The Hunter's Angel

Inches Away, Worlds Apart

I generally considered myself to be someone who was in control. Someone who refrained from outbursts. Someone who always kept a semblance of calm during a crisis. 

Generally. 

Not so much at this exact moment. I was too busy shouting to remember constraint. 

"Are you fucking kidding me?" 

It was probably the third time I had shouted that sentence to Hunter in the past five minutes. His poor attempts at defending his decision of choosing a room with one bed seemed to further fuel my anger. 

"It was the only room available," claimed Hunter as he raised his hands in mock surrender. The not-so-subtle grin on his sculpted face suggested he had played every part in this little arrangement. 

"Really," I snapped, disbelief coating my voice. "In this fucking palace of a hotel?" 

Hunter simply chewed on the corner of his lip to contain his amusement. Which only made me furious. 

"It's not funny, you asshole! I'm not sharing a damn bed with you. Not for one night, and certainly not for any longer than that."

He shot me a look that said he begged to differ. "Oh come on, Angel. It's nothing we haven't done before." 

My face flushed as I remembered both of the times that we had shared a bed, each feeling daringly intimate. It was something I was too afraid to feel again, when I had no idea where our relationship lied and what he even expected of me. 

Fucking hell. I was driving myself crazy. Was it not just yesterday that I had admitted to Kat and Liam that I finally knew how I felt about Hunter? That I cared about him? 

And, just like Hunter said, it wasn't as if we hadn't shared a bed before. So what was so different? 

A voice in the back of my mind whispered the answer. A voice I had spent a long time willing away, yet it never failed to return like an echo in a cave. 

You're afraid. You're afraid that once he sees you, once he sees the deepest, most vulnerable parts of you, he won't feel the same way. 

That he'll go off and leave, just like good old dad. 

At least if I didn't let him in, if I closed myself off, Hunter wouldn't be able to hurt me. Because the feeling in my chest was telling me that he was getting awfully fucking close. 

"Well, it's nothing I have an interest in doing anytime in the future," I added curtly, looking away before he could meet my gaze. I didn't trust what he would find in there. 

"Don't bullshit me," he snapped jarringly. 

My eyes flew back to his, startled by his sudden aggravation. "Excuse me?" 

Hunter took a slow step forward, followed by another. The room suddenly felt entirely small under his presence, and the whisper of cologne that filled my senses as he neared made the bed look rather inviting. 

Snap out of it, Layla. He hasn't even touched you, for god's sakes. 

"I said," he drawled as he neared closer, "don't bullshit me. You and I both know that I could have you on your back in this bed in a matter of seconds, and you would damn well have interest in it. Or on your knees if that's what you prefer," he finished huskily. 

I sucked in a sharp breath at his innuendo, retreating away from him every so slowly until the backs of my knees met the edge of the bed. My hands quivered as I placed them at my side, the shiver that crawled up my spine not being of much help.