Why You Shouldn't Lend A Bad Boy Your Clothes

Chapter 27

For a moment, all I could do was stare at him while he was impatiently waiting for my answer. I had thought about him so many times this week that it felt surreal to suddenly be this close to him in real life.

Just like me, he looked like he hadn't slept a lot (which actually wasn't that unusual, but somehow still worrying to me), but his eyes were alert as he watched me carefully. Strands of hair were falling into his face, making my fingers itch with the urge to push them out of his eyes.

But I kept my hands to myself, hiding them in the pocket of my hoodie. Then I tore my eyes away from his face and made a move to push past him, just to get held back by his hands pushing me back against the wall.

To hinder me from trying to walk away again, he stepped closer this time, until I could've easily touched him if I only lifted my hand.

I swallowed and looked down at my shoes, which he immediately prohibited by clasping my chin with one hand, tilting it upwards so he could meet my eye.

It was the first actual physical contact we had made in a week. Enough to make my heart stutter.

"Jules, talk to me," he said, sounding strangely desperate.

I was so busy staring at his lips, that it took me a moment to register his words. They immediately snapped me out of my daze and, suddenly becoming aware of my situation, I grasped his wrist and made him let go of my face. My voice was hardly more than a whisper as I said: "I can't... Hunter, you need to let me leave. I can't be here."

"You mean you can't be here with me?" he asked. "I won't let you leave until you at least properly break up with me. Do you understand?"

I winced at the harshness of his words.

Hunter looked me straight in the eye as he added: "You can't just completely ignore me from one day to another without at least telling me what I did wrong."

Feeling a pang of guilt, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Which I immediately regretted as I inhaled the scent of him; smoke, leather, aftershave, a hint of mint. It was painfully familiar.

Everything about him was, yet right now it felt like I was talking to a stranger. Hunter had never talked to me in that voice. He had never sounded angry or disappointed before.

"You didn't do anything wrong," I said quietly.

"Then why don't you want to see me anymore?" Hunter asked.

It was the genuine hurt in his eyes that broke me. "My parents found out," I breathed. "They saw the video of us in the club. Victoria sent it to them. They decided that I shouldn't see you anymore and basically hired Victoria to watch out for me and tell them if I'm with you. If Victoria finds out, I'll have to go to Church Camp."

Hunter's expression had turned progressively darker throughout my explanation. "That fucking-" He took a deep breath to calm himself down, but I could see his jaw working. "I should've known that she was behind all of this. The way she was clinging to me all week... But why didn't you send Nate to tell me?" Hunter wondered, looking at me questioningly.

"She had an eye out for him, too. If he would've approached you, she would've known what it was about."

Hunter nodded slowly. "Okay. So, what now?"

I swallowed and studied his features. The small space between our bodies felt like miles and all I wanted to do was to pull him into a kiss. But I didn't dare, not yet. Hunter had every right to be mad at me. "I don't know," I replied honestly. "But... I don't want to lose this."

Hunter almost smiled and said: "Me neither. So... Are you up for some hide and seek?"

Laughing felt strange after a week of not smiling once. "We'll have to be careful."