9. HUNTER
9
S he’s looking at me with an uncertain glare that tightens my heart and strokes my ego at the same time. I like how she’s worried about me, rather than being the girl who wants to hang on my arm because I have the reputation of being the bad boy in town.
“Hey.” I nudge her chin up, getting a hint of her flowery scent when she keeps her gaze focused on my chest. “Don’t worry, babe. I’ll be fine. I promise.”
Her eyebrows crease as she turns her nose up and purses her lips in a scowl that’s supposed to be intimidating.
But really, it’s cute as fuck.
“I’m beating the crap out of you if you don’t keep that promise,” she spits with a fire in her eyes that makes the muscle between my legs twitch.
“Beating the already beaten boy? Ouch, that’s harsh, Charls,” I taunt with titled lips, wrapping my arm around her neck and tucking her into my side. I guide her to the two trailer huts in the back of the warehouse that serve as a dressing room. As I walk through the open door of the first one, I’m halted by Charlotte. With a questioning look, I turn back to her, seeing her lashes high and frozen at the spot in front of the threshold.
“I’m not coming in.” She shakes her head, and my eyes lower to slits.
“Get in here, Charls,” I gravel .
“I’m pretty sure ‘friends,’” she argues, bringing her fingers up to make air quotes, “don’t see each other naked, Hunt.”
I take a step, placing myself against her chest. Her gorgeous eyes dilate, and her lips part for just a brief second before she catches herself and snaps them back together in a scowl.
“We can change that?” I tease without hesitation.
“Stop flirting with me.” Her automatic reply only makes me laugh, before I rest my hand on her hip with a rougher grip than necessary.
“Have you looked around you? I’m not leaving you out of my sight with all these men around. Just get in there. I’m not getting completely naked. I swear.” I grab her arm and pull her in, slamming the door shut behind us. “Unless you want me to.”
A frustrated growl rolls from her lips as she takes a seat on the bench placed on the left wall. “Stop flirting with me!”
“Fine.” I roll my eyes, a produced smile hitting me in the chest in response. She sighs, as if she’s giving up, while I tug my shirt over my head and playfully throw it at her. Her eyes widen slightly, even though she does her best to keep a straight face while she swallows hard, taking in my ripped chest. With a tensed jaw, I try to swallow away the desire building up inside of me. She can’t look at me like that. It’s fucking dangerous.
“Okay. That’s my cue. Just tell me when you’re done.” She brings her knees to her chin as she presses my shirt against her face, then lowers her head until it rests on her knees, and I let out a chuckle.
“You can watch, you know? I don’t mind.” I won’t be able to control the fucking hard-on she gives me with just a flutter of her lashes, but I’m enjoying this too much.
“Shut up, Hunter,” she says, her voice muffled by my shirt.
I smother a moan to keep it together before I take off my shoes to get dressed. The only thing I hate about having her around is the fact that I can’t touch her. She’s not mine too touch, and she never will be, but damn, it gets harder every day.
“You can look now,” I tell her after I’ve put on my fighting shorts, reaching into my backpack to take out my gloves.
She carefully brings her head back up, while I tug my shirt out of her hands to put it in my bag, along with my other stuff. I quickly wrap my hands, then put on my MMA gloves, before I grab the backpack and nod my head toward the door. “Come on.”
A soft blush reddens her cheeks when she lets her eyes roam my body once more, and before I can stop myself, I push my palms beside her head, hovering above her.
She gasps, then rolls her lips in the most torturous way while her gaze is a coaxing mix of fear and craving. A perfect reflection of my own expression, I assume.
“Don’t look at me like that, babe.”
“I’m not looking at you like anything!” she squeals, even though she doesn’t question my comment.
“You are,” I croak out, having a hard time keeping it together when her breath feathers over my lips, tempting me to close the distance. “But you deserve the world and I can’t give you that.” I don’t miss the hint of surprise in her eyes that’s gone as quickly as it came, but I choose to ignore it. Straightening my body, I nudge toward the door. “Let’s go.”
Her shoulders are squared, a bit of defiance creeping in, but without a counter, she gets up and walks out while I hold the door. I quickly follow behind her, linking my fingers through hers to lead her back to the manager of the warehouse. The lights are dimmed, other than the spotlight fixed on the cage, but I still find him pretty easily. Phil’s smile cracks through his bubbly face when he spots me swirling through the crowd. “Hunter! ”
“Phil, nice to see you.” His jet-black curly hair flops in front of his face as I offer him my hand.
“How is it going, kid? Are you going to make me some money tonight?”
“Of course.” He lets go as he glances at Charlotte, who’s still holding my hand with her stance as tight as her smile, when I spot a shiver trembling from her shoulders. “Can you keep an eye on my girl? I need to grab something from the car.” I hand him my backpack and he passes it on to his right-hand man to put it in his office before I untangle my fingers from Charlotte’s.
“I’ll be right back, okay?”
She glances around us until her reluctant gaze drills into mine, and she nods in agreement.
“Hi, I’m Phil,” he says with a short wave as I let her go, then jog outside to get my hoodie from the car. I get back less than twenty seconds later, and Phil is laughing about something she said. The hesitant stance I left her in has completely erased.
“What’s so funny?”
“I asked her if she’s the reason you’ve never lost a fight. She told me how she’s the only one who can handle you,” Phil chirps.
Fuck.
That heat of possession hits me right in the gut again.
“Is that so?” I close the distance between us, crowding her space while expecting her to tell me to fuck off with every step I take. When she doesn’t, I press my forehead against hers. My breath softly fans her face as I bite my lip, withholding myself from the desire to finally find out what it would feel to kiss her.
Why does she have to make this so hard for me?
“Now, who’s flirting with who?” I whisper, looking into her bright eyes, while a voice booms through the speakers behind us .
“Are you ready for the match of the night?” The people around us break out in cheers while my gaze stays fixated on the enigma of a girl in front of me.
My girl.
My friend .
Right?
“Hunt?” she says, her voice all husky, sounding like a promise to the desire growing within me.
In response, my hands dig deeper into her hips. “Hmm?”
I want her to want me just as I want her. I want her to tell me ‘fuck it,’ even though I know I should never let her. I wish I didn’t have to choose to give her what she deserves or give in to what I want. And when I see the green in her eyes change to a darker hue, daring me, I hope she takes the choice for me.
“You’re up.” She pushes me off of her, giving me a wink that makes me gasp for air, then nods to the cage. “You better win, asshole .”
Son of a bitch.
I press my lips together, suppressing a smile while I shake my head. She ruins me every time her sass reaches another level, but for her, I’d go to fucking war, no matter how much she destroys me.
“I am an asshole. But I’m your asshole,” I clarify, backing away from her, then giving her a wink in return. A blush crawls up her cheeks, bringing back her soft side, even though she rolls her eyes, unimpressed. I throw my hoodie her way, and she catches it to her chest before raising her brows in question.
“You’re cold.” I shrug.
Something flickers in my stomach when whatever sternness was lingering on her face melts like snow before the sun, and I quickly spin on my heel to break our connection.
I only have so much willpower. If she keeps giving me sweet smiles like that, I won’t be able to keep my hands off her. And it’ll be hard to keep saying she’s my friend if my lips are glued against hers.