But so much had changed within the past two months—so much had changed within Asa.
And now that the question that’d been nudging him for the past few weeks popped into his head again, he found his feet taking him towards the godforsaken boy.
He was so going to regret this. But he kept walking towards Hunter anyway.
Asa stopped just a few feet from where Hunter was standing in front of his locker and rummaging through it with an agitated look on his face. And now that he was here, he couldn’t understand why the hell he thought this was a good idea in the first place. He wanted someone to throw something at his face for his stupidity, preferably a chair.
“If you keep staring at me for even a second longer, I’m going to gouge your eyes out with my thumbs.” Hunter’s annoyed voice snapped Asa from his thoughts.“I’m not staring at you,” Asa retorted, feeling all the rage he felt for this boy boil towards the surface in the blink of an eye.
“Then piss off.”
“Why’d you stand up for Carmen today?” The question flew out of Asa’s mouth before he could restrain it.
He noticed Hunter freeze for a moment before he quickly slipped back into that devil-may-care facade.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hunter answered smoothly, his tone implying that he could be doing a thousand other things than have this conversation with Asa.
But Asa knew bullshit when he saw it; he’d put up with Isla for years now and during that time, he’d learnt to tell when someone was wearing a mask.
“Yes, you do,” he said, sounding annoyed. “You defended her in the locker room today.”
Hunter sighed, temporarily stopping the search of his locker’s interior. “I wanted some peace and quiet but all the guys’ voices were annoying me. So I asked them to shut up.” He went back to digging through the contents of his locker, not once sparing Asa a glance. “That’s all.”
“Bullshit.” Asa scoffed. “You spoke up because somewhere deep down, I think some part of you actually cares about her.”
He saw Hunter’s jaw tick, and instantly knew he’d touched a nerve. “You don’t know shit,” he muttered.
Asa didn’t know what the hell he was doing still standing there, having what he could only describe as a twisted resemblance of a conversation with the one person who loathed him as much as he loathed them in return.
“And when I say somewhere deep down, I mean really deep,” Asa went on, “like buried underneath all your hundred layers of tough exterior and scowls.”
Hunter slammed his locker door shut at that, and the bang resonated throughout the hallway, startling most of the students and causing some of them to dare look their way while the others just picked up their pace and walked faster.
“What the fuck do you want?” Hunter asked, eyes blazing as he looked at Asa for the first time since their conversation. “For me to admit that I care about her? Well, I don’t. Sorry to burst your bubble, but piss off already.”
“You’re lying.” Asa shook his head. “Why else would you—”
“Maybe I’m just a territorial asshole,” Hunter answered, taking a threatening step closer, the muscles in his jaw clenching. “Maybe it was just the sadistic part of me telling them that tormenting Carmen was my job. Did you ever think about that?” When Asa didn’t respond, Hunter laughed darkly. “Figured so. Did you really think I cared about her? Stop being so naive and looking for redeeming qualities in me. Never gave a shit about her and I never will.”
Asa should drop the topic. He should be walking away. He knew better. He was smarter than this.
But his feet stayed rooted to the spot.
“Then what about Isla?” he asked, asking the question that he’d wanted to for a while now. “I know you were the one who dropped her off at my place that night after the party. Why’d you do that if you really don’t give a shit about anyone?”
A disbelieving laugh left Hunter’s mouth, and he shook his head at Asa as if he couldn’t digest the fact that this conversation was even taking place.
“Are you for real?” Hunter pronounced each word deliberately slow, dragging out each syllable as if he was talking to someone who was partially deaf. “I did that to get at you. I knew it’d piss you off. So I came to your doorstep with your best friend just to rub it in your face.”
Listen to him, Asa. Listen to what he’s saying.
What the hell was he thinking? That the person who’d tormented him for years was capable of redemption? Was Asa really that plain stupid and gullible?
He knew Hunter Donoghue. Known him for years. There was not a single compassionate bone in the guy’s body. That didn’t mean Asa didn’t feel the faintest flicker of disappointment that Hunter was just cold to the bone.
“You done?” Hunter asked, his voice and expression going back to being free of any emotion. Asa didn’t understand how Hunter did that. He himself found it hard to keep his emotions in check; Asa was passionate like that. But he needed to understand that not everyone was going to have the same heart or mind-set as his.
So he took a few steps back and tightened the grip on his bag’s straps. “Yeah,” Asa muttered, looking away from Hunter’s blank stare. “I’m done.”
•••
“You’re awfully quiet,” Carmen commented as they drove back from school. “What’s on your mind?”
Despite being distracted with all the thoughts swimming in his head, Asa’s mouth curved upwards into an affectionate smile. He didn’t know what it was about the question, but the way she’d asked it made his heart flutter the tiniest bit.
“Nothing,” he murmured. “Just thinking.”
“Of?”
