“Not home. Bar with us.”
Right, Friday night drinks. She never usually went, but he guessed she didn’t have much reason to wait around for him.
“Gotcha, thanks.”
He didn’t really feel like trying to talk to her in a crowded bar with the guys around them. He’d turn up at her place tomorrow with breakfast and this time he’d make sure she knew that he was in no way rejecting her.
As he stepped through the door to his house an hour later, his phone rang. He glanced at the display before answering it.
“Connor, what’s going on?”
“I’ve found it,” Connor said excitedly.
“What?” Hunter said, pausing.
“The building. I know where it is.” He gave him the address. Hunter wasn’t familiar with the area, so he quickly wrote it down.
“Got it, I’m going to head there now.”
“I’ll meet you there.”
“You don’t have to.” It was a Friday night, after all.
“Hey, I’ve been dying to find out what this place is all week, you’re not holding me back now.”
***
Cady sat back against the leather seat in Gray’s car, barely managing to keep her eyes open. She felt like she hadn’t slept all week. She’d caught a few hours here and there but if she didn’t get a full night’s sleep soon, she was going to collapse.
“Thanks for giving me a ride home,” she said to Gray.
She’d decided to go out for a few drinks with the guys, sick of sitting at home on her own, but she hadn’t stayed long. Luckily, Gray had offered her a ride home because she really didn’t like the idea of taking the bus.
“You look exhausted,” Gray told her. “You need to get some sleep and eat more. You’ve lost weight.”
“Anything else you want to criticize?” she asked, staring over at him. “Maybe you don’t like the cut of my jeans? Is my hairstyle okay?”
He grunted. “Stop being a brat. I’m worried about you.”
Cady forced herself to stop being so defensive. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not and I know why. Hunter doesn’t mean to be an asshole, you know.”
“What? Are you going to tell me it’s just part of his personality?”
“Sort of.” Gray pulled over and parked outside of her apartment building. “Hunter has always had a protective streak when it comes to women, but particularly since his sister died. He feels guilty that he couldn’t save her. You’re the first woman he’s been involved with since her death and I’m afraid he’s being worse than usual.”
“So you’re saying that by pushing me away he’s trying to protect me?”
“Yes. Soon he’s going to wake up and realize what he’s done and he’s going to come begging for forgiveness. It’s up to you whether you listen or not, but I just wanted you to realize that there is a whole lot of background stuff going on.”
“Yeah, background information he doesn’t see fit to share with me,” she said somewhat bitterly.
“Hunter doesn’t talk much about his past,” Gray said. “It’s only because I’ve known him for ten years that he tells me anything. Just, don’t write him off entirely, okay? If anyone can teach him a lesson or two, it’s you.”
She had to smile at that even as she shook her head. Gray walked her to the door of her apartment building before his phone rang. She waved him off and walked inside, she could make it to her apartment by herself. She took the stairs slowly. She really was tired. As she moved along the hallway to her apartment, the sound of a woman screaming had her stopping. There was the sound of something smashing and a cry of pain.
“Help!”