Page 88 of Betrayal

“Crap.”

“I responded.”When Anna looked disbelieving, Hunter backpedalled.“Or my body responded.And I know intellectually that doesn’t mean I wanted or invited her attack.”

“Did Nick ask Marygai to assault you?”She was icy in her rage.

“Yes.”

“Was your mother also in on the scheme?”

“Jesus.I don’t know.Don’t go there.”The possibility had added to Hunter’s confusion.

“When did you find out?”

“At Mum’s funeral.”Hunter knew he’d have to fill in the gaps.“Maybe he chose that day because Gina was with me.”He swallowed the bile rising in his throat.“At least he took me aside to boast about it.Reckoned I must have been thinking about seeing him fuck his secretary that day.Thought he’d give me a taste.Dripping poison at Mum’s funeral was one way of attracting attention.”

“He’s evil.”

“He was right.I was disgusted and enthralled at the same time.Ashamed of what I was thinking, about how my body was reacting.I was terrified after that night that Marygai would get drunk at another one of my mother’s parties and say I came on to her.”

“Is that what she threatened?”

“I was fifteen years old.Sex was my every second thought.She pretended she’d had one too many drinks to know exactly what she was doing.Walked into the wrong bedroom, and I pounced.”He recalled his helplessness.

“Hunter, they were the adults.It was premeditated child abuse.”Her uncompromising verdict erased the humiliation, which had clouded that memory.

“Yeah.I was lucky I had Cas, and decent consent education at school.I finally accepted I’d been assaulted”

“Helen told me it doesn’t completely remove the shame.”

“She’s right.Nick’s boast that he arranged it brought it back,” Hunter admitted.

“Did Nick assault Gina?”

“Not according to her.”Hunter pushed a hand through his hair.“She said they’d been drinking, he’d been commiserating with her about my refusal to commit, and one thing led to another.”

“But add it all together and you keep expecting to be ambushed by people who claim to love you.Any women between Gina and me?”She waved a hand in the air.“Stupid question.”

“Not stupid.I’ve seen women.Occasional dates, sex when it suits us both.”

“Never the same woman twice?”

“Not until I met you.”Compliment or insult?From the look on her face, he had no idea what she thought.

“What happens now?”

“I’ll let you know if I use what you’ve given me.”

God, Hunter wanted her to stay, wanted to tell her every sordid detail of his past, but he wasn’t sure he could protect her yet.

Pulling out her phone, she tapped in some numbers.“Don’t bother.”She sucked in a breath.“You talk about gambling and risks.You don’t have to do this alone.Clearly, by your calculations, I’m expendable.”

* * *

He hadn’t contradictedAnna at the end.And damn him for that.If he loved her, surely he’d have asked Anna to stay, to plan Nick’s downfall together.Well, damn him to hell and back again.A girl had her pride, and sitting around mooning over Hunter Samuel Thompson, when she’d given him second and third chances, was not going to happen.

Suck it up, Anna.

She sniffled—quietly—in the back of the ride share.