Page 34

Thirty Four

Colt

The door flew open, slamming against the wall so hard I was afraid it would put a hole in it, and Hunter strolled in without a care in the world.

Hailey squealed, pulling the sheet up under her chin, eyes wide, while I bolted upright. “What the hell, dude? What are you doing?”

He waved me off, walked over to my chair, and plopped down in it. “Please, like I don’t hear you two every night. This isn’t going to make much difference now.”

I cast a quick glance at Hailey, worried about her reaction. She blinked slowly, once, twice, three times, then shook her head faintly and stared at him in silent disbelief.

With a groan, I dropped back onto the pillow. “Why are you in my room at half past eleven at night?” He better have a good reason, considering he might have just cock blocked me .

“I did it.” That was all he said, and I had no idea what the fuck he was talking about.

“Did what?” I asked exasperatedly, running my fingers through my hair.

“I’ve got the tape.”

That sentence was enough to make me snap back into an upright position at the same moment Hailey asked, “Really?”

Hunter gave her a deadpan stare. “I usually mean what I say.”

“How the fuck did you do that?” I gaped, my eyebrows raised.

“So Ella’s idea actually worked ?” She sounded stunned and excited at the same time.

Hunter snorted. “It’s not like that idea hadn’t crossed my mind before, but I needed … let’s call it support, and I wouldn’t have asked for it if Blaze hadn’t … Never mind. Anyway, I got the video back, deleted all copies from his network, and even bagged a nice little bonus in case he still has a copy on an external device somewhere.”

Who the hell was Blaze? And if this support was who I thought it was, I needed to have a private conversation with him.

“What exactly do you mean by bonus?” Hailey took the words right out of my mouth.

Hunter grinned, a malicious edge to the curl of his lips. “Something that, if it fell into the wrong hands, would put your father behind bars for the foreseeable future. In other words, something that would definitely carry enough weight to blackmail him back if necessary.”

“Do I even want to know?” I asked. My eyebrows felt like they were about to disappear into my hairline.

“Meh. Probably not. I’ll just put it in my special folder with the other things I keep up my sleeve for emergencies.” He shrugged nonchalantly, then clapped his hands loudly, causing Hailey to startle, and stood up. “Good, then that’s taken care of.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Hailey yanked her arms out from under the sheet, remembering in time she wasn’t wearing much underneath. She quickly grabbed it again and clutched it to her chest. “It’s over now? Just like that? ”

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Well, I guess if I were you, I’d let him know that things are going to turn out a little differently than he thought they would.”

“But …” Hailey stared ahead with her mouth agape, like she couldn’t wrap her head around what was happening. To be fair, neither could I. “Wait, did you also find out who sent him the video?”

“I took care of that too,” he informed us with a small nod.

“And?” Hailey asked, eyebrows arched as if she didn’t believe she had to ask.

“And what?” If I didn’t know that Hunter didn’t have a clue what she wanted him to tell her, I’d think he was playing games with her.

She threw her hands up in exasperation and grabbed the sheet again as it began to slide down. “ And was it Nico who sent this stuff to my dad?”

“Oh. Yeah, I thought that was obvious.” Hunter shrugged and started for the door again.

“Wait!” she called, really aggravated now, and I had to stifle a laugh. I knew that her curiosity was eating her up from the inside and that she wouldn’t be able to rest until Hunter spilled all the details. Not that my best friend had even remotely intended to do that .

As with so many things, he was practical about the whole situation — he got to the point, and as long as the end result worked for him, he didn’t care about any details.

“Before you try to disappear again” — she fixed him with her gaze — “I’d like to hear all the details. Please?”

He turned on his heel to face us again, squinting one eye and looking up at the ceiling.

“Well—” He sighed. “If you must. Let’s see … After tapping into your father’s network, whose security measures, by the way, are shockingly easy to breach, I found several conversations between him and Nico dating back to the summer. Just like me, your old man must’ve gotten wind that Nico screwed over his dad this summer by fucking his new stepmom—”

“He did what ?” Hailey squeaked, and my eyebrows shot up. I already thought Nico was a sleazy motherfucker, but I didn’t think he was capable of something like that.

Hunter shrugged one shoulder and nodded. “Yep. Daddy dearest didn’t think it was cute either and cut him off. He’s been trying to claw his way back ever since. That’s where your dad comes in. I think he initially set you two up because Nico’s family was loaded, but once he found out Nico was broke and desperate, he saw a new opportunity. Your father offered him money in exchange for information on you two.”

“Wow …” I shook my head in disgust. And to think that I’d been on a team with this guy for years. What a fucking little rat. “So Nico took the deal to screw me over and get back in his father’s good graces?”

Hunter gave a grim smile. “Pretty much. Desperation makes people do stupid shit.”

“Oh!” Hailey suddenly exclaimed. “That’s what you threatened him with back at the diner?”

“Good observation,” Hunter said dryly.

Hailey rolled her eyes and glanced at me as she toyed with the fabric of the sheet. “So, what exactly does this mean for us?”

I huffed, running my fingers through my hair and clasping my hands behind my neck. “Well, as far as your father is concerned … we’ll break the good news to him and then deal with the consequences — together . As for Nico … phew, no idea, to be honest. Is there anything we can do?” Now I looked at Hunter again, who returned my gaze.

“Actually, that’s up to you. I’ve secured enough material that if it were brought to Coach, it would definitely get him kicked off the team.” He shrugged. “But that’s your decision. If you really want to stick it to him, we can even take it to the administration of the brU and get him kicked out of the school as well.”

I tilted my head to Hailey, who stared into my eyes.

“It’s your team, so I’ll leave the final decision regarding this part to you, but if you ask me, throw him under the bus. He’s a fucking snake in the grass, and he deserves to be held accountable for his actions.” I could hear the suppressed fury in her tone and see the fire in her eyes.

“He definitely deserves it,” I said bitterly.

“Is that your decision? No offense, but I’m kind of done standing around here. Or are there eleventy more questions you need to ask me?” Hunter said in a gruff voice. Guess he’d had enough social interaction, which was hardly surprising.

I hesitated. Did I really want to end someone else’s career and future? Considering he’d tried to do the same to Hailey as well as me, so my hesitation vanished into thin air. “Go for it,” I said with a determined nod.

“Just so we’re all on the same page: I’m going to send this information anonymously to both the coach and the administration. There’s no need to drag any of us into this unnecessarily. So act surprised and don’t give anything away, okay?” With that, he walked out of the room without another word.

The door had barely closed behind him when I jumped up.

“Where are you going?” Hailey asked, perplexed.

I glanced back over my shoulder at her, the sight of her covered only by a sheet so enticing that I almost turned around and crawled back into bed with her.

“There’s one more thing I need to talk to Hunter about. Alone. It has nothing to do with you or your father, and you know how he is … He won’t talk if you’re there. Not even sure he’ll tell me.”

“Oookay,” she said, her shapely eyebrows drawn together. “Hurry back.”

I snorted. “Please, like I’m going to take my time knowing you’re here waiting for me.”

“I love you.”

“Love you too, Princess.”

With quick steps, I strode down the hall and entered Hunter’s room. He hadn’t bothered to knock either. His head whipped around to look at me while his fingers tapped lightning fast on the keyboard, causing several windows on the screen to close. Suspicious.

“Was there anything else?” He drawled, one eyebrow raised, the conversation definitely over as far as he was concerned.

“First off, thanks for your help, from me and Hailey, we really appreciate it, but … ”

He gave me nothing, not a single muscle moved, his expression blank. We were more or less having a staring contest, like when we were kids, and I already knew I would lose, he was just too good at it.

The seconds ticked by. My eyes were burning, and I tried desperately to keep them open but failed.

“Fuck!” Blinking rapidly, I turned away and rubbed my eyes to clear my blurred vision. “How do you do that? It’s inhuman,” I muttered under my breath.

He huffed out a chuckle but still refused to give me anything, even though we both knew precisely why I was here.

“Then I guess I’ll stop beating around the bush. That ‘support’ you were talking about … Was it Sasha?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and watching him intently. His eyes darted to the side, and that was all the answer I needed to know that my suspicions were correct.

“Shit, Hunter, you didn’t have to do that.”

“What’s the point of having a stepbrother in prison if you don’t use his contacts every once in a while?” There was the tiniest hitch in his voice, one you wouldn’t have recognized if you hadn’t spent years with him. But I knew his tells. Like the way his jaw twitched, which was almost impossible to hide.

“I don’t know, dude. Probably not for this, if you want my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful we got that shit off our backs, but it must have been difficult for you.” I eyed him with concern, but there was still no trace of emotion on his face.

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? You know I’m here for you.”

“I know.” His hard gray eyes softened a fraction. That was all I would get from him, all he would allow.

He swiveled his chair from left to right. “What do you think Hailey’s going to do now?”

I frowned at him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that she probably realizes that her father won’t be able to pay for her education. And she doesn’t have a scholarship or even a job.”

I stared at him like he was a few fries short of a Happy Meal. “She’s got me,” I said slowly. “She doesn’t have to worry about a thing.”

He barked out a laugh. “Are you serious? You really think she’s going to go for that?”

What the hell was he talking about? “I honestly have no idea where you’re going with this. Care to explain?”

“Nah.” He waved it off. “Forget I said anything. Maybe I’m wrong.”

I narrowed my eyes on him, but I’d already lost his attention. He turned back to his screen, which I took as a request for me to leave. He didn’t like having other people in his personal space for long.

When I reentered my room, most of the lights were out, Hailey was snuggled up in the sheets and appeared to be asleep. I carefully slid into bed next to her so as not to wake her. As if she had a built-in heat sensor, she curled up against me without ever waking up.

I hugged her, a tingling sensation running through my stomach at the realization that this was my life, that I was allowed to experience so much happiness, and planted a kiss on the top of her head.

Hunter was wrong. Why should she have a problem with me taking care of her? We were a team; what was mine was hers. It was simple, really.