“Hunter—what?”

He licked his bottom lip, confused. “I thought-”

“No.” I shook my head. “I can’t do this, not without talking to him first.”

Hunter rolled off me, exhaling loudly. “He’s busy. There’s music coming from his room—and giggling. If you go down there you’re just going to get hurt… again”

I frowned. “Is it party music or romantic music?”

He shrugged. “The music was quite slow…”

My throat constricted for the second time today and I pursed my lips. Too many emotions raged inside me. I felt angry first, and it tore through my veins, tinting my vision. Eli was going to get a visit from me later and not a pleasant one. The second feeling was vengeance—it was similar to anger. It filled my veins, making them white-hot. Faith would get a visit too, once this was all over.

Hunter rolled off of the couch. “Come. Let’s have a drink and calm down.”

I wasn’t about to deny a drink. One or two would definitely ease my anger.

Or not.

I was onto my third glass when I decided I would pay both Eli and Faith a visit. It occurred to me in passing (in the form of a coherent and responsible voice in my head) that maybe I should have eaten something for breakfast and lunch before accepting alcohol. I didn’t drink, not usually, so even a glass or two was enough to render me irresponsible.

Hunter and I sat on the black stools by the bar. Most of the hour we sat there was spent in silence.

“I’m not just going to sit here,” I grumbled into my glass, finally polishing off my third.

“Don’t do anything drastic.” He sighed, twisting his body so he was facing my direction. “Stay here and I’ll distract you.”

“How?”

“Board games.”

I smirked. “Don’t have any.”

“Movies, then.”

I arched an eyebrow. Do we stay in the same room? “We don’t have a T.V.”

His blue eyes flared. “Well, then we’re going to have to improvise.”

He slipped off his chair with his arms outstretched.

“Oh, no.” I chuckled, darting off my chair and across the living room. “We’re not playing any physical games like wrestling or tag.”

He cocked his head to the side, feigning innocence. “Why not? Because you’re afraid you won’t be able to keep your hands off of me?”

“If you’re implying that I’ll strangle you to death, then sure.”

He leaped forward, clearing the couch in one jump. The thrill of being chased kicked in and my heart crashed into my ribs as I circled the long corner lounge. Hunter ran around the couch, chasing me while I laughed my butt off. It wasn’t anything crazy, but it was a nice distraction. Running while under the influence was difficult. My head was light, but my limbs felt heavy and if I swung them too hard in one direction, I began to stumble. As I reached for the corner, Hunter jumped onto the couch, reached over the back, and grabbed me, pulling me forward. In one swift move, he’d pulled me from my feet and flush into him. We stumbled sideways on the large cushions before collapsing onto them into a panting heap. His laugh sounded in my ear, drawing my own from me and I looked into his eyes. That was all it took for him to kiss me again. For a second time, I was caught off guard by his lips…only this time, I didn’t push him away. I let him kiss me… I let him kiss me for two reasons. One, I had no real idea what the hell happened. We were running one minute and kissing the next, and two, I wanted to know how it felt to be kissed by someone you didn’t love. I wanted to know how Eli felt being kissed by Faith. Hunter’s tongue darted across my lip and I opened my mouth, letting him in. The sweet taste of the wine he was drinking tickled my tongue as his brushed against mine. I had no thoughts and no feelings. The only face I saw in my head was Faith’s and the way she held my Eli against her. The image spurred me on, forcing me to kiss Hunter back harder and harder, trying to prove something and nothing all at once. It wasn’t until I felt his smooth, cool hand brush over my ribcage did my brain cooperate with my heart and force me out of my daze. I snapped away from him like he was a hot flame and jumped up, almost falling over the back of the couch.

“I can’t,” I breathed. “This isn’t right.”

Hunter exhaled and raked his fingers through his hair. “You saw him kissing someone else. You have every right to get back at him.”

I flinched. Get back at him? Is that what I was doing? Of course it was. I tapped my fingers along my bottom lip and stared down at my feet. “I have to talk to him.”

“You’re going to go down to his room and demand answers? You could blow this whole thing and the last month would have been for nothing.”

My vision blurred as tears stung my eyes and the realization of what I did sank in. If Faith kissed Eli against his will, how could I truly blame him? But I… I kissed Hunter back. That was my free will. I chose to kiss him.

“What do I do?” I sniffled, swiping a stray tear.

“Stay here with me—screw that—”He pushed himself up onto his knees and put his hands on my thighs. “Be with me.”

I sidestepped him, moving away from his hands. “Hunter, please don’t—”

“Why are you making it harder for yourself? Choose me. We don’t have to try and change laws to allow us to hold each other in public. We can just exist together. It’ll be easy.”

I slumped into myself. He didn’t get it… it seemed no one did. “That’s what you don’t understand…” I muttered, stepping off of the couch. “Existing without Eli is anything but easy. Yes, I care for you. Yes, I let you kiss me and yes, I kissed you back, but I’m in love with him…”

Hunter shifted, his posture becoming tense and mad. “And you’re going to go down there and tell him what? That we made out?”

“We didn’t mak—”

“My tongue was in your mouth and vice versa, sweetheart.”

I whirled on my heel and stormed from the room—not because I thought he was wrong, but because I knew he was right.

***

Outside Eli's room there was giggles, music and whatever else, just like Hunter said. I felt sick and mad, it swirled around my stomach in angry churns. My hands shook and I entwined them briefly before knocking on the door. I knocked once, softly, but no one heard me over the bass of the music. I knocked again and again, until finally, the door opened. I was taken aback by the unfortunately familiar face.

“Ruby,” Faith cooed with a drunken slur. “How nice of you to stop by, unfortunately this is an angel-only party.”

I gritted my teeth and ignored the fact that she was only in her skimpy, black lace bra and white elite pants.

“I’m here to see Eli. My wedding is in a few days and there are a few things I would like done for it.”

Her eyes thinned. She wasn’t buying a word of it, but despite her blatant disbelief, she turned and leaned against the door frame, allowing me a quick peek inside. The room behind her was full of rowdy angels who held cups of strong smelling spirits. I found it interesting. Eli wasn’t normally into those sorts of things. She stepped inside and closed the door. I stared at the chocolate colored wood, unsure if she was going to come back or not. I wasn’t going to turn around, not with a conscience as dirty as mine currently was. I needed to clear it, to tell Eli and let him deal with it however he wants. The door opened again and my breath was stolen from me as his curious green irises drank me in. He stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

“What are you doing here?”

“We haven’t seen each other in days and that’s the first thing you say to me?”

He frowned and exhaled. “Sorry, I’ve had a very… trying day, to say the least.” He leaned closer a fraction and I held my breath. “Have you been drinking?”

When I didn’t answer, Eli stepped past me and walked down the hall. Without a word, I followed. We stepped out into the air and instantly, I could breathe better. We walked for a little while, stuck in some uncomfortable silence and it wasn’t until we approached the courthouse—the place I saw Faith and Eli kiss—that I began to talk.

“I told him to stop with the alcohol,” Eli growled under his breath. “Unbelievable.”

“I saw it…” I said, to change the subject.“I was walking by and I saw it.”

I glanced sideways at Eli and he stopped walking. I avoided his eyes, dropping my gaze to the ground.

“You saw Faith and me?”

Faith and me? Hearing those words come from Eli’s mouth infuriated me and I glared at him from under my brow.

“Yes, I saw it. Were you ever going to tell me or were you going to party first and pray that I didn’t find out?”

He crossed his arms tightly over his chest. “You think I’d keep that from you? No. I would have told you at some point—not while we were here—but definitely at some point. She kissed me, I had nothing to do with it.”

I believed him, yet I was grilling him, treating him like he was guilty, and I hated it, but every time I looked at his lips, I saw them attached to hers.

“This afternoon I saw you two kissing and then I was told there was giggles and music coming from your room… I thought that you and Faith were—” I sighed, dropping the subject. It was now or never. I had to face the music and tell him the real reason I was here. “I can’t hate you for it, it wouldn’t be right.” I turned my body in his direction and looked back down to the ground. “Not when I did something stupid to spite you…”

“You kissed him?” My mouth fell open. I didn’t even have to confess. Eli knew.

Eli had witnessed me kiss Hunter before, but it was all for show. This time, we were alone. There was no need for it… I had wronged him. I immediately launched into panic mode.

“I saw you and Faith kiss and then he told me there was romantic music and giggles coming from your room. We started drinking and we kissed. I panicked—I didn’t know what to do.”

Eli’s bright irises darkened as his expression turned murderous. “You believed that I had Faith in my room alone?”

I nodded and his jaw noticeably tightened. He stormed past me, toward my building, and I had trouble keeping up with him.

“This isn’t his fault,” I whispered hastily under my breath, struggling to keep my pace. I had to keep my expression neutral, so the passing elites didn’t assume anything. As we passed, they eyed us curiously, but didn’t stop us.

When we reached my room, he burst through the door without so much as a knock and Hunter rose from the couch, shirtless, and seemingly unfazed by the sudden intrusion. I quickly shut the door, concealing as much of the conversation from any potential passersby as I could.

“You’re pathetic,” Eli growled at him, his fingers clenched at his sides. “You’re going to feed her lies and manipulate her just so she’ll sleep with you?”

“Technically, we’ve been sleeping together for months.” He sauntered closer. “And I haven’t lied to anybody.”

“Yeah? Well, you sure as hell haven’t told the truth.”

Hunter took another step toward Eli and I realized how quickly this situation could get out of hand.

“We can talk about this,” I said in my calmest voice. “Don’t make a scene and ruin everything we’ve come here to do.”

They ignored me, of course.

“You feed her alcohol because you know she’s not into you. You have no respect for her or anybody else. You know better than anybody that she’d never willingly have s—”

Hunter chuckled. “You think she’d never sleep with me? You should have seen her twenty minutes ago when she was all over me, her lips—”

Eli lunged at him, punching Hunter straight in the face. I jumped, my hand flying up to cover my mouth. Immediately, his nose bled and I froze, staring wide-eyed. What the hell was I meant to do now? I couldn’t control these two. They fought one on one and all I did was watch. I wasn’t expecting it. Eli’s fists slammed hard into Hunter’s ribs and Hunter took them all before grabbing Eli’s legs and taking him down.

Faintly, I heard footsteps tear up the corridor and jumped again as our door was kicked in. Xavier and Lyric jumped furniture to pull the two off each other. Eli was on top, driving his fists into Hunter’s face. How they knew we were here was beyond me. Three elite guards came in behind them and I quickly plastered a fake smile on my face.

“Is there something wrong?” I asked, forcing an innocent tone and a dumbstruck expression. “Hunter likes to spar with the angels sometimes.”

I glanced awkwardly at Hunter, who strolled casually over to my side. I almost cringed as he wrapped a blood splattered arm around my shoulders and pulled me into him. It took all the strength I had to wrap my arms around his slim waist. Hunter ran his finger under my jaw and tilted my head up to face his. I peered sideways at Eli. His nostrils were flaring as he ran his tongue over the cut on his lip. His chest rose and fell in a heavy pant and while he was in pain, I had to force a smile. I looked back at Hunter. The second our eyes locked, his took on a cocky gleam and he pressed his lips to mine, getting blood on me. I could taste the copper and I wanted to hit him. Hard.

“Thanks, guys,” Lyric said as Hunter pulled away. Lyric helped the suspicious elites out the door. “We’ll take it from here.”

He managed to get the door shut and when it clicked, I pulled away from Hunter, wiping my blood covered mouth on my jacket.