On The Rocks

“Will you just listen?” he shouts when I start to struggle again. “You’re acting like a brat.”


That just infuriates me more, giving me the strength to almost bust out of his grip. He surprises me then by letting go but, before I can think to flee, he spins me around and crushes me to him, his mouth coming down hard on mine. For a split second, I kiss him back but then my anger returns. I rip away from him and wipe my mouth, not in a show to dig at him, but because I’m truly disgusted.

“How dare you kiss me after you just kissed another woman?” I say as I stare at him wildly.

“I didn’t fucking kiss her,” he snarls back at me. “She kissed me, and if you’d waited just a second longer before you jumped up from the table, you would have seen me push her away.”

“Whatever,” I snap at him. “I know what I saw.”

“No, you don’t,” he says tiredly. “You clearly don’t. You’re wrong, Gabby.”

“What the hell is going on?” I hear Casey from behind me, and I turn to see her furiously stalking across the parking lot toward us. She comes to a stand before us, her arms crossed defensively over her chest. All of my anger toward Hunter gets pushed to the back of my mind, because now I’m dealing with an enraged Casey Markham.

She looks back and forth between the two of us, waiting for an answer. Hunter sort of turns away and laces his fingers together on top of his head, holding his face up to the sky as if he’s praying for patience and serenity.

“I repeat—what is going on?” she asks again, this time with an underlying menace in her voice that makes me cringe. Over her shoulder, I spy Brody walking out of the bar, but he doesn’t approach us. Rather, he just stands there, his hands in his pockets, watching all of us carefully.

“Gabby,” Casey barks. “Why did you call Hunter an asshole in there?”

Hunter turns toward me, curious as to what I’ll say. My gaze falters and falls to the ground, where I kick at the loose pebbles in the parking lot. I can’t lie to her… but apparently, I can’t look her in the eye either. “Um… Hunter and I have been seeing each other, and I was mad when he kissed that woman.”

“I did not kiss her,” Hunter grits out, and my head snaps up to his.

“Sure looked like it to me,” I throw back at him.

“Whatever,” he says in resignation.

“You two have been seeing each other?” Casey asks quietly. “For how long?”

“A couple of weeks,” Hunter says.

“And you kept it secret… from me?” The hurt is evident in her voice, and I feel lower than I’ve ever felt in my life. Suddenly, the fact that Hunter was kissing—or had been kissed—a few moments ago seems irrelevant.

“Casey,” I say as I take a step toward her with apology in my voice. “I was going to tell you. I just—”

“Don’t,” she snaps at me, holding up her hand. “There’s nothing you could say to justify it. You were my best friend…”

Were? As in past tense?

“Casey, I’m sorry,” I say urgently.

“Just stop,” she hisses. “You’re selfish, Gabby… selfish and disloyal, sneaking around… sinking your claws into my brother. You’re despicable.”

“Now just a minute,” Hunter growls at Casey, stepping up to my side. “I went after Gabby, not the other way around.”

Casey turns her eyes toward Hunter, blazing bright blue with anger. “Nice to know you were complicit in this, Hunter. You two deserve each other then. Just stay the hell away from me.”

Spinning away from us, Casey stomps back to the bar, pushing past Brody, who stands silently, watching it all. Tears well up in my eyes, and I feel so unbelievably helpless.

It appears I’ve lost my best friend, all because I was too afraid to tell her the truth. And Hunter… well, I’ve probably lost him too, seeing as how I might have misconstrued the “kiss” situation.