I like Preston. He’s cute—maybe a little too forward, but I could see us being friends.
But…
I literally have hitmen coming after me right now. My life is far too complicated to be dating.
“It’s okay that you don’t have experience with dating. Some guys like that.” Preston grins.
A shadow captures my attention and I jump as I look up and see Hunter walk up.
“Cove isn’t interested.” Hunter crosses his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes at Preston.
Preston looks up, his eyes widening a fraction. “Cove and I are just friends.” He turns to me. “Right, Cove?”
I shrug. “I guess so.” I look up at Hunter. “What happened to your entourage?”
He huffs. “Thanks for that, by the way.”
“For what?” I ask, feigning innocence.
He motions to where the dance team is still looking our way, giggling. “Leaving me with those girls. You could’ve at least pretended to be my girlfriend so they’d leave me alone.”
Preston gets up from the bench. “I’ll see you later Cove.”
But he’s not looking at me—he’s looking at the horde of girls on the dance team.
Hunter shakes his head, looking at me. “That is the kind of guy you’re interested in?”
I laugh. “Nah. He’s cute, but he and I would never work out. He’s the kind of guy who would inevitably break my heart.”
He looks over to where Preston is now flirting with the group of girls he just left. “I just don’t get it.”
I shrug. “Me either.”
Because there is no way I would be fighting for a guy’s attention. Those girls… they can have Preston.
“Preston is the kind of guy my brother has warned me to stay away from,” I say.
Preston, who has his arm around a blonde girl, looks over at me and winks. The guy has no shame.
“So, you’re not going to date him, right? ‘Cause I’d really hate to have to murder a teenage boy.” Hunter has his eyes narrowed as he looks over at Preston.
“Don’t worry.” I stand up from the bench. “Preston isn’t the kind of guy who is capable of having a relationship. He wants to date me, my best friend, and ten other girls. I don’t share.”
Hunter nods. “Good. I’m glad you’re not the kind of girl who obsesses over a guy who is completely wrong for her.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Know many girls like that?”
He shakes his head. “Well, maybe a few girls I went to school with, but I never paid them any attention.”
I wonder what Hunter was like in school. Has he always been so focused?
“I’m proud of you.” Hunter puts his hand on my shoulder. “This is for the best, Cove. You’ll see.”
The fact that he thinks he needs to encourage me is laughable. “I do have morals, Hunter. And Preston… well, he goes against them.”
Even if he is fun to look at. If only he wouldn’t open his mouth, we’d get along great. Then again, I guess that’s not a relationship.
“Come on. Let’s head back to the cabin.” Hunter gently grabs onto my wrist, pulling me toward the parking lot.
I allow myself to steal one more glance at Preston. He’s looking toward Hunter and me with a scowl on his face, and I wonder what he’s thinking. It doesn’t matter though. Boys are overrated, especially boys like Preston Lomax.
Besides, who needs boys? I have enough going on in my life to get involved with somebody. I need to focus on training and trying to stay alive. My bad dating decisions will just have to wait until college.
I turn to Hunter as we get closer to the car. “Hey, Hunter, are you in college?”
“Nah. I don’t have time for college,” he answers.
Why doesn’t that surprise me?
“Are you going to college?” Hunter opens the passenger side door of the SUV for me.
I pause before getting in. “I don’t know. I’ve applied, but I just don’t know what I really want to do yet. I’m hoping before the time comes I can think of something.”
He grins. “Don’t worry—you’ve got plenty of time to figure it out.”
Says the guy who is nineteen and already has it all figured out.
I’m seventeen and my life is a complete mess.
Friday, August 28
Hunter Duran is a pain…
If I thought I was sore on Tuesday, it’s nothing compared to now. My legs and back ache, my arms feel like noodles, and I just want a break from training.
I’m so not used to all the physical activity that Hunter has been forcing me to do.
When my alarm goes off a little before five in the morning, I groan, resisting the urge to push snooze. If I snooze, I know Hunter will come in here and force me to get up.
I miss sleeping in until six—those were the good old days.
I don’t bother getting a shower because I know I’ll get sweaty during training. Instead, I throw my hair up, put on some workout clothes, and I meet Hunter in the living room.
“You look miserable,” Hunter says.
“I am,” I whine. “My entire body aches.”
He chuckles. “I was twelve when I started in on physical training, and I will never forget how sore I was for the first few months.”
Few months?
My eyes widen. “Maybe you could take it a little easy on me. I mean, it’s Friday anyway. We’ve been going hard at it all week.” I cough. “Besides, I don’t feel good.”
“Nice try.” Hunter smirks. “Those tricks don’t work on me.”
I didn’t think it would, but it doesn’t hurt to try.
I follow Hunter out the front of the house and we go for our morning run. We’ve been running one mile every single morning. I try to tell myself that running is good for me—just think of how in shape I am going to be. Plus, running gives me an excuse to eat carbs. Not that I ever needed an ‘excuse.’ I eat carbs regardless, but now I don’t have to feel guilty about it.
This morning, it’s particularly hard to run. My legs hurt so bad, making every step ache.
When we get to the end of the mile, I collapse onto the ground, just needing to breathe.
“Eleven minutes and thirty seconds.” Hunter shakes his head, looking at the time on his phone. “Pathetic. I think you’re actually getting worse.”
I glare at him, though the panting does take away some of the desired effect of the glare. “Maybe if you actually let me have a day off to let my legs rest…”
He throws his hands up. “You get off on the weekends—Saturday and Sunday. You’re lucky. We didn’t get weekends when I was training. We’d run a marathon at least once a month—usually on Saturday. It was mandatory to join in.”
“Then I guess it’s good I’m a normal teenage girl and not a spy like you,” I counter.
He rolls his eyes but holds out his hand toward me. “Come on. We need to get to the gym. Just because it’s Friday doesn’t mean I’m going to go easy on you.”
I grab onto his hand, letting him pull me up. “I bet all those girls wouldn’t flirt with you at school if they knew how medieval your torture was.”