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Chapter Eighteen
Dani
Later that afternoon, Hunter calls my cell. Again.
I send his ass straight to voicemail (again).
Twenty minutes later, he calls again, and suddenly I can’t stand it any longer. I raise the phone to my ear. “You’ve reached the voicemail of Dani Cross, please leave your name and number and—”
Hunter’s low chuckle shivers through me. “You’re hilarious. It’s one of the many qualities that attract me to you.”
“Leave your message after the beep,” I continue with the charade. “Beep.”
“When you’re done playing games, let’s talk about our plan for tonight.”
“Yeah? What’s your plan? A threesome?”
There’s a prolonged silence on Hunter’s end then, “I didn’t realize you were that kinky.”
“Normally, I’m not, but hey, Amy’s beautiful, right? Hard to pass up.”
Another extended silence. “Dani, what’s going on?”
“You know exactly what I’m getting at, Hunter. Don’t play stupid with me.”
“I’m not playing at anything,” he says, his voice now edged with annoyance.
“Oh, but you have. You’ve been playing me. What, you forgot about asking Amy to come by your place? Because she did. While I was still there.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Right,” I scoff. “Just like you don’t know anything about the phone Chad got, or how those Lakers tickets just magically appeared in his mailbox.”
“Okay, fucking stop,” he commands. “What you’re accusing me of is offensive on two fronts. I’m not seeing another woman behind your back. And I’m not sending your brother inappropriate gifts. I wouldn’t manipulate your brother that way, not to mention doing so is illegal and would ruin my reputation.”
“So what. Anything to get ahead, right, Hunter?”
I can count the seconds of his silence this time. Five. Ten…
“Go to hell, Dani.” He hangs up on me.
“The fucking nerve,” I seethe between gritted teeth before I toss my phone on the counter.
I’m angry, but I’m also sad. And hurt.
Just when I started falling for him, his true colors showed through. I’m pissed at myself for letting him in at all. I’m pissed that part of me had started to believe we could be something special. I’m pissed I was such a fool.
* * *
Around noon the next day, I arrive at Chad’s. That morning, I’d taken a long ride to clear my head after talking to Hunter, and doubt had started to creep in.
To tell the truth, doubt had been creeping in soon after Hunter had hung up on me.
Hunter had sounded surprised and insulted and angry on the phone.
But it had suddenly dawned on me that he’d also sounded hurt.
Granted, he could have been acting, but the hurt had been so subtle. Not a flagrant bid for attention but more like something he couldn’t hide no matter how hard he was trying to hide it.
