Page 55 of Playing With Secrets
Five minutes pass and Hunter still isn’t back. I figure I’ve given him plenty of time to relax. I round the corner and bump into him.
His chest heaves as he takes in air. “I was just coming back in to finish unpacking.”
“Are we going to finish our discussion?”
He brushes me aside and marches back into the bedroom. “I’m not going to go over that with you again. You know where I stand, so drop it.”
I want to scream. He’s being completely dismissive. I take a breath and try again, following him into the room.
My gaze finds his turbulent, fear-filled eyes. “Hunter, you say you want to marry me. If that’s true, you need to be able to find a way to talk about painful issues with me.”
“I don’t see the point.”
“Then, our relationship is surface level at best. I know it’s difficult, but you need to be able to share with me. What happened to you that has you panicking like your life depends on it?”
CHAPTER 14
HUNTER
I’ma trapped animal and can’t get out of this conversation with Dorothy. Any direction I go, I’ll lose this fight.
I rub the back of my neck and scowl at the bed. “When you stomp off or leave, I don’t like it.”
“I’m aware of that. There’s a reason you don’t like it. What’s that reason?” She takes my hand in hers. “Sit down and let’s talk.”
My hand in hers feels like it was snapped in a hidden trap and is now bloody and broken. I can’t escape.
My skin heats to the point I rip my arm away from her tight grip and tear off my sweatshirt. She sits back on the mattress and analyzes me as I strip off half my clothes.
“Hunter, what are you doing?”
“It’s hot in here, so I took off a layer.”
“Yeah, and now you’re standing in a T-shirt and your boxer briefs. This isn’t going to lead to sex, so if that’s what you’re trying to do, don’t.” She half teases.
I see the detour and take it. “When are you going to let me back into your bed? Your infection is gone, so what are we waiting for?”
She blinks a few times andshakes off my question. “No. We’re not talking about sex until you tell me what happened to you that makes you freak out when I try to leave.”
Memories of that day, way back in the past when I was ten, flash in broken pictures. Fractured and ripped, not showing the entirety of it all.
While one side of my brain pulls it forward to make amends with Dorothy, the other side stomps on it and slashes my face with broken glass, forever showing the hurt and pain to everyone.
I fucking hate thinking about this. It’s got my blood boiling.
“When you walk away from me, I feel like you aren’t listening.” I trudge to my suitcase and flip it over.
The contents lie on my bed in a pile. I slam the suitcase closed and take it into the storage closet.
When I come back into the room, Dorothy is chewing on her thumbnail with her brows drawn, gawking at me like she’s watching the lead-up to a murder scene.
“What? I answered your question. Now, let’s talk about something else.” I glance around the room, searching for something to drink.
I really need to have my assistant set up a beverage station in here.
“Well, I see I’ve hit on something you’re not ready to share. Let’s take a step back.”
“I did share. I told you it feels like you’re not listening to me. Kind of like right now. You aren’t paying attention or you would’ve heard me say what I said.” I sift through the pile of crap on my mattress, trying to rein in my anger.
