Chapter 4 Hunter
FOUR
HUNTER
Maxine, Maxine, Maxine.
I haven’t stopped thinking about the blonde all night. I blink and she’s there with her leather skirt and tight orange shirt. It pushed her tits together and made her skin look soft and tan, and I swear I can smell her perfume on my jumpsuit.
I might never wash this thing again.
“Dude.” Leo snaps in my face and I turn my chin, forgetting where I was for a minute. “What the hell? I’ve been talking to you, but you’re staring off into space. I’m too sensitive to be ignored.”
“Sorry.” I give him a grin and scrub a hand over my jaw. “Distracted.”
I don’t know the last time a woman had such a hold on me like this. One interaction, and I’m wanting to find out her last name. I’m imagining what she’d look like spread out with my head between her legs and if she sleeps with socks on.
I wonder if she made it home okay. If she’s curled up in bed thinking about me the way I’m thinking about her.
What a little heartbreaker.
“Shit. Did the cops give you an attitude at the exit too? I swear to god if they try and fuck with us again, I’m going to—”
“They suck, but I can deal with them. It’s something else.”
Leo drops in the seat at the table across from me, worry on his face. “What’s wrong?”
“I had a situation with a guest earlier.”
“Another drunk frat dude? I hope you put him in his place.”
“No.” My grin stretches wider, trying to remember everything about her. “A woman.”
“You’re going to have to elaborate right fucking now, Hunter, because we only have fifteen minutes before I have to go scare the shit out of our last group of guests. If you leave me on a cliffhanger and make me wait to hear more, I’m going to strangle you.”
“Sure you are.” I laugh and flex my arm, my biceps nearly twice the size of his. “I’d like to see you try.”
“I’m puny but mighty.”
“Does that apply to your dick too?”
“Fuck you.” Leo kicks me under the table. “Tell me, or we’re no longer friends.”
“You’re not dramatic at all.” I stretch out my legs, wincing at the twinge of pain in my knee. “I was in the second part of the house. The window scene, you know? I was about to pop back out on my cue, but a woman got lost. She made a wrong turn in the bedroom and—”
“I fucking told the set guys that corner was confusing.”
“Clearly, because she ended up backstage, terrified. She thought I was going to hurt her. I had to lead her back to the line, but I wish I hadn’t. She was hot. Definitely not my usual type—she’s too much of a goody two shoes to go for someone like me—but… damn. Now I’m dreaming about her.”
“Am I not a fucking psychic or what? I fucking told you tonight would be the best night of your life. And, look! You met someone! I’m so goddamn good.”
“Nothing is going to come from it. Thousands of people went through the line. I have no way—” I sit up. “Wait a minute. Do you still have that friend in park security?”
“Brennan? Yeah, we’re cool. Why?”
“I wonder if he could pull the tapes from the entrance gates and parking garage. I could find her license plate and figure out where she lives. What her last name is and where she works. I could happen to drop by.”
“Slow down there, creeper. Women don’t want to be stalked. They want to be pursued. There’s a difference,” he says.
“Yeah? And what difference is that?”
“Hiding in the shadows seems like a big one. Showing up at their place of work unannounced is also a huge red flag.”
“I’m not hiding in the shadows. I’m using my resources. Taking her on a long, romantic walk, except she doesn’t know I’m there.”
“That is literally stalking.”
“Potato, poe-tah-toe. I’m not kidding when I say there was something special about this girl.”
“Special like her tits?” he asks, and I roll my eyes.
“I mean, yeah, her chest was nice, but it was more than that. It was like I was drawn to her, man. I didn’t want her to leave. I wanted to keep making conversation, and for as scared as she was…” I laugh. “I’m probably reading too much into it. It seemed like she lingered. And I liked it.”
“I need specifics on the lingering. Did she ask you questions? Did she touch you? Did you touch her? You have got to get better at storytelling, Hunt.”
“You are so nosy.”
“You started it!”
“There wasn’t any touching except for the arm I put around her waist. And then she like, melted into me?”
“Now we’re getting somewhere.” Leo rubs his hands together. “If I’m not the best man at the wedding, I will riot.”
“I was thinking more like fucking her in my bed, but if you want to watch, I’ll leave the door open.”
“Kinky.” He grins. “It’s been a while since we shared someone.”
“There’s no sharing.” My tone drops to lethal. Possessive. I’m daydreaming about her long legs and her wide, blue eyes. “She’s mine.”
“Easy killer. I’m not stealing her from you. You don’t even know her name.”
“It’s Maxine. Max for short.” I groan, wishing I had been more proactive when she was around.
I keep my phone on me in the house. It would’ve been easy to get her number to meet up when I got off work, but I was too caught up in how goddamn beautiful she was.
Rendered useless by how soft her skin was and the hitch in her voice. “And I’m going to track her down.”
“If anyone can, it’s you.” He stands and stretches. “Let me call Brennan and report back.”
“If I like his answer, I will let you watch,” I say, and he lights up.
“I’ve always been motivated by incentives.” With a salute, he flings open the breakroom door and presses his phone to his ear. “Brennan? Hey, man. It’s Leo over in entertainment. Listen. I need a favor.”
He gives me a wink and disappears outside, continuing a conversation I can’t hear. I sigh and move to the couch, staring at the fluorescent lights above me and wishing my mom was around so I could ask for her advice.
She talked me through all my high school and early college relationship issues. She loved to tell me to get my head out of my ass and taught me how to treat a woman right.
Fuck.
She should be here.
I should’ve done more so she would be here.
I rub a hand over my chest then curl my fingers into a fist, anger flowing through me like it always does when I think about my past. I take a deep breath, practicing the exercises my therapist gave me to do when the grief sneaks up on me without warning.
The meditation is interrupted by Leo standing over me, waving his phone in front of my face.
“Brennan said he’d get back to me, so—whoa. What’s wrong?” Leo nudges my knees out of the way so he can sit down. “You look pale.”
“Nothing. Just—”
“Your mom,” he finishes for me. He lifts my legs and puts them in his lap. I don’t bother protesting. “Coming up on ten years. I know.”
“You’re a good friend, Leo.”
“I’m the best fucking friend.” He pats my shins and leans back. “What triggered it tonight?”
“Who knows? It’s always random.”
“What are we going to do this year?”
“Flowers, probably. Maybe I’ll make a cake. You know how much she loved to bake. I might be shit at it, but it would be a good way to honor her.”
“I put on the freshman fifteen in high school because of her cupcakes and pies.”
“She loved having you as a sous chef. The best cleanup crew,” I say, laughing while I reminisce. “It’s stupid. I wish I could text her and tell her about this girl. I wish she would call me out and tell me how to do things correctly. Woo her, she would say.”
“She’d also tell you to get a haircut.” Leo reaches over and messes up my hair. “Way too long, Hunt.”
“More for a woman to grab onto and hold.”
“Doesn’t fall under wooing, dude.”
“You’re right.” I smile. “I’m okay. This time of year is always weird. Halloween used to be my favorite holiday, and now…” I trail off. “It’s complicated.”
“She’d be so proud of you. Getting out of your shitty situation with your dad. Putting him in his place.”
“Six feet under.”
“Should be more like twenty.” Leo scoffs. “I’m sure your Mom is looking down on us and smiling from ear to ear.”
As if on cue, the light above us flickers. The air conditioning kicks on, and I grin.
“There’s Mom. She always had a flair for theatrics. You two have that in common.” I pat his shoulder. “Thanks for checking in. I’m going to get a haircut in the morning and take some flowers to her grave. Want to come with me?”
“Of course I do.” He wipes under his eye and flips me off. “Enough with this sad shit. Tell me more about this girl of yours.”
“She’s not mine. Yet,” I add with a grin. “When we hear back from Brennan, we’ll put the plan into motion.”
“And by motion you mean—”
“Look into cameras I can install in her bedroom so I can make sure she’s sleeping well? Maybe.”
“Fuck.” Leo sighs and shakes his head. The alarm on his phone chimes, letting us know we need to get ready to head back to the house.
“I hope when they make the Netflix show about you, they pick someone really fucking handsome to play me. I’m thinking…
what’s that guy from that show with the girl who likes both brothers? The older one. He’s good-looking.”
“You have red hair, Leo. The two of you look nothing alike.”
“When there’s a will, there’s a way.” He eases my legs off of his lap and pops to his feet. He holds out his hand and I take it, standing too. “Ready?”
“If I have to be.” I yawn, wishing I could spend the rest of the night thinking about my haunted house girl. “Let’s do this.”
I’m going to track you down, Maxine.
And when I do, I’m going to make you mine.