back of his head, making me laugh even more.
"Okay, enough you guys." I did my best to stop laughing. "Let's get back to math."
It was lunch break, so we had half an hour and we really didn't have to worry about anything right now. To be honest, I don't think that I would have this much fun if Alyssa was here instead of Dylan. I felt my mood going off again. Why was I even thinking of her?
"We need to talk." Alyssa appeared in front of us.
Dylan looked at her and frowned. "Who is she?" he asked and I looked at him.
"She's... someone." I said and Alyssa gasped.
"I am your best friend! I am not just someone!" she glared.
"Why are you even mad at me?" she asked and I looked at her.
"You're really asking me that?" I looked at her.
"I didn't do anything wrong." she said and I gave her an uninterested look.
"I know Tony is at your house, Alyssa." I said and she froze.
"W-what?" she stuttered. "N-no. You're mistaken, Zoe. I don't know where he is." she chuckled nervously.
Hunter looked at me, but I avoided eye contact and looked at her. “You’ve probably already told him everything. But you know what? I’m not that weak girl anymore. Tell him to stay away from me.”
I smirked as she walked away with a nasty look on her face. Hunter looked at me with shock plastered on his face.
"How did you know?" Hunter looked at me.
I smiled at him. "I didn't know, Hunter. I just assumed it." I said, confusing him even more.
"Why would you even assume something like that? And how the fuck did it turn out right?" his resting bitch face contained confusion.
How can someone show emotion on a resting bitch face?
"Because, dear Hunter, she," I pointed at Alyssa sitting in the distance. "is my brother's ex-girlfriend." I said, shocking him.
I kind of loved how Dylan didn't give a damn about any of this and didn't ask any questions. I know that Dylan had a lot of questions, and that he was very curious, but the fact that he didn't ask anything knowing that it's too early, made this situation very less awkward.
"You look sexy." Hunter grinned as I walked into the room wearing shorts and one of his over sized shirts.
I giggled as I sat on the bed, releasing my hair from the bun that was giving me a headache already. "Stop being a pervert, Hunter." I grinned.
Suddenly I was grabbed by my waist and before I could even blink, I was gently thrown on the bed with Hunter hovering over me. He pinned my hands above my head, smirking at my nervously shocked expression.
"You can call me whatever you want, sweetheart, but that does not lessen the fact that I'm about to kiss you until you faint." he said and crashed his lips against mine.
I was still shocked, but I felt myself kissing back. I moaned softly against his lips and I felt him smirk, but really, I didn't care about his cockiness anymore. I actually wanted him to kiss me until I faint. He let go of my hands and wrapped his arms around my waist, making my arms wrap around his neck automatically. Our lips moved together in sync and I felt him pull my body closer to his, making me gasp. Of course, he took his as an opportunity and slid his tongue between my lips.
His hands moved around my body, making me moan once again. I was moaning a bit too much. But it was the first time I enjoyed it after all.
After God knows how long, Hunter pulled away and lay down next to me. "Don't think that this is the last time. We're going much further the next time." he winked at me with a cheeky smile.
I loved how I felt so open with Hunter. I thought I’d be scared of any kind of intimacy after everything that happened with Tony, but my body, mind, and soul just knew that Hunter was different.
Just as I was about to say something, his phone started ringing. I caught a glimpse of the caller ID and I felt like gasping when I saw it was Zachariah calling.
Who is this Zachariah guy?
Chapter Fifteen
“Hunter...” I called his name, making him look at me. “Who’s Zachariah?”
He shifted uncomfortably before sitting up. Hunter breathed out and I felt as if he was fighting with himself whether he should tell me or not. Hunter his trust in me would be confirmed once he told me everything about himself. I sat up and looked at Hunter. His blue eyes stared into my green ones as I took his hands in mine. I could feel him relax a little.
"Look, Hunter, you can tell me whenever you're ready. You don't have to push it. I can wait." I said and he sighed.
“You’re right. You should know about Zachariah. You should know way more than you know now.” he looked at me rather defeated. “My parents never were the parents they should have been. They never cared about me. When I was born, most of the time I was with my mother’s sister. She had kids too and basically, she’s the one who raised me, even if I didn’t live with her. She taught me how to be a person –a human being. Blaze is a year younger than me. In the beginning, I didn’t really like her, because as a baby she got more attention than I ever did. My parents loved her, until my dad became an alcoholic and lost his job. To get more money to raise us, my mother started gambling and soon went into prostitution. Needless to say, I was left to take care of Blaze. My mom eventually became very abusive after finding out that Blaze has cancer. They never did anything about it, and neither could I. We were just kids. I would see Blaze getting worse and worse every day.” his eyes were glossy at this point and even my eyes filled up with tears. “We weren’t allowed to see our aunt anymore and there we lost connection. One day, my dad came home stupid drunk and tried to force himself on Blaze. In order to protect her I took the vase and threw It on my father’s head. I had no idea he died. It was when my mom came home and she saw the two of us clenching onto each other with our father’s dead body in front of us. She didn’t want to hear anything and started to hit Blaze, blaming her for my father’s death. It was at that moment that I started seeing red. I don’t know how, or what happened, but the moment I got back to myself, my mom was lying dead next to my father.”
My heart was beating so fast, I could hear it in my ears. Hunter continued.
“Scared that we would get in trouble for what I did, I took hold of Blaze’s hand and we took a run for it. We had no other option but to sleep on the roads. That’s when Zachariah found me. He saw how ill Blaze was and that’s how I ended up working for this city’s most dangerous Mafia gang.” he closed his eyes, as if he were envisioning everything. “The doctors told me how little hope there was for Blaze, but I could at least try. I became Zachariah’s most talented hitman, but Blaze wanted me to stop. I didn’t want to, because I was still in Zachariah’s debt, but because Blaze threatened to cut off all ties with me, I stopped.”
I smiled and placed my hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Hunter. You did it all for Blaze. We both know she’s not going to make it, but at least she goes
knowing that she wasn’t alone.”
I felt someone hug me from behind as I walked to the library. I grinned and turned around, thinking that it was Hunter, or even Dylan, but my smile fell when I saw Alyssa. I jerked her hands off me and she frowned. I gave her a blank look and walked into the library.
"Why are you doing this?" Alyssa appeared. "Tony is not at my house!" she huffed.
"I don't care. But I sure as hell do know that you know where he is. He can even be out of the country, and you know it. Don't lie to me, Alyssa. Tony was someone you loved more than you cared about me, so you know where he is and what he's planning. You might even have told him that I'm still alive."
"Yes, I do know where he is, because he left his address for me. But I swear, he is not at my house." she said and I sighed.
"Look, Alyssa. I don't care that much about this anymore.
I don't think that I'll still be able to see you as the person I used to. You have ruined everything." I said and her jaw hung open.
I rolled my eyes and continued looking for a good book.
"But, Zoe! I didn't do anything wrong! I was just caring! I didn't want you to be around Hunter." she said, making me scowl at her.
"Oh please. Didn't you notice how happy I am with Hunter!? Hunter made my life better. He cares for me just like my parents did. Something that Tony never did!" Tears streamed down my face. "All Tony ever did was hurt me. Hurt me in ways no brother would ever do. He scarred my body, my mind, and my soul, Alyssa. I never told you..." I sniffed. "I never told you anything. I kept acting like I was happy. But now I'm happy for real. Hunter is all I ever wished for."
I couldn't hold it in anymore. I just ran. I ran out of the library, away from Alyssa. She was right. None of this was her fault. She didn't know anything; she was just trying to help me. But all she did was making it worse without her even knowing it. I could feel my face burning red as I cried. I have no idea why I was crying. I ran out of the school's property and ran further, to the park not far from the school. I sat on one of the benches, pulled my knees to my shoulder and cried. Perhaps it was all the pain I ever endured that made me cry. I feel so messed up right now. All the nightmares I get every night, all my random breakdowns, all my depression... Hunter was enduring all this without ever complaining. I didn't want to be a burden to Hunter. He already had so much to worry about. He had Blaze to take care of, and now that I'm in his life, everything is just more complicated. People walked past me, giving me weird looks. I almost wanted to chuckle at how pathetic I might be looking right now. Just a random girl in the park, sitting on the bench and crying about the stupid teenager problems I have. I feel so sad for myself. I sniffed and wiped the tears away, but they just started flowing again. The last thing I wanted was for a fucking waterfall to flow down my fucking cheeks.
I thought of every way that I could kill myself. I was just so done with this miserable life. It was like everything reminded me of the worthlessness that Tony made me feel. All of the pain, the insecurities. Tony always called me a burden, but now I really felt like one and all I wanted to do was die. I looked in the direction where the voice came from and my heart started pounding when I saw Hunter running towards me. I took a moment to actually have a proper look at him. He was wearing black skinny jeans with a white shirt and a blue and white checkered button-up shirt, unbuttoned. I gulped as I saw him approaching me and hugged myself even tighter. He knelt down in front of me and as he raised his hand to wipe my tears, I flinched. I knew he hated it, but it was just so automatic.
"What's wrong, Zoe? Why are you crying?" he wiped the tears off my face, but that was no use since the tears started running down my cheeks again.
“H...how did you know I wa...was here?” I asked between cries.
"Alyssa told me." he said and sat down next to me. He took the bag from my hands and placed it next to him. "Now, why are you crying?" he asked once again and the tears started to flow even more now.
"H...Hunter, all of this is my fault..." I breathed out.
"What is your fault?" he frowned and I sniffed again.
"Everything. My parents their death, Tony turning into a psychopath... Everything is my fault. Now I'm nothing but a useless burden. I'm making your life horrible." I sniffed. "Aren't I?" I violently started wiping the tears from my face. "I am so stupid! I am nothing but depressed and insecure. I hate myself." I cried.
Hunter quickly pulled my hands away from my face and held it as far away as possible. He cupped my cheek with one hand while holding my hands with the other one.
"Zoe, you're not a burden. There is a reason why I chose you, and nothing is ever going to change that. I have taken full responsibility of you and nothing is changing that either. You're not stupid, Zoe. You're one of a kind, there is no one like you and there probably will never be." he said and I looked up at him. “Don’t worry, Zoe. I got this.”
I couldn't hold myself back and I grabbed his shirt and hugged him as I sobbed on his chest. He hugged me back and kept holding me until I was calm again. I have no idea how he did that. I have no idea how he always manages to calm me down. I pulled away from him and he wiped my tears from my face.
He grabbed my bag and stood up, picking me up bridal style. I giggled. "Come on. Let's get you back to school." he kissed my forehead.
Chapter Sixteen
"Well, you guys look horrible." Blaze laughed as we entered her hospital room.
I sighed and my shoulder slumped. "None of this is my fault. It was your brother who was driving down the roads psychopathically." I said and Blaze shook her head.
"Well, that does sound like Hunter though." she teasingly smirked and Hunter scowled.
"My driving is not that bad." he glared at us.
"No, Hunter. Your driving is not bad. But sometimes, it's just the most terrible thing ever." I sighed dramatically and Blaze pulled the covers over her head, so she wouldn't see us.
"Yeah, you better hide." Hunter looked at Blaze and then turned back to me. "I am going to murder you." he said playfully.
"I dare you, pretty boy." I smirked at him and he rolled his eyes.
"Shut the fuck up. I'm going to speak to the doctor. I'll be back in a few minutes." he said and left the room.
"Hey, Zoe." Blaze sat up and I looked at her.
"Yes?" I frowned as she took my hand in hers.
"Look, you and Hunter don't have to hide anything from me. I know that I don't have much time left. To be honest, I was scared to die, but now that you're here, I am glad that I have no worries." she smiled, making me frown even more.
"Blaze, your brother and I are doing everything we can. We will save you. I promise." I said and she smiled even wider.
"I know, Zoe. But just in case I don't survive this, just know that I'm happy that Hunter found someone as awesome as you." a tear fell from her eyes. "By now you must have realized that Hunter is an amazing person, and he probably deserves the best, and let me be honest, Zoe, you are the best." by now, tears were streaming down my face too.
I didn't want her to die, really. She really deserved to live. We wiped our tears and smiled at each other. Without thinking, I wrapped my arms around her smaller body and she didn't even hesitate to hug me back. I pulled away and sat on the chair again.
"I'm sorry, Blaze."
"What for?" she frowned.
"That I couldn't be here for you earlier." I said and she smiled. She didn't say anything, but instead, she spread her arms, asking for a hug and I didn't even hesitate. I hugged her tightly, making her giggle.
"Zoe!" I heard someone shout my name and I turned around, only to see Dylan stumble over nothing.
I laughed as he frowned for a second, but then started running towards me again. He wrapped his arms around me and I hugged him back. I smiled at him as he pulled away from me. He was slightly shorter and absolutely adorable to look at. I looked around, looking for Hunter, only to realize that he wasn't around.
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