Fierce(37)

The guys go at it, and I look around, panicking, not knowing what to do.

“Hunter,” I say, as I see a guard approaching from the back, probably drawn to all the ruckus. “Hunter!”

He roars at the guy and punches him a second time before getting up on his feet again. “I’ll kill you if you ever show your face to her again.”

I pull Hunter’s shirt so much it’s almost ripping. After blowing off some steam by flaring his nostrils at the guy for a couple of seconds, Hunter turns around and looks me straight in the eye.

“Did he hurt you?” he says.

My eyes widen as I notice the guard has spotted us.

“Hey!” the guy yells.

“We gotta run!” I say to Hunter, and I grab his hand and push him back into the theatre.

“No, I want to know if he touched you!” Hunter screams as we run across the room to the service entrance we came in through.

“Not now,” I say, and now I’m the one dragging him through all the corridors until we reach the exit.

Breathing in the fresh air as I open the door is a welcome change to the indoor mugginess. I’m so glad we managed to escape before the guard caught us.

And I’m glad Hunter was there to kick that guy’s ass before he tried something on me again.

Suddenly, Hunter punches a wall, and screams. “Fuck!”

I’m still panting, trying to catch my breath, but Hunter’s going mental. I turn around, still gasping, but then I see his bloodied knuckles.

“Your hand!” I say.

“It’ll heal,” he snarls. Then he grabs my arm and turns me around. He holds me tightly, staring straight into my soul. “Did. He. Hurt. You?”

“What? No … No, he didn’t have the chance,” I stammer.

He snorts, and his nostrils flare again. “If that guy EVER comes near you again, I swear I’ll—”

“You’ll what? Pound in on him again?” I sigh. “You can’t keep doing this, Hunter.”

“I will NOT let them have their way with you,” he growls. “They wouldn’t just rape you. They would kill you.”

A cold shiver runs down my spine hearing him say those words so harshly.

“You don’t know what those guys are capable of,” he says.

“Oh, and you do? Is that what you’re trying to say? Tell me, Hunter, what fucking thing are you involved in?”

He frowns, grating his teeth. “It’s none of your business.” He turns his head away, but I cup his chin between my index finger and thumb and force him to look at me. I’ve never been this brazen in my life.

“It is my business. If you’re involved with these guys then …”

“To hell I am,” he says.

“Well, you made it my business the moment you stepped into my life and tried to change me for whatever reason.”

Hunter grasps my wrist and tears it away from his face. We’re bumping chests now.

“Whatever it is that you’re doing, it’s not good,” I say. “I’m telling you, as a friend, that you have to stop this.”

Suddenly, he pushes me against the wall with my wrist behind my back. He’s trapped me inside his arms. I can’t escape.

“Is that what you think I’m doing? Befriending you? Trying to change you?” he hisses.

I shudder from his proximity. His lip is quivering, and my heart is thudding in my throat. My nerve endings are on fire because his hands are holding my arm tight.

“You have no idea, do you?” he snaps.

I shake my head, my lips smashed together.

He snorts. “Of course you don’t. You have no idea how fucking hard it is to do this. I don’t want to be in this shit, but I am, and I can’t change that.”

“Yes you can! You can do everything. You’re Hunter Bane for crying out loud! You’ll fight your way out of it.” The words slip out of my mouth before I realize it.

He looks up at me with those hawk-like eyes again, squinting, as if he can’t believe his ears. “You don’t have a fucking clue. You and everyone else on campus all think you know what you see, but you don’t. What I do, I do for a reason. I need to do it. There is no other way to …”

“To what?” I say.

He sighs. “To save him. My brother.”

Hunter closes his eyes and comes closer. I freeze in place as his head bumps into the wall next to me. He’s pushed up against me, resting his forehead against the wall. Then he lets out a groan.

I didn’t know the extent of his problems, but now that I’ve seen a glimpse …

Wow.

He looks so weighed down by stress. I can’t help but feel pity for him.

No wonder he wanted to do something fun today. He’s trying to escape.