I guffawed, my mood lightening. “Please, you’re amazing for my ego.”
“I’m being honest,” he grated with so much conviction and disgust on my behalf. I smiled and rubbed a hand against his clenched jaw in hopes of getting him to relax. “You’re beautiful and he’s a weasel. Why would you ever give him the time of day?”
It was the third time I’d heard Hunter call me beautiful and the compliment never failed to make my insides melt. I’d never been praised like this and though I wasn’t completely a vain woman, it was nice hearing it.
“Thank you,” I said, despite his rule regarding the T-word. “Trust me, Hunter, I’ve asked myself that question a hundred times. But he was my first relationship. We dated from fifteen to eighteen, and my frontal lobe wasn’t as developed as it is now. That’s my only excuse.”
The furrow between his brows smoothed and he let loose a puff of air, nodding in understanding. He finished his drink rather quickly and placed it on the bar top. “You want to get out of here?”
Technically, Hera said we only had to be present tonight for two hours and I’d stayed longer than that, so I was good to leave.
I threw a cautionary glance at our surroundings.
My friends were distracted with their game and Oscar was busy staring down at his phone.
And Franco?
His piercing gaze ping-ponged between me and Hunter as if he were trying to comprehend the dynamics of our relationship.
Fuck him.
He had no right to stare at us. No right to spear even the slightest of interest our way.
I wished I could flip him the bird.
But that would be unbecoming in public.
Therefore, I did the only thing I could—the only thing I wanted to—right now.
I grabbed Hunter’s hand again. “I thought you’d never ask.”
CHAPTER 15
Pegasus&Red-Stained Lips
Hunter
Soft wind sifted through my sunroof as I drove my Jag down the road, the moon hanging high and bright, chasing us to our destination.
My obsession’s eyes were closed, a gorgeous smile on those red lips as she basked in the feeling of the breeze caressing her hair, her manicured nails pushing her strands out of her face and behind her ears.
Gabriela was so precious to me and she didn’t even know it.
Whenever I saw her eyes light up with happiness and her entire demeanour shift with excitement at seeing me, this urge to build a haven and safeguard her in it beat at my chest. To ensure that no one got close enough to harm her in any way. But to leave the door unlocked so she could flit in and out as she pleased, knowing she could always return to me.
How was it that I’d lived my whole life until last year without realizing a girl like her existed—one who felt cut from a different cloth but stitched by the same red thread?
We hadn’t known each other for a long time, but it felt like I’d known Gabriela forever. Like she was a missing piece from a puzzle I’d been trying to complete for ages.
These last two weeks, I spent every possible waking hour by her side if I wasn’t pulled away by my classes, practice, or a football game. I’d gotten so used to her presence that she’dbecome a part of me—a vital organ I wouldn’t be able to live without if she were ever eviscerated from me.
She had so much power over me and she didn’t even know that either.
Whenever we were together, I felt possessive over Gabriela in a way that turned my vision red with jealousy. I hated seeing other men stare at her in a manner beyond platonic. Their appreciative once-overs set my teeth on edge. I wanted to be the only man with the privilege to gaze at her. The only one who deserved to command her attention.
I knew it was unhealthy to think this way, but I couldn’t stop myself.
And when she mentioned her ex-boyfriend at the bar, that jealousy tunneled through my system like a drug tenfold more potent than anything I’d ever consumed.
