For my entire life,I’ve feared the dark. It’s a long-standing joke in my household because if I have to go out to my car, I’ll always make my mom or dad stand by the door—never Saint. Hell no. He’d do something to scare me because he’s an ass like that. But my parents always make sure I don’t get taken by the bogeyman. Or maybe a coyote.
Or Bigfoot. Dad swears he’s real …
During the first few minutes of my walk, I was too angry to be scared, but now that I’ve been out here for a bit and the quiet has set in, a shiver runs down my spine, and I’ll admit … I am scared. Not to mention, I keep feeling like someone is behind me.
It’s only a matter of time before my parents call me to ask what the hell I was thinking, getting in a fight with a teammate. It’s so not like me to do something like that, but I let Margo’s words get to me. I gave her exactly what she wanted.
“Didn’t know you had it in you, Nineteen,” a deep voice drawls from behind me, and I squeal, turning quickly.
“What in the actual fuck, Hunt?” I snarl, rushing toward him and smashing my hands against his chest. “How long have you been following me, you fucking creep?”
“Long enough to know you’re afraid of the dark,” he muses. “Tell me, Isla, what are you scared of? The bogeyman?”
“No,” I say through gritted teeth. “I’m scared of asshole men like you, lingering in the shadows like an absolute sociopath.”
He steps closer, invading every brain cell I have that keeps me from doing stupid shit, and suddenly, my mind feels fuzzy, and I allow myself to breathe in his scent. My heart pitter-patters in the most pathetic way, but I swallow hard, straightening my spine to stand tall.
“You think I’m a sociopath simply because I’m walking in the dark?” He tsks me condescendingly. “Oh, baby girl, you have no idea.”
I don’t look him in the eye, but instead, I stare at his chest. I’m not afraid of Hendrix Hunt, though most people are because if anyone crosses him, they know it. Still, it’s not him I fear; it’s me, making another stupid choice with a man who is clearly emotionally unstable.
After all, he did just smash his own teammate’s head against a bar and wrap his hand around his throat.
“I’m going to go now.” I grit the words out, finally lifting my eyes to his and glaring up into his gaze. “Don’t follow me, Hunt.”
The amusement on his face only grows, and before I even begin to turn away from him, his thumb brushes my chin, and he grips the slightest bit.
“Maybe, deep down, you want me to follow you,” he taunts. “Perhaps that’s exactly what you want me to do.”
“And why the hell would I want some insane person to follow me in the dark?” I growl, hating that my breath hitches the closer he gets to me.
His thumb brushes upward, and he drags the pad of it over my bottom lip. I fight breathing harder, but it’s not an easy task.
“Face it, Nineteen—you and me? We’re not so different. You’ve got a dark side under that good-girl act.” A low groan escapes his throat, and he cocks his head to the side. “Wanna feel what that side of you does to me?”
My eyes shift downward, but in the darkness of the night, I can’t see if there’s a bulge in his jeans or not, and I hate that a big part of me wants to reach out and feel for myself. I swallow back the desperation that’s threatened to creep up ever since I used him as a distraction in that closet over a year ago.
“Go on,” he demands. “I dare you to run your palm right over my cock and find out.”
My heart rate quickens, thundering in my chest as my mouth waters at the mere thought alone of touching his erection and knowing he’s hard for me. Blinking a few times, I force myself to stop being a pathetic loser and stumble backward, putting space between us.
“Leave me the fuck alone, Hunt,” I snarl. “I mean it. What we did in that closet? That was nothing more than a distraction for me, and I’ve regretted it every day since.”
“That was the point though, right?” he says, completely unfazed. “I promise you, Nineteen, I can give you a whole lot more to regret than me eating your pussy.”
The side of me that I’ve always kept hidden would love to know what he could do to me that I would regret, but instead of playing into it, I ignore him.
I don’t wait for him to try to stop me either. Instead, I run as fast as my legs will take me away from Hendrix Hunt.
Only I’m not running because I’m scared of him. I’m running because I’m scared of what I might end up doing with him if I don’t.
HENDRIX
My body tenses as I force my feet to stay rooted on the sidewalk while Isla runs farther away toward the street that we both live on. Everything inside me is begging to run after her, grab her by her waist, and pull her between two houses into the darkness and do unspeakable things to her body. My cock twitches as I think about forcing her down onto her knees with my back against a random house. But I can’t push it tonight and be too unhinged, even though I know a part of her likes that side of me. I can see it in her eyes.
To the hockey nation, Isla Hardy may be the golden girl with a sweet smile and sunshine hair, but I see through it. And underneath that light is a darkness that rivals my own.
It’s that darkness that draws me in. It’s the darkness that gets me off.
