Fierce(17)

There goes my appetite.

“Could you be a little less …” My eyebrows draw together as my mouth drops open. “Is that Brody?”

Evie turns her head like a hawk in the direction I’m looking, so I say, “Don’t stare! God, do you want him to see or something?”

“Does it matter? It’s just Brody.”

I sigh. “That’s not what I meant. Don’t you see who he’s standing next to?”

“Yeah? So?”

“It’s that guy. The guy Hunter was talking to the other day. When we were going to the library, we saw them talking about some weird business.”

“Oh, that guy!”

“Shhh!” I say. “I’d rather not get caught staring again.”

I blink again, but nothing changes. It has to be the same guy. I’d recognize that flowerpot hairdo anywhere. It’s the guy Hunter was talking to. The guy who told him to do ‘something’ to ‘someone.’

I wonder what the hell he’s doing with Brody.

So many questions pop up into my mind. What does he want with Brody? And what was he doing with Hunter? If they both know him, does that also mean Brody knows Hunter?

So many things I don’t know the answer to, and it’s making me insane.

Brody bumps fists with the flowerpot hairdo guy, and they both take off in different directions. I wonder what they just talked about. I wonder how the hell they know each other.

When that guy passes us, I pretend I’m eating some lettuce and stuff my mouth full of it. As he leaves, I almost choke on the huge amount of food in my mouth. I wash it down with a bottle of water, and Evie starts cutting up her steak again.

“I wonder …” My voice stops working.

I don’t know what I want to say anymore.

As soon as my eyes catch a glimpse of that guy entering the cafeteria I’m flabbergasted.

My mouth drops open and I stare at him. Him. I know I call him ‘him’ all the time, but that’s because he is the only guy my attention is ever drawn to. It’s like there is no other guy around but him.

“What?” Evie says, but I ignore her.

I completely zone out, my eyes glued to his being. He’s not just another guy, not one of the many flocking into the lunchroom. No. This is Hunter Bane, the guy whose mood changes with a snap of the fingers. The guy who goes from being a complete jerk to a witty, cute guy. The guy who looks like a sex god, but seems to have no interest in other girls whatsoever. Or at least, not that I can see.

There is so much I still don’t know about him, and for some reason I’m intrigued as hell. I want to get to know him. Maybe it’s because he taunted me that day with my bracelet, because I want to know why he is the way he is.

Whenever I see him, all I can think about is him.

He’s the guy I’m swooning over.

And it’s making me look like a gasping, drooling girl.

Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and focus on the here and now. I can’t go to him. I can’t talk to him. I’m having lunch with Evie, and it’s rude to leave her like that. I have to keep my eyes shut to prevent myself from failing in my resolve. I can’t look at him, because I know I’ll falter and go over there eventually.

Still, I can’t help but open my eyes.

He’s much closer now, and he’s leaning against a vending machine. He coughs and then looks at his hand, wiping something on his dark, frayed jeans. He’s wearing unusually thick clothes today, which isn’t at all like him, and from the looks of it they’re cheap, too.

Jamming one hand into his pocket, he runs the other through his spiky hair. He fishes a few coins from his pocket, gazes at them, and then crushes them in the palm of his hand. The look on his face darkens, and I can see his chest heave as he stares with anger at the vending machine.

I gulp at the sight of him and can’t get a word out of my mouth. Hunter Bane, the guy who seems to have it all, doesn’t have enough to buy some snack from a vending machine?

The idea alone makes me gasp. I can’t believe Hunter, out of all people, doesn’t have enough to go by. Is it just a coincidence? Or is this what he goes through on a daily basis?

Just like me?

I shake my head when he suddenly turns his head and looks at me. We stare at each other, and my eyes widen. His eyes are bloodshot, and his eyelids are swollen. There’s a huge purple mark on his left cheek.

My fork drops onto the table.

“Autumn? Hello? Earth to Autumn?” Evie yells. She’s been calling my name all this time, but I haven’t paid any attention to it. And I don’t want to right now.

I need to know what’s wrong with Hunter.

“Be right back,” I say.