A/N: What would you like to know most about Hunter?

Give me your questions and I’ll do my best to answer them in the future chapters!

*****

Vallery’s POV

The shots from the roulette had been enough to lift my mood but did little to cloud my judgment. His words ‘Look, you are hot so I’ll give you a chance to apologize to me’ did not achieve the effect he desired. Instead of me making amends for making fun at him at the school parking lot a few weeks back, I laughed at his face. His sleazy grin disappeared and was replaced by an angry frown; I’d humiliated his once more, this time with an audience consisting of his friends.

“Do you know who I am?” His clenched fist trembled as he took a step towards me. I did not move back.

“Not a clue,” I admitted full-heartedly.

“Not a clue?” He repeated in surprise, looking at his friends for confirmation that indeed those had been the words I’d uttered. “You are in my house, at my party, and you don’t have a clue who I am?”

Ah, so this was Josh. Who could’ve guessed that he’d be the same jerk that offered me a ride home, no doubt expecting some gratitude on my part for his gesture. Lyn had been right: our host was a douche.

“I’m one of the best on the football team and you don’t have a clue who I am?” Josh went on, unbelieving.

“American football or real football?” I asked.

“American football is real football.”

“Nope,” I opposed and he came even closer.

“It is. It’s so much better than that pansy soccer you Brits play. It’s a real sport.”

“It’s a bunch of idiots slamming against each other, maybe having a bit of a groping session when they think no one can see and judge them, trying to get a ball that’s not even round and playing with their hands. The game is called football.”

“We are not groping each other; we are tough, straight guys,” most of his friends nodded and murmured in agreement. I could not make out their exact words since even here, outside by the pool, the music was still rather loud, but it looked like they agreed.

“If you are so tough, why do you wear so many protective items? You have helmets and whatnot,” I kept on going. “You don’t see our ‘pansy’ players use those.”

“Listen here…” He tried to interrupt but I wouldn’t let him.

“And you are missing the point: it’s called football. Foot,” I extended my led and wriggled it, “ball,” I made a round shape with my hands.

“How about you shut up before I throw you into my pool?”

Not really impressed with his threat, I smiled and replied with one of my own:

“How about you shut up before my foot connects with your balls?”

“Vallery!”

And there it was: the panicked voice of reason, coming just in time to prevent me from going into a tussle. But it was no internal voice; I imagine many people have that, but not me. In my case, the voice of reason was my brother Nathaniel.

“‘Sup, twin?” I greeted, mentally preparing for a scolding.

Josh had gone quiet. I was sure Hunter’s presence was a major factor in that. Unlike my brother, who was very unsuccessfully attempting not to appear worried, Hunt was calm, amused even, and so was Lyn.

The thing that had impressed me the most was that Hunter didn’t even need to speak. At one moment he was looking at Josh and Josh was looking at him and in the next our lovely host had turned around to talk with his friends, acting like our little quarrel had never taken place. The guys from his group were sneaking anxious glances towards my new friend and the girls – when they thought they boyfriends were not looking – tried to discreetly check Hunt out.

What a waste of time!

I let my brother lead me to another part of the yard, away from the pool and Josh. As we walked, I wondered what had made the boys so anxious. Was it Hunt’s time in jail?

Did they know the reason for that?

Sure, I’d heard some rumors about it at school – mostly from Miss Chatter Box – but none came from a reliable source. Hunter didn’t speak to me about it and I wouldn’t bet any money that even Lyn could tell me the truth. Perhaps he would one day share it with Nat…

“You promised to try not to start a fight,” my brother interrupted my silent musings. “What was that all about? You don’t even like football.”

“It was a matter of principles.”

“Principles?”

“Yes. They should rename their game and that’s it. I have nothing against the game itself… But do they have to call it football? It gets on my pet peeves. And the whole advertizing it as a manly sport: what’s that about? I really think it’s an excuse for men to get a handful of other men without being judged by society.”

“Just how many did you have tonight?” Nathaniel asked with a groan. “You are getting philosophical, sis.”

“I only had three shots,” I replied in all honesty. “One vodka and two tequilas. And I need to have fun this weekend to make up for the next. You-know-who is coming for a visit, remember?”

“Voldemort is coming over to your place?” Lyn asked, raising her pierced eyebrow. It looked pretty cool. Maybe I should get one of those.

“Great Aunt Sarah,” I corrected. “But you were pretty close.”

“Whatever.” She traced a hand over her Mohawk. “Now that we’ve found you, I need to look for my brother before he OD-s.”

“Need help?” I offered.

“Nah, I’ve got a pretty good idea where he might be. See ya later.” She waved and headed in the general direction of the pool.

“Now what?” I asked my two companions. “More drinks? We can always go back to the roulette or have a game of Truth or Drink. Although that’s not much fun,” I rubbed my chin.“Everyone just chooses the drink option.”

“Can we do something that doesn’t involve alcohol?” My brother pleaded.

“At a party?” I snorted. “Good luck with that!”

“How about we just take a tour around the house?” Hunt suggested.

“Why?” Was it just me or did Nat sound suspicious. Our neighbor must’ve gotten the same vibe as he mocked:
“So I can steal all their valuables, Natty.”

My brother turned away to hide his blush… Why did he always blush around Hunt? Oh, wait; I got that.

“I guess a tour would be fine as long as we don’t drink,” Nat concurred. “I mean Val and I; you can do whatever you want, of course.”

“Anything I want?” Hunt smirked, taking a step towards him.

“With the alcohol,” my twin emphasized.

Hunter came even closer to him and reached out his hand. For a moment I – and judging by Nat’s alarmed face, he too – thought that the blond was going to touch him, but instead Hunt retrieved his hand with a beer can which he took from the small table that was behind my brother.

“Let’s go on our tour,” he prompted and I watched his grin widening at the small disturbance he’d caused before he led us inside the house.

*****

Nathaniel’s POV

“Are you sure you want us to go in?” I asked as Val’s hand reached for yet another door handle.

My first reaction when we got to the second storey, was to smile; the music was considerably lower here. My good mood had vanished once I realized what most people used the second storey for. I may have thought that I’ve seen all hormones could make people do but the scenes down stares were nothing compared to what I’d witnessed here. I shook my head trying to get the image of the couple we had just walked in on. Seeing a girl naked was awkward but seeing the boy… And now my sister was about to lead us into another room. I dared not think what might await us there.

“You know, bro, a tour around the house means that we actually have to take a look at the place,” she replied, twisting the round handle and pushing the door open.

I let out a sigh as this time we had walked into something like a small study instead of a bedroom. There was a couple here as well but they were fully clothed.

At least for now, I added in my mind as I watch the boy slip his hand under the girl’s white tank top.

“Get out,” Hunter ordered curtly.

The boy turned to him looking as if he was about to tell him to leave them alone but once he recognized Hunt he wrapped an arm around the girl’s waist and pulled her outside the room, closing the door behind them.

Why did no one dare oppose to him?

The answer to that was easy: they feared him. But what was the reason for that fear?

Did they know something about Hunter which I did not?

What had he done that was so horrible that even people like Josh – proud and cocky – kept their mouths shut before him?

And did I really want to know?

If I were to find out, I might be scared of him as well. Would I want to distance myself from Hunter?

I shook my head. I did not want to think about such things; I didn’t want to think there could be something that would put an end to our friendship or whatever it was that we had. I shook my head once again, vigorously this time, as I realized that even though Hunter Harris was too much for me sometimes and I’d love to take the occasional break away from him, I did not want to see him gone for good.

“What’s wrong?” Hunter was looking at me with a slight frown. “Don’t you like the room? I told them to leave because I thought you’d like the room; plenty of books here,” he nodded towards the dozen or so shelves, adorned with books off different sizes and colors.

“You told them to leave because of me?”

The frown was gone and a smile replaced it. He gave no verbal reply and just shrugged.

He was nice. Hunter Harris could be nice to people. Occasionally, but he could. Perhaps I was worrying too much; perhaps people feared him not because of something horrible he’d done but because their wild imaginations came up with stories about him simply because he was a private person and they didn’t know much about him. I hoped that was the reason. I could almost believe that now, seeing his small smile and the warmth in the usually steely grey eyes; I would have believed it if I did not know that he’d been to jail.

“Now I really I don’t like this dude,” Val interrupted my musings and I realized she had leaned over the table which stood before the double window. As I approached I saw what had grabbed her attention: an aquarium, too small for its inhabitant; the poor turtle barely had space to move. I covered my nose with my hand but the barrier did little to prevent the stale stench assaulting my nostrils.

“How can Josh treat his pet like this?” My sister asked, reaching inside the installation.

“What are you doing?” I questioned as I watched her pull the turtle out.

“What does it look like I’m doing?”

“It looks like you’re stealing our host’s pet turtle,” my voice had gone one pitch higher.

“I’m not stealing it,” she contradicted.“I’m rescuing it. Just look at the conditions the poor thing is supposed to live in. That guy is lucky I’m not calling RSPCA on his ass.”

“And what do you plan to do after you rescue it?”

“I’m going to name him Raphael .”

“Sounds good to me; he’s the coolest ninja turtle,” Hunt butted in.

“You just became my new gay best friend.” My sister laughed.

“So we are going to paint each other’s nails when we get home?” He asked, pretending to examine his nails.

“And tomorrow we are so totz gonna go shopping, girlfriend,” Val went on with the joke with a pretend American accent.

“Just hold on for a second, you two; this is serious,” I crossed my hands over my chest.“Not only are you stealing a turtle but what then? Who is going to take care of it? Mom is never going to let us have a pet, Val, and even if by some miracle you manage to convince her, how will you take care of it with us constantly moving? It’s going to spend more time quarantined than with us. You never think ahead.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Hunt suggested.

“You will?” Val asked.

“Sure, why not?” He shrugged. “I doubt Boot Camp Aunt is going to be against it. How much trouble can a turtle be?”

“See, bro? Problem solved.” She patted me once on the back with her turtle-free hand.

“Did you have to encourage her?” I turned to Hunter. “She’ll get into trouble if Josh tells the police about this. Even if he mistreats his pet, it’s his pet and this is still theft. Or kidnapping. Depends on how you look at it since it is a living creature.”

“Don’t be so uptight.” Any dreams I might have had about coming on top in this argument vanished as Val snuggled the creature in her jacket.“As I said: we are doing this poor little fella a favor. Now let’s get out of here before someone sees us!”

*****

A/N: I heard ‘totz’ used as in ‘totally’ in a movie once and I don’t know how you feel about it, but I thought it was really annoying.

For those of you who want to get into Hunt’s head: while I was in the hospital, I had the chance to think over the timeline and Hunter’s POV is about six chapters away. Now, won’t that be fun? What would you like to find out about him?

Please comment and vote if you enjoyed the chapter or if you think Val and Hunt are awesome and Raphwill be better off after they kidnapped him ;)