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Hunter pulled back, then leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Bye, Reese.”
Cheryse pursed her lips. Normally, he wouldn’t do something like that. It definitely felt like he was making a statement by kissing her. “Bye.”
Hunter briskly took two steps past Roger. “See ya, big guy.” He didn’t look at him, only pushed open the salon door.
“See ya,” Roger said, clearly not happy.
The door fell shut, and Cheryse turned to Roger.
“What was that all about?” he asked.
Chapter 5
After leaving the salon, Hunter mounted one of Marshall’s spare motorcycles. He drove slowly through the main part of town until he turned off Main Street and onto a highway. Anger replaced the hollow numbness from this morning. He pushed hard on the gas. Who in the freak did Roger think he was, going all “I owe you one?” Hunter let out a crazy laugh, the kind of laugh Trent would have loved and immediately imitated.
If Trent were with him right now, he would say,I definitely wouldn’t have wanted that dude at my funeral.
“Right?” Hunter agreed. It felt natural to have these little conversations with Trent. Even when Trent wasn’t dead, Hunter would often have conversations with him, regardless of how far apart they were physically. Trent had always been a voice inside his head, and he always would be.
Thinking about his brother unsettled him, and he took the highway up by the caves again. He didn’t want to go back to the inn yet. He didn’t even know what to do with this day.
There wasn’t a lot of traffic, and he was grateful for small mercies.
The longer he drove, the more he thought about stupid Roger. What was he to Cheryse now? Were they serious? Were they talking marriage? And what kind of jerk said he would 'owe him' for missing Trent’s funeral? The worst kind, that’s who.
Amy’s pouting expression from the night before kept coming to his mind. She’d been texting him all night, and he’d finally blocked her this morning. He was done with her.
He should have been done with her a long time ago, and Trent would be proud of him for blocking the cheating ex-girlfriend.
Hunter kept circling South Port until he noticed he was almost out of gas. With a huff, he headed back into town to the gas station. It wouldn’t be right to return Marshall’s bike with an empty tank. Marshall might not complain about it because of everything that’d happened, but the Stones had been raised to return things better than they’d found them.
After filling up, he made his way back to the inn. He parked the bike in the garage and walked inside. He quickly found his siblings hanging out in the living room.
“Are you hungry?” Ava asked him, breaking free of the others.
Hunter didn’t answer. He simply put his hand up and stalked down the hallway, then upstairs to his room. He didn’t mean to be a jerk, but he wasn’t in the mood to … what? What would he say to his siblings? He had nothing to give them. Nothing to give anyone.
He paced his room for a long time, then changed his clothes and started venting his anger on the punching bag. It was a concession that Ava and Trey had made for Hunter and Trent’s room. Truthfully, he hadn’t pushed that hard for it, but right now he was happy that Trent had made it a thing.
He thought of Cheryse and that dang make-out session last night. He thought about Amy, then stupid Roger. He punched again and again and again, ratcheting up the intensity of the blows. It was stupid and reckless that he would even think about having a relationship with Cheryse.
A relationship? Is that what you want?
“No,” he said, like Trent was in the same room. “I’m a SEAL, and she’s never wanted this lifestyle.”
True that.
More anger bubbled inside him. All his grief and pain from the previous day had transformed into boiling rage, and right now it was directed at Cheryse. How dare she kiss him like that if she was with Roger? How dare she put her hand on his arm and act like she could calm him down when he was about to rip Roger’s head off? If he’d wanted to punch Roger in the face, he would have, regardless of anything she said. She wasn’t anything to him, not outside of a few dates in high school and the stupid competitive thing he and Trent always had for her.
And Trent!
The punches increased in speed and sweat trickled down his back. Why had he left Hunter? To think that he could leave him to deal with his siblings and Cheryse and the idiot Roger all by himself? The punching reached an intensity that he couldn’t keep up with, and he collapsed onto the floor.
Hunter looked in the mirror. To his dismay, he had tears on his face. He swiped at them with one of his gloves and hit himself in the eye. A curse word escaped his lips.
Calm down, bro. Calm down. It’s okay.
“Don’t tell me what to do,” he yelled.
