“You know he isn’t going to stop calling.” I look over and Brian is standing on the other side of the kitchen counter.

I take a sip of my coffee. “I can’t talk to him. I can’t face him after what he did.” Every time I close my eyes, I see him and that girl. I see the smirk on his face when he saw me in the doorway.

“Well, you’re gonna have to face him, because there is no way that he will walk away from you without at least coming to see ya.” He looks at me but I don’t respond. I am choosing to handle this situation maturely and ignore it. “Ok well, he called me about ten minutes ago and I told him you were here, so you better ready yourself for that talk.”

Shit. Brian walks away before I can tell him he sucks ass.

What am I going to say to him when he gets here? Even thinking about having to face him makes me want to start crying. He shattered me last night. After talking to Jules, I went up to the guest room and cried until I eventually passed out. I thought he was it for me. My family. The person that loved me for me, and would never hurt me. He proved that was all a lie last night.

I know that the recent problems in our relationship were my fault. They came from my own insecurities and I take responsibility for that. I assumed he would hurt me so I had started to push him away. At this point, I can see that my assumption was right. My plan didn’t work, though. Pushing Hunter away didn’t make it hurt any less when he crushed me.

Jules comes into the kitchen and I can see the pity in her eyes. “How are you holding up?”

“Truth?” She nods. “I’m not. I was barely keeping it together this morning before Brian told me that Hunter knew where I was. Now that I know he is coming here I’m just—“

The doorbell cuts me off.

I know who it is.

A pit forms in my stomach as I think about seeing him again.

“Brian and I are going leave for a little bit. If you want to stay here again tonight, you’re more than welcome.” She gives me a hug before walking away. I hear the door open, and after a few whispered words, it shuts again.

I know he’s in the room. He’s standing behind me, but I can’t bring myself to turn around and face him. I feel his arms encircle me and I throw them off of me, my sadness quickly replaced with rage that he would dare to touch me. “Don’t you ever touch me again.”

I turn to face him, confused by the shock that is present on his face. “Sam, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“Are you fucking serious?” I can’t believe he just walked in here like nothing happened last night. Like he didn’t completely betray me. Like he wasn’t fucking another woman not even twenty-four hours ago.

“Yeah, I don’t get why you’re here. Why Brian gave me the look of death and Jules punched me. Why you are looking at me like you hate me.” His eyes seem to be searching for something in mine, but he will find no sign of love.

“Because I do.” I say this so low that I don’t know if he hears me.

“You hate me?” his voice is laced with hurt and surprise.

“Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I? After what you did, I can’t even stand to look at your face.” My voice is strong but inside I want to scream how much I love him.

“Sam, what are you talking about?”

“I cannot believe you are still keeping up this innocent bullshit! You cheated on me last night! I had to walk into my hotel room to find you banging that damn bimbo! You looked right at me and kept fucking her! I had to see her smile and laugh at me like I was some pathetic loser! You promised me you would always be there for me! That you would never give up on me the way that everyone else did, but that was a damn lie. Things got tough and you went right back to your old ways.” I cross my arms over my chest in an attempt to hide my heavy breathing. My heart is beating so fast and adrenaline is pumping through my entire body.

His face pales. “Sam, I would never cheat on you. I love you. I don’t—“

“No! Don’t you dare ever say those words to me again! You don’t love me.” My voice breaks and I fight to hold back the tears. I need him to leave.

“I do love you, Samantha. I don’t remember anything that happened last night. Something is wrong.” His voice reeks of desperation. I can tell he wants me to believe him.

“You’re right, Hunter. Something is wrong. You’re still here. You need to leave. I am officially letting you go, you’re fired. And we are officially over.” I move to walk past him but he grabs my arm.

Before I know what I’m doing, I slap him across the face. “I said you are not allowed to touch me ever again.”

“Sam, please I don’t know what’s going on, but you can’t do this. You can’t just say that we are over and that you don’t love me. I know you do.” He is rubbing the spot on his face that is now red from my hand. His eyes bore into me, begging me for some sort of hope. He won’t find any.

“Correction, I used to love you. To be able to love someone you need a heart. Mine was broken and will never be the same again.” I run up the steps to the guest bedroom, locking the door behind me. A few seconds later, I hear Hunter banging on the door.

“Sam, please open the door. Don’t end us this way!”

I pull the covers over my head, hoping to drown out his voice. I start to cry again, releasing everything I held back as I was confronting him. I didn’t want him to see me cry, to see how sad I was. I wanted him to see my anger and only that.

The noises outside of the door stop and a few minutes later, I hear the door open and close.

I am so sick of being alone.

I wish he was still here.

I wish that we could still be together.

I miss him already.

Why’d he have to break us?

Chapter Twenty Seven

Hunter

Two months.

That’s how long it’s been since Sam ended things, and I still have no idea what the hell happened. I woke up that morning feeling like I had been hit by a truck with no memory of the night before. I have had a lot more to drink then I had that night and nothing like this had ever happened. I miss her so damn much, but she won’t take my calls.

I love her so much that not being with her hurts. She said she saw me with that other girl but I can’t believe it. Since I met Sam I haven’t even wanted to look at another girl much less touch one. None of this shit makes sense and she won’t talk to me so I can try to figure it out.

I took a new job in the industry just to try to be around her. I call her every single day and leave a message, but she never returns my calls. I miss her so damn much and I don’t know what else I can do. Everywhere she goes it’s like she is untouchable; I can’t get within a few feet of her. Tonight I will see her though. My client, Angela, has an award show to attend and Sam will be there too.

I take a deep breath before exiting the limo and helping Angela out. My eyes scan the crowd, searching for Sam. I finally see her and her slime ball father. There is something up with that guy. The first time I met him, I knew that he was up to no good. The excuses he was feeding Sam were ridiculous.

I study her as I walk with Angela into the building. There is no smile on her face. No light in her eyes. There is no trace of the girl I knew. The girl I still love. She looks like she’s lost weight and I worry that she relapsed and fell back into her old habits. I need to get to her tonight, even if I have to sneak into her hotel room.

I will get to her.

***

The event ended and I made sure that Angela got back to her room. Ryan reluctantly had his guy hack into the hotel’s system and find out what room Jules is staying in. Now that I’m walking toward her door, I’m getting nervous. Joe is outside, which is strange, considering he is only her driver. He sees me coming and his eyes widen in surprise.

“Hunter, what are you doing here?”