Page 33 of Tangled Up In You
He smiled, but it quickly faded. His brown eyes searched my face. “We can’t do this, Corbin. Not again.”
“Why?”
Hunter pushed back in the chair, escaping my hold, and stood up. He went over to the window and peered outside into the dark. “Because losing you once nearly killed me. I can’t lose you a second time.”
I stayed sitting on the desk, staring at him. “Not even an hour ago, you were begging me to fuck you, and now you don’t want anything to do with me. This back and forth shit is confusing the fuck outta me, Hunt.”
“I know, and I’m sorry.”
Something occurred to me. “Why did you reach out to me when I got drafted?”
“Because you were my best friend and I was proud of you,” he answered, not meeting my eyes. “Going pro is all you’ve ever wanted.”
“When I tried to talk to you more after that and gave you my number, you never called, texted, or gave me yours in return. You never got personal with any of our messages. Just small things before you stopped responding again. It’s like you cast a line out to me, but you refuse to reel it in.”
“So you’re a fish now?” he asked in a snarky tone. “Am I the fisherman?”
“Well you’ve baited me enough,” I shot back. “Drawing me in, just to throw me back into the water.”
He turned to me, crossing his arms. “Are you going to stay here after you get Bill’s will and everything settled?”
Shit.
“No,” I said through a tight jaw. “And it’s not really fair for you to be pissed at me for it. I have a life, you know.”
Hunter watched me. “You’re right. How shitty of me to think anything would be different this time.”
“No need to be a smartass,” I said, sliding off the desk and nearing him. “If you wanna blame anyone for what happened with us, why don’t you take a look in the damn mirror?” I didn’t want to lose my temper, but I was tired of him placing all the blame on me. “You’rethe one who told me to stay at USC all those years ago.Youdumpedme.So stop this fucking bitchy attitude of yours and own up to the fact that this isn’tjustmy fault.”
We stared each other down, neither of us breaking eye contact.
“You should’ve known better, Corbin,” he said. “Out of all the times we talked about our future together, you should’veknownI didn’t mean it. But instead you believed it without hesitation.”
“Are you fucking serious?” I asked. “You’re pissed that I didn’t see through the lie? I’m not a psychic, Hunter! I can’t read your damn mind.”
“That just shows you didn’t really know me then,” he spouted back.
I was speechless. I looked into his eyes and didn’t see the boy I’d fallen in love with. The Hunter I loved was still in there somewhere, but a newer, more spiteful Hunter was at the forefront.
“I didn’t know you?” I asked, fighting back tears. “I know that when you’d tried to play a joke on me, you’d smile and give yourself away. You had to sleep by the wall at night because it made you feel safe. Sometimes you’d have trouble sleeping because you got into these mindsets where you obsessed over death and what happens when we die, so we’d stay up all night talking about anything and everything just to get your mind off it.” A tear escaped and ran down my cheek. “I know that when you were scared or needing to be comforted, you’d bury your face in my neck and hold my side. Just like you did earlier tonight.”
Hunter faced the window.
“I knew you better than I knew myself, Hunter.” My voice cracked on his name, and I hated the vulnerability I felt. “Which is why I believed you. Youneverlied to me about something important.”
I waited for what seemed like forever for him to say something, but he wouldn’t even look at me.
Needing distance from him, I turned and left the room.
He didn’t try to stop me. No calling after me or following me out into the hall like I’d done to him earlier. It told me a lot about how different we were: I was always the one chasing him. Never the other way around.
Well, not anymore.
I went to his bedroom and got dressed before finding my shoes and putting them on. After finding my coat, I went toward the front door. Before I walked out, I looked behind me and didn’t see Hunter anywhere. Not that I expected to see him there, but I guess a part of me had still hoped.
I didn’t know if I was more mad or upset, but whichever it was, I needed to be alone to work it all out.
Chapter 11
