Page 34 of Betrayal

“Battle armour,” Hunter said, and headed for the fridge.“Designed for some lust-addled idiot so she could point out she was a person, not a body.”

“You were lust-addled.”Casildo took the beer he was offered.

“Ah!But, fortunately, I didn’t behave as if her body was all she had to offer.She asked about architecture and saved me from myself.”Hunter snagged another beer.“Cheers.Are we watching the game, or spending the night gasbagging?”

“The game.”Casildo topped his beer.“Can you trust Gina?”

“What’s my ex-girlfriend got to do with anything?”But he understood where Casildo was heading.“I haven’t seen Gina for nearly two years.”Not since she’d stolen and crashed his car, then uploaded photos to Insta with the captionGuess what happened to me?

“Can you trust her not to resurrect the lies about her car crash that she splashed all over her socials if she hears you’re interested in someone else?”Casildo’s hand hung loosely at his side, the bottle swinging gently backward and forward.“Can you trust her not to accept Nick’s money to stir up trouble for you again?”

“Gina called me.Said she’d never intended people to assume the injuries were the result of a beating.”Hunter repeated Gina’s unconvincing excuses offered forty-eight hours after the accident.By then he’d weathered the police knocking on his door to tell him Gina was on her way to the hospital, and asking him to accompany them to the local cop shop.

“Her feed didn’t mention she’d crashed your car either.”

“She removed the photos when the commentary got stuck on a loop around when she was going to charge her shit of a boyfriend with assault.”

“She started it.”Casildo had been furious about the dubious posts.Seemed he still carried the anger.“And my tech mate insists Nick fed the trolling.”

“Gina apologised.She was pissed off at me for ending things.Never expected it to get out of hand.”But Hunter knew the records were being tumbled by the vast algorithms in the internet of things waiting to be found.

“Gina never corrected the record.”

Hunter put his hand on Casildo’s shoulder.“The hospital took the shots with a police officer present.There’s an official record of interview explaining she was upset because we had a fight and stole my car while I was calling a taxi.Her injuries are consistent with the seatbelt bruising her and bumping her face on the steering wheel.I have a certified copy.”

“You never told me whether Nick screwing Gina was the reason for your breakup?”

“Gina said it was just the once.”Once was enough to make Hunter sick to his stomach.“And Nick told her the money was a ‘gift.’”She’d been too distracted at the time to be disgusted, but the insult was targeted at Hunter.

And Hunter had absorbed the humiliation.

“Yet you nurse a guilty conscience when you did nothing wrong.”His friend stomped into the other room.“Gina’s accident was not a mirror image of your mother’s.”

“They tested Gina and me for alcohol.Both clear.That’s also in the report.”Hunter’s mother had died while driving drunk.After another fight with Nick.Hunter’s fight with Gina had been about Nick.“Look, I haven’t thought of Gina in months.”

“Be careful.”

“Are you saying I’m a womaniser, like Nick?”The idea hurt.

“Don’t make me laugh.You’ve never dabbled in the dark arts of seduction, and we both know why.But Gina and Nick did a number on you, so now you’re limiting yourself to occasional consensual liaisons.”

“Liaison exaggerates their importance.”And Hunter’s cynicism showed how unsuited he was for a relationship with any woman.

“There’s that cynicism creeping in.Gina’s the reason for your largely monastic lifestyle.Anna doesn’t do liaisons, for want of a better word.”

“Sheesh, Cas.Leave it alone.”Hunter flopped onto a sofa.

“I’ll call through another pizza order.”His friend jutted his chin in the direction of the table, where he’d finished what Hunter and Anna had abandoned.“What’s with the artichokes?”

“Anna’s choice.”Hunter knew the risks he was taking becoming involved with any woman, knew the war chest of grievances and accusations Nick was hoarding.Stuff it.Anna made him feel alive for the first time in a long time.And they hadn’t moved far from flirtation.

“If you get serious about Anna, you’ll have to tell her about Gina, because someone else will be only too happy to dish the dirt.”Cas remained standing.“She’s got zero tolerance for men who mistreat women.”

“We’re not serious.”They weren’t about to have a one-night stand either, and Hunter could admit in the dark reaches of his soul that if he were ever to consider becoming serious with a woman—a remote hypothetical—Anna was the one.

“You don’t have to tell your life story to everyone you meet.”Casildo wasn’t letting this go.“But sometimes you need to explain yourself to the people who care about you, share what’s in your heart.”

“I haven’t got a heart.”

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