CHAPTER 20
I stared at Hunter as he pummeled the punching bag with enough force and speed that I wouldn't be surprised if it burst open. I watched as his muscles rippled under the force, his white tank top almost see-through from all the sweat, his eyes focused on the bag swinging in front of him. We had come back from the club two hours ago, I had changed into my sleeping T-shirt, and was waiting for Hunter. But he hadn't come up for an hour so I had gotten out of bed to search for him and found him here, in the gym. I wasn't even aware that we had a gym. It was a spacious room, the walls a stark white, no mirrors which were the norm for most gyms, it was stocked with all kinds of exercise equipment, from a treadmill to elliptical, weight bench as well as a stereo which was blasting with rock music at the moment.
He hadn't spoken one word to me since the incident. I had tried talking to him but he just stared at me with a blank expression, completely mute. He must be a wreck inside, I knew I would be if I had just killed a person. I was still torn up. I didn't know what to feel, what to think. I had just witnessed a murder, even though it was self-defense. I needed to know what had happened, who was that wolf. I walked over to the stereo and hit pause, the room suddenly filling with silence, the only noise was the continuous thumping of Hunter's fists hitting the punching bag.
"Hunter?" I called out. No answer. He didn't even twitch. Completely centered on bashing the bag in front of him.
"Hunter?" Again nothing.
I walked up to him and touched his swinging arm, it stopped midway.
"Kitten. Not now." He rumbled, not moving his eyes from the bag.
"Hunter, are you okay?" I stroked his arm.
He jerked away from my touch as if burnt. "Ariana. Listen to me. Not. Now. Go to bed. We'll talk tomorrow." His voice still a low rumble.
"Hunter, I can't sleep right now. Not like this. Tell me what happened today. I really need to understand." I pleaded.
He swiveled towards me suddenly, I took a step back looking into his blazing eyes, "Right now is not a good time. Go upstairs. Get some rest. I'll answer whatever questions you have tomorrow."
I stayed where I was, then I took a tiny step towards him, "Hunter, just li-"
"Are you acting dumb or are you that fu*king stupid that you can't understand what I said." He growled, with each word his glare turning to smolder, "Got to bed. We'll. Talk. Tomorrow."
I took a step back feeling as if I'd just been slapped. "Are you mad at me?" I whispered
He continued to glare at me, not uttering a word.
I matched his glare with my own stare, I knew I should probably be afraid of him, but right now I was too frazzled to feel anything but the need for reassurance, I needed to feel safe and the person who made me feel that the most, was standing in front of me.
"Hunter, I have never experienced something like what we have today. Ever. Not even close to it. The craziest thing that I've ever done is move in here with you." I entreated, "I know almost nothing about your world and how things work here. I need you to tell me what happened today. You just killed someone. Won't the police know about it? Will they come looking for you? Who was that wolf and why did he attack us?"
His glowered at me, "You want to know what happened?" He took a step towards me. I nodded slowly, taking one back. He followed me, till my back hit the wall. I craned my neck to look up at him. He bent down till our eyes met, his face only inches from mine.
"What happened is that you fu*king barged into my life." He growled angrily, "And ruined everything."
I gasped, my eyes getting wide, his words like knives piercing my chest.
"My control. My ability to think straight. Everything. That wolf was in there before we even entered. I should have sensed it. I would have if it wasn't for you messing with my head!" He punched the wall beside my head, making me jump. "I have never made a mistake so fu*king stupid in my entire life. Until you came." He growled, his eyes shooting daggers at me. "So get the fu*k out. We'll. Talk. Tomorrow." He turned around, dismissing me, stalking towards the punching bag then went back to punching.
I stood there for a moment, trying to wrap my head around what just happened, then pushed myself off the wall and took off through the door. I rounded the corner of the corridor, then ran straight to my room, shutting the door. Only then did I stop to think about what had just taken place in the gym. I knew Hunter was angry at me, that was obvious. But why? It wasn't my fault that we were attacked. And his words just kept echoing in my mind, 'You ruined everything'. A sob caught in my throat as that sentence kept playing on repeat inside my head. I thought we were making progress in our relationship. I thought we were moving forward. But apparently not. I crawled up in the bed and curled around a pillow. I wiped at my face angrily as the tears started dribbling down my cheeks. I didn't want to cry, but his words hurt so much. I wish Mom were here. I could really use one of her hugs right now. What I actually needed was Hunter right here with me. But there was no way I was going to go to him now. He was mean and rude and didn't know how to treat his mate. I sobbed as I turned my face in the pillow. I knew without that jerk's arms around me sleep would be a long time coming.
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"Hey, Ariana!"
I looked up from setting the bills in the cash register to see Eric, standing there grinning at me. Even though it was my day off, I had called in and asked Sam in she needed any help. She was more than happy to avail of my services. So here I was, on a Sunday afternoon, at Christie's Diner, just so I could avoid Hunter, not that he had made any move to talk to me. I still couldn't fathom what had actually set him off at me last night. I was still hurting really badly, his anger, his lashed out words, so fresh in my mind, I couldn't stop thinking about them. How did I make him lose control? I was right there with him, it wasn't like I was trying to put distance between us. Maya had told me that if the mates were far from each other for too long the wolf would feel the effects earlier compared to a human and start losing control. But I was right there. I shook my head. I had to stop thinking about it or else my head would explode. Moreover, I hadn't even heard from Janet, and after everything that happened I completely forgot to talk to her, I reminded myself to call her later and ask about last night.
"Hey, Eric." I greeted back. "How're you doing?"
"I'm good thanks. How are you?"
"I'm well, thank you. What can I get for you today?" I recited the specials and told him about the free-milkshake-with-two-burritos deal.
"I'll just take a chicken wrap with a soda, please."
"Here or take away?"
"Take away."
"Okay, one chicken wrap with soda coming up." I turned around and relayed the information to Linda, another waitress.
"So, how was the club last night?"
"Excuse me?" I asked, perturbed. "How did you know I went there?" I took a step back cautiously.
"No no no no!" He rushed, "Janet told me. Last night when we were together, she couldn't come to dinner with me because she had plans to go to a club with you."
My brows furrowed, "You were with Janet last night?"
"Yeah."
"You're seeing Janet?" I asked.
"Well, kind of." He gave me a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I mean I really like her but she says she's not looking for anything serious, so we're not exclusive or anything." He looked at me with wide eyes, "But that doesn't mean I'm seeing other girls. I mean I want her to be my girlfriend. Wait don't tell her that. She'll run away from me. But like-"
"Eric." I interrupted, "Slow down. I'm not going to say anything to her."
He took a deep breath, calming down, "Okay, thanks." He smiled.
Linda walked over and handed me his order, "Here you go, that'll be 6.99."
"Okay, thanks, Ariana. See you around." He paid and slipped out the door.
I looked at the space he'd just vacated. I wonder why Janet hadn't mentioned that she was going out with Eric. I shrugged, I'll ask her about that later as well.
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