CHAPTER 25 #2
Eventually, the boys and I left the girls to their own devices and walked over to the bar with our drinks, where athletes from Vesta University’s football and hockey team were congregated.
I barely paid attention to the ongoing conversations, my thoughts on Gabriela…
before my attention veered towards Josh.
My best friend appeared on edge.
When he threw back three shots in succession, I grasped his shoulder and leaned close so no one else heard me. “You okay, man? Something wrong?”
It wasn’t like Josh to brood. I was smart enough to know his sunshine persona was sometimes a way to hide the miscreant underneath. He rarely showed his dark side, a wolf in sheep’s skin, but tonight he looked on the verge of unleashing it.
“Layla,” was his clipped response before he downed another shot.
Ah, that explained his demeanour. I spoke to him yesterday in between classes and he said she wouldn’t be staying in their shared home for the foreseeable future—a fact that pissed him off.
Something about Layla’s dad being suspicious and her wanting to lie low until his overbearing attitude blew over.
I was certain Josh understood her reasoning, but it still hurt him.
My best friend deserved to be loved in the light, not hidden away in the shadows. Even though Layla treated him like the apple of her eye, Josh probably ached at the thought that she wasn’t able to claim him in front of the whole world.
“It’s going to be okay, Josh.” I wished I could offer him more concrete reassurances. “Give it a few days and she’ll return home. Things will go back to normal.”
He scoffed, brushing a frustrated hand through his dark brown hair. “I doubt it, Hunt.”
As if he manifested his beloved, she walked into the club at that exact moment with Anna by her side.
Josh stared at Layla, brown eyes glimmering. He made no advances, wanting her to make the first move. Dared her, even, as he took a languid sip of vodka straight from a bottle, never glancing away from her.
Layla puffed out a breath and whispered something to Anna. They both sauntered in our general direction.
We weren’t the only ones watching their approach. Cory, one of the guys on the hockey team—who was clearly drunk out of his mind—made a show of leaning back to leer at Layla, catcalling, “What I wouldn’t give to tap that ass every single night.”
He said it loud enough for everyone in our vicinity to hear.
Including Josh.
Layla paled and Anna threw Cory a scathing look.
The boys in our circle all paused, shocked at the hockey player’s audacity and—quite frankly—temporary insanity.
Everyone knew Layla was Josh’s girl. I was about to smack some sense into Cory before Josh drained the bottle, dropped it on the bar top with a decisive thud, and met the offender’s eyes with murder in his own.
We only had seconds to brace ourselves before chaos ensued.
That infamous Remington temper surfaced and Josh lunged for Cory.
He slammed him face-first onto the bar, disorienting him before dragging his head up with a handful of his hair and introducing his fist to his nose.
His jaw. His cheeks. Anywhere he could reach.
“Talk about my girl like that again.” Smack.
“I dare you.” Smack. “I’ll make you regret ever existing, you goddamn waste of space. ”
The clubgoers around us gasped and screamed, scampering away as the fight broke out. The music was loud, the bass thumping, yet none of it hid the sound of glass shattering when Josh smashed the bottle against Cory’s head, pieces flying like shrapnel.
Along with the other boys, I jumped in to stop the situation before blood spilled all over the floors.
But our attempts were half-hearted, knowing Cory had it coming.
Josh was like a man possessed, successfully pummeling the hockey player into a whole new realm.
By the time Nico and Nate pulled away a bleeding Cory, and Shaun and I tore away a heaving Josh, Cade had ushered over two bouncers.
They picked up a slack Cory and dragged him out.
The party resumed as if nothing had occurred, the DJ jesting with the crowd and proceeding to put on a few throwback tunes.
Blood streaked Josh’s right temple and a few speckles had landed on his white dress shirt. He looked unhinged. Like a beast. Breathing unevenly and head swivelling around in search of Layla.
Sam had been holding back both girls to stop them from getting hurt in the brawl. The turn of events visibly shook them.
Wordlessly, Josh snatched Layla’s hand and started dragging her to the second floor of the club, away from everyone’s prying eyes.
Anna made a move to follow her, but Layla cast her a meaningful expression, mouthing, “I’ll be fine.”
“Are you okay?” Sam leaned down to murmur in Anna’s ear.
The beauty queen glanced at his face in a trance-like manner and nodded meekly.
“You look exceptionally beautiful tonight,” he complimented.
Anna, who was previously holding on to his tattooed arm with a death grip during the fight, loosened her grip and stepped back, panicked. A blush rose on her cheeks. “Thank you. I-I should go.”
Before I could stop her and ask where Gabriela was, Anna strutted away quickly, Sam’s compliment having unbalanced her. She joined her friends in the designated booth and entirely avoided the heat of Sam’s stare.
“Have you thought of ever asking her out?” I asked him. “You obviously like her.”
Sam ran his tongue over his teeth before taking a pull of his whiskey. He kept watching Anna with a lazy smirk. “I will. One day.”
Now with Cory gone, things returned to the status quo. Without a doubt, there wouldn’t be charges pressed tonight, unless he had a death wish. No one wanted to court the Remingtons’ wrath.
I continued conversing with the other boys, but my gaze kept bouncing around the club, rummaging for Gabriela. Her friends were already here, so where was she?
I was about to text her again when I heard a female voice next to me, bordering on a shrill, “Hunter?”
I peered to my left.
And my heart rate kicked up.
Ginette.
My ex-girlfriend.
She was here with two of her friends, giggling with drinks in their hands.
“Hi!” she chirped, scanning me appreciatively. “I thought I recognized you.”
Immediately, I shrank back a step and froze.
It was like I’d been thrown back in time, warped in a nightmare. We were high schoolers again and I was standing in the music room with her as she tore me to shreds with her cruel words. Like I wasn’t a human being with feelings, but a puppet for her to play with.
After our last explosive encounter, I never expected to see this ghost from my past. Over two years had gone by. Why was she saying hi to me? Why was she acting like we were old acquaintances and not exes who ended on horrible terms?
“You look really good, Hunter,” she praised and I hated the lewd hint in her tone, like I was still just a vessel to her with no soul, my outer shell the only thing composing my worth. “But what are you doing here? This is far from your scene.”
A sense of humiliation washed over me. My mind played her old jeering tirade on a loop. All the healing I did since our breakup seemed to unravel when my mouth opened to speak and speech failed me. There was an acerbic taste in my mouth that amplified with every beat of my heart.
“Cat got your tongue?” she said with her usual mean girl energy. “Then again, you were always a man of few words. Too quiet for your own good.”
I couldn’t believe I’d ever loved someone like Ginette.
I couldn’t believe I gave the right parts of me to someone so wrong.
Remembering my therapist’s advice from eons ago, I pushed through the pain roiling in my stomach and stood my ground.
“Don’t,” I gritted out angrily. “Don’t fucking talk to me, Ginette.”
The venom in my retort shocked her since she only remembered me as a quiet and passive boyfriend who always put up with her shit. Ginette flinched, finally having the gall to be embarrassed. “Excuse me? What the hell is your problem—Oh my God!”
A body knocked into Ginette from the back, causing her to stumble and spill her drink onto herself. The fruity concoction stained her white dress in an ugly hue.
Ginette screeched.
“Oops, sorry!” came the not-so-sorry voice of Gabriela, who blazed into the scene and threw her arms around me possessively.
She pressed a kiss to my lips and claimed me in front of everyone before I could blink.
My girl then proceeded to shoot Ginette and her posse a mock innocent expression.
“I didn’t mean to do that. Total accident on my part. ”
It wasn’t an accident and I didn’t feel bad for Ginette.
I placed my hands on Gabriela’s hips, lassoing her deeper into me.
Her familiar fragrance and the curve of her body set my heart and mind at ease.
She tamed all my anxiety, set all my demons quiet.
They didn’t exist when she was near me.
Ginette glared at Gabriela while her friends dabbed at her soaked dress uselessly with napkins from the bar. “You did that on purpose.”
“Did I?” Gabriela drawled almost menacingly. “Prove it.”
Ginette couldn’t. She and her friends looked like they wanted to fight Gabriela. That would never happen on my watch. No one would lay a single finger on her.
“I promise you, I’m the last bitch you want to mess with,” Gabriela taunted further, almost baring her teeth. “Now turn around, walk away, and never, ever speak to Hunter again. Otherwise, I’ll make you sorry for even breathing the same air as him.”
I was stunned. No one had ever stood up for me. Not the way Gabriela had, without batting an eye. She would make Ginette pay. If not with her barbs, then with that trusty gun of hers.
Realizing it was futile to argue with Gabriela and perhaps sensing the weight of her threat, Ginette and her friends backed off after a few more colourful words aimed in our direction.
I didn’t spare them another glance, my undivided attention on the red-haired beauty in my arms.
She was all that mattered to me.
“Hi, baby.” I cupped her face, gazing down at her with affection. “You made it.”
“Hi, Hunt.” She kissed me again. “Did you miss me?”
I nodded vehemently. “So much.”
“I missed you, too.”
She might as well have shot me in the chest with an arrow. Her statement of missing me was just as powerful as her statement of adoring me.
“That was your ex, huh?” she asked bitterly. The one who cheated on you, I heard the silent accusation in her tone.
“It was.”
“I heard what she said to you and when I heard you say her name, I put two and two together.” Her face scrunched like she sucked a sour candy. “Serves her right to have her drink spilled over that abomination of a dress.”
I laughed. “You defending me was very sexy. Thank you,” I said playfully. “My hero.”
She nuzzled my lips, smiling. “I’ll always defend you. No one is allowed to hurt you, Hunt.”
My heart felt like it would burst. “Right back at you, Gabby.”
She wove her fingers with mine, brought our joined hands to her mouth, and kissed my knuckles.
Gabriela looked stunning tonight. Her hair flowed down her back in loose curls.
Her makeup was flawless. Her ears were adorned with jeweled earrings.
Her feet were thrust into strappy heels.
And that red sequined minidress and diamond necklace tempted me yet again.
My mouth salivated with the need to lick, suck, and bite her flesh.
God, she was perfect.
My little doll. My bewitching siren. My goddess of victory.
I would do anything for Gabriela Regina Bellafiore.
“Are you ready to go hide in a corner with me?” she murmured, knowing me so well.
“No.” I stroked a knuckle down her cheek. “I want to dance with you first.”
Surprise lit her eyes, morphing them into a warm, tropical blue. “I would love to dance with you.”
For so long, I’d wanted to hide from the world and blend in with the crowd.
But Gabriela made me want to stand out and be seen.
As she led me to the dance floor, I realized this was where I was always meant to be. Every lesson, every obstacle, and every heartbreak were preparing me for this moment—to be next to this strong-willed, big-hearted, amazing girl that I was falling for in every sense of the word.