The Hunt

1. Rhett

1

Rhett

August 28 th , 2024

“You stupid motherfucker.”

I stepped closer to Ryan, voice low and edged with barely restrained anger. The traitorous asshole stumbled backward, nearly tripping over his own feet as he tried to put some distance between us.

“Really thought you’d get away with it, huh?” I growled, closing the distance between us. I grabbed his shoulders and slammed his back into the cold wall of the underpass. “Thought you could run and hide from us? From me ?”

Ryan flinched, eyes darting nervously from side to side as though searching for an escape. But he was trapped, cornered. “Please. It’s not what—”

I stared down at him, expression a cold mask of fury. “Let me guess. It’s not what it looks like?”

“Yes! Exactly!” Relief flickered over his face. “It was just—”

“This is the part where you say it was just a joke, huh?” I hissed, pulling him forward before slamming him back into the stone wall again. I followed that up with a swift punch to his gut. Just a warning tap, really. The next one would be harder.

A grunt of pain escaped Ryan’s mouth, followed by a rattling gasp as he tried to catch his breath. The faint light from outside the underpass cast shadows across his face as he raised his hands in an attempt to defend himself. His petrified expression was pitiful. Pathetic.

I felt no sympathy for the little prick. What the fuck did he think would happen when he crossed the Wilders like this? He knew better. Everyone did.

“Rhett, please,” he ground out, pre-emptively wincing as I yanked my right hand off his shoulder and curled it into a tight fist.

Just as I raised the fist, a voice echoed down the tunnel. “Hey! What the hell is going on down there?”

The words cut through the cold air like a knife, halting me in my tracks. I turned my head sharply to see a girl standing at the far end of the underpass. She was just a silhouette, but her stance was clearly defiant.

“Help!” Ryan yelped. “Call the pol—”

I clamped a hand over his mouth to shut him up, thumb moving downward to press down on his Adam’s apple until he was letting out gurgling gasps of pain through my fingers. “I think we both know what’ll happen if the cops get involved, and it won’t be good for you, will it?” I growled.

He stared up at me through wide eyes as understanding dawned on him. Then he nodded shakily.

“Hey!” The girl took several steps forward. Behind her, she was dragging an enormous suitcase on squeaky wheels, and a large tote bag hung from her left arm. “Leave him alone!”

I was about to tell her to fuck off and mind her own goddamned business, but then I realized how cute she was. Long blonde hair and a stunning body clad in tight skinny jeans and a loose jacket that did its best but still couldn’t hide her curves.

She took a few steps closer, eyes narrowing. Fuck. This girl wasn’t just cute. She was gorgeous. Plump, pouty lips I desperately wanted to bite, a heart-shaped face, and wide, flashing eyes that instantly telegraphed her spitfire attitude.

“Do I need to call the cops?” she asked, eyes fixed on Ryan.

I drew back and lifted my hands in mock surrender. “Nah, we’re cool here,” I said. “We’re just messing around.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You call that messing around?”

“Relax. It’s all part of a game.” I cocked my head and flashed the girl the same grin that usually made women stumble and fall at my feet. “You’d understand if you were a player. Are you interested?”

She scoffed. “A game ? That’s seriously the best excuse you can come up with?”

Ryan gulped. “He’s not lying. I-it’s kind of like… a hazing thing.”

“See?” I raised a brow. “It’s nothing. You just walked in at a bad time.”

The girl’s jaw tightened, and she took another step forward. “I’d be more inclined to believe him if he wasn’t so clearly terrified of you,” she said, eyes darting between Ryan and me. “Also… hazing? Last I checked, that’s not a good thing.”

The grin stayed affixed to my face, and I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms. “Well, speaking of being terrified… why the hell are you , a barely five-foot woman, walking down a dark tunnel alone at night? Aren’t you scared?”

She returned my smile as she reached into her front pocket to reveal a small, sleek Taser. “Life becomes a lot less scary when you have one of these babies,” she replied, letting the faint blue spark crackle in the darkness. She held my gaze, unfazed, her smile widening just enough to hint at a challenge. “Do I have to use it, or are you going to let your friend go?”

I shrugged. “He can leave whenever he wants. Like I said, we were just messing around.”

Ryan took that as his cue to flee, feet loudly scuffing against the concrete in his haste to scurry out of the underpass. I didn’t watch the dirty little rat go. Didn’t care that he’d escaped my wrath, either. I would’ve liked to finish the job tonight, but it wasn’t the biggest deal in the world. I could easily find him another time.

For now, I wanted to stay and talk to this gorgeous blonde girl. I hadn’t found someone as alluring as her since… well, fuck, as long as I could remember . There was just something so damn magnetic about her confidence. It was like an invitation; a thrilling challenge that stirred the darkest parts of me.

It made me want to unravel her, to chip away at each bold layer until I finally found the vulnerability beneath. I wanted to watch the steel in her gaze soften, then shatter. See those pretty eyes fill with fear to replace the certainty that was once there. Fear that would eventually melt into desire.

Just imagining it all sent a surge of satisfaction through me—the thought of her finally breaking, her lips parting to release a scream of terror. One she’d been so sure she’d never, ever let slip.

Those were the best kinds of people to play with. The real challenges. Not the ones who were already a blubbering, shivering mess from the very start.

The girl’s eyes narrowed. “You really expect me to believe that was just a silly frat boy game?” she asked. “I saw you. You were beating that guy up.”

I ignored her remarks. “What’s your name, princess?”

She ignored my question in turn. “Even if it’s true, and you guys were just messing around, it’s hardly a fair fight, is it?” she said. “That guy was half a head shorter than you, and you’ve probably got around forty pounds of muscle on him. Maybe even more.”

I smirked. “All I’m hearing is: you think I’m jacked as fuck,” I said, tapping my chin with one finger. “Thanks for the compliment. Means a lot.”

“God, you really are an asshole, aren’t you?” she muttered, rolling her eyes. The end of the Taser crackled again, blue against black. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t call the cops right now and tell them there’s a guy going around attacking students.”

I sighed internally. If she called the cops on me, everything would work out fine in the end—it always did for guys in my position—but it would still cause a fucking headache, and I could really do without any of that shit right now.

“Would it satisfy you if I said that I can’t tell you why I have a problem with Ryan, but I can tell you that he deserves everything he gets?” I asked, cocking my head.

The girl scoffed. “That sounds like something a playground bully would say after he got caught,” she said. She took one more step toward me as she spoke, still brandishing the Taser. “But I guess that’s what you are, huh? A bully who doesn’t realize high school finished years ago.”

Now that she was even closer, and her face was a little less shadowed, something about it was nagging at a deep, dark corner of my mind. She wasn’t just beautiful—she was familiar . But why?

I usually had a pretty decent memory, but I couldn’t remember meeting this chick anywhere at Hollingsworth over the last few years. Or anywhere else, for that matter. And I’d definitely remember meeting a girl who looked like that.

Still… I knew her face from somewhere. Maybe she was some famous e-girl. Or a local Insta model.

“Where do I know you from?” I asked, raising my brows. “Have we met?”

“No, I’m pretty sure I’d know if we’d met before,” she said, nose wrinkling. “You have a very memorable face, and I mean that in a bad way.”

I grinned again, still loving that spark of hers. “Are you calling me ugly?”

“No. I’m just saying that even if you leave right now, I could easily describe you to a police sketch artist and get a perfect likeness of you. And that would be bad for you,” she said stonily. “So I’ll say it again. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t call the cops and tell them what I saw.”

“What constitutes a good reason?” I asked, casually leaning back against the underpass wall.

“Well, I hate bullies who act like assholes for no reason, but I’m not totally anti-violence.” She waved the Taser to underline her statement. “If you had a valid reason to beat that guy up, I could probably muster up some sympathy and forget I saw anything tonight. Like… if he poisoned your dog. Or murdered your family. So tell me. What did he do?”

I stared down at her, tight-lipped.

She arched a brow. “Your silence tells me you don’t have a valid reason.”

“Or maybe it’s just none of your fucking business,” I said, shrugging.

“It’s almost as if you want me to call the cops.”

“You’re not gonna call them, princess.” A cold smile spread over my face again. “See, I’ve just realized—that particular Taser in your hand is still illegal in this state. So if you try to take me down, I’m taking you right down with me.”

The girl’s haughty expression faltered, and she swallowed hard. That made me think about wrapping my hand around her pale throat. I knew it would fit perfectly. Like a fucking glove.

“I… it’s not illegal. I bought it at a legitimate store,” she said. I could tell she was bluffing. All the bite from her voice was gone, replaced by nervousness and defensiveness.

“We both know that’s bullshit. And the thing is, sweetheart ... ” I launched off the wall and stepped closer to her. “If the cops showed up right now, you’d be in a hell of a lot more trouble than me, because your claim against me is just words, isn’t it? A nasty little accusation with no proof. But my claim against you has solid evidence. Namely, that illegal Taser in your hand. So who do you think would be more screwed in the end?”

Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.

“Your silence tells me you know I’m right,” I said, echoing her words from earlier.

Before she could finally figure out a coherent response, a flashlight beam arced over the end of the underpass. “Hey! You two. Stay right there!”

The beam of light swept closer, and the heavy voice called out again. “What’s going on in here?”

I lifted a hand to block the bright light. “Nothing. We’re just talking.”

A campus cop stepped into view, brows furrowed. “Got a call from a dorm nearby,” he said, his tone firm. “Someone reported hearing shouting from this area. When they came down to check, they thought they saw someone getting attacked in the underpass.”

As he spoke, his eyes landed on my little blonde rival. She’d shoved her hand in her pocket to conceal her Taser, and her eyes were wide and swimming with anxiety.

“You okay, miss?” the campus cop went on, frown deepening. He stepped closer, his free hand resting cautiously on his radio.

“She’s fine. I was the one shouting,” I said. “I didn’t realize I was so loud.”

The cop’s gaze flicked to me, skeptical but waiting. “Why were you shouting?”

I motioned to my leg and affected an embarrassed expression. “Because I’m a clumsy dumbass. Tripped and fell while I was walking through here, and I twisted my ankle. Hurt like fucking hell. Luckily, she heard me groaning and came in to help me.” I paused and looked toward Blondie. “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

She didn’t fall for my attempt to fish for her identity. Instead, she simply nodded. “I saw him lying at the end of the tunnel when I was walking past,” she said, gaze focused on the cop. “I thought his ankle must’ve been broken or something, from the way he was whining. Kind of pathetic, really. But it’s fine. No damage at all. It’s not even swollen.”

I suppressed the laughter rising in my throat. She was playing along with my bullshit ankle story, not wanting to get in trouble for her Taser, but she was having her own fun with it by mocking me and making me look like a weak asshole at the same time. The ensuing annoyance and anger I felt only made me hornier.

“Yeah, it feels fine now,” I said, baring my teeth at her in a malicious smile. “Guess I overreacted a bit, huh?”

The cop frowned at Blondie. “Listen, it was nice of you to offer your assistance, and I’m glad everything’s okay, but stepping into a dark tunnel at night isn’t safe. Next time, stay at a safe distance and call us if you see or hear anything. We can make sure everything’s okay without you having to put yourself at risk.”

“Shit, that’s a good point,” I said, nodding slowly. My eyes were still fixed on the blonde girl. Her eyes were narrowed with irritation, and her lips were pressed into a thin line. “Didn’t some serial killer from the seventies do that to lure in women? Pretended to be injured so they’d come over and help him?”

“Yeah. Some people do that. They prey on others by taking advantage of their kindness,” the cop said. He looked at Blondie again. “It’s an unfortunate fact of life, really. That’s why it’s a bad idea for girls like you to run in and help, no matter how badly the other person seems to need it.”

“Right,” she muttered through obviously gritted teeth. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The cop turned his attention back to me. “Do you need a ride to the campus medical center to get your ankle checked out? They’re open until ten, so they should be able to squeeze you in.”

“Nah. I think it’s okay now,” I said, waving a dismissive hand. “I just need to walk it off.”

“All right.” His gaze swiveled back to Blondie. “I can take you to your dorm. It’s safer than walking alone late at night. Looks like you’ve got a heavy suitcase, too.”

She opened her mouth to reply, but I jumped in. “It’s okay. I offered to walk her there as a way of saying thanks for helping me. Right?”

She swallowed hard again, eyes flashing with barely contained annoyance. “Right.”

“You sure?” the cop asked, brows knitting.

“Yes.” Her lips curved in a small smile. “It’s a nice night, and I like walking. And I’ll be safe with, er—what was your name again?”

Nice. She’d played my name game right back at me, obviously wanting to know who I was to make it easier for her to avoid me in the future. Little smartass.

“Rhett,” I offered up.

“Rhett. That’s right.” She gave me a saccharine smile that didn’t meet her eyes. “Sorry, I forgot.”

“Speaking of names,” the cop cut in. “I’ll need to know both of yours for my incident report.”

“Report?” I asked, eyes narrowing.

He nodded. “Even though this turned out to be nothing, I still have to fill out all the forms. Bureaucracy, you know?”

“Oh. Right. I’m Ev,” the blonde girl said.

“Sorry, I should’ve been more specific. I’ll need to see your student IDs.”

I fished mine out of my wallet and craned my neck as Ev did the same, trying to catch a glimpse of her full name. It was too dark, though. Goddammit.

“All right. Thanks,” the cop said once he’d noted our names and ID numbers. “Stay safe, okay?”

“You got it.” I flashed a smile at him. “Thanks for checking on us.”

Once he’d finally left, Ev whirled around, eyes narrowed. “You’re not actually walking me to my dorm,” she hissed, grabbing her suitcase handle. “You know that, right?”

“I sure as hell am,” I said, smirking. “You heard the guy. It’s not safe for little ladies like you to walk alone at night.”

“Yeah, mostly because of assholes like you, ” she shot back. “Anyway, as we already established, I can look after myself, remember?”

“Ah, yes. Little Miss Rebel with her illegal tactical gear.”

She huffed and took off, suitcase wheels squeaking behind her. I followed her, easily catching up in under three seconds. Her little legs could never outwalk—or outrun—me. I’d certainly love to see her try, though…

Fuck.

I had to stop thinking with my dick or I actually would start to have trouble walking, courtesy of the raging hard-on in my pants. No twisted ankle necessary.

“So what’s Ev short for?” I asked, raising a brow.

“Electric vehicle,” she said flatly.

“Ha-fucking-ha. Is it Evelyn? Evangeline?”

“None of your damn business.” She halted, fished the Taser out of her jacket again, and waved it in my face. “In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re alone again, so if you’re not careful, I’m gonna use this. Right on your crotch.”

Well, that would certainly take care of my boner issue.

I took a step closer. “Tell me your name and I’ll leave you alone.”

“You obviously only want to know my full name because you have no intention of leaving me alone at all,” she said, rolling my eyes. “So let me be clear. I’m not interested in dating or hooking up with anyone right now, and I’m especially not interested in doing either of those things with a guy who never mentally graduated past junior high.”

“You just assume I want to hook up with you? Or date you?” My smirk widened. “Bit arrogant, no?”

Another eyeroll. “I’m not arrogant. I just can’t think of any other reason to explain why you’re still following me and demanding to know my name.” She hesitated and tilted her head. “Unless you’re planning on stalking me and jumping me in a tunnel, like you did with that guy back there.”

My face hardened at the mention of Ryan. “You have no idea about all the things I could do to you, princess,” I said in a low voice.

Ev snorted. “Ooh, I’m so scared,” she said, sarcasm practically dripping off her tongue.

“You can pretend to be unbothered all you want, but deep down, you are scared. I can see it in your eyes, as much as you try to hide it,” I said, leaning down to let my breath fan across her throat. “Besides, why else would you be carrying a Taser around wherever you go? You’re obviously only pretending to be fearless. But really, you’re just a scared little girl. This big, bad world terrifies you.”

I could tell from the way her face instantly fell that I’d struck a nerve. “Fuck off, psycho,” she muttered, jerking away before turning around and setting off along the path again.

I didn’t follow her this time. She wasn’t far from the main part of campus, where there were bound to be more people hanging around, even at this time of night. Besides, she’d already made it clear she could take care of herself.

For now, anyway. But not for much longer. This game between us was only beginning, and the idea of being the one to slowly unravel her and break her down was far too enticing to let pass by.

I turned and strode over to the parking lot. Once I was in my car, I headed for the Wilder house—my home for the last few years, which I shared with many of my society brothers. The hulking mansion stood a mile off campus, hidden behind iron gates and a line of towering oaks. Its dark stone walls were worn and pitted, but those marks of age only added to its imposing presence.

I parked and went inside, lips twitching in a ghost of a smile as I considered the evening’s happenings. Four of my society brothers—Nick, Jake, Ari, and JJ—were sprawled on the couch in the main living room, watching a game on the massive TV.

“Hey, man,” JJ called out. “Did you deal with Ryan?”

I shook my head. “Not yet. I’ll do it tomorrow instead. He’s not gonna say anything to anyone in the meantime. He knows what’s coming if he does.”

“True.”

Jake’s forehead wrinkled. “So you couldn’t find him?”

“I did find him.” I crossed my arms, brows slowly rising. “But then I found something even better.”

“What?”

“A girl. But not just any girl,” I said, lips curving in a wicked smirk. “The perfect girl.”