Page 6 of Hunter
Another, colder text message followed the first. It read:Don’t come. Please refund your ticket. It was just a weekend fling, Hunter. Let it go. Move on.
That hurt.
And it was fucking humiliating.
Not eager to be branded a stalker, I stopped calling. I stopped texting. I didn’t fly down to Seattle to see her. Just as she’d asked, I let go.
But Ididn’tmove on.
All of this happened at the very beginning of the dark, quiet season in Skagway, which meant I had plenty of time to thinkand very little to distract me. My feelings of ardor cooled. My feelings of rejection, anger, and confusion multiplied.
We were “together” for just over a month, talking at least once a day, with a substantial level of intimacy established and growing between us. Why had she broken things off so suddenly? And when I asked for her to reconsider, why did she feel the need to be so fucking cold? Had it all been some kind of game to her? Because it certainly hadn’t been to me.
By the time Tanner’s wedding rolled around, I was pretty certain I hated her, and maybe I did…until I saw her again. My heart thundered. My body tightened. I still wanted her. (Shit.) I still had feelings for her. (Fuck.) I couldn’t help my attraction or my feelings, and profoundly resented both.
She’d broken up with me over text message, rejecting me without a proper conversation; without much civility or any kindness. It was humiliating and hurtful. So, when she mentioned her plans to compete onThe Astonishing Racethis summer, yes, it bothered me to know she’d be back in Alaska.
But now? It’s my chance to get some answers.
Thanks to Nick’s job offer, I’ll have the perfect opportunity to confront the girl who broke my heart, and—lord help me—I’ll finally be able to move on.
***
“So you’re just…leaving?” asks Parker over dinner. “For three whole weeks?”
“It’s a good opportunity,” I tell her. “I can network with Rick Jones and possibly get us future gigs with upcoming TV shows. Luckily, McKenna’s ready to pick up some slack this summer. I think it’s a win-win.”
“I tend to agree,” says my father thoughtfully. “It’s a new angle, the TV business. I’m not against it.”
“But, Dad, McKenna wasn’t planning to do solo tours yet,” says Tanner, darting an annoyed glance at me. “She and I were going to work together as a team this summer.”
I roll my eyes and scoff. “She can easily doBeers, Brawls, and Brothelssolo, bro.”
“Sure I can,” says McKenna, placing a pacifying hand over Tanner’s and grinning at me. “I learned a lot with Bruce last summer. The rest I can learn on the fly. I don’t mind at all, Hunter.”
“Best sister-in-law ever,” I tell her with a wink. Then I turn to Tanner with a smirk. “See? It’s fine.”
He narrows his eyes at me, looking pissed. He was probably looking forward to a long, hot summer canoodling with his new wife in the woods. Well, too bad. We all have to make sacrifices in a family business, and he knows it.
“So,” asks Reeve, all sweet and wide-eyed, “what show will you be working on?”
“Huh?”
“Just wondering if we’ve heard of it,” she adds with a shit-eating grin.
She’ssucha stinker.Since when did mylittlestsister get so wise? She doesn’t miss a thing anymore.
“Does it matter, Reeve?”
“I’m just curious. You said you were going to be on the production crew of a TV show, right?” She blinks her eyes at me, the very picture of innocence, the little rat. “Which show, Hunter?”
“A reality show. I already said.”
She leans her elbows on the table. “Which one?”
“Um…” I dig into my potatoes. “I forget. Like,The Amazing Journeyor something like that.”
“Wait!” exclaims McKenna. “The Astonishing Race? Oh my god, Hunter! Did you know that Isabella’s going to be a contestant on that show?”