Page 16 of The Hunt
My hands gently clasped her face, and I pulled her near me.
Her eyes widened, but she didn’t pull away. I let my lips linger on hers for as long as they could before I needed air and pulled apart from her. She stared at me, her cheeks flushed and her lips slightly swollen.
“Why’d you do that?” she whispered.
“I don’t know,” I said.
But I did, because the first time in forever, I didn’t feel like the fuck-up Dad always saw. For the first time in forever, I finally felt like me.
CHAPTER 10
DAPHNE
Moonlight flooded in through the curtains that we hadn’t closed. I blinked my eyes open and watched snow still falling in heavy sheets from the sky outside the window. Someone pulled me closer from behind.
My entire body stiffened, and I widened my eyes. Who is–Fuck!
Apollo snored softly in my ear, his warm breath fanning my neck. His body was flush against mine, his dick hard against my backside. I sucked in a quiet breath, so he wouldn’t wake up and stayed still.
Between the kiss and his confession last night, I was so confused.
My feelings were… well, feeling. And I… I didn’t know what I wanted anymore.
When he showed up at the gardens last night, I was furious at him because I had just wanted him to leave me alone. But he stayed out of my way the entire night, only confronting me when Mark wouldn’t go away.
How did he know I was uncomfortable? I am good at not showing it.
I’d taught myself so many times when Mom’s friends came over drunk and were a bit too handsy with me in front of her. A tear fell from my eye. The first time I told her about it, she had called me a liar, and I never said anything again to her about it.
I bit back a sob. How’d he know? How could he just… tell?
After slipping out of his hold, I tugged on my clothes from last night and sat in the armchair across from the bed, tugging my knees to my chest and staring at him. His breathing was slow and even, his sharp features softened by sleep.
Where did that cocky, insufferable guy I met in the library go?
My lips curled into a small smile. Maybe this was the real him. Maybe he wasn’t as bad as I thought he was. And maybe, just maybe, there was more to him than I had thought. Maybe I… could give him a shot.
Surely, he was adamant about being around me.
Wanting even more than just sex.
Warmth spread through my chest, and I pressed my lips together, so I wouldn’t giggle. Because I didn’t giggle. Not over guys and especially not over relationships. Every relationship I’d seen growing up was a disaster.
Love in my family wasn’t a fairytale. It was a curse.
Maybe a curse that he could break. That was, if I gave him a try.
I sighed and glanced at my phone on the desk beside me, lighting up with notifications that I had been tagged in. And it wasn’t just one, but several. My eyes widened, because nobody ever tagged me in anything.
When I tapped on one of the notifications, it opened social media, and I froze.
What… What is this?
A picture of Apollo and me at the gardens last night burned brightly on the screen, along with the caption, Apollo’s new challenge: the nerd from the library. Can’t wait to see how long it takes for her to sleep with him
My stomach dropped, and my hands tightened around the phone.
I continued scrolling, reading more and more disgusting comments.
