by Molly O'Hare
Then, she felt wetness, a thick wetness spill between her legs.
You’ve got to be kidding me! She wanted to punch herself, and then Hunter as the reality set in.
They’d fought, fucked, and then that asshole came in her, not once but twice!
Holy fucking crap on all the crackers. Abbie was going to kill him. Did he give zero shits of the consequences of his actions? There was no way in hell either of them was ready to have a child.
Her anger came back with force. Fuck him, and fuck this, and while she was at it, fuck herself for being so caught up in Hunter she didn’t use her goddamn common sense.
However, when Abbie tried to roll away from him, she immediately found herself being pounced on. Her arms were pinned over her head in a move that Abbie now understood as Hunter’s go-to. “You’re not going anywhere this time, Abbie.”
This was ridiculous. “Get off me, Hunter.”
“No, I like you better when you’re under me.” He smirked.
“You can’t go around pinning me all the time to get your way. That’s not how adults act.”
Hunter cocked his brow. “You lunge at me anytime you get the chance.”
“That’s different.” She pushed trying to loosen his hold, but failed. “Get off me. I mean it.”
“No.” Abbie wanted to punch the smug look off his face. “I’m not letting you go while you have that look in your eyes.”
Her brows pulled together as her eyes hardened. “What look? The look of murder? ‘Cause that’s the only look I should have.”
Seemingly unfazed by her threat Hunter’s smile spread from ear-to-ear. “Nah, that’s your resting face. I’m talking about the look you’ve got right now.”
“Oh, pray tell, old wise one. What look do I have? Not like I would know or anything since it’s my face and all.”
Hunter leaned forward and kissed her nose causing Abbie to growl. “I’ll bite you.”
“My little zombie. I didn’t know you were into biting but we can try that.”
If I murder him, Universe, can you bring him back to life so I can murder him all over again?
“Ahh, there’s the look I’ve grown to love.” Hunter beamed. “What are you thinking of stabbing me with? Knife, pen, a rusty spoon, maybe a book?”
A menacing noise echoed from Abbie’s throat.
“Growl all you want, Abs. I’m not letting you go. I’ve decided we’ve had enough games. We’re having this conversation.” For good measure, the jerk kissed her once more.
“Stop doing that, Hunter. Don’t you get how bad this is? All of it. We’ve had sex and you came in me!”
“I know.” He smirked. “Twice.”
The glee in his eyes unhinged Abbie. “I’m not on anything, ass-hat.”
“So you’ve said.”
What seventh level of hell was this? She fought against his hold. “Have you lost your fucking mind?”
“When it comes to you? Yes. But I kinda like it lost.”
How could he be so calm about this? This wasn’t some stupid childhood dare. No, this was their life at stake. This isn’t a game. “I don’t want to be a mother right now, Hunter. And most of all, I don’t want you to be the father. This is serious. So start acting like it.”
He placed his hand on his chest like he’d been shot. “That hurts.”
“Really, why do you have to be like that?”
“If I believed even for a second you meant what you just said, I would. But you don’t.” He shrugged.
Abbie’s jaw hit the ground. “You pompous egotistical, asshole.” She couldn’t handle this anymore. Her eyes snapped shut as her hand went to her stomach. She felt as though she was drowning. “I could be pregnant.” Tears pricked her eyes in frustration.
“And if you are, we’ll take care of it. I never really thought about being a dad before, but I’m not opposed to it now. I am getting older after all.”
As Abbie fought back her tears, out of nowhere an image of Hunter playing with a small child that looked exactly like a mix of them entered her mind. Her heart tightened. No, no, no! She didn’t want children.
Her heart broke for the thought of her child growing up as she did. What if Hunter left just like her dad did? Everything inside of her shattered at the thought of her baby feeling what she’d felt her whole life.
Hunter had already left once, he’d do it again.
Hell, he’d already done that when they were kids.
Children weren’t in the cards for her. Rupert was enough.
“Let’s take it one day at a time,” Hunter said distracting Abbie from her thoughts. “Being a parent is scary, I get that,” he spoke softly. “Although, I do have to mention the rat you mother is also pretty scary. Not to mention your track record with plants has me a little weary, but—”
“Do not bring Rupert or my garden into this.” Her eyes shot open. “This is about us creating a life. A life neither one of us are ready for.” She glared. “And, for your information, I’m the best damn cat mom there ever was. I’d be a great mom.” Asshole.
“And your plants?” Hunter smirked.
“Shut up.”
They stared at each other for a few seconds before Hunter let out a sigh. “Let’s at least wait until the storm is over. If you really want to take the pill, we’ll go get it together.”
Hearing his words was like a weight lifted off her shoulders. Finally, a glimmer of hope was there.
“And in the meantime, we’ll use condoms. They have some in the lobby’s corner store.” Hunter’s smile went from ear-to-ear as her mouth fell open in a loss for words.
How had her life come to this exact moment? Her whole world was crashing around her, and she had no idea how to make it stop.
After Hunter left her standing in her driveway all those years ago, she was never supposed to see him again.
She never wanted to see him again.
And as far as Abbie was concerned, Hunter died on some street corner after daring the wrong guy something insane.
That’s how she got through the nights when he’d pop back into her head. That’s how she dealt with the gaping hole that was left in her heart the moment he walked away from her.
Abbie swallowed hard as all the things she’d hidden away came crashing to the surface.
Hunter was the bane of her existence growing up. He made her like him in some sick and twisted fashion, and then he ripped out her heart and stomped on it, making her the laughing stock of the whole school. But that wasn’t the worst part.
No.
The jab about her dad was the last straw.
It was the one thing that broke her.
From that moment on, Abbie changed.
She guessed she had Hunter to thank for that. If it weren’t for him, she’d still be that happy-go-lucky naïve girl that thought everyone was good, unicorns farted rainbows, and the only bad guy there was, and ever would be was her father.
That day in her driveway, Hunter taught her the opposite. There were more of her “fathers” in the world than there were of her.
As her heart clenched, she mustered up her voice. “Why are you here, Hunter?”
“There’s a hurricane outside.” He cocked his brow.
Was he always this obtuse? “No, dumbass. Uhh, why are you so difficult?”
Hunter’s eyes widened. “I’m the difficult one?”
“Yes, you are. You know damn well what I’m asking you. Why did you come back into my life?”
As she waited for her answer, the room fell silent.
After what felt like an eternity, Hunter finally spoke. “For you, Abbie. I came back for you.”
At his words Abbie’s heart did that stupid flip again right before it shattered into unrepairable pieces.
It wasn’t true.
“Abbie, look at me.”
She couldn’t.
She wouldn’t. Not while everything she’d ever built inside her for protection was falling apart.
“Ab
bie,” Hunter warned in a serious tone causing her to actually look at him. When she saw the clear pain in his eyes, everything stopped.
“I came back for you, Abbie.”
No! She wouldn’t believe it. She snapped her head to the side as anger ran through her at his anguish.
Hunter had no right to have pain. He’s the one that did this. He’s the one that left and took her fucking heart with him. He’s the one that killed who she once was. “I hate you.”
“I hated you too.”
Her breath caught as she darted her eyes to him in shock.
“I hated everything about you, Abbie.” The pain in his words were enough to choke her. “But then I realized it wasn’t hate. It was the furthest thing from hate.”
“Stop,” she begged.
“It was love, Abs. It’s always been love. I loved you, Abbie. I still do. I am in love with you Abigail Collins and I have been since we were ten.”
“Stop it. Stop it right now!” Tears poured from her eyes. “Please, please, stop.”
“You asked me why I came back, I’m telling you the answer. I love you.”
Abbie shook her head back and forth trying to dismiss Hunter’s words as pain coursed through her. “You can’t say you loved me then and you love me now. No. I don’t believe you, Hunter. Love doesn’t make someone spread rumors all around school. Love doesn’t torment. Love doesn’t look you in the eye and say you aren’t good enough.”
All the pain she felt on that day as his words cut through her came back like a brick to the face. “If I wasn’t good enough for my dad, I’ll never be good enough for anyone.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Hearing her words and seeing the tears cascading down Abbie’s cheeks were a knife straight to Hunter’s gut. God, he hated himself for what he’d said to her.
Not a day went by that he hadn’t thought of that scene in her driveway.
Hunter released her like her wrists were on fire and he’d just been burnt. He sat back on his ankles as Abbie scurried away from him pushing away her tears.
He forced himself to keep his eyes focused on her. This is what he had done. This is what he had done to her with his outlandish words.
The words he never meant.
The words he regretted every single day of his life.
Hunter carefully crawled closer to Abbie as he reached out his hand to wipe away a tear. “Abbie, baby…”
She pushed his hand away. “No. You don’t get to do that. You never get to do that.”
Hunter pulled back with a sigh. “Let me explain, please?” How could he, though? No words would ever justify what he’d done. He’d never hated himself more than he did at this moment.
“Explain what, Hunter? That when we were kids, your only goal was to tease and dare me until I kissed you? Then you could be an asshole to me?” Her eyes hardened. “Is that what you’re going to tell me? The sick, unhealthy codependent friendship we formed was all a part of this massive plan to humiliate me? Oh, wait, that was just the icing on the cake, right? It’s been your plan all along to find me once we were adults just to rub salt in the wound that never healed?”
Hunter held up his hands. “It’s not like that.”
“Whatever you have to say will never change the fact that I hate you. I hate everything about you. You are nothing but a—”
Hunter silenced her with a kiss.
What else could he do? And honestly, she needed to stop talking for a few seconds while he gathered his thoughts. Besides, if she really had that much hatred toward him, which he knew she didn’t. He had to at least explain the situation, even if it was one-hundred percent shitty on his part. “Your time for talking is over.”
“Excuse me?” her brows shot to the ceiling.
Hunter held her hands at her side as he stole another quick kiss. He couldn’t be blamed for seizing the opportunity. For all he knew, she was liable to finally follow through on all her threats. “It’s time we had this talk. We’ve got some air to clear.”
“Clear the air? I ought to—” He silenced her with his lips once more. Who was he kidding? This was Abbie. Strong arming was the only way to deal with her. “This will be the last time I do it with my lips.” Hunter raised his hand.
When Abbie’s mouth fell open, he fought back his smile. However, when she glared at him, he did smile. Putting aside her adorable anger issues, this was serious. He took a calming breath before he began. “What I said to you in your driveway was horrible. There is absolutely no excuse for it. I’ve replayed that conversation over a million times in my head. When I’m lying in bed at night wondering what you are doing. It pops up. Walking down the street. It’s there. When I’m at the bar and an attractive woman approaches me. It’s your devastated face I see. When I’m seconds from coming with my hand wrapped around my dick, your face pops into my head and I lose it. I lose it all because the girl I wanted to spend all my days and nights with thinks I didn’t want her. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about it. It was the most asshole thing I had ever done…. And doing it to you was inexcusable.”
Abbie stared at him while her mouth opened and closed. “I don’t… why?”
Hunter cleared his throat as he recalled the memory. “A few days before that kiss, I came home to find my stepmom sleeping with her gym trainer.”
“What?”
“Yeah,” he laughed. “Right there in the living room. At first, I wasn’t sure if what I was seeing was right, but the sounds they were making were undeniable.” Hunter looked Abbie in the eyes. “She saw me you know, over the guy’s shoulder. Fuck, Abbie, she winked at me. I turned and ran out of the house so fast I probably broke a world record. I was at a complete loss.”
“Hunter…”
“I told my dad that night,” he continued. “He was pissed. And rightly so. It was a mess. That night everything changed. And before I knew it, we were moving. Dad wanted absolutely nothing to do with her, especially after he confronted my stepmom and she shrugged it off. So we packed our bags and had one week to wrap everything up before my dad’s transfer went through.”
“Is that why you said you weren’t going to prom?” she asked, grabbing the nearby pillow to cover herself. And, this was one of the many reasons he loved her. No matter what she was feeling toward him right now, she hung on to every word he said, just like a best friend would. Just as she did back then.
Hunter nodded. “That day I was leaving the coach’s office after telling him I was dropping the team. I was pissed, I was angry at everything and everyone. I didn’t understand why she would do that to my dad, or how I was the one who had to find out. Or, better yet, why were we the ones being punished. Because of her, my whole life was changing in the blink of an eye. Then I saw you sitting there.”
Hunter rubbed the back of his neck while a chuckle escaped him. “It’s funny. I loved you back then and I didn’t even know it.” He shook his head. “You always made everything better, Abbie. You were always on my mind. Every spare second I had was consumed with thinking up dares for you. Hell, I didn’t care if you did them or not, I just wanted to be near you, however sick and twisted that was. I knew sitting with you would help ease some of what I was feeling.”
Abbie looked like he’d slapped her, but it was true. He didn’t fully understand it at the time.
Now he did.
Abbie had always been his everything.
Hunter looked back into her eyes. “When I sat down next to you, the thought of leaving and never kissing you, even once, consumed me with dread. I didn’t know why, but I had to.”
Abbie’s brows drew together. “If what you’re saying is true, why did you purposely hurt me?”
He turned away, ashamed. “When we got caught I … I have no clue. I was a stupid kid. I don’t know why I said what I did. All my emotions were fucked and seeing you sitting there all perfect like you always were and here I was struggling to get by in school, my home life was now like stepping on a land mine. I ju
st—”
“My life was never perfect, Hunter. I was always a mess. I pushed and pushed to do well so my mom wouldn’t have to worry. She was already working two jobs just trying to support us all ‘cause my dad left. Plus, I was always in this stupid dare-off with my neighbor.” And like it was the piece of hope Hunter begged for, Abbie sent him a small side smile.
“And here you are, once again, proving how perfect you are trying to lighten the mood.”
She shook her head. “I’m just trying to understand. You could have told me what happened, Hunter. I don’t know what help I could have been, but I would have at least been there for you. You didn’t have to say the things you did.”
“I wanted you to hate me. Like I hated me. When we stood outside of your house, I knew if I succeeded and said the worst possible thing I could think of at the time, I would survive. If you hated me, I foolishly thought it would be easier to walk away from you.” His face softened. “But it wasn’t. I could never walk away from you, Abbie. Not then and not now.”
As the wind and rain pelted the window, neither of them spoke. How could he? Anytime he thought of the past, he hated himself more and more.
“You wanted me to hate you?” Abbie’s voice broke through his thoughts. “I think I understand that, I’m trying to. But you didn’t have to spread the rumors around school. I couldn’t walk onto school grounds without being bullied.”
Hunter sat back as his brow’s pulled together. “What rumors?”
“Abbie flabby likes it on her backie,” she mocked. “Or, how about the ones where people needed to stay away from me since I had STDs ‘cause I was so easy.” She rolled her eyes. “People actually cowered away from me in the halls.”
Hunter’s eyes widened. “Abbie, I never once said any of that.”
“Pfft,” she snorted. “Yeah, right.”
“Abbie, we left five minutes after I walked out of your driveway. I never stepped back onto campus again.”
The room fell into silence as the storm raged on outside. Hunter remained quiet for a few moments as he thought back.