Wife and Girlfriend

Chapter 30

Otanyi

"Absolutely not," Hunter had been talking 'at me' for the past forty-five minutes.  It'd gotten so bad that my sister ended up sounding like his echo after a while because she'd consistently repeat his last words over again.

"Agreed, absolutely not, Sissy," she said.

Tiger, true to his word, had dropped me back at my sister's place, and we'd been texting back and forth throughout the night.  Pretty much every time I saw a new headline flash across my cellphone screen. 

Who told me to set up a damn Google alert for my name?

I must be a masochist was the only thought in my head as the pictures attached to emails from reporters, some that I actually knew and admired, continued to pile up in my message box. Some looking for comment and others just asking for confirmation.

Tomorrow was going to be a shit show.

I saw his hand movement before it actually got to his goal of taking away my phone, instead slipping it behind my back.

"You've got to stop looking at that.  All of that will be taken care of in time, but for now, you need to give yourself a break," Hunter said to me. 

I looked at him, my eyes trying to reflect kindness and not the disbelief that I truly felt.   I'd been left without a lot of options, and I'd also been convinced that the actions that he took initially might actually have been the thing that hurt me the most in the long run.

"I'm going, guys.  He's going to pick me up in a couple of hours, and when we get to his place, we're going to figure this out.  That's all I'm going to say about it, really," but when both of them looked dejected, I rethought my approach.

"Look, Hunter, you said yourself that the options were slim in terms of dealing with this.  And I kind of like the option of facing it all head-on and then waiting for it to die down.  This can't be the new story forever.  Eventually, people will get bored and move on," even though the words were coming out of my mouth, I sounded like the one that still needed convincing.

"I can't. I just can't with you right now.  Why would you want to live with someone that you just freaking met?" Milli seemed a little more than just upset with the idea of me moving in with Tiger for some reason.  I couldn't quite place my finger on it, but there was definitely something more there. 

I'd have to pull her aside at some point when we were alone together.

"Come stay with me instead," and now I was looking at Hunter like he had two heads. 

"What is that going to solve?  Won't that just make me look like a cheater?" I said.  It was the first thing that flashed into my mind.

"Cheater?  You're not even with him really," now the exasperation was just laced in every word that he said.

"I'm going to give you two a little privacy to talk," Milli said as she headed off toward her bedroom. "Goodnight."

Hunter was on me with his hands cupping either side of my face before she was even out of earshot.

And as if to prove the point further, his lips descended onto mine.  Initially soft and slow, he just grazed mine with his enough to leave a wetness behind, but no more.  But soon enough, he'd picked up the pace, and his sense of urgency was palpable as he alternated between kissing and sucking my lips.

"Hunter," I'd been surprised by the kiss at first, but what really had me shaken was my body's response to it.  To him.

I immediately felt a tightness in my lower stomach that almost made me bend over on myself.  My hands flew up to his chest as I ran my fingers over his shirt, trying to find a safe place to hold him.