Page 17 of The Hunt
Give it a couple days.
Nah, he’s too good. He’ll smash by tonight.
She’s so desperate for it.
Tears filled my eyes. All comments from his friends. All comments insinuating that Apollo saw me as a challenge, that he told them about me, that they were having running bets on when he’d fuck and dump me.
I stared at him through wavering tears. Moonlight bounced off his face, his features still soft, so vulnerable. Is that all I am to him? A challenge? Someone to conquer? How am I that stupid that I fell for his tricks?!
Maybe they weren’t true. Maybe this was just typical Redwood gossip.
There was always something, wasn’t there?
But the thoughts had already creeped into my head, taunting me that I had been as stupid as all the people in my family before me. Love was a curse, and silly little me would never be able to break it.
Quietly, I stood up and grabbed my belongings, then shrugged on my coat. But if I left now, then Apollo would come looking for me, and I couldn’t deal with him chasing after me, not after all the messages that I had just seen.
I needed to be alone. I needed to get away.
So I stuffed all his clothes inside my bag: his jeans, his jacket, his socks, and watch.
If he woke up and tried to follow me, he’d have to do it naked, and he wouldn’t do it naked. He had a family name to uphold, and running around in the nude wasn’t something that the DeLuca’s did, to my knowledge.
My stare turned into a hardened glare, and I pulled out a notepad, scribbling down the last thing that I would ever say to that stupid fucker: LIAR.
CHAPTER 11
DAPHNE
Wind howled as I trudged across the street to the parking lot, the cold searing the skin off my face. I held my arm up to block the sheets of snow pounding down onto me. I shouldn’t have left. This weather was too bad.
But I couldn’t stay.
By some miracle, the parking lot had been plowed enough for me to get to my car and slid in through the driver’s side. I shook off the snow, blasted the heat, and started my windshield wipers.
Tears burned my eyes, but I pushed them away.
Stupid, Daphne. Falling for stupid tricks.
When enough snow had melted off my windshield, I threw the car into reverse and slowly backed out of the parking spot. I could barely see two feet in front or in back of the car, and I prayed that I wasn’t about to hit anyone.
I turned on my high beams and slowly drove out of the lot. I should’ve just asked for a separate room for the night, because this was the worst weather I had ever experienced, but I didn’t have any money.
My hands tightened around the steering wheel tightly, my heart racing.
Stupid, stupid, stupid Daphne. Can I get dumber?!
Headlights barely cutting through the snow, I hit the breaks as my tires skidded across the ice. I knew how to get home, but God, this was so bad. I shook my head, trying to focus on the road instead of how dumb I was for believing anything that came out of Apollo’s mouth.
Highway? Highway? Where is the highway?
When a large green street sign that read Route 95 came into view, I took the on-ramp and merged onto the highway at about ten miles per hour. I tightened my hands around the steering wheel until my nails were cutting into my skin.
I hate that asshole. I hate him with all my heart.
A challenge?! Am I really a challenge to him?!
What was he think–
