Free HUNTER by Cordelia Blanc Page B

I’m not lying to you.”
     
    He prepared to slap me again, but hesitated. His body was tense and his jaw was clenched tight. It was taking everything he had in him not to knock me out cold. Maybe it was the tears running down my face, or maybe he actually believed me; something held him back.
     
    “Please don’t hit me again,” I said.
     
    “Just tell me why you did it?” He wiped his eyes, which were also glazed with tears.
     
    “Did what? He just showed up. I don’t even know how he got our address.”
     
    “Bullshit,” he shouted.
     
    I backed away from him. His mind was made up and there was nothing I could say to change it. All I could do was hope that he didn’t hit me too hard.
     
    Liam turned away from me and began pacing the room with his hands on his head. He took long, deep, controlled breaths. It crushed me to see him like this. Liam wasn’t a bad guy. He didn’t have a short fuse. He never screamed, or yelled, or hit me until Hunter came home from the Congo. I don’t know what’d gotten into him, but if yelling at me and hitting me would make him feel better, I was happy to be his punching bag. I just wanted the old Liam back.
     
    “I bet he told you, then?”
     
    “Told me what?”
     
    “C’mon, Kyla. Don’t start this.”
     
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I pushed away my tears.
     
    He laughed. “Yeah, right. I lost my job. Last week.”
     
    “What?”
     
    “I was fired. And you know what? It’s your fault. If you weren’t such a fucking slut, I would still have my job.”
     
    He scowled at me. His eyes were full of hate, full of disgust. There were no signs of love anywhere behind those dark lenses.
     
    I tried to speak but couldn’t. I didn’t know what to say. I had too many questions but I was too afraid to ask any of them. I was too afraid of what he might do. What did he mean he lost his job because I was a slut? I’d never even met his bosses or been to the warehouse. I didn’t even go to his staff Christmas party. Liam had told me it was for employees only. Though now, I was beginning to think he was just ashamed of me.
     
    “Oh, don’t try to look all sad. Don’t expect me to feel bad for you,” he said. I tried, but I couldn’t help it. I was devastated. Our three-year-long relationship had fallen into pieces in the span of a few days. “Two weeks ago, they brought in a new floor manager. He liked me for a while. I actually thought I was going to get a raise. Then, he found out about you.”
     
    “What are you talking about, Liam? What do I have to do with anything?”
     
    “The new manager’s name is Roger Patrick. Turns out, he knows you pretty well.”
     
    Roger Patrick was Sammy’s older brother. Roger hated me, even before rumour got out that I cheated on Sammy. Roger used to be friends with Hunter until one day when they had a falling out. I’m not sure what happened, but after that, Roger hated anything to do with Hunter, and that included me. Roger always told Sammy to stay far away from me, told Sammy that I would cheat on him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t wrong.
     
    It wasn’t a surprise that Roger fired Liam.
     
    “Liam,” I said, “I’m so sorry—there must be something we can do—”
     
    “—There’s nothing. I need to find a new job and no one’s hiring. We’re fucked.” His hand remained clenched in a fist, but he didn’t strike. Still, something was holding him back—something that hadn’t held him back before. “I applied for unemployment but I haven’t heard back.” Still pacing, he was slowly calming himself down. The redness slowly drained from his face. “I don’t know what you ever saw in that cocky piece of shit.”
     
    “That was a long time ago.”
     
    He laughed. “I’m trying really hard to think of a reason to stay with you,” he said.
     
    I felt the same way. I scoured my brain for a reminder. I could still remember the day he asked me out on a date. It was so cute,