“All right, all right. I suppose I can wait a couple more hours.”
The husky timbre of his voice almost makes me regret having to pull away, but then I spot Anderson storming toward us and alarm grips me.
Without a word, I brush past Hunter and race toward Anderson.
I need to get to him before he gets to Hunter.
His expression is thunderous when I get close enough to see it.
“Let’s go inside,” I say quickly, grabbing his shoulder and trying to corral him toward the door. I don’t really want to go inside Valerie’s house, but I do want to get Anderson as far away from Hunter as I possibly can.
Hunter let me drag him away, but Anderson doesn’t. He’s pissed and he doesn’t want to go inside, so he rips his arm from my grasp. “Were you ever planning to tell me about your history with Hunter Maxwell?”
I stop, but not before casting a nervous glance back in Hunter’s direction to see if he’s following.
He’s not. He’s leaning on the tree trunk he had me pinned against, watching us.
My gaze darts back to Anderson, a little less on edge now that I know Hunter’s not pursuing. “We do have a history, but if your source is Chuck Whitehouse, it’s not what you think it is.”
“Did you sleep with him?” he asks, point blank.
“No. Yes, but not—we didn’t have sex. He spent the night at my house one time, it wasn’t intentional, we were just hanging out and we fell asleep. But then some stuff happened and he wanted to hurt me, so he told everyone we had sex.”
“Charming. I can definitely see why he’s someone you sneak off into dark corners with.”
Embarrassment creeps up on me, heating my cheeks. “I don’t sneak off into dark corners with him,” I mutter.
Anderson’s gaze is cool and unsympathetic. “You just did. In front of my teammates. The guy already hassles me—I guess now I see why.”
I don’t know what to say to that. I look down at the ground, feeling a little ashamed. “I’m sorry.”
“You should have told me. Maybe if I knew he was your ex, I would’ve been a little more prepared for him to hate me.”
“He’s not my ex,” I mutter. “We were never really more than friends.”
“Yeah, well… looks like he wants to be more than friends now,” he says, jerking his head in the direction of the tree but not looking back at Hunter.
I’m not sure what exactly Hunter wants from me, but it’s clear he wants something. What’s more, I’m not sure it matters what he wants—he’s not going to stop until he gets it. If he has already caused this much trouble in less than a week, what will the rest of the year be like?
This is not how I wanted to do this, but it seems unavoidable now.
“I think we should break up,” I say gently, looking up at him.
He looks hurt, and it makes me feel wretched. “So you can be with him?”
I shake my head. “No. It’s not about him. I mean, a little bit—I do think he’d torture you if we stayed together. I don’t want to be the reason you go through hell this year, Anderson, and… I don’t think he’ll let us be together,” I say honestly.
“That’s not up to him,” he mutters, his voice dripping with resentment.
“I know, but he’s… he can be kind of a bully. I never saw that side of him myself, but I heard about it, and… I think this is just a taste. I know he wants me to break up with you, and I have a feeling he’ll go to whatever lengths he needs to in order to make that happen.”
Anderson looks off at nothing, shaking his head irritably. “What a fucking asshole.”
“Yeah,” I murmur, a bit glumly. “I guess he can be.”
I don’t tell Anderson that he can also be wonderful and sweet, that he’s so protective of his loved ones he’ll put himself in harm’s way for them. I don’t tell him about the boy I knew, because I know Hunter’s actions speak much louder than any of my words can.
And Hunter is being an asshole.
“It isn’t just about him, though. I don’t think you and I can make each other happy. I think we’re really different people, and I think staying together when it seems like we should end things… I think it would lead to more heartache for both of us than splitting up would.”
Anderson shakes his head, looking off at nothing. “I don’t believe you. Everything was fine between us before he showed up.”
I look down, feeling a touch guilty. I can’t really argue with that. Things were fine, but… honestly, I want better than fine. I want to feel something when the guy I’m with kisses me, and that spark just isn’t there with Anderson.