You Promised Me

by Lucy Scott Bryan

  I pull Hunter's attention back to me with my hand on his face and kiss him softly on the lips holding his gaze, "Thank you for coming this morning and listening to me. It means a lot. Don’t ever shut me out again though, I don't care who is calling or texting you, but you shut me down like that, without any care for the implications. It won’t be good and I only want to know you Hunter. And yeah I am sorry we were interrupted, I was looking forward to tasting what you made for me, but Caleb is right though, I'm all sorts of hungry right now Hunter. Want to feed me?" I watch him and he smirks, his eyes ablaze in understanding.

  "I could never deny you anything Gigi. I know just the place. Hopefully far away from Dom's squinty eyes too. Let's go pretty girl," he steps out of my hold on him, his eyes still locked with mine as he adjusts his obvious erection in his track pants before shamelessly turning, grabbing my hand and walking out of the door.

  I pull out of his hold, running into my bathroom to brush my hair out, twisting it into a very messy bun on top of my head. I look a mess in my mismatched leggings and a sloppy joe, but Hunter just stands there and winks at me when I turn to ask him if I looked okay.

  He is watching me closely while speaking low on the phone, he flashes the screen showing me it is his Father, maybe to excuse the anger that now sat high in his eyes. He hangs up quickly before shaking himself, losing his irritation in a flash. He takes the time to look at me slowly, his eyes raking over my body. "You look good enough to eat," he says through a throaty laugh. I grab my phone and wallet as we meet Caleb and Matthew at the front door.

  Matthew is obviously pissed off, his eyes angry, his jaw locked tight. Caleb is rubbing over his shoulders trying to get him to relax.

  "Let me guess, no fire, and no-one from security remembers you calling down to double check," I offer, a little nonchalant, but one thing we are all very good at is bouncing back from Dom's relentless and ongoing shit he keeps throwing.

  "Of course. I just don't get how he keeps doing this," Matthew speaks, his defeat obvious, as we make our way down to the basement, to their car.

  Hunter sits up front with Matthew so he can direct them to where we are going for breakfast. The morning is still crazy early, and the sun is burning bright, trying to take the chill off of the morning. It's my favourite time of the year though. I watch as we drive through the city, turning in the opposite direction than I thought we will be heading, finally stopping after about twenty minutes out the front of a dingy rundown diner in one of the older parts of town.

  Hunter turns in his seat and we are all looking at him with shocked looks on our faces. I quickly glance at Caleb and see he is wearing the same face as I am. Wondering if we will all be spending the rest of the day laying on the bed with a stomach bug.

  "Oh my God, please don't tell me you have never eaten here. This is my gastronomical nirvana. Their menu will change everything you ever knew about food,"

  Matthew interrupts him, "Yeah, that's pretty much what we are worried about man," his eyes still bulging in his fake fear.

  "Shut up! Honestly you haven't lived if you haven't eaten here," Hunter's confidence has always been dazzling, but the way he has us all under his spell is captivating. We all climb out of the car and follow him without any further question. I am still amazed that we are actually going in there to eat.

  I am surprised that the waitresses aren’t wearing roller skates as we sit waiting for our order. They are wearing little white skirts and red and white check shirts with knee high socks though. Caleb and I keep catching each other, trying to stop the rising laughter bubbling under the surface at how funny it is. Hunter has taken control of what we are eating, after double checking that no one had any strange aversions or allergies. His face is alight in his obvious enjoyment, and also our concerns. He is huddled in the corner of the booth with all our coats loaded onto his lap, looking smug as.

  The coffee looks terrible and I am surprised when I take a sip and it is pretty okay. Maybe I just am being a little snobby, I mean we are like regular regulars at Sloanes and Giovanis.

  "Oh my God, are we food snobs?" I whisper furiously at Matthew and Caleb, thinking aloud more than looking for a response.

  "You will be soon," Hunter stage whispers and pretty much has to wipe the drool off of his chin as he watches our food make its way from the kitchen. Three waitresses juggling way too much food and drink for the four of us.

  After the girls leave the food, Matthew, Caleb and I look at it sheepishly, half horrified by what he has ordered.

  "What have we done," Caleb mutters under his breath, his eyes wide in his shock. "I'm going to have a freaking heart attack if I eat any of that," he speaks as he jabs his fork into a huge plate of loaded fries, before moving to a stack of Canadian Pancakes. But Hunter reaches over and slaps his hand, his fork bouncing over the formica table top.

  "Treat it with respect, Caleb. Respect. I'll take you to the gym later but for now we indulge, we sing praises to the food gods that I found this little haven years ago. This is soul food. Eat up. Gigi, I want you to try my cheese burger," he says as he thrusts the offending burger into my face. Hunter's enthusiasm really means I can't not try. He is obviously pretty at home here.

  I lean over and with a wink at Caleb, unleash my hunger and take a huge bite of Hunter's burger, catching the tip of his finger in my bite.

  "Fuck Gigi, that hurt," he grumbles through a smile, as he pushed the rest of the burger in his mouth, before leaning over to me and pulling me close to his face. He just finished swallowing his burger when he kisses me, tasting of ketchup and mustard. Honestly the intensity of his physicality and his lack of abandon did a lot of things to my stupid heart. Matthew throws one of the fries at his head, laughing, before he jumps fist first into the fries, moaning in delight as he chews. Caleb shuffles over closer to him wondering what Matthew is doing, before Matthew grabs the whole plate and puts it in front of him.

  "Dip them in your milkshake," Hunter suggests after stretching his arm over the back of my shoulders, pulling me closer, while he continues shovelling copious amounts of fried food into his mouth.

  "What have we done," Caleb asks as he watches Matthew eat handful after handful of milkshake-dipped, loaded fries.

  "The burger is pretty good actually," I offer, grabbing one off of the pile in the middle. I go to grab a knife to cut it in half, when Hunter leans in to murmur low into my ear.

  "You're going to need lots of energy later Gigi. Just eat the thing. We are going straight to bed to fuck when we get back and you are not leaving for a while, so eat the damn thing," before sitting back up without a care in the world. I eat my burger so fast that I get hiccups and Hunter starts laughing again.

  "You know Canadian Pancakes are just fundamentally wrong. Bacon and maple syrup," Caleb mutters as he reaches over instead grabbing the waffles and chocolate sauce.

  "Just have a taste Caleb, I know you want to. Come on, this won't change how I feel about you. I promise. Honestly, if I can eat these loaded fries and openly admit how fucking delicious they are, then you Mister, can taste one bite of that gooey plate," Matthew encourages Caleb, trying to break a piece off for him with his spoon. But Caleb is beyond finicky with his food.

  "I'll try for you Caleb, hang on," I say as I reach over the middle of the table. Hunter takes the opportunity to slide his hand up the inside of my hoody and pretty much feel me up in front of our friends. I freeze at his touch and quickly look over to Caleb and Matthew who are distracted again by swapping spoonfuls of the waffles, groaning with every bite. I glance back to Hunter who looks like he is ready to push all the food off of the table and taste me instead.

  "Might have to get you some full body catsuits Gigi. It seems I just can’t keep my hands off your skin, no matter where we are," he speaks softly as I sit back down quickly, trapping his hand under my shirt. His fingers are reaching around under my arm after he quickly realises I am not wearing a bra.

  I peek quickly at Caleb and Matthew who are in the
midst of their own food orgy. I turn to Hunter and snort a little giggle out of my nose. Maybe it is the food, or it could have been his happiness or maybe he really did unleash my hussy, because I move closer to him, wiggling nearer to the table before I drop my hand under the table, finding the top of his sweat pants hidden under all our jackets.

  My eyes didn't dare leave Matthew or Caleb, watching them for any indication they can see what I am doing, but they are lost in each other. My hand doesn't waste any more time finding his bare stomach, my nails scratching over his skin, pulling a surprise hiss from his lips but he reaches over and grabs his milkshake to hide his response. My boldness surprises us both. I follow his warmth down, quickly finding his nakedness under his sweats, my hand feeling over his semi-erect dick.

  Hunter moves like an asp then, leaning over the table, pulling a plate of food to balance over the small gap. His body mimicking mine, sitting just on the edge, his eyes wide, nearly bugging out of his head at my move, but he keeps my inappropriateness hidden, egging me on even when he pushes his dick up into my hand. I squeeze him tight, my body responding quickly in a wanton desire that has me flooding in inappropriate visions of what I wanted to do to him. My thumb playing softly with the head of him, massaging the tip. He is burning hot.

  "Alright folks, let's go," he barks out suddenly. Snapping me out of my salacious daydream. Pushing me quickly out of the booth and pulling me in for a hug to hide his hardness.

  Caleb and Matthew glance up a little surprised but they wave the waitress over, getting some of the food to go. Hunter is staring at me, his head tilted sideways, his eyebrows lifting at whatever inappropriate thoughts flitted through it while we wait.

  “Yeah we need to talk about what happened earlier anyway, let’s do that in the car on the way back,” Matthew adds as he swings out of the booth.

  “And just like that there goes my boner, pretty sure it's a temporary affliction though,” Hunter murmurs into my ear, before letting me go from his embrace. His hand stays on my lower back and we follow after Caleb and Matthew, double checking that the street is empty.

  We are all in the middle of an argument about whether we need to move now that Dom has somehow gotten into our building or wondering if he has bought someone off of the security downstairs, either way, it is like he had very easy access to me.

  Leah’s name flashed up on the car’s BlueTooth just as an email alert sounds on my phone, then Calebs and Matthews. Without even knowing what, it is pretty clear that it is going to be bad.

  “Leah, you are on the car phone, Ginny is in the back seat. What’s going on?” Matthew asks, his jaw clenching as he waits for her response.

  “You need to see what I just sent through. This is not good. I have the shareholders demanding an immediate explanation and we have reporters already gathering,” her tinny voice through the car phone only seems to amplify how angry she is.

  Hunter reaches for my phone, quickly opening up the email that she is referring to. It is a short video, I think from where I can see. I lean in closer to see.

  “Oh my fucking god. How did he get that?” I groan.

  “What?” Matthew demands as he is pulling over to the side of the road to see what we are dealing with. Caleb had it up to show him even before the car rolled to a stop.

  “It’s okay Gigi,” Hunter adds softly.

  “Pretty sure it’s not okay. That is a video of me getting all sorts of fucked to Sunday by you in my office Hunter. It is not okay. Not at all. Was this what John was doing? Spying on me? No one in this city will ever take me seriously professionally again. My family is going to be so disappointed,” I look at him imploring him to understand.

  “They will Gigi. I will ensure they do. Don’t you ever doubt the lengths I will go to to protect you. Hey, look at me, the three of us in this car have your back like no one ever will. Caleb and Matthew will deal with the security breach and Gigi, what we do is nobody's business but our own. I’ll call in a favour and it will be gone from every phone, download, tv station within minutes. And your solicitors can issue a writ to anyone that has downloaded it, saved it or shared it. I got you. Trust me, okay,” then he passes my phone back, grabs my shoulder and tucks me into him. Once I am swaddled in his arms, he pulls his phone out and dials a number.

  “Leah, we will call you back,” Hunter barks quickly. “Hang up and don’t make a fucking sound,” he warns.

  The silence in the car is electric.

  “Take me off speaker. I will have someone so far up your ass Hunter before you hang up this phone. This is a gross invasion of my privacy, how dare you,” a computer generated voice sounds.

  “Settle the fuck down!” Hunter shouts suddenly, “Watch your damn tone and do what I pay you to do. I have emailed a video to you. You just incurred a time penalty, you have three minutes left to remove it from everywhere or I do at long last release every bit of shit I have collected on you over to the Feds. And don’t you ever threaten me again. You are wasting valuable time. Send me a confirmation and I will send you your fee, with a juicy bonus, for putting you on fucking speaker phone. How fucking rude are you!” he snarls into the phone, his sarcasm dripping off the last of his words. Before hanging it up with a soft push of the button and placing it back into his pocket before looking at me. My mouth is open in shock at the aggression that is hiding within him.

  “It’s okay, that’s just Gordo. He is head of client development at Cybersécurité,” he smirks angelically at me.

  “Take me home first. I am not going to face the media looking like I have been dragged through a bush backwards,” I say still looking at Hunter, trying to understand just how many facets there are of him, before I dropped my face into my hands thinking of my mother’s reaction.

  Hunter’s phone buzzes only a minute later and he barks a laugh out making me jump.

  “Gordo said that he has dropped a virus on every available download which replaces the video over to a discount coupon for PornHub. It will encrypt every copy, even those now stored on individual back ups. He has a hit rate of nearly one hundred percent and the other small percent will annoy him incessantly, he won't stop until he destroys every copy. He is quite tenacious our Gordo. A little hot headed and paranoid, but otherwise truly one of the best employees around. It’s done. Check your email,” he adds quickly pushing my phone back into my hand. True to his word I am now looking at the subscription page of PornHub.

  “Thank you,” I offer before my Grandpa’s number flashes up on my screen, picking up the call on my handset, not needing everyone to listen to this.

  “Hello Ginny. I just went to show your Grandma what all the fuss was about and now she is looking at me like I am a dirty old man asking me what PornHub is. Seems we have a bit of an issue, I’ll meet you in your office in an hour, but first do me a favour Ginny and pass me over to the the star of your very own blue movie,” he speaks carefully and it is hard to detect his reaction, which is not like Grandpa at all.

  I pass my phone over to Hunter a little reluctantly.

  Hunter accepts my phone, I am surprised that he already had his hand out waiting, maybe he has supersonic hearing. He then turns his whole body towards the passenger window, leaning away from me and holding the phone tight to his ear. His shoulders are bunched up high in his anxiety. I place my hand on his shoulder hoping to share some of Grandpa’s ire, as it should be directed at both of us. After a series of “Yes sir. Of course. I am sorry. Of course. Correct. Hmm possibly,” Hunter turns slightly, his eyes sparkling in his eagerness before he grabs a hold of my hand and finishes listening to grandpa’s lengthy tirade. He hangs up without passing it back to me or signing off which either means grandpa had hung up on him or Hunter had just hung up on grandpa. My eyes close in defeat, either way, I am pretty well screwed.

  “Gigi, he just put the phone down cause he started arguing with Regina about PornHub. She doesn’t believe it was a virus and apparently she gets very jealous, very quickly. Must run in the family.... H
e wants me to phone her. Can you call her up for me,” he asks hesitantly. At least Hunter is smart, he is about to face the wrath of my Grandma.

  I find her contact and press it handing it over to him, before I move away. As soon as Grandma answers she pretty much explodes. Caleb and Matthew are sniggering from the front seats. She is pretty unrelenting not even letting Hunter get a word in edgeways and then as suddenly as it starts it stops. And Hunter bursts into laughter, his deep chuckle rolling through our car, sweeping us all up in it.

  "Holy shit, she is a force to be reckoned with, isn't she. So, she is very upset that we haven't gone and had dinner with the family. So apparently we have dinner there tonight, just Gigi and myself. She said to let you guys have a night off. And she somehow got me to agree to Sunday brunch with just her before we go and see her jeweller," Hunter looks way too happy with himself.

  "Hunter, what have you done?" I question him slowly.

  "Gigi, I can't have them thinking you mean nothing to me. Your Grandpa started it, and well, Regina just didn't stop talking about my intentions and your honour," he speaks through a fake grimace, though his eyes are shining like diamonds in his excitement.

  "Hunter. What. Have. You. Done?" I ask him again, the horror of what he had agreed to with my family conniving behind my back.

  "Well," he starts, drawing the word out long, looking quickly over to Matthew and Caleb who are both laughing hysterically.

  "Hunter!" I demand.

  "Gigi….," he peeks at me through his long damn eyelashes, his delight evident.

  "It does solve a lot of problems though Ginny," Caleb adds from the front seat before Matthew folds over as he dissolves into another fit of loud giggles.

  It is funny. I know it is. It is the way Hunter and I work. It has always been all in. But now, in this car, it stings. It hurts so much. Cause, the weird thing is, it is what I wanted. I just wanted it to be sincere. I turn away from all of their jest and joking and leave them. The noise in the car fades away as the streets flash past. And then I realise that the car is silent, and it is parked in the garage. Movement at my window is all I notice, my vision blurred by my tears that are pooling in my eyes.