50. HUNTER
50
S trolling into chaos willingly, Laurie’s high heels echoing in my ear with each step, her arm linked to mine.
“Oh my god, Emily! Look at that!” She glances at Jensen’s date. After doing a shoot together, Laurie has been adamant about setting her up with either Jason or Jensen, quoting “ we can double date .”
“Damn, Toto. We’re definitely not in Kansas anymore.” Jensen’s eyes bulge at the skimpy dressed air acrobatic girls hanging from the ceiling. The entire venue is decorated in the Knights’ signature black and white, while everyone in a suit and tie blends right in.
Including me.
But on the inside, I feel like all these layers of fabric are designed to be a deathtrap.
“Damn, I hate this damn tux.” I pinch two fingers between the collar of my dress shirt, hoping to relieve some of the heat building in my chest. “Next time, only invite us if the dress code is do-whatever-the-fuck-you-want-sexy.”
Jensen cocks an eyebrow. “That still doesn’t allow you to come in sweats and a hoodie.”
“Why the fuck not?”
“Because that would be a slumber party,” Jason pitches in. “But I agree. Next time, I’m staying home if it requires us to dress up as monkeys.”
“Damn, you two can whine,” Jensen says as his eyes roll up. “I have had to do this bullshit once a month since I was eight. At least this crowd isn’t filled with uptight politicians and their cookie-cutter wives. Besides, it’s for charity. You wouldn’t want the world to find out Hunter Hansen has a frozen heart that cannot even melt under the gaze of orphaned children?” His gooey eyes ridiculously stare back at me from underneath his fluttering lashes. Fuckface.
“I care about the kids,” I rebuke. “But I could’ve done with a big-ass check and no tux.”
“No such luck, Hansen.” Jensen grips my shoulder, a shit-eating grin splitting his face, accompanied with a glint that screams trouble. “I’d much rather get tortured with you than without you.”
“Don’t you usually take Bodi to these things?” Jason opts, referring to Jensen’s best friend since he was twelve.
“Yeah, but he went to visit his dad on the East Coast.”
The three of us glance around the spacious room. Two open bars sit on either side of the room, while the front of the stage is conferred into a oak dancefloor. The rest of the space is occupied by two dozen tables, with medieval suits of armor helmets and big black and white feathers sprouting from the top as huge centerpieces.
“You’d think this is Robert Davis's third wedding,” I mutter, referring to the owner of the team while we find our way to Jensen’s table.
“Yeah, Davis doesn’t have a budget for these things. Apparently, his first wife talked him into donating ten percent of his income to charity,” Jensen informs, pulling out a chair for Emily, while I follow his example for Laurie. He’s a fucking dickhead, most of the time, but it’s in these moments that it’s clear he wasn’t raised in small-town North Carolina. No, Jared James Jensen’s family is prestigious as fuck. “Said it was bad karma if he didn’t.”
We all sit down when a server appears, taking our drinking orders, and we chat a little until our drinks are placed in front of us. Laurie ordered a glass of Pinot Grigio or some shit, and she takes a sip before she almost gulps it all down.
“Oh my god… is that?” Laurie’s eyes narrow, zoning in on a couple chatting with a man I recognize as Johnny Pearce, the GM of the team.
Emily gasps when she fixes her eyes in the same direction. “Nicole.”
“Oh, you know Chad’s wife? She’s cool.”
Two sets of evil eyes whip Jensen’s way, and he winces from behind his bourbon. “Or not. Not cool, apparently.”
“She’s a shady bitch,” Laurie blurts like a fire-spitting dragon. “We’ve both auditioned with Armani a few years back, but she stole the job from me.”
“How is it stealing when you had to audition?” Jason says flatly, already bored with the conversation.
“ Because … she didn’t even know about the job until I told her about it,” Laurie says earnestly, and even I see the flaws in that explanation.
“That’s not stealing,” Jason deadpans.
“It’s still a bitch move,” Emily counters with a resting bitch face, before she decadently lifts her glass of wine to her lips.
I see a dozen comments on Jason’s lips, but I shoot him a stern look, silently telling him to drop it.
“Ladies, I don’t care if you want to shoot daggers at Nicole all night, but behave. I don't want you to pull out your claws against my teammate’s wife.” His eyes fix on Emily while he links his fingers with her. A charming smile curls his mouth, but the dark expression in his eyes makes Emily shift a little in her chair.
“Of course not. ”
Squeezing Laurie’s leg beside me, I nonverbally will her to look me in the eye to confirm the same.
Defiant as she can be, she keeps her gaze trained in front of her, feigning oblivion as I keep staring at her profile.
“Laurie?” I opt after a moment of silence.
Finally, she slowly turns her attention my way, followed by a roll of her sharp eyes.
“What?”
“ Behave ,” I growl, digging my fingers a little deeper into her flesh.
“I always behave!” I just hold her gaze, shooting her a dull expression. She can be really sweet, bringing me my coffee in bed or cooking dinner after a long day at the gym, even though she can’t cook for shit. But in public? Or with her friends? She can be as nice as a feral cat, claws and everything.
“Fine!” she mutters, then pulls my arm when the new Ed Sheeran song ricochets through the venue. “Hunter, please dance with me.” Brown eyes peer up at me from underneath her fake lashes, and I let my gaze drop a little lower down the cleavage of her silver dress. The swell of her breasts lures me into the fantasy of ripping it off her body later tonight, but when they lower a little bit more to her bright red painted lips, it vanishes as quickly as it came. She’s hot and fun. As much as people might not believe it, when it’s just me and her, she’s just a normal girl. Strolling around the house in yoga leggings and a hoodie, no make-up on, eating a bag of chips while watching some boring reality show. I live for those moments. It’s the moments like this, when she’s all dolled up and glued to her phone, that I’m wondering how the hell I ended up here.
“No thanks, honey. I’ll pass.”
“Oh, come on, you love to dance.”
A crooked smile and a smart remark settles on my tongue, but I’m cut off before I can open my mouth .
“He hates to dance,” Jason chimes in.
“He does not.” I don’t miss the fire in her gaze and simultaneously roll my eyes, already dreading what’s coming. Here we go again .
“He’d rather run a stick up his ass than dance.”
“Then why does he dance with me?” Laurie replies, trying to sound smug. Not sure if she means all the times she’s been grinding her ass in my groin when we go out, but I wouldn’t qualify that as dancing. More like foreplay.
“Clearly because he’s whipped.” Jensen smirks from behind his tumbler.
A humorless chuckle lifts from Jason’s chest before he takes a sip of his drink. “More like chained,” he mutters.
“ He’s in love.” Laurie emphasizes every word, but Jason just throws her an unfazed expression and shrugs.
“I’m sticking with chained .”
“Definitely chained,” Jensen agrees.
“You two are such assholes.” She points her finger between the two of them, accompanied by a death glare that’s supposed to scare them. It’s cute, because all it does is fuel these two fuckers to keep pushing. Especially Jason. He has never made it a secret that he’s not a fan of Laurie, and the feeling is completely mutual, if you’d ask my girlfriend.
“Never said I wasn’t, sweetheart.” Jensen laughs cynically, and Jason lifts his glass at her.
“What can I say? You bring out the best in me.”
The air thickens, and from the corner of my eye, Emily shifts a little, uncomfortable in her chair, as Jason and Laurie are having their own personal pissing contest at who can look the scariest. Jason’s features darken, though an evil grin haunts his face while Laurie narrows her eyes in a lingering way. I’m torn between lifting to my feet and getting myself another drink or being the gatekeeper for these two. Why can’t they just get along? Or at least fucking pretend they do.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she finally declares. Her words are thick and heavy, a clear statement that runs deeper than just her potential departure when we go home.
Jason snorts. “Trust me, I know.”
Laurie huffs next to me, and I rest my palm on her arm to ease her down a little. I’m not in the mood to pull my girlfriend off of my best friend because she’s clawing his eyes out, and just one glance at her tells me she’s ready to eat him alive.
“Okay, that’s enough. Why don’t you go get us a drink, and I’ll meet you there in a minute.” I send her a pleading look. Her red lips purse, as if she’s contemplating what to do, before she flips Jason off and gets up.
“Are you coming, Emily?”
I release my pent-up breath when both girls walk away, and I snap my attention between my two friends like it’s a goddamn tennis match.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? Both of you.”
“What’s wrong with us? You’re dating her, man.” Jason casually takes another sip of his drink, not hiding how he feels. In fact, it’s dripping from his five o’clock shadow and blue eyes that are now as dark as the deepest point in the Atlantic.
“Jensen is dating her friend,” I hiss. “I don’t hear you complaining about her.”
Jensen sputters, pointing his glass my way. “They are hardly friends. They run in the same circles. Unfortunately, the same that are dictated by my mother.” He muffles the last words behind a sip of his drink.
“Not the fucking point,” I hiss.
“Right.”
“She’s my girlfriend, guys. ”
“I get why you don’t like her, although if you fuck this up, I will rip your head off.” I glare at my best friend before jerking my head toward Jensen. “But what’s your issue with her?”
His brows move to the top of his head, but it lacks a sincerity that tells me he definitely has an opinion on it. “Nothing.”
“Uh-huh. Try again.”
“Jesus, Hunt.”
“What?” I snarl. I’m sick and tired of being the bridge between my friends and my girlfriend. A fucking wobbly bridge with holes and broken planks. Jason does his best half of the time, but it’s more tolerating her than anything else, which, to be fair, seems to be the same situation for her. For some unknown reason, Jason and Laurie don’t get along, and I’ve accepted it. But I will not accept them biting each other’s heads off every chance they get. They can suck it up and play pretend for the common good. Meaning me .
“I don’t have any issues with her.” Jensen flashes me a dull expression.
“Great.” I bring my glass to my lips, but before the honey-colored liquid can coax my tongue, Jensen adds, “I do have an issue with the two of you, though.”
I look up at the strobes on the ceiling. “What do you mean?”
“Look, I'm just gonna say it. You two are toxic together, man.” Now it’s my turn to pull a face. “Don’t look at me like that. She sucks the living soul out of you and not because her lips are always wrapped around your dick.” He pauses, and my molars grind together at the way he talks about her, but I can’t find an argument either. “Sometimes I wonder if you even like her.”
“Of course I like her.”
His intense gaze challenges me. “Name one thing you have in common with her.”
Easy. “We hike together. ”
“Because you’re forcing her,” Jason says like a smartass, and I ball a fist to prevent myself from flicking my palm against his head.
“We both like to go out to dinner.”
“She likes sushi, you like pizza from Donny’s and hamburgers. She drags you to all these restaurants with tiny bites, when you just want a fucking steak.”
“That’s not t—” I’m cut off when Laurie appears on my side again, holding some kind of weird pepper thing wrapped in bacon in front of my face.
“Look, baby,” she exults. “It’s an amuse-bouche. You’ll love it.” Before I can decline, it’s basically shoved into my mouth.
“Isn’t it amazing?”
I nod, chewing the thing with a strained smile, and I can’t avoid Jason’s smug grin when she walks away again.
“ Chained ,” he mouths.
I hate him.
The food is great, but far too small portioned for my appetite, so an hour later I’m feeding my hunger with my third whiskey, already planning on going to the drive-through for a burger when I get out of here. My eyes land on a blonde in a black pantsuit, her hair up in a classy bun. An intense glare is pinned on Jensen’s profile, a smile etched in my face when I recognize her as the team’s PR representative. Emily is sitting on his lap, his lips cascading up and down her neck, but by blondie’s annoyed expression, she’s clearly not on board with Jensen’s PDA.
I lean in, close enough for him to hear me, but not loud enough for the rest of the table to register. “Why is PR girl glaring at you?”
Jensen’s eyes roam to find her, then a crooked smile lands on his features before he whispers, “Probably because it’s her favorite hobby. She loves getting pissed at me.”
I want to ask why that is, but my attention is caught when everyone on the dance floor stops dancing.
“Isn’t that McGee?” I question when one of Jensen’s teammates gets down on one knee and the whole room fixes their intention to the girl in front of him, who’s already tearing up.
“What the hell?” Jensen mutters while Emily is squealing.
“Oh my god! He’s gonna propose!” Laurie claps like a fucking seal beside me.
“Oh, for the life of me.” Jensen’s eyes roll to the back of his head. “I’m going to kill him,” he mumbles, barely loud enough for me to hear.
“That’s so romantic!” Emily and Laurie are both looking at the couple with complete delight, their eyes way too glazed over than they should be, considering it’s not them getting the proposal.
McGee’s girl screams yes, tears rolling down her face, and the whole crowd applauds when she jumps into his arms.
Laurie continues gushing, wiping the moisture from her eyes before she grabs my chin, bringing her lips to mine. “I can’t wait until you propose.”
My eyes fly open, the air stolen from my lungs. And not in a good way. I’m literally lost for words, but I’m saved from replying to it when she slaps Emily’s thigh.
“Come on! Let’s dance!”
I blink as they take off, then throw all the contents of my glass down my throat.
“Until I propose?”
“You’re gonna propose?” Jensen snickers when he takes one look at my frightened expression .
I shake my head, putting my glass back on the table. “Wasn’t planning on it.”
“She sure as hell is.”
I don’t fucking care.
“Jensen, a word?” His blonde stalker appears next to him, sporting that same stern expression. Her brown eyes are gorgeous, smooth like honey, but the intensity of them makes me wonder if they are lethal.
“Oh, hey, blondie. Guys, meet Rae Stafford.” Jensen glances up, then gives her a full once-over that’s probably fueling the annoyance that flashes over her face. “Sit down. You look gorgeous.”
“Please keep our relationship professional,” she says as she takes a seat.
“I am. I'm just telling you how gorgeous you look. Nothing but professional. If I wasn’t, I’d tell you what a great ass you have, or how I’d love to fist your blonde hair so I can—” Her hand is slapped over his mouth, her eyes squinting enough to impress me.
“Stop talking and do me a favor.” Jensen’s wide eyes peer over the rim of her palm, not moving a muscle until she sighs. “You can nod.” Like a well-behaved puppy, he moves his muffled face up and down in agreement. “Great. Emily is your girlfriend, right?” Another nod. “Then why were you spotted with Jessica Graham last night?” Jensen’s head jerks, but she shakes her head, holding a firm grip around his lips. “Never mind. I don’t care. Just keep it in your pants, because people are questioning your integrity, and it will reflect poorly on the team.” Jensen’s eyebrows move up, clearly wanting to comment on the matter. “No, we’re not going to argue, because you’ll only piss me off. So I’m gonna go and you’re going to keep it in your pants, got it?” When he finally nods, she lets go of him, then gets on her feet .
“Has anyone ever told you, you’re intense as fuck?”
Rae feigns sympathy, peering down at him. “Ah, you want me to coddle you and shower you with kisses to make it all better?” she coos, to which Jensen looks up at her with gooey eyes and a hopeful smile.
“Yes, please.”
Her glare springs back in place before she takes off again. “Behave, Jensen.”
“Is she single?” Jason chuckles, bringing his glass to his lips.
“Don’t even think about it, asshole.” Jensen’s possessive glare hits home, and Jason and I both wince, only adding to our amusement.
“What, you have a thing for her?” Jason asks.
“No,” Jensen huffs. “I just want to make sure she doesn’t cut off my balls. If you piss her off, she’ll definitely take it out on me.”
“Jared James Jensen, are you scared of that pretty blonde?” I joke.
“Have you seen that death glare she gave me? I’m freaking terrified of her.” Then a smirk splits his lips. “Turned the fucked on, but terrified nonetheless.”