Burned (Miller Sisters 2)

‘It’s not a black eye.’

‘Did it happen at work? You need another job. Or at least a different hobby. I recommend astronomy.’ And then she saw Hunter. She couldn’t have looked more surprised if Mars had bashed into Pluto. Her eyes went wide and then flew to mine.

I couldn’t exactly blame her for looking confused.

For the past five years I’d refused to talk about Hunter. He was a subject we avoided. And suddenly here he was, dominating our doorstep.

I could tell she didn’t have a clue what she was supposed to say.

She just didn’t get it and I didn’t blame her.

She sent me a look that said ‘WTF.’

I sent her a silent transmission. Play it cool.

‘I’m hallucinating,’ she muttered. ‘For a moment I thought I saw a rat on my doorstep.’

‘Hayley.’ Unmoved by the less than effusive welcome, Hunter placed his hand on my lower back and urged me into the apartment.

‘She needs to sit down.’

I heard my sister mutter, ‘She’s not the only one,’ and suddenly felt a flood of relief that she was here and I was no longer on my own with this. I’d heard people say how much they loved being an only child, how great it was to have all that attention. I’d never understood that. I couldn’t imagine what my life would look like if it didn’t have my sister in it. I was pretty sure it would be awful. I’d probably pretend it was great, because that’s what people did, wasn’t it? There were some things you were stuck with and some things you’d never admit to not liking.

Being stuck with my sister was the best thing that had ever happened to me (apart from the fact she ended up with the whole breast gene. I found that hard to forgive).

‘What are you doing here, Hunter?’ Hayley sounded so fierce I jumped, but Hunter didn’t react.

‘Bringing Rosie home. I need ice and dressing pads for her head.’

‘I can sort out my own head.’ Actually I couldn’t. If I could have sorted out my own head, I would have done it long ago and I wouldn’t have been so screwed up about him. When it came to Hunter, my brain was as tangled as the cord of my headphones.

‘What happened to her head?’ Hayley sounded furious. ‘If you’ve hurt her again, Hunter Black, I swear I will donate your body to medical science.’

‘That happens when you’re dead. I’m still alive.’

My sister sent him a dark look. ‘I could fix that.’ She had her arm round me and was drawing me toward the sofa. ‘Don’t get blood on it. You know I’m a rubbish housekeeper and I’m still dealing with the coffee stain from last month.’ My sister’s idea of dealing with a coffee stain was simply to turn the sofa cushion over.

But I could tell she was worried and she paused for a moment, torn between the need to stop my head bleeding and a reluctance to leave me alone with Hunter.

Hunter didn’t wait to be shown around our apartment. He found the kitchen, grabbed ice packs out of the fridge, wrapped them in a towel and brought them back to where I was sitting.

He was a good person to have around in a crisis. The problem was that in my case he was usually the one causing the crisis.

My sister tapped her foot. ‘You should go now, Hunter.’

‘I’m not leaving until I know she’s all right.’

‘Of course she’s all right,’ my sister snapped. ‘She’s with me. Who do you think looked after her when you walked out? I did. And you didn’t exactly hang around to check on her, did you? So you can stop pretending to be caring. You left her in pieces.’

So much for my dignity. ‘Hayley—’

‘She cried every night for six months! She didn’t eat. She lost weight. So don’t think she’s going to agree to start that whole thing with you up again just because you happen to have shown up in her life again.’

Holy crap. ‘Hayley!’

‘She pretends she’s over you—’

‘I am over him!’