Hunter's Chance

t h i r t y - o n e

James POV (afhdkasfjdksafjdksa;fjdlsa;fjdklsajldasj)

Damn this place. I think to myself as I scan the riding arena. Damn her.

It wasn't supposed to happen. Not like this. It should have been easy and that night at the party when I called her to come get Conner, I never suspected that it would turn to this, or at least that's the lie I've kept dangling in front of myself for the past few months. I always knew otherwise.

I was there for a reason.

I was supposed to be in and out, quick as a flash, and she was never supposed to notice. Though with her platinum blonde hair and big brown eyes, I couldn't help myself from thinking about her. I could never stop thinking about the fact that she didn't know how to cook or her bad taste in reality tv or all those times when she would close her eyes while she listened to her favorite songs. She would hum along while I started to chip away at the guilt that settled right there in the pit of my stomach.

She's so infuriating with her constant banter and need to look for ways to push me away. I played all the right cards, did all the right things and still we were met with the one thing that I knew would end us. She had to bring up Stacey.

I blame Jade for that, for constantly hounding me about whether or not I was going to tell her. I didn't need to, or did I? We could have gone on without her knowing. Now I know that I should have fought for her, I should have told her that it was nothing but even I know how wrong that would have been because ultimately that would have been a lie. In her eyes though, I look like the jackass who didn't fight for her and by walking away, that wasn't what I was trying to say at all.

I love her and her abnormally small legs and the way her mouth forms when she says my name and how without her knowing it at all, she loves me too.

My phone starts vibrating on the bed of the tailgate next to me and when I look down I see that it's Jade. I click the red button on the screen realizing that it's only the seventh phone call I've denied from her today, she's just as persistent as my mother. I run my hands through my hair and then slide off the tailgate, turning to push it up.

I have to get out of here.

I've spent too long in here trying to piece together what happened. Why everything went straight to hell. I could come up with every reason in the book, but I knew. I knew all along that I was walking a fine line with my secrets weighing heavy on my shoulders and she was just too damn stubborn to let things go.

Raegan Hunter.

She never fails to surprise me. Like that night she took off running from the ice cream parlor. Why did she run? The fool I am, never asked. What a selfish prick I have been and to think that I wanted her to just open up to me and give me every ounce of detail about her life. Well, the things I didn't already know. Like when she would bite the inside of her cheek when she was nervous.

I shake my head and laugh at the thought when the sound of someone's voice stops me in my place.

"You know, she's got it all wrong about Stacey. Why didn't you tell her?"

Jade.

Hell, this is why I've avoided her for the past five days. "You've seen her." I say more as a statement than a question.

"Just for a bit. She's really upset."

Upset? Good. That means she hasn't given up on me. I turn to her and shrug my shoulders. "I'm tired of this charade."

Her arms are crossed over her chest, telling me that she's here to mean business. Her brown hair is framing her small face and when she steps towards me, I instinctively step back. "Then tell her."