by Lilly James
I take hold of her arm. “You’re dismissing me?” Really?
“Yes,” she hisses. “God I could shove these subs right up your toosh right now.”
I lean over and take a bite. “I would advise you not to because that would be such a waste.” God, they are so good.
“And now you have to explain to Axel why there is a bite missing out of his steak sub.”
Oh, she’s here with Axel, that’s not so bad. “Can’t you have that one?”
“I don’t like mustard.” She turns her back to me so sharply that the guy in front of her collides with Louisa. Her subs crash between them and end up all over the man’s t-shirt.
“Watch where you’re fucking going.” The guy yells. “Look at the state of me!”
Louisa is visibly shaken up and starts to apologise, but my anger overtakes me.
“It was an accident.” I step in front of Louisa because the guy is intimidating her, so I intimidate him instead.
The guy pulls out his shirt for me to see the splattered mustard. “Do you see what that bitch did to me?”
“What the fuck did you just say?” I push his chest ready to smash his face in.
“Hunter, leave it.” Louisa pulls on my shoulder, but I have a staring match with the guy before she can pull me away fully.
“Fucking prick,” I growl, take Louisa’s hand and lead her back out into the stands.
“Hunter, all you had to do was let me apologize, it was my mistake.”
I look over my shoulder and glare at the guy again. “And let him get away with calling my girlfriend a bitch? No chance.”
“Oh, is this the same girlfriend you ignored earlier?” Louisa throws the subs that are now squished into the trash can, then we’re facing each other off in the middle of the stairs. I hear cheering suddenly start up around us. Louisa looks around, but I look up and immediately know why we’re being watched. I point to the huge screen and show Louisa that we’re on Kiss Cam. I know Louisa is freaking out right now. She hates fuss. I figure the quicker we kiss, the quicker they will move on, and she can relax. I pull her close, wrap my arms around her waist and lean in for a kiss. I kiss her hard, deeply, and the cheers erupt. I know I’m meant to pull away but I can’t. I’m pouring an apology out in my kiss, showing her how much she means to me, proving how much I’ve missed her since leaving her alone in my bed this morning. I’ve been kissing her for so long that I only realize the Kiss Cam has long moved on when I pull away.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her sincerely. She’s wide-eyed, staring at me. I think she’s allowing what just happened to register in her brain before she speaks. “Do you want a minute?” I ask her.
“I’m good. I think.” She glances around. “Now that everyone has stopped staring. Anyway,” she focuses back on me. “Care to explain?”
I rub my face. “I panicked Lou.”
She’s understandably confused. “About what?”
I fold her hair behind her ear. “Can I explain later?”
“Hunter?” I turn around and find my brother heading up the stairs towards us. “Me and dad caught you on Kiss Cam.” My brother is smirking and looking back and forth between Lou and me. “She’s a keeper.” He cheekily nudges his head towards her.
“This is my little brother, Brody. Brody, this is Louisa, my girlfriend.”
“Hey,” Louisa waves, and Brody winks like the cheeky little shit he is. Then he pulls me aside.
“Dad kind of needs to go, Hunt. He says his legs are feeling numb.”
I groan and rub my hand over my jaw. “That’s because he’s been sat down for almost two hours.”
Brody shakes his head. “No, he’s scared. He’s getting chest pains, Hunt. We need to go.”
I glance over to Louisa who is looking more suspicious by the second. I want to remove her from the situation because I don’t want her to be involved, but I also don’t want to remove her either. “Lou, do you mind if I–”
“Wait, is he okay?” She asks my brother, and she steps forwards, the caring side of her coming out to play.
I step in front of her. “It’s just old aches and pains. Shall I call you later?” She’s looking past me, trying to get a glimpse of my someone who may be my dad. When she can’t see anyone, she relents.
“Sure.” She blinks up at me, and I swear her eyes are the best green-blue eyes I’ve ever seen. I go to bed dreaming about them. And her of course, not just her eyes–because that would be weird.
“Make sure you call me, Hunter.” She presses.
“Later.” I kiss her.
“Promise me.”
I watch her poke out her pinkie finger. “For real?” I smirk. She nods. I laugh and latch my little finger around hers. “Promise.”
“It was nice meeting you Brody,” she smiles before she heads back to her friends.
I follow Brody back to where my dad is sitting and tug on his shoulder. “Get up.”
“Hunt, I can’t.” He says, genuine worry upon his face.
“Yes, you can.” I pull on his arm, about to make him stand but it’s like his legs give way underneath him and he falls like a sack of shit to the ground. Is it wrong that I feel no remorse? No sympathy as he hits the deck. It’s only when my little brother rushes to his side and tries his best to help him up along with two other men do I step in.
“I’ve got him,” I yell, and sling his right arm around my neck. Brody does the same with his left arm, and we pull him out of the stadium.
“Fuck.” I gasp when we get outside. Brody is sweating buckets, and I can tell he’s on the verge of tears when I set my dad down onto the grass verge outside.
“Hunt, dad’s sick.” He gulps, blinking repetitively, so he doesn’t cry in front of me.
I look at my dad who is breathing heavily, rubbing at his legs and wincing. “He’s fine. I snap. “I’ll go get my truck and bring it around.”
I pull my truck into where my dad and Brody are waiting. I jump out and open the back door. I lift my dad up and place him into the back of the car. I pick each one of his legs up in turn. He says he physically can’t pick them up because he feels weak.
“Hunter, he needs the hospital.” Brody is panicking, and I hate to see him in this much stress.
“He’s fine.” I brush it off and drive in the direction of my dad’s house.
“Hunter,” my dad pleads. “I need to go kid.”
I punch the steering wheel. “Fuck. I’m too busy for this shit.”
I hear Brody scoff. “Too busy to help dad out?”
“When has he ever helped us, Brody? You tell me when?”
“It’s okay son,” my dad pats Brody’s shoulder. “We’ll get a cab.”
I want to scream because I know my dad is trying to guilt trip me again. Brody has his arms crossed, and he’s staring hard out of the window. I’m about to take the next turning off the highway that will lead them back home, but when I see Brody wipe a tear from his cheek, my gut clenches and I change my mind. I continue driving.
When we get to the hospital, I find a wheelchair, place my dad into it and give the handles to Brody to push. He stares at me, eyes pleading me to come with them, but I couldn’t give a shit about my dad’s health.
“Here,” I hand him some cash, and he stares at it. “Take a cab home, okay.”
I turn my back on Brody before he makes me change my mind, and call Louisa.
“Hey,” when she answers it’s like my world is put back together again after shattering each time I am with my dad. “Is everything okay with your dad?”
“Fine,” I say. “Shall we go to the beach?” I look up at the sky darkening before I open my truck door. It will be romantic to go to the beach at night. And I want to romance the shit out of this girl, and forget about my dad right now.
“Now?” She asks.
“Yeah. Meet you there.” I hang up, get comfortable in my truck, lean my head back and exhale the stress my dad brings me. After I’m relaxed, I start up the truck.
I pull up to the beach parking lot, turn the ignition off and take in the sight that I see a few yards away. Louisa is sitting on the sand, hands wrapped around her knees, and she’s staring at the sea that is whooshing a good few feet in front of her.
I jump out of my truck and make my way towards her.
“Hey.” I sit down next to her and give her temple a kiss. She looks at me like I have some explaining to do, so I take a deep breath and let it all out.
“I panicked, Lou. I saw the bruises on your skin, I saw the bites, and it just brought back memories. I would never hurt you. I don’t ever want you to fear me. Ever. If you were ever scared of me, that would tear me apart.”
Fuck why am I going so deep?
Louisa’s eyes narrow slightly. “How could I ever be frightened of you?” I don’t say anything. “The bruises and bites weren’t intentional Hunter. I quiet like looking at them. Reminds me of our rough night.”
I nuzzle into her hair; her words don’t make me feel any better. I have bruised girls before–the result of rough sex, but never this bad. Never to this extent. I let the moment carry me away. “I shouldn’t have been so rough.”
“I asked you to.” She says softly. “Didn’t you enjoy it?”
I run my fingers across her thigh, she’s wearing these sexy little denim shorts. “Are you kidding me? I loved it. Until I saw what I did.” I glance away from her because the images that I try so hard to ignore come flooding back.
“Hunter,” she giggles, pulling at my chin, so I face her. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
I bow my head down and hope that I don’t regret what I am about to say. “Look, Lou, my dad used to beat my mom all the time. She never went a day without being covered in bruises or trying to avoid my dad because she was that scared of him. I’d hate for you to be scared of me. I mean it, it would kill me.”
There is silence, and I don’t want to look at Louisa because I don’t know how she is going to react.
“Your dad beat your mom?” her voice is small, low and shocked.
I nod my head, and I can feel the blood rushing through my body as I start to get angry again.
“I’m so sorry.” She says, and her hand clasps into mine and rests in my lap. “You can’t think like that though Hunter, just because you bruise me does not mean it hurt me or I am going to fear you.”
“I hope not.” I am looking at her now, and I lean in to kiss her puckered lips.
“You have taken your mom's death hard; haven’t you Hunt? I can tell. Is your dad the reason she died?”
I pull my knees up to my chest and watch the waves crash into each other. “I know everyone dies, but you think to yourself; not my family, not anyone I know. They are going to be here for life.” I sigh. “Then one day comes when you’re proved wrong, and those thoughts about wishing you did more with that person bombard your mind.” I bow my head down and remember all those times my wishes of doing more tortured me. “You must appreciate time, because it’s something you can never get back. Before my mom died she was so angry, she said she was mad because God didn’t give her enough time with her sons.” I look up at the sky and clench my eyes together. It causes me too much pain to know how angry my mother was before she went. “To answer your question, yes. It wasn’t God choice, or the driver of the car that killed her, it was my dad who made her run in the fucking road to begin with.” I try to ignore Louisa’s gasp. “People say it gets easier, but it doesn’t, Lou. Every day gets harder. Every breath I take harsher. My pain gets more intense, the memories harder to think about.” I press my forehead on my knees and take deep breaths.
Louisa's places her hand on my back. “You don’t have to think about it every day Hunt.”
I lift my head up. “But what if I forget, Lou?”
She shakes her head. “You won’t. Don’t put yourself through this agony because I’m sure your mom wouldn’t have wanted you to.”
I scoff. “She wouldn’t have wanted me and brother without a mother either.”
Louisa nods and closes her eyes. I see a tear fall down her cheek but she quickly swipes at him. “I know,” she exhales. “And neither would my mom, but we must try and live life Hunter, live without thinking about what ifs.”
I know what she’s saying is true, but I am still not over my mother’s death and cannot allow advice to sink in right now.
“Some days I just want to scream at the top of my lungs, Lou. And I don’t care who hears me.”
Louisa pulls me up to my feet. “Then scream at the top of your lungs, Hunter.”
I blink. “What?”
She smiles. “Like this…” Louisa screams so loud it pierces my eardrums.
I laugh, then do the same. My scream is gruffer, though, painful, I try to let all the pain I feel daily out in the form of a growl. It works a little.
Louisa wraps her arms around me. “Feel better?”
I kiss the top of her head. “Much better.” She nuzzled into my chest. “You are one extraordinary girl, Lou, Lou.” She pulls her face out of my chest and peers up at me through her eyelashes. “What?” I smile.
Louisa takes my cheeks into her soft hands. “I just want to let you know how happy you make me, Hunt. Thank you. Thank you for making me smile every day.”
I rub my nose along hers, trying to act casual, trying to act like her words didn’t just puncture my damn heart and remain embedded, so I never forget them. ‘I love you’ is on the tip of my tongue, because Jesus, the moment feels right to let her know how much she means to me. How much she’s meant to me from the moment I set my greedy eyes upon her. I don’t say it, though. Not yet.
Louisa slowly pulls away from my lips and does that cute as hell thing where she slowly opens her eyes and sighs dreamily. Fuck yeah.
“Blondie,” she glances up at me. “You’re pretty fucking special. Please, don’t ever change.”
Chapter 27
Hunter
I am lying on Louisa’s bed, hand behind my head watching my beautiful girlfriend catch up on studying from her desk when I get a text from Jaxon. He’s letting me know that a car race is on this evening, and to get myself ready. More than most of the time, Jaxon must wait until he gets a text telling him where and when the street race will be, it’s organized weeks or months in advance, but Jaxon and the other racers get their text spontaneously. Okay, it’s illegal.
“Lou, you wanna come car racing?”
She looks away from her work and lights up like the little closest daredevil that she is. “Do we get to race?”
“Uh, no, Lou.” She cracks me up. “We get to watch the best of the best, though. Jaxon races. He’s the real deal.”
“Okay cool.” She returns to her studies. “Who’s going?”
I watch her bite the end of her pencil, a sign of concentration and for some reason an alert for my penis to harden. “It’ll be me you, Avery, Ashby and Dexter.”
Louisa drops her pencil, but that still doesn’t stop my dick from growing. “Shall we invite Brody along?”
What? “Brody?”
“Yeah, like, your brother.” She humor’s me. I love that she wants to be a part of my family and even more that she wants my brother involved. I just hate that I’m keeping her away from that part of my life.
I snake my arms around her neck and pull her into me. “We typically end up in a club afterwards, so better if he stays home. I don’t want an illegally drunk teen in my care.” I walk my fingers across her thighs, and when they land in the middle of her legs, she knows my intention. I can’t help myself.
“So, when is the race?” She asks. It’s so obvious her breathing has hitched, and I only get more excited by the way I know I’m turning her on in ways that no other has before. No other ever will either.
“Now,” I mumble against her soft skin and press my lips against her neck.
“Shouldn’t we get ready to leave?”
I shake my head and kiss across the love bits on the tops of her breasts.
“Give me a couple of minutes.” I breathe.
“A couple of minutes?” she says with a tease in her voice. “Is that all it’s going to take?”
I pull back to look at her and reign in a grin. “Baby, with how hard my cock is and how turned on I am right now, I doubt you need to give me that long.”
She laughs, and I’m pulling off her trousers quicker than Flash from the comic books ever could.
***
“Why didn’t you bring little miss crazy along, Dex?” I slap Dexter’s shoulder, and he groans, ignoring my question.
“Don’t tell me Dexter’s finally pulled? Fuck me.” Ashby also slaps Dexter’s shoulder.
Dexter shrugs off Ashby’s hand. “Not at all, mate.”
I laugh. “Nicki has been stalking you for weeks, give her a chance, Dex.”
Dexter clenches his jaw. “She is not stalking me.”
“Leave him alone.” Louisa rushes to Dexter’s defence. “Besides, I know Nicki, she’s not crazy. She may like Dexter, but she wouldn’t stalk him. Cut it out.”Her words of warning are enough for me to close my mouth like the whipped bitch I am.
“Are they talking about Nicki Summers?” Avery whispers to me. How this girl knows everything about everyone beats me. “Yeah, she is a little crazy.”
Louisa sighs. “She’s not crazy. Don’t say that.”
I give Ashby and Avery the signal to cut it out and stop calling this girl, that she clearly likes–crazy. I know Louisa won’t stand for others bitching about people. God, this is another reason I am addicted to this girl.
Louisa watches Avery and Jaxon kissing and being over the top affectionate as always, and smiles. “How did you both meet?” she asks.
Avery turns to Louisa while Jaxon sucks on her neck. “I was volunteering in a hospital, and Jax was brought in with a whiplash. Car racing–of course.”
“Straight out of Jane Austin,” I smirk.
Louisa nudges me with her elbow. “And where did we meet, Hunt?”
I throw my arm around her casually. “That depends.”
“On what?” She frowns.
“If you class as our first meet in the corridor when you were on your way to class, or when you were giving me the come-fuck-me-eyes in the cafeteria.”