Hunt Me Down - Chapter 31: Chapter 31

Nathaniel’s POV
I didn’t need to open my eyes to know I wasn’t at home.
It wasn’t just the harness of the surface beneath me; the texture was all wrong. Instead of smooth, it was rippled due to the wavy pattern of the couch. I got up with a groan and rubbed my neck. I tried to stretch, but my joints ached.
A thud came to the left and I heard a raspy ‘Mornin’!’
I opened my eyes and then my mouth but did not return the greeting.
Hunter had just walked into the room, his own eyes still not fully unclosed, his hair disheveled and his torso bare. He walked to the mini fridge and turned his back to me as he opened the door. And that was when I saw it for the first time.
The large cross, surrounded by flowers, covered most of his muscled back. The colors were faint, barely hinted and pastel. A bit of green on the stems, a dash of red on the roses and cream – his favorite color – graced the leaves of the lotus flowers. A strange combination – strong and thorny roses with delicate lotuses – but it somehow was him; it has grasped his nature.
It surprised me that his tattoo was not a gang-related but a religious one and the notion of that brought hope; perhaps the rumors about him were wrong…
“Do you want…” He turned to me, beer in hand, his voice trailing off as he realized I’d been staring at him. My cheeks heated even before the left corner of his lips was up.
“I was going to ask if you wanted to call room service and order breakfast, but that’s not what you want, is it, Natty?”
“I was just looking at your tattoo,” I justified myself and began to rise off the couch but paused before I was up. A certain part of me had already risen and I didn’t want him to think he was what had caused the bulge.
He leaned back on one of the counters – smirk still on – and took a sip of his beer. A drop escaped his mouth and his tongue swooped out to lick it off his lower lip.
“Did you like what you saw, Natty?”
“I…”
“It’s a simple question,” he said, looking me straight in the eyes. “Did you like my tattoo?”
“Oh, that!” I exclaimed relieved. “Yeah, I like it; I didn’t think it would be a religious one.”
“Then what did you think it would be?”
“I…”
Wonderful job, Nathaniel! How are you going to get out of this one?
“I… don’t know…” I said slowly. “I’ve never thought about that.”
He shook his head and pushed himself off the counter. As he stepped towards me, my heart raced, but I tried to appear calm. I was sure I was failing. He stood right beside my seated form, my eyes about the level of his… let’s call it waist.
“You are a terrible liar, Natty,” he murmured, looking down at me and took another sip. I was about to reply, but the door to the bedroom opened and in came my yawning sister. She paused mid-stretch.
“Am I interrupting something?”
“No, no, no,” I shot off the couch and darted towards the bathroom, making sure to keep my back to them. “Not at all.”
I slammed the door in my hurry and leaned on it, letting out a long breath.
It was natural, I kept repeating in my head as I walked toward the sink.
Completely natural, I added, turning on the tap and splashing my face with some water. It happens every morning; it was natural. Completely Hunter-unrelated.
I twisted the tap, cutting off the water stream.
I took a deep breath and prepped myself:
Alright, Nathaniel. You are going to walk back there, get dressed then the three of you are going to…
I paused.
Get dressed.
I couldn’t get changed into my everyday clothing; Hunter was still in that room. I should’ve taken my clothes with me!
I didn’t have a problem with Val being there. We grew up together after all and we’d seen each other in our underwear plenty of times. It didn’t feel weird since nothing was showing.
I groaned, remembering all that see-through underwear she had. Thank God I’d never seen her in it! Having to put it in and take it out of the washing machine when it was my turn to do that chore was uncomfortable enough; seeing my sister in it would be the most awkward experience ever.
I shook my head, not wanting to think about such an awful option.
Well, at least the bulge was gone now and I could get back to them.
I turned around and walked into our kitchen-o-living room. They had ordered breakfast and the food had already been delivered. The table was covered with pastries, bread, two types of cheese and jam.
“Nice PJ-s,” Hunter commented when I entered.
I shuffled uncomfortably. Val was carelessly clad in a bright pink t-shirt and black shorts, Hunter was dressed in a casual cream flannel tracksuit bottom and I was donned in royal blue silk pajamas.
“Your phone rang while you were in the bathroom,” my twin informed me in between biting from a bagel and taking a sip of her soda.
“Mom?” I asked and walked towards the counter on which my phone laid.
“No, Irene,” she said, putting more of the pastry in her mouth.
I reached for the phone but an arm extended towards me. Hunter was holding a toast, covered with butter and strawberry jam, just as I liked it. Taking it from his hand, I nodded. He smiled and licked the specks of jam that were on his finger.
I’ll call her later, I thought and sat next to him on the couch to enjoy our breakfast.
Hunt was the first one to finish eating and once done, he went to the bedroom to change.
“So…” Vallery wriggled her eyebrows. “What was that between the two of you this morning?”
“Nothing,” I insisted and took a sip of the Coca Cola.
“You were redder than the jam you are eating, bro,” she commented but I tried to ignore her. “Was he flirting with you or…”
“I thought you said he’d promised to behave this weekend,” I shot out, slamming the soda can on the table. Some of it foamed out, but I didn’t bother wiping the mess. “He doesn’t exactly stick to that, Val.”
“Well…” She trailed off.
Oh, Lord, not that smile! It was her guilty smile; the one she used whenever she’d messed up and wanted to predispose me before sharing the details of her transgression; the one that never promised a peaceful conversation.
“Vallery?”
“Those weren’t his exact words but I think that’s what he meant.”
I took a deep breath and tried to level my voice, my fingers uncontrollably twitching once from nerves.
“And what were his exact words?”
“I warned him that you might freak out when you found out there was one bed for the three of us and he said ‘If it would help, tell him I promise not to rip off his clothes while we are in Vegas’.”
“That’s hardly the same thing!” I shouted and took a deep breath again. Then another. And another…
“It’s sort of the same thing, I think,” she muttered, using that smile again. I opened my mouth but she beat me to it: “It’s not like you can do anything about it now; we are already in Vegas.”
“Was that your plan all along? To trick me into coming here?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and squeezing my skin, using the pressure as a method to calm down.
“I didn’t trick you; it was more like blackmail,” she said as if that was a step in the right direction and my grip got painfully tight. I uncrossed my limbs and closed my eyes, my fingers darting to rub my temples.
“I’ll talk to him and ask him to take it easy on you, okay?” She voiced out but I didn’t reply; not even with a nod. “Besides, you want to babysit me so I’ll be around you; the two of you might not get any more alone time. So just put on your swimming trunks and let’s go meet with some dolphins.”
“I didn’t bring my swimming trunks,” I said, opening my eyes.
“I packed yours for you,” she informed me. “See, I’m not such a bad sister.”
“You’ve already lied to me and it’s only the morning,” I noted dryly.
“Technically, that’s not a lie because we have a different definition of Hunter bothering you and also, I told you about that last night, not this morning.”
The door opened and the blond in question came in, fully dressed and ready to go.
“Need some help getting out of your PJ-s?” He offered me.
“You go change in the bedroom and I’ll have a little chat with him,” Val said, patting me on the shoulder. “You’ll find your swim trunks on the bed.”
*****
“There are a lot of people here,” I noted as we entered the room with the enormous indoor swimming pool.
“Only about twenty,” Val protested, readjusting the decorative pink beads on the strap of her black swimsuit. “And don’t worry; I made reservations so we are all going to dip in that pool.”
“But where are the dolphins?” I asked, pointedly looking at the large body of water. Hunter was to my side, topless again, and I made sure my eyes did not dart in his direction. He looked good in his cream swimming knee-length trunks.
“There’s an underwater gate at the end of the pool which connects it with the aquarium our dolphins live in,” someone informed me and as he passed by, I saw a name tag with the word ‘instructor’ in capital letters hanging from a ribbon around his neck.
My gaze followed the twenty or so year old man as he walked to the pool where two other equally fit guys in red swimsuits were standing. The man smiled at the crowd of visitors and waved us to come near him. My head tilted to the side and my eyes followed an inked wave pattern, starting from his ankle and ending somewhere under the red fabric.
“If I knew you were into brunets, I would have kept my original hair color,” Hunter muttered from my side. “Or were you just looking at his tattoo like you were at mine this morning?” He teased.
“Well, actually I was just looking,” I uttered my quiet reply and he chuckled.
“Wouldn’t blame you if you were checking him out; he’s hot.”
“He’s not that hot,” I instantly shot out.
“Jealous?” When all I did was to cross my arms and look away, he laughed again.
“Don’t worry, Natty; I think you are cuter.”
“Hey, everyone!” The brunet man greeted with another large smile. “My name is Josh and these are my colleagues Jerry and Tim; we will be your instructors today,” he introduced himself and the other two men in red. “You are probably wondering where the dolphins are… Actually, I heard him wonder that aloud only a minute ago,” he pointed at me and everyone turned my way. I waved awkwardly but by the time I did most eyes were back on Josh, except for Hunter’s; his were still on me. “See those grey bars at the far end of the swimming pool?” He directed our gazes by outstretching his arm. “Those gates lead to the large aquarium which you will pass on your way out once we are done here. That aquarium is the home of our dolphins. We are going to let them in the pool once I give you some basic instructions as to how to behave around them. First off…”
I shifted my weight to my other leg. His eyes were still on me; he hadn’t even once looked at the instructor after pointing out the man was hot. My lips twitched; perhaps Hunter really thought I was hotter…
I shook my head to chase those thoughts away.
“Why do you bleach your hair?” I asked him to distract myself.
“At first, I did it to piss off my father, but then I just got used to it,” he shrugged and finally his eyes were away from me and on the pool.
I opened my mouth to ask him more about his parent but immediately closed it, deciding it would be better not to press him for details.
“Do you think I’d look better with brown hair?” He asked, taking me aback.
“You actually want my opinion on something?”
He turned his head my way and nodded.
“I don’t know,” I admitted and tried to imagine him with a hair color similar to mine. “I think it would suit you more.”
He nodded again and the one-time sound of hands clapping made us both look at Josh.
“Not that we got that cleared out,” he was just saying, “let’s introduce you our finned friends!”
*****
“That was so awesome,” Vallery shouted as we got outside. “Did you see me pet them? And that kiss one of them gave me? I got kissed by a freakin’ dolphin! And the loops they were making… I can’t wait to print out those photos we took…”
I was already regretting buying the ice cream which was in my hands. The building we’d just exited was warm and cozy – a far cry from the temperature of the streets of early afternoon Las Vegas. I zipped my jacket all the way up and looked around for a recycle bin. My search was interrupted by a familiar tune and I mentally slapped myself: I’d forgotten to call Irene today.
I rummaged through my pockets and once the phone was in my hand, I slid my finger over its screen.
“Hey,” she greeted before I’d even placed the mobile to my ear. “Why weren’t you answering your phone?”
“We were watching a show so I had it on silent,” I replied with a half truth. We had indeed watched a show; I just didn’t add we’d also been a part of it. That wasn’t technically a lie, right?
Oh, God, I was really starting to sound like Val!
Her next question was easier to answer:
“So what are you doing now?”
“We are eating ice cream.” Yep, definitely easier. “You?”
“Just doing some homework.”
Homework. I was going to fall behind on that thanks to this trip. But with all the fun I’d had in the last hour or so with the dolphins, I almost didn’t care. Almost.
“How about I swing by once I’m done?” She asked and my good mood went downhill. I knew I should be expecting this question so I’d prepared an answer for it.
“I’m dedicating this weekend to babysitting Val, remember?”
Her tone was less cheery as she replied:
“And you can’t spare an hour or two to be with your girlfriend?”
“It’s pretty much a 24/7 job…”
“I see.” Her voice was arctic.
“I’ll make it up to you,” I tried but she just sighed.
“I have to go now. See you at school.”
“Yeah…” The line went dead. “See you…”
“She doesn’t know about Vegas,” Hunter noted quietly; Val was on her own phone and judging by how she spoke, she’d called Raiden.
“She wouldn’t understand…” I began to justify, but he cut me off.
“You don’t owe me an explanation,” he said. “It’s not like I expect you to be honest with her.”
“Why not?”
He stood still and I paused beside him; Val kept walking, oblivious we were falling behind.
“You don’t love her,” he commented confidently. “You care to a certain extent, but you don’t love her. If you weren’t too scared of what your mommy would say, you wouldn’t even be with her.”
“That’s not true,” I protested unconvincingly. Then I got angry. Who was he to talk about love? He, who had never even been in a real relationship? He, who never acted like he wanted anything more than a corporal satisfaction?
“What do you know about love anyway?” I spat out.
Hunter gave me a flat smile and resumed walking.
“Your ice cream is melting,” he pointed out, without turning to look at me.