CHAPTER 17
Just Friends
Gabriela
I wanted to crawl six feet beneath the ground and never return to the land of the living.
Currently, we were inside Hunter’s home, gathered on the ground floor, where the kitchen, dining, and living room were amassed together in a beautiful open concept.
I barely had the chance to admire the rustic décor accented with gorgeous hues of browns, greens, and golds because I was too focused on the four unwelcomed guests watching Hunter and me with hawk eyes.
Embarrassment pinkened my cheeks. Mustering a mild glare, I cleared my throat with intention. They had the decency to avert their gazes and pretend like the ceiling and floor were more interesting than anything else happening in this moment.
“Does it hurt?” I whispered to Hunter, dabbing the cold compress against his bruising temple as I stood between the parted V of his legs.
He was sitting on a kitchen bar stool, his hand resting on the small of my back.
“I’m okay, sweetheart,” he replied.
The sweetheart had Layla and Anna gasping in unison.
Josh and Sam—a really good friend of the boys’ and another player on the football team—didn’t attempt to hide their shit-eating grins.
I groaned internally.
Josh was the first to break the awkward silence, combing frustrated fingers through his dark hair. “If your little stunt”—he aimed narrowed eyes at Layla and Anna—“costs us the championship trophy, I’m never forgiving you girls.”
Both my best friends broke out into rambling explanations slash apologies.
Long story short, Layla and Anna finally arrived at MacGregor after I left.
Oscar came up to them, freaking out and saying that I’d disappeared into thin air.
The girls panicked, thinking the same intruder who broke into my place had kidnapped me.
Because I always shared my location with them, they decided to track me down in an attempt to save me.
They texted Josh about the situation, who just happened to arrive at the bar with Sam.
Then all four of them, alongside Oscar, decided to hop on a rescue mission like my personal brigade.
The girls reached the property first. They heard my screams—which they realized afterwards was me orgasming loud enough for the entire neighbourhood to hear—and followed the sound until they found us in the backyard.
Thinking that Hunter was my kidnapper and attacking me, Anna smacked her sturdy rhinestone bag across his face, causing him to fall on top of me from the unforeseen swat.
Then Layla proceeded to actually tase him.
It was only when they rolled over his big, heaving body with kicks and feeble punches that they realized who it was and what was happening between us.
They’d interrupted my most romantic date, saw me in my birthday suit, and nearly knocked out Hunter cold. Their regret was palpable, but the damage was already done. I’d put my clothes back on quickly and shoved Hunter’s limbs into his dress shirt, right as the others reached the premises.
Under different circumstances, I’d find the entire thing comedic.
Safe to say, my post-orgasm happiness had exploded to smithereens, replaced by shame and anxiety.
Clearly, my parents hadn’t alerted Oscar that I was with Hunter. Otherwise, we may have been able to avoid this whole situation.
“Josh, it’s okay, they were just looking out for Gabby,” Hunter spoke in a gravelly voice, coming to the defence of his so-called assailants. “I’m fine.”
“Do you think you’ll be fine for the next game?” Sam countered.
Layla and Anna shrank when Josh stared at them pointedly. Hunter was the university’s star quarterback and a vital part of the team. The Panthers were on the brink of a championship and tonight could have jeopardized the entire thing.
My shoulders sagged, understanding both sides.
My best friends truly were the most loyal and ride-or-die girls, and I really did love them. No matter what, they’d always have my back. But I also sympathized with the boys’ situation. They’d been running on a high this season. They couldn’t afford to lose Hunter right now.
“Yeah.” Hunter grunted a little when he straightened his posture, his muscles probably still feeling the effects of the tasing. “I just need a good night’s rest and I’ll be back in top shape by tomorrow.”
“I’m still having a doctor come look at you,” Josh said. “That’s not even up for debate.”
Hunter sighed. It was futile going against Josh’s wishes.
“We’re really so, so, so sorry, Hunter,” Anna said despondently and Layla nodded, chiming in, “If we’d known it was you with Gabby, we wouldn’t have acted the way we did. Will you please forgive us?”
“I also should have alerted our friends or texted you both that I was leaving the bar with Hunter,” I admitted. “I’m sorry again, girls.”
I’d already apologized a multitude of times on our way into Hunter’s home, but I felt like I needed to say it again.
“No harm, no foul.” Hunter waved off Anna and Layla. “Don’t worry about it anymore. Please.”
Then he smiled at me in that sweet manner of his and I smiled back, wanting to kiss him badly but knowing we had an audience that would shower us with a million questions about our relationship status.
To be honest, we hadn’t discussed where tonight left us and I was afraid to even ask Hunter. I’d planned to, after I gave him an orgasm, but that obviously got cut short. Were we still friends—but now with benefits? I was a mix of nerves.
“See, Josh? Hunter forgives us.” Layla wrapped her arms around her boyfriend’s waist. “Now will you forgive us too?”
Josh ran a hand down her back and cupped her hip possessively over the fabric of her maxi dress. “You tased my best friend, mo chroí.”
“It was an accident. Plus, who gave me the taser to begin with?”
Josh did, for protective reasons. He was a mob prince and Layla was his girl. He had to ensure her safety first and foremost. The glove compartment of Layla’s car was stacked with all sorts of weapons like pepper spray, knife, gun, and of course, the taser she used on Hunter.
“Touché.” Josh’s stern exterior melted when she peered up at him through her lashes, giving him that soft look that he could never resist. “Fine. You’re both forgiven.”
Layla pressed a kiss to Josh’s clean-shaven jaw.
“Now that that’s resolved, who wants a drink?” Sam asked, rummaging through the liquor cabinet and pulling out an unopened bottle of Irish whiskey and spiced rum.
We all agreed in unison. Not to be dramatic, but I needed an entire bottle to myself to drown out my woes.
I kept tending to Hunter as the others busied themselves with searching for glasses and chasers, their backs to us.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered to Hunter, stepping closer to him.
“It’s okay, Gabby.” Hunter stroked a thumb over my cheek. “I’m sorry we couldn’t finish what we started, but you have to admit that this is a funny story to look back on.”
“You getting hit and then tased till you almost pass out isn’t funny to me.” I pouted and laid a kiss on his bruised temple. “I…I don’t like the thought of you hurt.”
I was grateful we had this time tonight, but I greedily wished we could have gone all the way.
Hunter was about to speak when Josh swiftly turned around and said, “What do you guys want to drink—oh.”
Like I’d been touched by fire, I jerked away from Hunter.
Josh squinted at us, the wheels in his mind churning. Only the girls figured out we’d been on an actual date. But they didn’t tell the boys. The latter were under the impression that Hunter and I were just hanging out. Hell, I had been under that impression too until I saw what he did for me.
And the last thing I wanted was Josh opening his mouth and asking if I was getting it on with his best friend.
Masking my anxiousness, I shimmied a hand down my dress in a guise to straighten out any wrinkles from the silky material. “I’ll, um, have a whiskey.”
“Same,” Hunter grated, his hands flexing on his hard thighs like he was stopping himself from reaching out and reeling me back into his embrace, our audience be damned.
It wasn’t lost on me that we were behaving very affectionately and all our friends took note, but no one said anything. It only added to my nervousness for when they would ask. How would we react? What would we say? All these thoughts ping-ponged inside my skull and made my head spin.
Josh slid us our whiskeys, Sam prepared two Cuba libres for Anna and himself, and Layla nursed a non-alcoholic drink, topped with a maraschino cherry. We did a quick cheering motion and proceeded to joke about the circumstance that brought us together.
For the next half an hour, we proceeded to talk about all sorts of subjects and the tension ebbed away from my coiled muscles with every passing minute.
Layla was sitting in Josh’s lap, and Anna and Sam stood a respectable distance from each other but kept exchanging heated glances when they thought the other one wasn’t looking.
As for Hunter and me?
His presence on the kitchen stool next to me was a searing brand poking into my side, the intensity of his gaze making me feel like a guilty, diminished version of myself. I tried my best not to stare at him, but it was impossible.
When I did, he was giving me this borderline hurt and confused expression as if he didn’t understand why I was suddenly acting standoffish, since I’d been all over him less than an hour ago.
That look inflicted a wound on me, one that slowly suppurated under my skin.
I almost succumbed and grabbed his hand to reassure him that everything was fine.
But that would invite questions we couldn’t answer yet, especially when we’d barely discussed anything amongst ourselves.
Swallowing the lump burning in my throat, I let my tousled hair fall over one shoulder, erecting a curtain between us. As if that would keep my emotions hidden, my heart protected, my mind at ease.
The attention was thankfully diverted from Hunter and me completely when Josh started drizzling noisy kisses along Layla’s bare shoulder while she sipped her drink, hiding her lovestruck smile.
Layla was a bit more demure and discreet with her affections, but Josh didn’t care about PDA.
If he could shout it from the rooftop that Layla was his for the world to know, he would one hundred percent do it.
He was so whipped for her, it was endearing.
“Get a room,” Sam said what we were all thinking, mockingly rolling his eyes.
A girlish laugh burst out of Anna, but she quickly tamed it by biting her lip.
Sam’s mischievous gaze snapped her way, raking her figure from head to toe almost hungrily.
Anna looked every bit the beauty queen she was, her makeup flawless, her pink halter dress poured over her sculpted body, and not a single strand of her blond bombshell waves out of place.
The only thing that was missing from her person to really complete the imagery was a crown, a sash, and a sceptre.
Sam wordlessly told her that he found her drop dead gorgeous.
Without looking away from her, he picked up a crystal glass from the counter and took a sip of the rum and Coke, his stance calm and collected but his energy flirting with something untamed.
Anna’s hazel eyes flared slightly and she murmured, “That was my drink.”
Dark amusement tinged his smirk. He used a thumb to rub over his bottom lip, where her lipstick stain—previously stamped on the glass’s rim—was now smudged over his mouth like an indirect kiss. “Was it?”
There’d always been a strong tension between Sam and Anna, woven from the moment they first laid eyes on each other. Despite them trying to play it cool whenever they encountered each other, I knew better.
Sam didn’t come here tonight on a rescue mission to be a saint.
He was only here for Anna.
And unfortunately, for the moment being, Anna wanted nothing to do with men…and Sam wanted everything to do with her.
Regardless of her reservations, it didn’t stop her from peering his way at every opportunity. With dirty-blond hair, alluring green eyes, and a lone dimple that peeked out whenever he smiled, he was extremely handsome. I couldn’t fault my best friend for finding him irresistible.
The sensation of a familiar palm drifting over my bare thigh disrupted my train of thoughts, arousing goosebumps and fomenting tension anew. My back straightened like an arrow.
I refrained from casting Hunter a glance.
But his hand paused on my knee and upturned in wait.
Almost beseechingly.
Almost asking me to accept him and claim him as mine in front of everyone.
The connection that joined us, forever pulsating in the background, began to thrum as fast as my heartbeat…and because I couldn’t deny this man, I slid my hand over his and he braided our fingers together in a worshipping clasp.
Relief echoed through the chamber of my soul and I exhaled, feeling calmer. Steady and solid. Because of my lighthouse.
That feeling was short-lived.
Josh, deciding that he was done giving Layla smooches, propped his head up from her neck and fixated on Hunter and me. “So,” he drawled. “Was this a date? Did you two finally get together and—”
“No!” I suddenly snapped before I could fully process what I was saying, running purely on the fear caroming in my system. “I-it wasn’t a date. We’re friends. We were just hanging out. It’s not like that between us and…”
I regretted it the second I uttered the sentences.
Because next to me, Hunter froze, a ghost-like expression misting over his face. A mixture of surprise, disappointment, and—more prominently—betrayal swam in his blue eyes.
I hated myself for being the cause of his pain.
He dropped my hand like it was a scorching touch rather than something that anchored us both.
A sense of foreboding crawled down my spine like an eight-legged creature.
Josh and Sam frowned at Hunter in confusion.
Anna and Layla eyed me in disbelief.
And I sat there, trembling under the weights of their stares. Incapable of defending myself. Incapable of salvaging the situation. Incapable of doing anything but anticipating the verdict; Hunter’s gavel-pounding reply that would determine the outcome of our relationship moving forward.
Finally, Hunter broke the heavy silence, speaking with a blank voice, and his words nicked me like tiny blades. “She’s right. It’s not like that between us. We’re just friends.”