Page 17 of Hunted by Them (Primal Desires #1)

SAGE

The morning sunlight was too bright, like it had no business touching me. It glanced off glass towers, ricocheted down the street, and burned the back of my neck. It was way too warm for October.

I stood at the curb outside work, waiting in line for the burrito cart I’d eaten at a hundred times before, but for the first time, it felt like I was doing something foreign.

Normal now equaled pretend.

My thighs brushed together, and I bit the inside of my cheek as the memory of last night flashed behind my eyes. The ache he’d left behind was still there, a bruised pulse that wouldn’t fade no matter how many steps I walked or how hard I tried to breathe it out.

Buck had been in my bed. He came looking for me. A sane person would’ve called the cops. But all I wanted to know was if he was coming back?

At least I knew with certainty it hadn’t been some elaborate dream and that I wasn’t going crazy.

My body knew the truth. The blindfold sitting on my nightstand knew the truth.

Every shift of my hips reminded me exactly what had happened, and I didn’t care how.

I didn’t care if it made sense. He had found me. He had claimed me. He was real.

“Next,” the vendor barked, and I startled forward, fumbling for cash.

I never made it.

A familiar voice called out my name. “Sage.”

A kiss landed against my cheek, warm and unwelcome.

I turned my head. Connor stood there, too close, smiling like nothing had ever happened.

Like I hadn’t told him a million times to go to hell and leave me alone.

He was dressed in one of his fancy suits, wearing shiny shoes, and had his hair styled perfectly.

At one time, I’d thought he was a real catch, that I was with someone way out of my league. But now all I saw was another wannabe.

Expensive condo. Leased sports car. Thousand-dollar suits, and for what?

To show off to the guys at the golf course?

Connor lived paycheck to paycheck, just like I did, because he loved to toss his money around like it grew on trees.

Once upon a time, I was blinded by the lavish lifestyle and fell for the Prince Charming act.

Not anymore.

“Don’t do that,” I barked, glaring at him.

“Do what?” He looked genuinely confused.

“Kiss me or touch me at all. We are not together.”

He didn’t acknowledge what I’d said as he pointed up at the food truck.

“You should place your order. Or do you want me to?”

“No, I don’t want you to.” The guy manning the truck was staring between Connor and me like he’d just found a great soap opera to watch. “I’ll take your number two with hot sauce and a coffee with one cream.”

“Coming right up,” the guy said, and I turned back to Connor.

“What are you doing here?”

He lifted his shoulders with that relaxed, earnest charm.

“Saw you in line. Thought I’d surprise you.”

“You did.” My voice was ice. “That’s interesting, considering you don’t work or live near here, but you randomly found me at my favorite breakfast spot, outside my work. You just happened to be in the neighborhood?”

He frowned, like I’d already botched his script.

“Sage…I was worried sick when I saw the news…I mean…you could’ve died out there. And I wasn’t there for you. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“Connor, you lost the right to worry about me when you fucked someone else, lied to my face, and then acted like I was the problem. Like your wandering dick is no big deal,” I snarled, and the girl in line behind us snickered.

I was beyond caring who heard anymore. A confrontation like this in public…the old Sage…not a chance. New Sage…didn’t give a shit.

Connor looked around. Obviously, he didn’t share my newfound, fuckless attitude.

“Why are you always so crass?”

“Why can’t you just leave me alone? I feel like I need to hire a skywriter so that you can read my words. No means no, Connor. Why is this so hard for you to understand?” I looked up, realizing that the food truck guy was back. “Sorry, how much is it?”

He laughed and held out my order. “This one is on the house. I think you’re going to need it.”

“Thanks.” I stepped away from the truck. “Order your breakfast, Connor. And for the last time. Leave. Me. Alone.”

He caught my arm, yanking me to a stop.

“No, Sage. Just hear me out. I made a mistake walking away from you. The worst one of my life. I love you. I always have. We can fix this if you’d just?—”

I pulled my arm so hard his eyes widened.

“Don’t touch me.”

“Sage—”

“Hey, buddy, she said to leave her alone. Don’t make me call the cops on you,” the food truck guy yelled as he leaned on the counter, staring at Connor.

“Stay out of this, or I’ll make sure you get horrible reviews,” Connor barked back.

“What did you just say to me?”

The man disappeared, then suddenly the end door slammed open. He stepped out with a large rolling pin in his hand.

“You’re fucking crazy,” Connor said, pointing.

“Connor, just go away. You need to leave me alone.” My voice rose, sharp enough that more heads turned on the sidewalk to watch the show. “If you don’t, then it will be me calling the cops.”

He flinched, hands falling to his sides. His face worked through a dozen emotions—hurt, shock, a flash of anger, but I didn’t wait to see which one stuck. Marching away with my head held high, I walked into work. My legs shook, but I kept moving through the lobby and into the elevator.

“Dammit. Damn him.”

By the time I stepped out onto my floor, my phone buzzed like a hive. Margaret’s name scrolled across the screen a dozen more times.

I didn’t answer a single one as I walked toward my cubicle. I was eating my breakfast before I did anything else.

But of course, Margaret wasn’t just waiting for me. The bitch was sitting in my chair.

“Jesus,” I swore, and stopped dead. “Margaret, what are you doing?”

That seemed to be the question of the morning.

Margaret sat there like a sentry, arms crossed, eyes cold. She clucked at me.

“Well, look who decided to show up.” Her voice carried enough that every head within earshot swiveled in our direction. “Did you think ignoring me was a strategy? Do you even care about the team, Sage? Because from where I’m sitting, it seems like you only care about yourself.”

“Look who’s talking,” I mumbled, under my breath. “I’ll go eat in the kitchen.”

I turned around and started to walk away.

“Don’t you turn your back on me,” Margaret snapped, heels clicking after me. “You disappear, you embarrass me, you can’t even answer your phone, and then you come strolling in like…like?—”

“Like what?” I cut her off, spinning around to face her. My voice came out louder than I expected, raw, and with enough force to silence the rest of the floor. I saw everyone’s heads slowly peek up over the top of their walls like a bunch of gophers.

Margaret’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” I snapped, heat rushing through me.

“You want to keep going? Fine. You want to scream at me in front of the entire office? Let’s do it.

Because I’m done pretending you’re anything other than a bully with a fancy desk.

You don’t even know how to use a stapler, let alone do your job properly.

The only thing you happen to do well is scream at everyone and keep them scared so they don’t question what the hell you actually do, other than nothing. ”

Gasps rippled across the office.

Margaret’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. “How dare you?—”

“How dare I what?” I stepped closer, shoulders squared.

“How dare I tell the truth? No. How dare you treat every single person here like garbage just because you think it makes you look powerful. Newsflash, Margaret, it doesn’t.

It makes you look pathetic. Not one person in here respects you, and if you were fired, they would all dance down the hall. ”

“Do you realize what you’re saying?”

“Yes, because unlike you, I have a functioning brain, not just a loud mouth.”

“You! You can’t speak to me like this. You’ll never get another marketing job in this city if I pick up the phone, and?—”

“Good,” I yelled, and her mouth snapped closed. “Then I won’t waste another second working for another jerk like you.”

Stomping past her and into my cubicle, I grabbed the one thing worth keeping…my fern. It was limp but alive, stubborn in its survival just like me. I tucked the items under my arm, swept up my bag, and turned for the elevator.

“You’re making a mistake!” Margaret shrieked. “You’ll regret this!”

The words and her clicking shoes chased me, brittle and hollow. She reminded me of a yappy dog.

Pushing the button for the elevator, I wheeled on her once more and smiled.

“No, you will, now that you can no longer use my hard work for your boy toy Todd. Or claim my ideas as your own to keep the bosses thinking you do something around here. I’m done being your doormat, and you’re the one who’ll regret it.

You know it.” I looked past her to everyone still staring.

“And they know it. They’re now wondering how long it will be until your boss figures out you’re useless. I’m sure they are already taking bets.”

Margaret looked over her shoulder at the eighty or so people watching, just as the elevator arrived and the doors slid open.

I stepped inside, chest heaving, eyes stinging with the release of what I’d been holding in for so long.

I held the button for the doors to close, to make sure she didn’t chase me into the six-by-four box.

And just like that, another weight fell off me.

The tightness that had coiled around my ribs since I first came back, since I first tried to shove myself back into this old skin, loosened. I pressed my forehead to the cool steel wall and laughed. It came out shaky, but real.

When the doors opened again, the lobby spread out before me, but it looked like a million possibilities rather than the death trap it had been before. The morning crowd bustled, oblivious to the drama that had just unfolded a few floors up. And the best part, Connor was nowhere in sight.

Thank God .

I walked out with my fern, my burrito, and no job. But…I felt lighter than I had in years.