5. MADDOX #3
“Mm-hmm.”
My stare narrows on him, but I know better than to push about his work. If he wanted to tell me about it, he would, and clearly, it’s not in the cards tonight.
Hunter exhales something suspiciously close to amusement, and I grin wider. “So, this girl,” he says, picking up right where we left off. “You planning on seeing her again?”
I nod. “I’d be a fool to let her slip through my fingers,” I admit. “But I ain’t chasing. That little savage will come crawling to me.”
Hunter pauses, his head snapping up as his hand tightens on his whiskey. “What did you just call her?”
I blink, confused. “Savage.”
“Clarify.”
The fuck is wrong with this idiot?
“Clarify savage?”
“Yes.”
I laugh. “What, is there a broad savage spectrum I should be aware of?”
He doesn’t respond, just stares, waiting for me to give him what he wants, and I throw my hands out, having no fucking idea why the word caused this kind of reaction in him.
“I don’t know. She’s feisty. Smart mouth, slightly terrifying, and has an attitude that could bring any man to his knees.
I don’t know whether to kiss her feet or update my will. Why? What’s the problem?”
His brows furrow, and he slowly shakes his head. “It’s nothing,” he says. “It’s just . . . I took this girl out last week, and that’s what I called her.”
My jaw drops. Fuck the nickname, I’m stuck on the fact that this asshole just admitted to taking someone out.
He’s private about the women he dates. He doesn’t talk about them.
Period. And not because he doesn’t like to open up or because there’s no one to talk about.
He goes through them just as frequently and efficiently as I do, he just doesn’t think any have been worth mentioning . . .
Until now.
I tread carefully, treating him like an injured bird who could freak out and shut down at the slightest movement. “You ahh . . . took a woman out?”
“That’s what I said, isn’t it?”
“Who is she?”
He shrugs. “No one that matters.”
“That’s bullshit, and you know it.” I’m probably the only bastard on the planet capable of calling out Hunter Cole without losing my life. “If she didn’t matter, you wouldn’t have mentioned it, and you sure as fuck wouldn’t have been so worked up about some stupid nickname.”
Hunter rolls his eyes and throws back what’s left of his drink, seeming annoyed by the conversation, but I’m not about to let him off the hook so quickly.
“Doesn’t matter anyway,” he says. “I fucked it up.”
My jaw drops, and I gape at my best friend. “You . . . what? You fucked it up? Did the great Hunter Cole just admit fault? No! It couldn’t be.” I start feeling around, searching the couch, table, and my pockets. “Quick. I need a pen and paper. I need to write this down.”
Hunter’s sigh is sharp enough to slit throats. “Don’t fucking start with me.”
I keep searching. “No, no. This is historical. It needs to be documented.”
Hunter just glares, and I grin. “Hit me with it,” I tell him. “What happened?”
He takes a heavy breath as if wondering if he’s really about to get into this with me. “I was out at a bar last week, killing time, and I met this chick. Fucking stunning, so I asked her out.”
“And?”
“And nothing. I took her out. We had a good time. Probably the only chick who’s called me on my shit. She wasn’t impressed or drooling, and she could keep the conversation going. Funny, even. I don’t know, I suppose I liked that.”
“I’m failing to see the problem.”
He groans and falls back against the couch. “I had to take off. Something came up, and I had to leave just as things were getting good.”
I gape at my best friend. “You just . . . bailed?”
He throws his hands out. “What else was I supposed to do? Take her with me? I was working.”
My gaze narrows again, the suspicion growing. “Work? What work ?”
Hunter groans and grabs his cup before storming back to the kitchen and refilling the whiskey. “Can we stay on track here?”
I sigh and get up, following him to the kitchen, and as he shamelessly throws back the whole glass, I lay my hands on the counter. “Did you get her number at least?”
He shakes his head, and I roll my eyes. “Rookie error, man.”
“I needed to go. Time was of the essence. Besides, it doesn’t matter anyway. You didn’t see her face. This girl never wants to see me again.”
“You don’t know that for sure.”
Hunter scoffs. “I do.”
“Like that’s ever stopped you before. So what, you don’t have her number, but you’ve got to have learned something about her while you were with her. What does she do? Do you know where she works?”
Hunter nods. “She was working the bar where I first met her.”
“Good. Then go there. Talk to her, give her the full Hunter Cole experience, and she’ll be putty in your hands,” I tell him. “If you like her, then go for it, and if there’s something there, you’ll figure out a way to reel her back in. If not, she tells you to fuck off. What have you got to lose?”
He laughs. “You don’t know this chick, man. I could lose a fucking eye.”
“Ahhh, but it’d be worth it. The wild ones always are.”