Amusement thick in his tone, he says, “I’m too hot to be a stalker, remember?”
“Mm,” I murmur sleepily. “It’s courting when you do it.”
“Exactly.”
I smile faintly, shaking my heavy head. “You’re so crazy.”
“You love me anyway.”
“I do. I must be crazy, too.”
Chapter Fifty Five
Riley
Hunter fucks me again before the sun rises, but true to his word, he’s gone by the time my alarm goes off for school.
I’m almost a little sad about it, though. I didn’t hear him leave, so I didn’t get to say goodbye.
I know I’ll see him at school, but it’s different there.
I go through my morning routine, more tired than usual. Mom remarks on it as I pour myself a second cup of coffee, but I can’t exactly tell her Hunter snuck in the house and kept me up half the night.
I’m more prepared for the bullshit as I make my way into school today, so it doesn’t bother me as much. Plus, there are no surprises today.
I make it through my morning classes, and Hunter is there waiting for me when I get to English. I slide into my seat next to him and open my notebook.
“You were missed yesterday,” I tell him.
Clutching his heart theatrically, he says, “Aw, you missed me.”
I smile faintly. “Not me. Mrs. Dowd,” I whisper. “All day without one glimpse of your handsome face. I think it made her meaner.”
Hunter smirks as he opens his own notebook and draws out his Gatsby assignment. “My apologies. I’ll make sure I don’t skip any more classes. Don’t want to make your day harder.”
“Yeah, sure you don’t,” I murmur, shifting in my seat, remembering the words he wielded in the middle of the night.
Hunter catches the movement too and looks over at me, his eyes glinting with amusement. “A little sore?”
My cheeks warm with embarrassment. “Shut up.”
He smirks, looking pretty satisfied with himself.
I roll my eyes, but I can’t help myself: I smile.
___
The rest of the day goes smoothly. The only time I’m really tense is during lunch when Hunter and Sherlock are not only in the same room, but sitting at the same table.
I don’t sit with them, I sit at my table alone, but I can’t even focus on the book I brought to read today. Between bites of food, I steal glances at their table to make sure Hunter is behaving himself.
I don’t know what I missed yesterday, but today they seem fine. They keep a couple of guys between them and don’t really talk, but it’s far less violent than I was afraid it might be.
After that, the day flies by. I head home and do as much homework as I can before my night shift at the diner.
Just like that, it’s Thursday and the week is nearly over.
I stay after school for the newspaper meeting. To my absolute shock, Hunter walks in.
I look to Mr. Lohman expecting him to be surprised, but he just flashes Hunter a smile and says, “Welcome back, Mr. Maxwell.”
“Glad to be back,” Hunter says, stopping beside me and taking a seat.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, wide-eyed.
“Changing the world,” he says with feigned enthusiasm.
“I’m serious. I thought you quit so you could focus more on football.”
“Ah.” He nods. “Don’t have to do that anymore. I quit the team.”
“You… what? Why?”
He shrugs like it’s no big deal. “I like this more. Besides, I can do this with you. Football’s with Sherlock. I guess he’s all right, but you have a much better ass.”
I choke.
Hunter’s eyes gleam with amusement.
It’s like a million pounds fall off my shoulders, and I don’t even know why. “You’re done being crazy, then?”
“Nah, never,” he says lightly. “Just done being the kind of crazy that stresses you out.”
“I very much like the sound of this.”
“I thought you might.” He pulls his notebook out and drops it on the table. “What are you doing tomorrow night?”
“Working.”
“So, if your work suddenly decided they didn’t need you tomorrow, you’d be free?”
My eyes widen. “No, and I meant to ask you about that last weekend. I assume it wasn’t a coincidence my employer decided to give me the weekend off so I could spend it with you?”
Hunter shakes his head, but appears entirely unashamed of his interference.
“How did you even pull that off? You don’t have sway with Deb, do you?”
“Riley, I’m not trying to be an asshole here, but I can get sway pretty much anywhere I want it. The only thing I want that I truly can’t have is you. Whatever else I set my sights on, I can usually make it happen.”
I sigh. “You’re so spoiled.”
He flashes me a charming smile. “You keep me grounded. See, I need you.”
“Well, don’t do that again. I know you’re used to your bubble of privilege where people fall all over themselves to give you whatever you want, but I don’t live in it with you. If you keep demanding special treatment for me, even if Deb gives it to you because she can’t say no to those big brown eyes or the wad of money you throw at her, it’s going to end up hurting me in the long run. Eventually, she’ll decide employing me is more trouble than it’s worth, and I’ll be out of a job.”