Chapter 24

Everyone collected in the kitchen, and Hunter and I were separated in an instant. There was a long plastic table covered with red cups, and cans of beer were distributed while everyone jostled for a place. I took a cup as Hunter appeared on the other side of the table, sliding into a spot across from me. Max counted and pointed at different people lining the table, but he was too hard to follow, and I couldn't hear him over the roar of other conversations.

I stood next to Kohen, and he glanced up as he poured beer into his cup. "You know how to play, Alice?"

I inspected the red cup I had selected for cleanliness. "I think so." I'd seen the game at parties before, but I'd never participated.

"Chug it and flip it. Not exactly rocket science."

When he finished filling his own cup, he moved on to mine, which earned me a death glare from Melody, but Hunter interrupted, placing a protective hand over my cup. "Hey! Hey! She's like a hundred pounds!"

Kohen shrugged and shot me a good-natured smile as Hunter poured some of the beer from mine into his own.

The guy standing beside Hunter grabbed hold of his shoulders as if they were the oldest of friends. "Dude! Whose team are you on?"

With Hunter's adjustment, there had to be half an inch of beer left, unlike Kohen's original half cup. Hunter's smile was wide and cocky as he winked at me. "Don't worry, we'll still win."

"Hunter, what about me? I'm small too." Max batted his eyes as Kohen reached past me to fill his cup. In truth, Max was only a few inches taller than me, but I wouldn't have described him as small.

"I could not give less of a shit about you. Chug a bottle of absinthe for all I care," Hunter said.

Max burst into laughter, his whole body leaning onto the table as he knocked over several empty beer cans. When he managed to straighten up, he was still snickering. "Don't let the hard exterior fool you, Alice. I know it can be hard to get past, but he's all squishy in the middle."

Hunter opened his mouth to retort, but Max prowled on. "This one time, Hunter got so drunk at a party here that we literally had to carry his ass to bed. Of course, I'm a super nice friend, so I took the liberty of tucking him in, and right before he passed out, he told me he loved me. I shit you not, he said it." Max clutched one hand to his chest. "It was such a beautiful moment."

Hunter tipped his head back and laughed. He laughed so loud that the guy next to him laughed, and he hadn't even been following the conversation. When Hunter caught his breath, his grin was wild. "I was trashed. I'm pretty sure I said the same thing to that lamp."

Max shrugged. "Still said it."

"Hey!" someone yelled from the other end of the table. "We're starting!"

There was a shuffle of cups, and I was far more nervous than I should have been. Hunter grinned at me from across the table, one hand holding his cup as he waited, and then it was his turn. I watched him drain his cup, line it against the edge of the table, and flip it. When he glanced up at me, I startled.

"Alice! Go!"

"Oh!" I drank my cup much slower than everyone else even though I had far less. My focus wavered as the table screamed nonsense, but I was able to flip it so it landed upright on the first try, right at the same time Hunter managed to flip his.

He dragged the sleeve of his sweatshirt across his mouth. "Distracted?"

I beamed with victory. "Figured you might need a head start."

Hunter's team won that time, and six more times after that too. Kohen was kind enough to refill my cup before each new game, careful not to pour too much. Melody was playing too, but she was at the end of the table. She alternated between socializing with Melissa and her friends and plotting my demise. After seven games, Hunter left the kitchen to retrieve another case of beer from the living room, and Melody's gaze snapped to me as soon as he was out of sight.

"It really is such a shame you and Hunter didn't work out," she said to Melissa, her voice loud and slurring. She stumbled against the table, and her hand shot out to steady herself. "You guys were so cute together."

Melissa's eyes widened. Her gaze darted to me as the rest of the table grew silent.

"Melody!" Kohen's voice was sharp with impatience, and his expression matched. "Would you just stop it already?"

She stared at him in disbelief, and then her expression changed. It was as though Kohen had been her last thread to humanity, the sole reason she'd been mannered and quiet, and when she realized he'd severed their connection, her expression turned animalistic. Her gaze landed on me, and there was nothing but pure heart-stopping hatred as all her wretchedness came pouring out. I braced myself for whatever was coming, but it was like trying to brace yourself for the neighborhood dog taking a chunk out of your leg—being ready for it doesn't ease a thing.

"Don't you start too! None of you know her, so I wouldn't be so quick to defend her. You should see her at school. Walking through the halls with her evil friends like they own the place. Tormenting anyone defenseless enough. Smiling in Hunter's face, and then laughing behind his back with the same people who put the bruises there."

I stared at her. Everyone else did too, and I felt the fluttering exchange of silent glances. Hudson had been seated on the counter for the duration of the flip cup games, and he was the only one who moved. He started to make his way over to me, his eyebrows slanted in concern. I'd expected him to enjoy my public humiliation, but maybe he was more loyal to Hunter than he was to himself.

"You don't know anything about me." My hands shook, but my voice was surprisingly steady.

"I know everything I need to know. Tell them who you've sat with in lunch for the past two years." She gestured around the room. "Go ahead, tell them."

I was silent.

"Scott Henderson!" she said for me, her voice startling. No one moved, not even Hudson. He stood frozen in the middle of the kitchen, same as everyone else.

"That's right. Our little princess is friends with him. Rumor has it, they used to have a thing, for god's sake. I mean, come on. Do you really want to be with someone who spread her legs for him?" But she wasn't talking to the entire room anymore. Her gaze was fixed on someone behind me, and when I turned around, Hunter stood in the doorway, holding the case of beer. He blinked at me.

I stared back at him, but it was like when I visited my grandma at the assisted living. She knew she knew me, but she couldn't quite place me. I took another moment to glance around the kitchen, blood hammering in my ears. Hudson's eyebrows were furrowed, and Max and Kohen exchanged a look. No one said a word, and I could feel the tears building.

"Fuck you, Melody," Hunter said, walking toward me. He stopped in front of me, bending his knees so we were eye level as he brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. "I'm sorry. She's psychotic when she drinks."

He gave my hand a soft tug and pulled me from the quiet kitchen. My coat was draped over the chair in the corner, and he handed it to me, then waited beside me as I shrugged it on. I still hadn't said a word, and his gaze was soft and understanding, none of it matching the violence with which he slammed the door behind us.

* * *

The walkto my house from Kohen's apartment took about twenty minutes. The air outside was numbing, and I knew Hunter was cold even if he pretended he wasn't. He only wore a sweatshirt, but any additional bundling was futile. It was the type of cold that invaded your insides, freezing from within with one inhale, and contrary to popular belief, a winter coat couldn't shield the slow-cutting spread. I shivered into my jacket, its weight preventing frostbite but not much else. The world didn't feel habitable. There was no biting wind whistling past our ears or running cars sliding through the slush. It was as though we were the only two left, walking through a timeless frozen snow globe, and I swear if it had begun to snow, the flakes would have hung suspended in the air, never falling to the ground.

About halfway to my house, Hunter lit a cigarette with a sharp snap, and I was tempted to take up smoking just for the dull flame. His fingers shook every time he brought the cigarette to his lips, and I was convinced the only reason he'd lit one was to inhale something besides the stinging cold.

"Hudson likes you." He exhaled a stream of smoke.

I snorted. "I don't think he likes me at all, actually."

Hunter laughed, the lightness of it carrying through the air. "He doesn't speak. If he said more than five words to you, it means he likes you. I don't think he's talked to Melody in the entire time he's known her as much as he talked to you in a single night."

"How long have you known him?" I asked.

"Since I was six. He lived a few houses down in my old neighborhood."

I felt a twinge of envy deep in my stomach. It didn't make any sense, but it was there anyway.

We kept walking. When he spoke again, he wore a melancholy smile. "He beat the shit out of Scott when I was twelve." He laughed. "That's why Scott has that bump on the bridge of his nose."

The bump was subtle. Only visible from his profile or close up. "I don't think I've ever noticed it."

Hunter glanced sidelong at me. "Really? His nose got all kinds of fucked up."

I was silent, waiting.

"It was the first time anyone had ever defended me."

I pulled my hood tighter, my cheeks going from stinging to numb. "You never seem like you need defending."

His smile was soft. "I'm glad you've been fooled by the illusion."

He brought his cigarette to his lips again, and his eyes squinted at something in the distance. When we reached the end of my driveway, neither of us said a word. The question would have been easy, and I waited for it, but instead of asking it, Hunter kept smoking his cigarette.

It wasn't until I was halfway up my driveway that he called me back. I turned around in slow motion and braced myself for it, my throat thick in anticipation.

He glanced between my face and the ground, and my chest tightened.

"About your wrists."

All the air left me. I wasn't sure if that was better or worse.

"I know ... I know it's not as easy as asking you to stop, but I hope you might be willing to try."

My heart pounded. "Will you try too?"

He smiled, slow at first, but it spread to every feature, lighting his face as he grinned. "Yeah."