Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Hunter
“ H ey!”
At the overly excited call, I pulled the phone away from my ear.
“Piper,” I called, and I could hear the smile. I also heard the noise of kids running around and felt so exhausted. I always loved her family and of course my nieces, but I couldn't truly fathom how she was able to handle so much activity around her all the time.
“What's up?” she asked. “You're still in Thailand, right? Don't tell me you're back already. I told you to take this as a vacation for once. Geez, you need it!”
“I took it!” I told her. “I'm calling you because I took this as a vacation, and so I have the time. Get it?”
“Ah,” she laughed. “You're right. You're right. How is it?”
I heard a male voice call from somewhere in the distance, and she promptly responded. “Hunter.”
“Oh,” came the response, and a second later, my brother-in-law's voice came on the line.
“Hunter!” he greeted. “The man! What's up? How's Thailand going?”
“It's good, it's great,” I replied. “Beautiful country.”
“Fucking gorgeous!” he exclaimed. “I backpacked across Asia after I graduated college.”
This made me laugh because he was obviously about to dig his own grave.
“You mean the year you and my sister were broken up.”
“Shhh,” he said. “Don't mention that. I had fun, though. She thinks I was heartbroken and wallowing in a basement somewhere. I mean, I was, but I was wallowing in Thailand the best way that a guy should at that age, if you know what I mean.”
I chuckled, but then he stopped.
“Wait, do you know what I mean?”
“Please give Piper the phone,” I said, and he laughed.
“Talk to you later, bro.”
“Alright, later,” I said, and the phone was returned to her.
“I heard what you both were saying, and I'm just going to ignore it because we've been fighting all week, and I don't want another reason to kick him out of bed again for the third time this week. I'm beginning to think now that he annoys me on purpose just so he can spend the night in the basement in his fucking man cave.”
“You sound like you're living the life, Piper,” I said, and she immediately shot back.
“Unlike you with your one vacation in seven years, which is also a work trip as well. Shut up.”
“Yes, ma'am,” I replied, and the line briefly went silent.
“What's wrong?” she asked. “Ready to talk?”
“Why do you think something's wrong?” I asked as I turned and stared out the window at the gorgeous sunset.
“Because it's you, and if there's nothing wrong, you'll only be calling me if you are conflicted about something. It wouldn't be anything regarding work but something personal, so it means?—”
“Oh my God! Is there something wrong with Dad?”
I was taken aback. I mean, everything she had said was right, but she hadn't even thought that this could possibly be about anyone else besides us. She immediately remembered her facility to remember.
“Hunter? Hunter?” she called worriedly at my silence.
“What's wrong? What's wrong with Dad? I spoke to him this morning.”
“Then what is happening? Who are you having issues with?”
I was truly intrigued and amused.
“So apart from him, you didn't think I could be having personal issues with anyone else?”
“With how?” she asked. “Do you have any friends that aren't business partners? That automatically makes them business relationships, so why would you ever want to talk to me about them?”
I listened and shook my head.
“So it could be about a woman?”
“Why would it be about a woman?” she asked. “Purely out of curiosity.”
At this, my face fell, and at her silence, I knew she was trying to provoke me until I turned red from fury.
“I'm sorry I called,” I apologized. “I forgot just how completely unhelpful and aggravating you could be.”
“Stop,” she burst out laughing. “I'm sorry I'm teasing you; you know I'm playing with you. And now it's about a woman, I just didn't want to be too direct in case you changed your mind. You know how you are about personal issues. The fact that you're even discussing this means that you care about her, and I am so scared to ruin this.”
“What are you talking about? Why would you ruin it?”
“You're opening up about romance, or you're involved in it even. If Dad heard this, he would burst into tears. My eyes are already wet.”
Shaking my head once again, I went silent.
“Am I pushing it, right? Am I pushing you away by making this sound like a big deal? I'm so sorry. It's not a big deal. It's casual. Irrelevant.”
“Piper, please stop talking,” I said. “You're giving me a headache.”
“Yes, Sir,” she said, and finally, the line was silent.
“I'm not saying that I care about her, but... I am sleeping with her.”
“That's good enough. Dad asked me yesterday if I wasn't sure you were gay. Phew.”
“You two sure have a lot of time for gossip on your hands. He hasn't called me all week. Does he even know I'm in Thailand?”
“You always travel all over the place; he stopped keeping track all the time. We all did, actually. And he knows you're busy; you know he doesn't bother you until the weekend.”
“Sure,” I replied.
“Alright, before we get distracted, tell me what's wrong. I'm excited, by the way. Can you tell I'm excited?”
“Stop.”
“Alright,” she replied. “I just wiped my mouth shut; you can't see it.”
“Um…” I didn't even know where to begin. I didn't even know why I was so mad at her. And that bastard, Felix.
“It wasn't her fault,” I said. “I mean, I know it wasn't her fault. And she knows as well, but... I got mad at her.”
“Okay,” Piper said, no doubt finding it very hard to understand what I was saying or even talking about.
“She was being harassed by someone else.”
“What?”
“Not fully harassed, just he was unrelenting in trying to get her attention, and she was obviously beginning to feel uncomfortable.”
“And let me guess, you punched his lights out?”
She laughed, and I remained silent until she realized that that was exactly what had happened.
“Oh no,” she said. “Hunter, you didn't.”
“I broke his nose.”
“Hunter!” she yelled. “Cool and all that, but Hunter! She must have been terrified.”
“Not terrified, just… this is why I'm mad at her. She tried to defend him.”
“What?”
“Not exactly defending him, she just tried to say there was a misunderstanding of some sort, but at that point, when she was so clearly uncomfortable by his advances, then why the hell would he even?—”
I stopped then as the answer hit me like a bag of bricks.
“What?” Piper asked. “You just realized something, right?”
“Yeah,” I replied and sighed. “I thought she was being too lenient and too nice by trying to come to his defense.”
“And now?” Piper asked.
“Well, now I know that what she was trying to do was to help me.”
“What do you mean? How was she helping you?” Piper asked.
“He's a business associate. We're currently exploring avenues in expanding into Asia, and this guy, in particular, has proved to be a helpful connection thus far.”
”Ah--,” she said. “But wait, she works with you? I thought you never did that? Something about clearly not mixing your personal and professional lives. Why did you change this?”
“I didn't change it.”
“So why?—”
“Ah--” she said, “You didn't change it, but... it's her. It's also the reason why you're calling me. Also, the reason why you lost your temper. Maybe on all of this, you're not even angry with her, especially now that you realize why she did it and that she was acting in your best interest.”
“So you’re saying the person I'm really angry with is myself?” I asked.
“Yes,” she replied. “That is exactly what I am saying. You don’t agree?”
It took me a while to decide on how I was going to respond to this, yet nothing felt suitable. Or more accurately, nothing seemed like it wouldn’t bruise my ego.
“Hunter?” Piper called.
“I don’t disagree,” I said, and she went silent.
“Are you taking me for a fool here?” she asked dryly.
“No,” I took the question seriously. “I see what's happening. And it wasn't what I intended from the start. I just... maybe this entire trip was a bad idea. All vacations are usually this way. What a fucking distraction!”
“Distractions aren't the worst things in the world, Hunter,” she said. “You're human. These desires... the fact that you couldn't resist her... that's what makes you human. And moreover, you're not usually like this with most people or anyone else for that matter. Why ignore it? Why trivialize it?”
These questions I had absolutely no answer to.