3. Hunter
CHAPTER THREE
HUNTER
E nough with the goddamn giggling . Chase and Kayla are snuggled up across the table from me like they’re in some kind of love cocoon. It’s adorable in the same way gouging my eyes out with a fork would fix my vision. I understand a candlelit Italian restaurant sets the mood , or whatever the fuck people say in the movies. But if I hear baby one more time, like it’s not the most clichéd term, I’m walking out. There are so many better things I could do on a Saturday night.
Drumming my fingers, I stare at the flickering shadows the tea lights cast across the wooden table. Elevator music playing just under the din of the evening crowd does nothing but amplify the noise in the room. The Tuscan finish on the walls is too orange, as if they used the house vodka sauce instead of paint. Everything in here is distracting . My eyes sweep over the arched windows framed by gaudy burgundy curtains, settling on the restroom hallway next to the kitchen.
Ashlie abandoned me for the bathroom ten minutes ago. I’m tempted to head that way just to take a breather, but the sounds of giggling pull me back to the table with a lip-curling grimace. Give me a fucking break . Watching these newly engaged lovebirds turns my stomach. Maybe I should be used to it by now, but their PDA still feels like an intrusion.
“You two should really get a room,” I say, trying to disrupt the awkwardness.
Without looking at me, Chase dips his head to kiss Kayla’s shoulder. “Oh, we intend to…”
Bleh . Scrubbing my eyes with bleach would be more pleasant than watching them sprinkle their vomit-inducing “love parmesan” all over what’s left of my pasta. I’m tempted to knock Chase’s Chicken Marsala into their laps, but mushrooms are as offensive as their PDA. I reach for my glass and tip a couple of ice cubes in my mouth instead.
Slinging an arm around Kayla, Chase turns to me. “So, I wanted to ask if you’ll be my best man.”
He already knows the answer is yes. We’ve been best friends since birth, basically brothers. “Will I have to watch more of this?” I wave my hand in their direction with a scowl.
“Absolutely. But don’t bring whoever you brought last night,” he says.
“Yeah, don’t bring her.” Kayla scrunches her nose. “She scowled the entire time. Where did you even meet her, Hunt?”
“Uh, the coffee shop, I think. Or was it the gym?” I shrug, hardly caring to remember the specifics. Women flock to me, and I go along with it. They don’t stick around long enough to mean anything, so there’s no point of putting my energy into knowing them. I either get bored or distracted before moving on to the next. Ava’s no different. We’ve only had a couple of dates, but she’s all sorts of drama. And she was a little too excited when she found out I’m the son of a multimillionaire. I don’t do drama or gold diggers. “It doesn’t really matter. I’m not feelin’ it with her anymore.”
Kayla snorts and shakes her head. “That figures. Are you ever going to settle down?”
“And be whipped like you two? Naw,” I say, fidgeting with my fork. “That’s not my thing. I like my space too much. And I damn sure don’t want to answer to anyone.”
She cocks an eyebrow as her head falls to the side. “Do I look like I answer to anyone?”
Chase laughs into her shoulder, unwilling to get in the middle of our sibling squabble. I can’t blame him. I swallow my smart-ass response too. There’s no way I’ll win this battle with my sister. Half sister, technically—same dad, different moms. We’ve only known about each other for five years, learning of our relation right around the time she got together with Chase. She may be a few months younger, but we both know she’s not the one to mess with.
“I’m not touching that.” I laugh and look up in time to see Ashlie whip around the corner. Her golden-brown coils spill from her high ponytail like a fully bloomed bouquet of curls. The freckles over her nose are illuminated by the flushing across her amber cheeks as she scurries into the seat next to me. She heaves a breath like she just ran a mile, eyes so wide they have to hurt. “You good?” I ask.
“Bryan’s here,” Ashlie whispers to the table.
“Who?” I look to Kayla to see if she knows what’s going on.
“ Bryan !” Ashlie whisper-screams.
Kayla twists in her seat to look around the room. “ Bryan , Bryan?”
“Yes! Don’t look !” Ashlie hunkers down in her chair like Bryan is some ominous reaper coming to take her soul.
“Oh, Ashy Bryan?” I tease, recalling his nickname from our summer in Fort Bender.
Kayla giggles. “I thought it was his babies who were going to be ashy.”
“I think anything having to do with Bryan turned ashy,” Chase jokes back.
“You three laugh it up, but he’s here with his wife. And I’m pretty sure he saw me.” Ashlie lifts off her chair, hovering slightly as she peeks across the room.
No sooner than she sits, tall ass Bryan comes around the corner with a very pregnant replica of Ashlie. She’s short, with light brown skin and curly hair dyed a golden brown. You can tell it’s dyed by the black roots showing. But aside from that, and the ginormous belly, she looks eerily similar.
“Quick”—Ashlie turns to me—“pretend we’re together.”
My face pinches as I lean back to look at her. Is she fucking serious ?
“Just do it!” she whispers through her teeth. Picking up my hand, she drapes my arm around her shoulders and laces our fingers. I glance across the table, wide-eyed, and the two lovebirds are cracking up as they watch the exchange.
“Ashlie? I thought that was you,” Bryan says with a smile, white teeth gleaming against his dark brown skin. He and his wife stop next to our table, and she rubs her belly in that motherly way, while Ashlie snuggles in closer to me. Close enough that her curls tickle my jaw, the light scent of her jasmine perfume drifting to my nose.
“ Bryan ?” she asks, forcibly changing her panicked expression into one of surprise. “It’s been forever!”
“It really has.” He nods, turning to look across the table. “And Kayla too? Talk about a blast from the past!”
“Hey, Bryan.” Kayla nods to the seat next to her. “This is my fiancé, Chase.”
Chase reaches his hand out toward Bryan for a shake.
“Fiancé? Wow, that’s exciting! This is my wife, Shaylee.” He looks at Ashlie expectantly. It’s almost painful to watch. How he found a near-identical replacement to his ex, even down to the similar names, is purely coincidental, I’m sure. Asshat . No one in this interaction wants to be here, except maybe Bryan, and I’m getting bored with the niceties. Time for some fun .
“Aren’t you going to introduce me, honey bear ?” I ask loudly, hugging Ashlie tight as I nuzzle my face into her hair. I don’t know where “honey bear” came from, but it somehow fits her.
She stiffens, subtly jabbing me with her elbow before lobbing back with, “Yes, my s ugar booger .” I nudge her foot, and she kicks me. “This is my”—she flinches when I tickle her side—“this is Hunter.” Smiling back at Bryan, she wiggles away from me slightly. Kayla and Chase watch the madness behind covered snickers.
“What’s good?” I reach over Ashlie to shake his hand. We’ve met once, five years ago, but he clearly doesn’t recognize me.
“And you’re her…?” He’s a little too interested, if you ask me. Especially with a wife who looks ready to pop any second.
“I’m the love of her life.” I wink at him and drape my arm back over Ashlie’s shoulders, wrapping the other around her middle. Discreet snorts float across the table as I turn up the act and nuzzle into Ashlie’s cheek. “Right, sunshine?”
“Yep,” she says through a gritted smile. I trail my finger over the strap of her dress, and she slaps my hand, playing it off as a tender hand grab. She turns to me with a sassy glint in her eyes. “We met at the car wash. He was shampooing his seats after a case of explosive diarrh?—”
With wide eyes, I press two fingers over her lips to silence the rest of her sentence. Kayla has a coughing fit, and Chase’s head is in his hands, shoulders shaking violently. “Oh, sweet cheeks ”—I tut—“some things need to stay between us…”
“Well, that’s great. Really, Ashlie. We’d better go, but it was good seeing you. Both of you.” Bryan nods toward Kayla and turns to his wife, glancing back at Ashlie one last time before guiding Shaylee to the door. What a fuckstick .
“Looks like he has a type,” I whisper once they’re out of earshot. Ashlie sits still in my arms, holding her breath until they exit the restaurant.
“Boy, if you don’t get your hands off me…” She throws my arms from around her and scoots her chair away, causing my suppressed laughter to erupt from my throat. “What was that ?” she asks, glaring at me. “I said act like we’re together, not maul me.”
“Hey, you asked for it,” I say, breath hitching from residual snickers. Kayla and Chase finally lose it, and Ashlie bites her cheeks, trying to keep herself from falling out too.
“ Honey bear ? What kind of pet name is that?” She covers a giggle with the back of her hand.
“You called me sugar booger . I’m pretty sure that’s drugs.”
“That’s booger sugar, you dumbass,” Ashlie tries to say with condescension, but she ultimately gives in to the collective snorts and giggles.
“Dumbass? Is that another pet name?” I mimic back.
“ Ugh ! You’re so annoying!” She rolls her eyes, arms crossing tightly.
I smile widely. “I know.”
“Okay”—Kayla interjects—“let’s pivot to the wedding. Since you two are the best man and maid of honor, we wanted to run a few things past you.” She glances at Chase, who presses a kiss to her temple. The disgustingly sweet display is enough to make me lose my appetite for dessert. “We’re thinking Memorial Day, back in Fort Bender.”
“That’s only seven months away!” Ashlie gasps, counting on her phone’s calendar. “We have to pull all of this together in seven months?”
“Yeah,” Chase says. “We’ll need to hit the ground running. We just felt like that was the day and didn’t want to wait another year.”
Like waiting one more year when you’ve been together for five is a big deal . But what do I know ? I don’t do relationships. These two, on the other hand? They’re inseparable. A wedding is just a formality at this point.
Kayla and Chase first met in Fort Bender, where Ashlie and I had a front-row seat to their summer love story. They’re different in almost every way—Black and white, reserved and sociable, pessimist and optimist, no-nonsense and goofy as hell—but it works for them.
“I’m ready for whatever you need.” Ashlie reaches across the table for Kayla’s hand. “I can fly up to San Francisco on the weekends or find vendors in Bender… Ooh, I bet Samson would do your flowers in a heartbeat! Just tell me what else you need, and I’m on it.”
“Same. My mandatory day in the office moved to Wednesdays, so I can take off for the weekends whenever,” I offer.
The waiter clears our plates and brings the check while we hammer out a few more details. We say our goodbyes in the parking lot, the cool October wind breezing around us as we dole out hugs and handshakes. After another round of congratulations, Kayla and Chase walk off to their rental car. They fly back to San Francisco in the morning.
“Alright, honey bear . I’ll see you for lunch on Wednesday!” I tease, dodging her incoming swat at me.
“Boy, if you don’t leave me alone…” She shakes her head, laughing.
“Are you gonna make me do that anytime we bump into one of your exes? Because I will. We just need to get our backstory straight.”
“I think the one I used will work just fine, thank you very much!” Her shoulder swat connects this time before we’re both doubled over, laughing at the ridiculous end to the night. Still smiling, she holds up her fist. “Really, though. Thanks for having my back, Hunt.”
I meet her fist with mine. “I got you. Always… You good, though?”
“Yeah. I’m okay.” She smiles again and climbs behind the wheel of her little red hatchback, but I see in her eyes how shaken she is from running into that manipulative motherfucker again.
Ashlie and I met that same summer in Fort Bender, back when she was still with Bryan. She was safe—off-limits—and she could see straight through my bullshit. Over the years, she’s become one of my best friends. I’d do anything for her, including fending off overeager exes.
I wait for her to drive away before crossing the parking lot. When I get in my car, the scent of jasmine on my shirt collar conjures too many memories. The fragrance is faint, but it’s there, transporting my mind back to the first time I was close enough to smell her perfume. A time we both promised we’d never talk about again. I won’t say a word to anyone about that night, but I’ll damn sure think about it the entire drive home. After all, I’ve been in love with my best friend for the last five years.