30. HUNTER
30
I can’t find the enthusiasm I always anticipated imagining this moment.
I stare out of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the big house in the Hollywood Hills they gave me to stay in. It’s bigger than any house I’ve ever seen from the inside, and it’s hard to realize this is where I’m going to be living for the unforeseeable future. A year ago, I’d be pumped at the opportunity, but now it’s all overshadowed by the girl I wanted to share it with.
“Man, this is fucking sick,” Jason bellows from behind me, slapping me on the back. “Did you see? It has five bathrooms!” A tight smile curls my mouth when my eyes lock with his beaming face.
“It’s insane, really.” It really is. Here I am, an eighteen-year-old boy on track to be the next best thing in MMA. When I got that phone call from the AFA, I was ecstatic to fly toward freedom. But it was with a heavy heart. Looking into Charlotte’s blue-green eyes as I walked toward the gate yesterday was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do, and I wasn’t prepared for it. Ever since it was just my mother and me, I’d been waiting for the moment I could spread my wings, leaving everything in Braedon behind without as much as a second glance. But last year changed that for me. Now I’m leaving the one thing behind I want to keep more than anything .
With a pain in my chest, I pull my phone out of my pocket, dialing Charlotte’s number before putting the phone to my ear. My heart starts to race, looking over the Hills as the dial tone sounds, loud and ominous. Something in her voice yesterday felt final, and I know I have to let her go. I know it’s not fair to ask her to leave her life in North Carolina and just come with me. But now everything feels different. From the moment I landed in LA, calling her felt like torture, as if something erased the easiness between us, even though I’m dying to hear her voice.
“Took you long enough, Hansen.” I can hear her smile through the phone, and instantly I’m smiling.
“Sorry, babe. Things are hectic here.”
“Yeah? Bet they’re all gushing over the new prodigy? Got any groupies yet?”
I rub the back of my neck, thinking about the welcoming party last night.
“Just some people who are dying to meet the new fighter we signed,” Gina Partridge from the AFA told us. She’s my new manager, and wastes no time getting the ball rolling in whatever they got planned for me. Jason and I thought it was going to be a small gathering after the flight, have some drinks, that kinda thing.
Instead, we walked into a big pool party, where everyone cheered us on as we entered the room. Everyone wanted to shake our hands. We got offered drinks as soon as our glasses were empty, and within ten minutes, girls dying to get our attention surrounded us. It was a huge contrast with the small-town life in Braeden, and it did stroke my ego in more ways than I anticipated. We had a grand night, feeling like big shots at an LA party, but my mind kept wandering off to Charlotte with every girl who tried to glue herself to my side.
“Yeah, it was fun. They threw us a big LA party. I don’t even remember all the hands I shook. ”
“That’s good. Did you ask them if you could fly back in a few weeks?”
“Yeah, I did,” I start, rubbing my hand over my cheek. “Fuck, Charls. I can’t.”
She stays quiet for a few seconds, the silence speaking loud and clear. “You can’t, or you don’t want to?”
“I want to! Of course I fucking want to. But they got me an entire team to work with. A trainer, a coach, food specialist, even set me up with some kind of media chick. They’re putting me on a tight schedule for the rest of the summer. Starting tomorrow. They even agreed to take Jason on as my PR-guy. Giving him a contract as the one controlling my social media while he still goes to Stanford.”
“Oh,” she says quietly, the sound cutting like a knife right into my aorta. “That's great, Hunt.”
You know how you can feel when people are happy for you, and when they are just bullshitting you? That’s the thing with Charlotte. I know she isn’t bullshitting me. She’s thrilled for me, supporting me to the core, but I can sense the hurt that I know is going through her body. She’d never voice it, refusing to be the one to hold me back, but after the last week, I know pieces are getting scraped off her kind heart.
Because that’s how I feel. That’s how my heart grows more black and cold inside my chest. With complete and utter agony that’s felt within every molecule of my being.
“I’m sorry, Charls,” I offer, closing my eyes to imagine her gorgeous face. “I’m so sorry. I really thought we could at least have a few more days.”
“Hunter Hansen.” The tone in her voice is reprimanding, and I can imagine the slight frown on her forehead that makes me chuckle every time. “Don’t you dare apologize for following your dreams. This is what you’re supposed to do, and I want you to go and grab it. Show the world you’re the world’s best fighter, ready to kick anyone’s ass who tells you otherwise. Don’t you worry about me. I’m still me. We’re still us, right? We can visit each other. And I’ll cheer you on, screaming at the TV. Besides, you need to gain some fans so you can include those pay-per-views in your contract. Make sure you bring in the big money.”
I chuckle. “As soon as I bring in the big money, I’m flying you out here.”
“You fucking better.”
“I will.”
“Hey, Hunt?” I hum in response. “Just have fun. Enjoy it all.” I hear what she’s saying between the lines, but I don’t want to register it. The thought of continuing on without her tears me up inside. “ Please ?” she adds.
“Okay,” I concede, but only because I don’t want to make her feel worse than she’s already feeling. Than I’m already feeling. I let out a deep sigh, knowing I’ll miss her more than anything, but she’s right. I need to focus.
“Best friends forever, right?”
Nodding at her words, I stare at my faint reflection in the window. “Yeah. Best friends forever.”
“Good. Stop sulking then,” she says, a finality in her tone.
I let out a chuckle, walking back to the couch, flopping myself onto it.
“Fine.” Rubbing my face, we stay quiet for a few beats, enjoying the silence that forms between us. “I’m going to miss you, Charlotte Roux.”
“I’ll miss you too, Hunt. You gonna call me every night?”
“Hey, shithead! Gina is here. She needs you to sign the contracts.” Jason’s voice blasts through the room, rippling a chuckle from Charls.
“Tell Jason he better take good care of you, or I’m coming for him. ”
“Who are you talking to?” Jason jumps over the back of the couch, dropping his ass next to me. His blond hair is longer than usual, a lost strand springing free in front of his frown.
“Charlotte. She says you better take care of me, or she’s coming for you.”
“Oh, don’t worry, girl. I’ll make sure he’s taken care of. Does that include orgasms?” he screams at the phone as he wiggles his eyebrows up and down. I throw my fist at his chest.
“Ouch!” he yelps.
“Shut up, asshole,” I growl, listening to Charlotte’s laughter in my ear, relieved she doesn’t take his words seriously.
“He’s going to be a total player, isn’t he?” Charlotte asks.
“Yeah, he is.” I smile, softly shaking my head, hearing a set of heels tapping on the marble floor and into the living area. Turning my head, I look up at Gina, the epitome of a businesswoman wearing a black pantsuit. “I gotta go, babe. And yeah, I will call you every night.”
“Okay. Bye, Hunt.”
“Bye, babe.”
“Who was that?” Gina takes a seat on the loveseat in front of us, giving me a mocking look with her coffee-brown eyes and red painted lips. “High school sweetheart?”
“His best friend,” Jason answers, as I give him a glare, telling him to shut up.
“Well, she’ll be soon forgotten once you’ve got a taste of these Californian girls who will be begging you to take them home.” She gives me a wink, getting the contracts out of her briefcase, and placing them on the glass coffee table, then she shoves one of them in front of Jason.
“I’m here to fight,” I counter with a scowl. “Not to get pussy.”
Gina looks up with surprise, her gaze moving back and forth between Jason and me, as she offers me a sweet smile and hands me a pen .
“Of course.”
Leaning forward, I rip it out of her hand, rolling my eyes as I slowly shake my head, before I go over the contract in front of me, ready to sign up for my new life.
A few minutes later, all signatures are where they belong, and Gina flicks her gaze between Jason and me.
“So, how do you like the house?” Dark eyes scan us expectantly, and Jason and I share a look.
“It’s great. A little big for just the two of us, but I’m not complaining.” Jason shrugs as we nod in union.
“It is a little big,” she drawls, cocking her neck a little, “but that’s because you’ll be sharing it.”
Fuck no. “What? With who? You better not be throwing in some chick for publicity.”
“Relax, geez.” Palm up, Gina’s eyes grow wide. “I see that whoever she is, she’s still got your panties in a twist. Don’t worry, fighter boy . It’s a guy.”
I release my pent-up breath, avoiding Jason’s glare pinning me down. He’s been asking what the deal is with Charlotte and I, now that I’m on the other side of the country, but I’ve been avoiding the conversation as much as I can because I don’t fucking know.
We’re not together.
We’re friends.
But she’s still running through my mind like we’re more than that, and right now I’m not ready to let that go. Not yet.
“Who is he?” I try to keep my tone flat.
“The LA Knights latest purchase; Jared James Jensen.”