I couldn’t bear the weight of his stare. It made me feel sad, guilty and more broken than I already was.
“I guess we’re not going to be rescued soon,” I murmured, standing up from my seat and turning to the glass windows behind me, staring at the dark sky which was being illuminated by lightning at least every ten seconds.
“We could be stuck here for hours,” he said behind me. “I’m sure Anderson won’t be happy about that.” The tone in his voice sounded like a combination of amusement, disgust and mockery. I turned to look at his face. He added, “Although if I were him, I wouldn’t have left without you in the first place.”
His eyes were burning through my entire being. Then he looked down my chest and my hands automatically went to the chain around my neck, clutching the pendant in my palm.
“Do you have something to say to me?” I asked, raising a brow at him.
I saw him smirk again and then he shook his head. It looked like he wanted to say something but chose not to. He looked like he was about to let hell break lose, but at the last moment, he was able to get a grip of his emotions.
I couldn’t understand him. It seemed that he was harboring very ill feelings for me. Since he came back, he’d done all he could to ignore me, avoid me. And whenever we were in the same room, he looked at me like it was me who did something terrible to him.
If there was one person who had a right to be mad, it was me! I waited for him for more than a year, hoping he would make good of his promises before he left. But when he came back, he acted like I was nothing to him… that he couldn’t care less about me.
And then Tania came. There was a girl in his past that he forgot to tell me about. And now that he wasn’t blind anymore, she was the perfect girl for him again.
I glared at him angrily. I could feel fury flaring inside me in magnitudes I could barely control.
I’m done!
I’m done taking crap from him! He had ignored me far too much. He knew me. He remembered me. But he was ashamed to let people know of that!
Fine!
No one’s here with us now. It’s the perfect time to finally confront him.
Whatever he’s thinking, he can say it in my face. Whatever I felt, it was time to tell him, and then we can finally go on our separate ways and forget about each other—for good—forever.
“What did I ever do to you, Hunter?” I asked in a weak voice. I took a deep breath to gather more courage. “Why does it seem like you’re always mad at me? Like the mere presence of me disgusts you!”
Tears rolled down my cheeks but I refused to back down. I started this already. I found the courage to finally confront him. Even if it hurt! I need to know the truth, so I could move on with my life. I needed closure.
“Tell me, Hunter Vaughn! Why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you?”
He stared back at me with a shocked expression on his face, like he wasn’t expecting my sudden outrage. He was not prepared to answer the questions I was asking him.
He shook his head. “Allison…”
I stood there, tears streaming down my cheeks. In broken sobs, I asked, “Why do you look at me like I was a… a plague? Don’t you ever get tired of glaring at me? Ignoring me? Aren’t you tired of playing these games?”
Finally, he stood up from his seat and slowly walked towards me. He stood too close, we were almost touching from the knees up. I stared up at him and tried to make out the expression on his face.
He sucked in a deep breath. “You’re wrong.” He shook his head. Surprisingly, his voice was calm… gentle even. “I don’t hate you. And I’m most definitely not disgusted by you. You read me all wrong.”
I stared up at him squarely. I didn’t say anything, but I was letting him know that I’m not going to back down.
As his eyes searched mine, I could see the frustration on his face. He raised his hand and pushed a lock of hair away from my face. He tucked it behind my ear, exposing my scar to his view. Then he whispered, “But you’re right.” His expression was broken, his voice was hoarse. “I am tired.” He took another heavy breath and then he added, “I’m tired of fighting this.”
And suddenly, his arms snaked around my waist as he pulled me to him. Then he leaned forward and covered my lips with his. Before I could even blink, Hunter was kissing me… thoroughly… passionately.
He kissed me like he found an opportune moment to steal a little piece of heaven. He kissed me like he couldn’t find the right things to say and, instead, he was pouring out all his emotions, all his anger in those kisses. He kissed me like… he’d been wanting to kiss me but thought this moment would never happen anymore.
I didn’t think… couldn’t think even if I wanted to. My own arms came to life and they wrapped themselves around Hunter’s neck. I kissed him back. I kissed him like I wanted to pour out all my bottled emotions in that kiss. I kissed him like I have been wanting to kiss him since the day he left me.
Hunter lifted me off my feet and carried me towards the bedroom like I weighed nothing. His lips never left mine, his arms were like iron chains around my waist.
He gently laid me on the mattress of his bed. I moaned as intense emotions spiraled through me with a force I could not control.
His palm touched my cheek and I felt him caress my scar. His touch was familiar against my damaged skin. He kissed my jaw, my neck and then finally, he kissed my scars… the way he used to kiss them before he left.
Then he rested his forehead against my chin and breathed in the scent of me. Sobs were escaping my lips, tears were flowing endlessly from my eyes.
He raised his head so he could look at me. When I found the courage to look back at him, I saw that tears were rolling down his cheeks too. He was looking down at me with a broken expression on his face and then he wiped my tears with his fingers.
He took a deep breath and asked, “Does it look like I’m appalled by you at all, Allison?”
I bit my lip but didn’t answer.
He nodded slowly. “But you’re right. I was trying my damn best to stay away from you. But not because of the reasons you thought.” He sucked in another deep breath. “Every time I looked at you, Allison, I’m resisting the urge to pull you into my arms… and kiss you like I just did.”
He gently pulled away from me and sat up from the bed.
“What are you saying, Hunter?” I sat up on the bed beside him, lifting my knees to my chest to hug them.
He looked at me with a wistful expression on his face. Then he said, “I’m saying I want you, Allison. And it kills me every single day that we cannot be together.”
We cannot be together?
I wiped the tears on my cheeks.
“You want me but you’re mad at me. You want me but we cannot be together. Because I wasn’t perfect. Because you deserved better,” I muttered.
“What?”
I stared at him evenly.
“What did you say?” he asked again.
I shook my head. “What was I thinking, right? Did I really make myself believe that the great Hunter Vaughn would really want to be with a broken girl like me?”
“How could you say that?” he asked. His voice was low, sober, as he tried to control his emotions.
“How could I not say that? Since you arrived in school, you always looked like you’re mad at me, like I did something so grave to you. It’s not fair because I have no idea what it was.”
He stood up from the bed and walked towards the window. I watched his handsome face illuminated by the streaks of lightning from the sky outside.
“Maybe you’re right,” he said. “Maybe it’s because I am angry.”
“What did I ever do to you?”
He sighed. “It’s what you didn’t do for me.” Slowly, he turned around to face me. His eyes were brimmed with tears. He blinked them back and then he stared back at me with a sullen expression on his face. Then he said, “You didn’t wait for me. And you broke my heart… Angel.”