shorter than a lot of the kids in my school, and even at fifteen I was curvier than most of the girls. I had long, dark chocolate hair that cascaded down my back, eyes the color of the blue sky and pale skin dotted with freckles due to my Irish blood.
“Not on his radar, my ass.” Hailey said, laughing at me. I’m sure I was bright red.
***
At the end of that summer, Hunter left for Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. The day he left was awful; all I did was cry all day long. Hunter stopped over and said goodbye to me after packing up, which only made me cry more. I was going to miss seeing him every day, and secretly, I think he was going to miss me too.
AGE 17
When Hunter came back from school that year, I realized how enamored of him I had become. The day he came home for summer break, I was standing in the kitchen at my parents’ shore house, making a sandwich. Hunter walked through the door, and I nearly cut my fingers off when I caught sight of him. He was…so sexy. He seemed to have grown taller, and obviously, had been working out more. His shirt stretched tight across his broad shoulders, his sleeves pulled tight around his biceps. His hair was slightly longer than normal, and it had that sexy just rolled out of bed look.
He walked in and reached over my head, grabbing a glass out of the cabinet. I glanced over just as his shirt rode up slightly, revealing some kind of script tattoo. There was a star on his right elbow and skulls with flames covering his left arm.
After he grabbed the glass and filled it with water from the fridge, he came over and kissed the side of my head. “Hey, CC.”
“Those tats look good on you.” I said, trying to keep my voice mild and even.
He grabbed a few chips from the bag I had left open on the counter. “I have more.” He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it on the counter. I almost fainted. His tan, muscular abs begged me to reach out and touch them. On his left side, starting under his arm, down his ribs and ending on his hip, in script read Live Today As If You’ll Die Tomorrow. On his lower stomach, stretching from hip to hip, in the same script read No Regrets. I lifted my eyebrows and smirked at him; he smiled, shrugged his shoulders and turned around to show me a Celtic cross that took up most of his back.
“A friend of mine is working as an apprentice at a tattoo shop down by my house at school.” Hunter explained.
“I like them.” I padded over and grabbed the towel folded over the back of the kitchen chair. “I’ll see you later; I’m going down to the beach.” It was getting hot in here; I needed to stay away before I started pawing him.
Later that night, everyone was getting ready to go out to eat, but I didn’t want to go. I wanted to spend some alone time with Hunter. After talking to Hailey for a while, I decided I was finally going to tell him how I felt; I had to see if he had any feelings for me. I couldn’t keep torturing myself like this.
I told my mom that I was going to stay home because I had an upset stomach. Hunter, always so quick to look out for me, told her he would stay home and would make sure I was okay. He did exactly as I thought he would do.
After everyone had left, I went upstairs into my room. I was lying on my bed when Hunter walked in, carrying a glass of ginger ale and some crackers.
“You should try to eat and drink this.” He walked around my bed and put the stuff on the nightstand next to my bed.
“There’s nothing wrong with me. I just didn’t feel like going.” I patted the bed next to me for him to come and sit. He didn’t come over at first. He just stared at me, contemplating what he should do.
“It’s probably not a good idea that I’m in here with you.” Hunter said this as he sat down.
“Probably not, but no one is here.” I sat up so my body was facing him, my knee touching his hip. He had a peevish look on his face. I reached