Chapter 18

Hunter

I stuff the washing machine with all my muddy gear from practice this afternoon, thankful that the pants are black, as well as the jersey. The only color on the uniforms are a few royal blue stripes around the collar and sleeves with some white trim. Easy to hide the mud stains. Dewitt had us on the schedule for practice, rain or shine, and it stormed all last night. The field was a mess, and more rain is on the way.

Not that we would’ve played well anyway, with half the team hungover from last night.

I throw in a Tide POD and start the cycle, heading back up to my room to get dressed. I glance out my window, seeing no sign of Dylan in her room.

But a distant thunder rolls across the sky, leaves fluttering against the wind as the charged air makes the hair on my arms rise.

I haven’t seen her all day.

She was asleep when I got in last night—I snuck in and checked on her when she didn’t answer her phone, just to make sure she was safe—and she hasn’t replied to texts today, other than to say she was at the library.

Dylan doesn’t go to the library. She’s not a terrible student, but if she can’t research it from her phone, then the assignment is too big of an investment.

She was no doubt up on Phelan’s Throat, practicing.

I pick my dirty sheets up off the floor and dump them in the hallway to take down and wash later. My room smelled weird when I got home last night, and not a single one of my teammates, including Farrow, came clean about having sex in my fucking bed while I was at my parents. I don’t think he would. He has his own room, but someone did. My bed was a mess, and Dylan wouldn’t have left it like that if she just came in to use her vibrator.

Plus, I know what her body smells like, and that wasn’t it. I tore off my sheets and grabbed the spare set in my closet.

Reaching into my desk drawer, I pull her toy off the charger, re-clean it under scalding hot water in the bathroom, and dry it off, putting it back underneath my pillow. I almost smile, thinking what a kick Kade would get out of finding out that I sleep with a dick under my head. If he didn’t hate me, he’d find it hilarious.

I’m glad I didn’t see him last night. I stayed late, pressing my luck, but he was still out when I said goodbye to my parents. I’m happy the night ended on a good note. My mom and dad deserved that.

Slipping on a hoodie, I leave the house, lock the door, and jog to my car. Farrow is probably already at the Rebel Revel, a pop-up party whenever there’s a flood warning in effect. Of course, we won’t stay at home tonight like we’re supposed to. Danger is too exciting for some people. Especially Dylan.

I cruise the streets, driving past Breaker’s, up to Phelan’s Throat, and then the library, but I don’t find Dylan or the new bike Farrow gave her parked anywhere. Maybe she’s already at the school.

Leaves fly off trees and float through the air, and I drive down the empty main street, between abandoned mills and warehouses and the broken signs of long-lost businesses. The red stoplight blinks and bobs on the cable above as I cruise under it and make my way back up toward Knock Hill.

My phone rings, I grab it out of my hoodie, hoping it’s Dylan.

But I look at the screen, seeing Jared instead. My chest caves a little. My uncle doesn’t ever call with anything positive.

I answer it, though. “Hi.”

“Dylan’s not answering her phone,” he says right away. “Have you seen her recently?”

I’m about to say yes, but that’s not true. I haven’t laid eyes on her since last night.

“Just a text earlier today, saying she was doing homework at the library,” I tell him.

“A library?” he repeats. “Dylan?”

Right?

“Everything okay?” I ask.

It doesn’t seem weird that he hasn’t spoken to her. I know they’re in the middle of an argument. But I would think her mom has spoken to her.

But he just replies, “Everything’s fine. I just need to…to talk to her. Have her call me?”

“Sure.”

“If I don’t hear from her in an hour, I’m coming over.”

If he comes over, he’s going to see she’s completely unsupervised by an adult.

I take a sharp right, heading immediately to the school. “Will do.”

I wait for him to end the call, but he doesn’t.

“How… How is she?” he stammers.

I know it’s hard for him to ask. To appear vulnerable.

Jared’s not like my dad, who wears his heart on his sleeve. Jared gave hugs, but not like the ones in my house. My dad is never the first one to pull away.

“She’s good,” I tell him.

At least she was last night.

“Tell her to call me.”

“Okay,” I reply. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

Lightning flashes across the sky, rolls of thunder following, and an electric current courses under my skin. Maybe it’s the weather. Maybe it’s the anticipation of whatever the night will bring. I don’t care what happens, I just want her to myself for a little while. In a week, she’ll be packing up what little she has to head back to the Falls.

Speeding through the school lot, I find a pool of cars and motorcycles already here.

I pull over and park, hopping out and running for the building. Security cameras perch on the corner of the brick edifice, as well as more on light poles, half of which have burnt-out bulbs. None of the cameras work, though. Which is why the Rebels often get away with sneaking in. Teachers don’t realize anyone was here until they find beer cans all over the locker room.

Heading to the gym, I shake the leaves and whatever else has flown into my hair, the music pumping all the way down the hall. I yank open the doors, strobe lights swerving up and down, lighting an area and then casting it in darkness again. There are no other lights as people dance, and I look over at a couple making out against the wall to my right. I can just make out his hand up her skirt, inside her panties, fingering her.

I draw in a breath, my heart beating faster. I scan the crowd. Where’s Dylan?

Arlet sticks out her long, bare leg, posing as she sweeps her hair up into a ponytail, making a big show in her strapless cocktail dress and heels. Mace sits on the bleachers, her arm hanging over Coral’s shoulder who sits one level down, between her legs, as they pass a Hydro Flask between them.

I find Farrow sitting on a chair, far off in the corner, swallowing giant gulps of Coke and then holding the can out to his side, letting Calvin slip in some whiskey.

A large group dances in the middle of the floor, the clouds blotting out any moonlight that might shine through the glass dome above.

I head over to Farrow. “Hey.”

“What’s up?” he says, shaking his can at me. “You want some?”

“Later.” I search the gym. “Have you seen—?”

But then I stop, watching Dylan walk through the doors I just came through.

She enters the dark gym, a backpack hanging off one shoulder, dressed in tight jeans and an even tighter, red leather jacket. The blue and pink lights glint off her buckles and zippers, and my gaze falls to her neck, visible with her hair pulled up.

Then, they drop to the three inches of bare stomach between her jeans and jacket, and my body warms even as relief hits me, seeing she’s here and safe. She smiles, and I follow her gaze to the girls on the bleachers. She walks over to them, handing Coral the backpack.

Coral looks inside, smiles, and then uncaps her flask, trying to keep the liquor inside the bag as she pours more into her bottle.

Lightning strikes the sky, thunder cracks, and everyone howls, something that feels like wind swirling through the room. “Whoo!” they howl.

I move, trying to catch Dylan’s eyes. A lock of hair hangs over her face, but even from here I can see the ease in her gorgeous face.

“You look pretty,” I whisper, but I know she can’t hear me.

Someone puts a small plastic cup in her hand, a shot of something gold inside.

I drift over and stop in front of her, her eyes still cast down at her cup. I ignore the girls on the bleachers to my right.

I lean in, so she can hear me. “You look pretty.”

Beautiful.

She raises her eyes, giving me a small smile.

“Are you okay?”

She nods. “Yeah.”

She holds the cup to her mouth and tips her head back, swallowing the alcohol in one gulp.

“Your dad wants you to call,” I tell her.

“I will.”

She hands the cup back to Coral, and I think she’s getting another one.

“Space those out, okay?”

“I’m not having anymore.” She shakes her head. “I’m not staying.”

She starts to move, and I take a step. “What? Where are you going?”

“Everywhere.” She grins at me. “Have fun tonight.”

What?

She walks away, and Arlet grabs me. “Come on. Dance.”

But I barely hear her as she pulls me onto the floor. Dylan disappears through the doors, and I’m fucking confused, because if she’s mad at me, she’d let me know. If she’s not, then what’s the problem? Everyone’s here. Dylan isn’t a one-girl party. She likes people. Why is she leaving?

No sooner than I get on the dance floor, when commotion bursts through the gym doors, the entire room going silent except for the music.

“We’re here for our traitors!” Stoli announces, flanked by Pirates.

He stands there with at least ten other guys, the light behind them blinding me to the point I can’t make everyone out. Is Kade here?

They run in, the music seems to get louder—or maybe it’s the screams—and I hear footfalls descend the bleachers.

People run and shout, angry but also excited by it.

I catch Farrow by the arm. “No weapons!”

“No promises!”

He rushes off, and I run my hand through my hair. “Jesus Christ.”

“Get them out!” someone shouts over the DJ’s microphone.

They came in right after Dylan left. Was she in on this?

Phones are out, snapping pics and videoing, and I’m not in the mood for this.

Students escape into locker rooms, others falling in the rush as the strobe lights cut out, and the music only gets louder.

“Call the cops!” someone shouts.

“Like they’ll come,” another says.

I run to the exit, passing Coral. “Where did Dylan go?”

“She mentioned riding in the rain,” she shouts over the commotion.

Dammit.

I run out into the parking lot, thunder rumbling across the sky and wind whipping through my hair. “Dylan, where are you?” I whisper to myself.

Hopping in my car, I cruise the streets, keeping my eyes peeled. Leaves and trash blow across the roads, trees bending with the force, and the rain is going to start any moment. She shouldn’t ride in this. She shouldn’t ride with even a shot of alcohol in her. I shouldn’t have let her go.

I swing past Knock Hill, the lane deserted, everyone inside, and then I climb up to Phelan’s Throat. She knows better, but that doesn’t mean she’ll listen to her head.

I gas it uphill, making a slow right over the curve, exhaling when I don’t see any trace of her or her bike.

Heading down past the docks, I sweep the mill district, spotting something in the road. I hit the brakes, hearing my tires skid across the pavement.

I shift into Park and open my car door. Putting one foot out, I stand up and gaze down at Dylan, laying in the middle of the street. In the intersection.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

I would be concerned that she was hurt, but her bike is parked at the curb, and her arms are splayed straight out, her legs crossed at the ankles, and she has a peaceful look on her face as her hair flies across her cheeks.

I look around, not a soul in sight. No cars. “What are you doing?” I call out to her.

She doesn’t open her eyes, and I walk, stopping when I’m standing over her. My body hums, my eyes drawn to the sliver of bare waist below her jacket.

“Did you know the Pirates were going to crash the flood party?”

I don’t even really care. She’s so fucking stunning right now. Dangerous and silly and alive.

She blinks, looking up at me. “The Pirates are there?” she asks.

And I know she had no idea.

“What are you doing?” I press again.

A little smile pulls at her lips. “All the streets are empty,” she tells me. “I always wanted to try this.”

And despite the frustration I seem to always have these days—the worry, the aggravation, and the confusion—I want nothing more than for this moment to last all night. God, she’s amazing.

Reaching down, I lift her up to her feet, because she can’t stay in the street, no matter how much I want her to be happy.

She dusts off her clothes. “I don’t need protection, Hunter.”

I know. It won’t stop me from wanting to be near her, though.

She looks down, and I don’t like the look on her face.

Something’s going on with her today. What happened? Why hasn’t she sought me out?

“It’s time for me to go home,” she says calmly.

Home.

The Falls?

What does that mean?

She says it with finality, like she’s done and found whatever she was looking for or made her peace with not finding it, and she’s ready for this to be over.

What happened?

“Dylan—”

But I don’t have a chance to ask her. Kade’s black truck skids to a halt next to us, and I spin around in time to see Dirk and Stoli rush out, grab Dylan, and haul her into the back seat.

“We’re taking her back!” Stoli shouts, slamming the door and hanging out the window, laughing.

There are two other guys in the truck, but I don’t know if any of them are Kade.

They speed off, and I watch.

But not for long.

Reaching into my pocket for the only thing I have, I clutch my phone, rear back my hand, and launch it like a fucking football right into the driver’s sideview mirror. It shatters the glass, he slams on the brakes, and I dig in my heels, charging up to the goddamn truck and yanking the back door open.

“You prick!” Dirk bellows, jumping out.

But my eyes are only on Dylan as she sits in the back, wide-eyed. I grab her legs and pull her to me, lifting her into my arms.

Dirk clutches my shoulder, but just then, Farrow and the boys pull up.

I walk away from all of it.

“So nice of you to make this easy,” Farrow taunts them, and a fight ensues behind me.

But I just keep going. All I see is her.

I guide her legs around my waist, holding her tightly.

“He had you all to himself for a year,” I tell her, looking up into her storm blue eyes. “You’re mine for another week.”

I pull the handcuffs out of my drawer, slam it shut, and lean over my bed, throwing her down onto it. I catch the back of her head before it hits anything and then grip her wrist, fitting a cuff around it.

I don’t know what happened now, or where her mood is coming from, but I’m keeping her.

“Hunter!” she yells, pulling against the restraint.

I loop the small chain around a bar in my headboard, snatching up her other wrist and clicking the second cuff on it.

She growls, tugging at the bindings. “A few days ago, you were telling me to leave,” she spits out.

And you should’ve listened. You’re not crossing that bridge tonight.

Not for eight more nights.

I ball my hands into fists, hot blood rushing through my body as I stare down at her naked tummy, her jacket rising with her arms above her head.

She breathes hard, but her expression softens as she tries to reason. “Hunter…”

Twisting her wrists inside the cuffs, I see her skin start to redden.

“I would think you’d have your hands full enough without me here,” she tells me. “Why is it that you’re both allowed to have a life and I’m not? Why can’t I be alone with a guy like Constin when you had a girl in your bed all night?”

I thin my eyes to slits. “What?”

What the hell is she talking about?

“Last night,” she says, gesturing to the window. “I saw you in here with her.”

With who?

I glance at my window, seeing hers beyond the tree branches.

“It was you, right? Not Kade?”

Kade…

I turn my gaze back on her, remember how I’d had to change the sheets, because someone fucked in my bed.

Kade.

“You’re so different,” she says, tears thickening her voice. “You used to want to be in love before you did that.” She frowns. “So different.”

“You’re the same.” My tone is flat. “Still so easy for him to manipulate.”

Her gaze falters, and she falls quiet as I back away and fall into the cushioned chair next to my window.

You could’ve told her.

So could you.

No wonder I didn’t run into him last night. He was all the way over here.

And the funny thing is, I’m not really mad at him. It hurts, but what Kade can do, he will do. There’s almost an art to it.

But I’m fucking pissed that she believed it so easily. Is she jealous? At all? I want her to be.

And to make it worse, she knows me. I thought she knew me.

“Hunter, it hurts.”

She struggles in her bindings, and I sit back in the chair, waiting for my head to get in the game and force my legs to move. To go to her and help her. The seconds tick by.

She stops fighting the handcuffs and looks to me. “What did you do with her?”

I lock my jaw so tight my teeth ache.

“How did you do it?” she presses. “What does she do that you like?”

“Why?”

“So, I’ll know what other men will like.”

I cock an eyebrow. Not ‘boys’ or ‘guys.’

She said ‘men.’

She will meet lots of men after she leaves Shelburne Falls. Men who are dicks. And immature. And unworthy.

But some will be strong. And confident. And driven. And know how to make love to her.

“Maybe I want to know what Kade likes,” she taunts.

“Anything naked.”

She’s just trying to piss me off. She’s good at invoking this new sensation inside of me, like I want to kill something.

She rolls her hips, accentuating her stomach, her ass, with her beautiful eyes. “You’ve seen me naked,” she says so softly. “Will he like me?”

My nails dig into my palms.

“What else does he like?” She wets her lips.

Bending her knees up, her feet on the bed, she spreads her legs just a little and arches her back. My cock twitches, almost feeling my fingers digging into her hip as I bury myself between her thighs.

“Dylan…” I say, almost sounding like a warning.

“You both can’t keep me locked up forever,” she tells me. “Guys will fuck me at college.”

I launch up, out of my chair, and swipe everything off my desk, like I don’t even have control of it. I’m out of my mind.

I stalk over to her, leaning down. I squeeze her jaw, brushing my thumb over her perfect mouth. “You’re not there yet,” I growl.

There’s still plenty of time to fuck her up.

And I want to right now. God, I want her naked in this bed so badly.

But I also want to punch a wall.

Pulling the key out of my pocket, I free her from the cuffs and toss them down on the bed. “Are you jealous?” I ask. “Tell me you’re jealous.”

She’s hurt. Is it because she doesn’t want me fucking around with anyone while I’m messing around with her, or is it because she’s falling in love with me?

I lean down, in her face. “Say my name.”

I want to make sure she knows who the fuck I am.

Her eyes search mine. “Hunter.”

Just a little murmur, but her mouth looks so soft and supple. My body stirs, blood rushing low in my stomach.

“Say it again.”

“Hunter.”

I open my mouth, wanting to eat her little whisper. “Are you jealous?” I ask. “Say you’re jealous.”

I wait for her to answer. For her to come up. To touch me, ask me why I slept with someone else, tell me she’s hurt, that she loves me, and that I’m hers… I want to hear all of it.

She doesn’t.

“You can go now.” She reaches underneath my pillow for her toy. “I fuck myself just fine.”