No. If I were smart, I’d be running. Instead, I’m standing there completely stunned by the fact that a strange man with a gun is in my dorm room.
Finally, I turn to run when my dorm room opens. Hunter comes rushing into my room. He speeds past me, tackling the guy with the gun. I stand there in complete horror as Hunter knocks the guy’s head against the floor with a sickening thud.
I tremble as I look at Hunter. “Is he dead?”
But Hunter doesn’t answer me. Instead, he is busy, scanning my body from head to toe. I’m about to yell at him for checking me out when somebody literally just tried to kill me… again, but then I realize that the look on his face is one of concern.
He was checking me for injuries.
He smiles, obviously satisfied that I didn’t get hurt.
“Are you okay, Cove?” He stands up from the floor with the guy’s gun in his hand.
I nod.
“Good.” He walks to my door, shutting and locking it. “I need to get this body out of here”
I swallow hard. “Body? Is he dead?”
Hunter raises an eyebrow. “Do you really want to know, Cove?”
I shake my head, realizing I probably don’t.
He sighs, pulling his phone from his pocket. “I’m going to make a call and take care of this…” he points at the guy on the ground. “After that, you and I are going to go somewhere safe and we are going to have a little chat.”
I nod, not knowing what else to do or say.
There is a presumably dead body on the floor in my dorm room. A second man has tried to kill me. I know this guy is different because the guy last night was tall and lanky. This guy is short and muscular. Plus, something tells me that Hunter probably ‘took care of’ the other guy, whatever that means. I really don’t want to know.
Hunter smirks. “Trouble, I can’t leave you alone for one second, can I?”
Apparently not.
I shiver, looking away from where the body is.
An arm goes around me and I look over to see Hunter. “Are you okay?”
I don’t really know how to answer because I’m not sure if I’m okay or not. A lot has happened to me in the last twenty four hours and it’s a lot to process.
Two people have tried to kill me.
I push a piece of hair behind my ear. “I’ll be fine.”
Eventually.
Maybe.
“I thought you were joking about killing people last night.” I hate how shaky my voice sounds.
He chuckles. “Trouble, I joke about a lot of things, but killing people isn’t one of them.”
Which means…
Hunter has definitely killed people.
“How many?” I ask.
He raises an eyebrow. “You really want to know?”
I swallow hard, shaking my head. “N-no.”
But also, kind of yes.
No. Definitely no.
He smirks, unlocking his phone. “Whatever you say, Trouble.”
I hate that his smirk makes my heart race, despite the dead body just feet away. But I refuse to acknowledge the fact that my heart is racing because of Hunter Duran. He’s a murderer. And, okay, maybe he just murders people to save my life, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s taken other people’s lives.
“So… why have two dudes with guns come after me?” I ask, just now realizing that last night wasn’t so random. Unless this school is just a really dangerous place. In which case, I’ve got to warn Liam.
Maybe that’s why my parents sent me here—maybe they hope that an accident will take me out. But if that were the case, they wouldn’t have sent Liam. They like him.
“I’ll explain everything, Cove. I promise. We just can’t talk here.” He sighs, looking around. “We should get out of here.”
It’s then I realize just how tense Hunter is. His jaw is clenched, and his hand is balled up into a tight fist. I think he’s worried about somebody else coming in here. My heart races and my stomach feels like I’ve just jumped off the highest building in New York City without a parachute.
“Is this school really this dangerous? We should get my brother.” I try to breathe, but it comes too fast and hard.
“Just breathe, Cove.” Hunter takes a step closer, putting his hands on my shoulders. “I promise I will protect you, no matter what.”
Hunter will protect me.
I want to smart off and ask him how a teenager can protect me, but he has already proven that he is very capable of doing just that. He’s killed two people to save my life. I breathe out, my shoulders relaxing.
“Let’s go.” He urges me toward the door gently, his hand resting on my lower back. I lean into his touch as we head out.
I have a million questions that I want to ask—the first being, who is going to ‘take care of the body.’ But those questions will have to wait for now. Hunter has made it very clear he can’t answer my questions right now.
A freaking hitman.
Hunter holds my wrist as he pulls me from my dorm and down the hallway. We could probably get in trouble if he were caught in my dorm room so early in the morning, but that is the last concern on my mind right now. I’m a little too preoccupied by the fact that I was almost murdered—twice!
This doesn’t even feel real. I feel like I’m going to wake up in my dorm room and this will have all been a bizarre nightmare. I really should lay off eating pizza late at night. But then I hit my foot against a chair in the common room. I cry out in pain realizing that this definitely isn’t a dream. If it were a dream, I wouldn’t have felt pain.
“By the way, you look beautiful this morning,” Hunter says, pushing open the front door.
I raise an eyebrow. “You just killed somebody and you’re commenting on the way I look?”
He uses his free hand to rub along the scruff on his jaw. “Yeah, I guess that would be weird for you.”
Weird for me? How about weird in general? Though, maybe this is normal for Hunter Duran. Maybe he murders people by day and dates girls by night—a real life 007. The thought is so absurd, I laugh.
Hunter gives me a curious look, probably wondering why I just laughed for no reason at all. I decide to keep my weird thoughts to myself, not wanting Hunter to think I’m strange.
I don’t know where Hunter is bringing me, and I don’t really care at the moment. I just let him pull me behind him, further away from the dead body in my dorm. It isn’t until I realize that he’s pulling me toward the boys’ dormitory that I pause.
“This isn’t all a big ruse to get me in your room alone, right?” I raise an eyebrow.
He laughs, tugging me forward.
I think that’s a ‘no.’
When we walk through the front door, another boy is walking out in a pair of running shoes. For a minute, I’m worried I will run into Liam and he will question why I’m going into a boy’s dorm, but then I realize it’s five o’clock in the morning. There is no way Liam is awake right now.
How am I even supposed to explain all of this to Liam? I don’t even understand it. But Hunter says he has answers. That’s why I’m going with him. Well, that… and the dead body he’s having somebody else take care of.