Page 56 of Hothead

What the fuck?

Hunter, his gigantic friend, strolled into his living room seconds later. Not saying a word, a nonchalant expression on that big ugly face as he sat himself down on one of Luke’s leather couches. His friend shot him an expectant look, as if he was the one who owed him answers.

The goddamn cheek.

“How the fuck did you get in here?”

“Keys,” Hunter grunted. “Why haven’t you been at work?”

“Keys?” Luke repeated sarcastically. “And where the hell did you get my fuckingkeys?”

Hunter ignored Luke’s question and repeated his own. It went on like that for a while. Luke had almost forgotten how stubborn his friend was. Too bad he was more stubborn. Which is why they ended up sitting in silence. For a really long time.

In that time, much to Luke’s annoyance, Hunter had gotten up, gone to the kitchen, and made himself a sandwich. His friend really was taking the piss today.

“You gonna sit there all day?” Luke snarled as he reached for the half-empty whiskey bottle decorating his coffee table.

“Depends. You gonna tell me what’s going on?”

Luke was done. The sooner Hunter got the hell out, the better. So after a rather large swig of his drink, he announced, “She’s gone.”

Hunter calmly nodded and threw in a “Yup.”

Fucking hell.

“What do you meanyup? You’ve been waiting all day for me to tell you what my problem is, and now I’ve said it, you’re not interested? What the fuck, man?”

His friend had the audacity to tut at him. “I know she’s gone. She was always gonna go, right? I’m more interested in finding out what the fuck you’re gonna do about it?”

“What are you talking about?” Luke’s eyes narrowed on the big man.

“Youknowwhat I’m talking about. But fine, I’ll play ball. Why don’t you go on ahead and tell me the reason you’re skipping work and drowning your sorrows?”

Luke didn’t answer, he simply glared.

“’Cause she’s gone, right?” His ex-friend continued, “I told you weeks ago not to be one of those guys who forgets to pull his head outta his ass, didn’t I? Right. So what the hell is it still doing up there, dumbass?”

The last thing Luke needed was a roasting. And he definitely didn’t need to pull his head out of his ass. He was the injured party here. Not Bella. Him. She rejected him. So his friend really needed to stop giving him shit. Right now.

“Enough.” Luke scowled as he saw Hunter readying to run his mouth again. “Bella ended it. I was on my way home to tell her I was all in, but she wasn’t interested.Sheleftme.”

They both fell into silence after that. What else was there to say? Luke decided to go back to his whiskey. He wasn’t nearly as numb as he wanted to be yet.

“Did you tell her?” Hunter asked, a while later.

“What?” Luke didn’t bother hiding the impatience in his voice. He was so ready to drink in peace.

“That you were all in, did you tell her that? How did that conversation play out?”

Again with the questions.

What does this man want from me, a fucking recording of me getting my heart ripped out?

Luke slammed his bottle against the table as he twisted to face Hunter. He wanted his friend to see everything, starting with how much he was pissing him off.

“She told me somethingcame up. That she had to leave early. If I hadn’t come home when I did, she would’ve left without a word,” he said through gritted teeth. “When I tried to talk to her, she set me straight, told me that we had an agreement. It was always gonna end like this. Her leaving two days early didn’t make a difference.” Saying the words out loud brought back the gut wrench.

Hunter hummed. “So, you didn’t tell her how you feel?”

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