Page 17 of The Boy Next Door

Hunter storms toward us. "Get off him!"

My heart hammers in my chest while I jump away. "I'm so sorry, I—"

The apologies spill out before Hunter pushes Dylan back and gets in his face. Oh, he wasn’t talking to me. "What the fuck, man?"

"Are you crazy?" Dylan asks, planting his feet and not letting himself be moved anymore. He's bigger than his brother now.

"I saw you!"

Dylan raises his hands. "Nothing happened."

"Stay away from him."

"Huh? Sam and I are friends."

"Yeah? Well, we're—"

"What?" I interrupt. "What's going on here?"

We aren’t anything as far as I can see. And the reason for that, strangely enough, is the guy who’s causing a fuss now. He has no right to be upset.

Hunter falters. A strange expression crosses his face, then he bolts into the kitchen and out the back door.

~

Searching the garden, I find Hunter sitting against a tall hedge, hidden under its shade. His head is down, his arms over his knees. A grown-up version of his younger self, sulking in the nearest spot when upset.

"I'm sorry," he mumbles.

"What?"

I'm not sure if I'm asking to make sure I heard him correctly or it's a general 'what' for anything that just happened.

"Look, I shouldn't have... I even knew this was coming." He chuckles without humor. "I just wasn't expecting front row seats."

"Seats to what? One friend supporting another?"

He raises his head and scowls. "Well, it looked pretty cozy.”

“Why do you even care? You were totally uninterested in me after our date.”

“Let’s just say that I figured you weren’t gonna be interested in me much longer. Not with my brother back on the market.”

Oh my god. The pieces are all slotting into place.

We ended our date on a good note. Then Hunter came home and found Dylan and Renee screaming at each other. Hunter turned distant because Dylan and his girlfriend weren't going to last... and he figured I really wanted his brother?

"Is this why you're all over the place?" I whisper.

"Seeing as I live with Dylan and knew his relationship was circling the drain, there wasn't any point in... Maybe you like me a little, but... You should be free to date who you want."

"You-you knew?" I whisper.

"You weren't exactly subtle when we were younger.

You were head over heels, hearts in your eyes, the whole deal.

I took one look at you two together when I came back and knew nothing had really changed.

You were still crazy about him and he was still oblivious.

Those feelings don't just go away," he swears.

"Not when you're not seeing anyone else and always in his orbit, not when you never told him. "

Stepping closer to hear his low voice, I tower over him as he sits. Yet I don't feel like I have the advantage. I try to make sense of anything.

"Okay, I had a crush on your brother. So what? That doesn’t give you the right to charge in and—"

"Had?" His head whips toward me.

"What?"

"You had a crush on Dylan." His eyes are glued to me. "That's what you said."

"W-We're not talking about me." I hadn't even noticed, and it hadn't stood out as wrong, but I can't dwell on what that might mean. "We're discussing why you went all caveman back there."

"It struck a nerve." He looks down and I can breathe again. Somewhat. "You were always too busy with him to notice me. You wouldn't even look at me."

"Uh, you? What?"

"I didn't like you then, but it annoyed me. Here I was easily twice as rambunctious and obnoxious as my little bro, I heard this all the time, and yet you…"

"Is that why you pushed me in the pond?" I ask.

"I just wanted you to know I existed."

"Oh."

My heart is either beating crazy fast or extremely slowly, and it's strangely hard to tell which.

I feel so wrong footed. I'm supposed to close the door with Hunter, yet it seems to be cracking open inch by inch.

He's so confusing and that must be why he takes up all my attention whenever he's nearby, because I struggle to figure him out.

"Look, I'm sorry." He slowly gets up. "I overreacted. We're hardly serious."

True, but the way he says it...

"Are you seeing other guys?" We aren't official, we only went on one date, so of course he is. Though I must be special, the only one he's tormenting. I laugh. "Unbelievable."

"No, I'm not." He's watching me with a strange expression. Almost as if I'm as mysterious and fascinating to him as he is to me. "Uh, are you jealous?"

“No!” Oh gosh. "No, I have no right or reason to be jealous. We only went on one date. I’m not jealous, you’re jealous. I mean, uh, no one’s jealous.”

“Really?” His lips quirk up. “Because I was totally jealous.”

“O-oh. Well, I… I, um, I’m not going to say it back!” I stammer out too loudly. Was I really jealous over Hunter?

"It's okay."

My face must be totally red as I step back. "No, I'm not sure that’s true.”

“Up until now, you were really blowing me out of the water in the maturity department. You stubbornly refusing to admit the obvious truth? Thanks, you’re finally catching up to me.”

“Hey!”

Suddenly, he's right in front of me. “Don’t worry, you’re still winning at not being childish and insane.”

“Good, as long as you know that."

The words dry up as his lips crash into mine.

This kiss? Completely different from the first one. Lacking in finesse, all feeling and no skill. Desperate, fast movements and suddenly we fall against the hedge. I gasp and his tongue rushes in my mouth, one hot glide before it backs out, afraid it's not welcome.

"Hunter," I breathe.

And that must reassure him as our lips meet again because his tongue is back, and there go my brain cells, evaporating even faster this time. Hands are everywhere, his and mine, we cling together in a fragile yet mind-blowingly perfect embrace.

Is this what inspiration feels like? I wonder distantly.

"You know what?" His voice is as rough as the pad of his thumb, tracing my bottom lip. "I don't mind a little jealousy."

"W-well," I stammer. "You don't let it happen again."

"Okay. You can let it happen every now and then."

Our mouths join again, so there's no more talking. For the moment at least, I know exactly what I want from Hunter: more of his lips on mine, more of this, more of him.