Hunt Me Down {boyxboy} ✓

Chapter 30

A/N: Here’s the big surprise I’ve been hinting bout and promising for a while now. You are either going to hate me or love me for this chapter… By the way, it is something I thought of while listening to Viva Las Vegas (the ZZ Top version) and which I wrote before even coming up with Hunt Me Down. I just put it in my ideas folder and when I started writing HMD, I thought “This will so suit this story!” so here it is. Enjoy!

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Nathaniel’s POV

I shouldn’t have lashed out on Hunter the way I had. Then again, he shouldn’t have stuck his nose in my business with Irene. Even though he had a point: I was not in love with her. Still, I never asked for his opinion.

I poked a fry and put it in my mouth. I chewed it slowly. I wasn’t really hungry but Val had insisted on getting a late lunch – or an early dinner – so the three of us were now sitting in the restaurant of our hotel and she was enjoying her portion of steak and fries. I wasn’t. Hunter was…

I sighed.

Who knew whether Hunter was enjoying his meal?

He didn’t seem particularly bothered by our quarrel earlier, if you could call that a quarrel. He was a bit quieter than usual, but that was all; perhaps I was even imagining that.

I looked down at my barely touched portion.

Maybe I should have that conversation with Irene once we got home; the conversation where I would tell her that I loved spending time with her but I didn’t love her. I sighed again.

Not a maybe; we should’ve had that conversation a long time ago. Why was it so hard for me to initiate it?

It wasn’t as if we would necessarily break-up; if she wanted it, we could continue with how things were now and when it was time to move out of town, we’d just say goodbye and go back to being friends, occasionally saying hi on Skype. After all, I had never promised her more than that.

Yes, that would be for the best; it would be the best if we talked on Monday, after school. In the mean time, I might as well try and have fun, right?

Even if Irene and I stayed together, things would be tense between us for a while so I should try and relax over what was left of the weekend.

“And now, it is time for the casino,” Val announced, wiping her mouth with a napkin and getting up.

So much for me relaxing!

“Vallery,” I began but she cut me off.

“I know what you are going to say so here’s what I’ll do: I have a hundred dollars…”

“My hundred dollars,” I reminded.

“I have a hundred dollars which I will one day return to you but right now I plan on spending them in the casino. If I lose them, I won’t do any more gambling today and you can take the rest of the day off; if I win, we do some sightseeing, go to the fountains and then we come back here where I’ll gamble some more. Fair enough, bro?”

“Gamble some more?” I repeated, shaking my head.

“Only the sum which I won,” she said with a smile. “Besides, what are you worried about? We’ve already paid for our tickets home.”

“And you think there won’t be any other expenses?” I asked, getting up as well. “You think…”

“Just let her do it now or she’ll wait for you to fall asleep and go to the casino on her own,” Hunter finally joined the conversation. He sounded calm, perhaps even a bit bored.