Hunter Academy - Book 1

A Night Out With Friends

Jessica

"Oh. My. God! Can you believe that guy? You could smell the desperation," Kriss said, holding her stomach, laughing. She's one of my best friends. I've known her practically my whole life. If I'm tall (5'10"), then she is short. But don't call her that! She prefers fun-sized, thankyouverymuch. She's the feisty one in our group. We call it "Little Man's Syndrome."

The guy she is referring to, was the typical guy we always see when we're down at The Power and Light. Overly buffed, wearing a "smedium" Affliction shirt, to show off his beefed up muscles, like he's God's gift or something. You should have seen his face when Kriss looked him up and down, with a smirk and an eyebrow raised, and said, "You really think Imma leave my girls and go home with you? I'm pretty sure those muscles are compensating for something much smaller," at that, her sharp blue eyes snap to his too tight, jean covered groin.

"Ooooh! Snap!"

"She just went there!"

I couldn't help but laugh at my two other friends. Being fraternal twins, they couldn't look any different. Caramia, Cara, took after their mother with long red hair, light green eyes, and pale skin. Bellisima, Belle, takes after their Italian father, with shoulder length dark brown hair, dark eyes, and olive skin.

Affliction dude, visibly blanched, then his eyes narrowed and his face turned red. His hands fisted as he took a step toward Kriss. Nope. Not going to happen tough guy. I put myself between them, putting a hand on his chest to stop him from taking another step.

"I wouldn't suggest doing that."

"Yeah? Why's that?" he sneered.

"You might want to look behind you," I said, pointing to a spot behind his head. "My friend doesn't take it very well when his girls are threatened."

I eyed Matt, a man I've known nearly as long as Kriss. He's huge. Like, giant huge. I mean, I'm tall and he makes me feel short. He has long, dirty blonde hair, currently pulled up in a man bun, big muscles, and full sleeves down both arms.

Affliction looks behind him to see Matt standing there with his arms folded across his chest, making his already impressive muscles bulge even more, glaring at him. If I didn't personally know him, I would have wet myself.

"I think it's time for you to leave," he said in a deep voice. I struggled not to laugh, because that is sooo not his normal voice. He's laying it on a little thick. "You really don't want to roid rage here."

Affliction takes a look around, seeing the other bouncers making their way to our location, and quickly comes to a decision. He puts his hands up, like he's surrendering, and starts to back away, "I was leaving anyway."

I let out a giggle as I look at Matt, and I can tell he's struggling to keep a straight face, while dude makes his way out of the bar. When he's finally gone, we all bust out laughing.

Matt comes over to me, and I imitate him, lowering my chin to try to get my voice deep, "I think it's time for you to leave." I burst out in laughter.

"Honey, I was trying to be intimidating. Did it work?" Did I mention? Matt's gay. Although, unless he opened his mouth to speak, you would never guess. Just looking at him wouldn't set your gaydar off. He wraps me in a bear hug, "You can find trouble anywhere," he mumbles into the top of my head.

"Hey! Don't blame me! If LMS hadn't insulted his manhood..." I let the sentence hang.

"Ha! Manhood! I bet it doesn't even work with all the steroids he uses. And stop calling me LMS!" Kriss says with a laugh, smacking me on the arm. Not going to lie, that hurt a little. Damn, she strong for such a little shit.

"I think it's time to go. Too much excitement. Plus, I have brunch with Memaw tomorrow. If I don't get some sleep, I'm going to get a lecture on proper sleep habits," I said as I look for my keys. It's not like I have a lot of places to look with the outfit I'm wearing. Tight, black capri pants, a loose fitting white blouse that hangs off one shoulder, and black wedge heels. Yeah, I know, I'm tall. But, damn, these shoes make my legs look good! *sigh* One of these days, I'll find a man who isn't intimidated by my height.

"Here," Cara says, putting my keys in my hand, "you gave them to me to put in my bag, remember?"

"Thanks, dollface. Let's go."

Matt puts his hand on my shoulder, "Do you want an escort to your car?"

"Thanks, Matt," I lean up and kiss him on the cheek, "but we took the rail up. We parked at Crown Center."

"If you're sure," he hedges.

"We're good. There's four of us, two of which have taken self defense classes. We'll be alright," I said, squeezing him in a quick hug.

"Okay, babe. Love you."

"Love you, too"

The girls and I make our way to the rail stop.

"Ugh!" Belle says, "I can't wait to get home and take these shoes and bra off!"

"Same, girl, same," Cara says while tugging at her underwire.

Kriss smacks Cara's hands away, "Will you stop that? You look like a dude scratching his jock. We're ladies! Act like it!"

"I have never claimed to be a lady," I stated, "Here comes the rail."

After it stops, we climb on and take seats toward the back. After we get comfortable, I lean over and lay my head on Kriss's shoulder and let out a yawn, covering my mouth with my hand. I apologize.

"No worries, chickadee. Five minutes to the car, then we're out of here," Kriss says, wrapping me in an awkwardly positioned hug. For all her gruff exterior, she really is a big softy.

"Want to come to brunch with Memaw and me tomorrow? She misses you."

"Yeah, I'd love to. It's a plan. Call me in the morning to remind me."

We ride the rest of the way in comfortable silence, each of us in our own thoughts. I can't wait for brunch tomorrow.

A/N:

Well here's my first chapter.

Thanks to MichaelaRoland for beta reading for me.

Chapters will probably be short. For some reason I can only get around 1k words, but my hope is that I can get 1-2 chapters a week.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading! Muah!