Page 22 of Hunting Ground

But that thought feels mean. I almost recoil from it, as I stare at the statement in front of me.

“I wonder what he did,” I whisper. “For her to hate him so much.”

“He posted some crap about her on her social media, I think.” Adrien’s voice is void of any emotion as he studies the man. “I don’t know much about her, but she took it pretty hard. I think her dad paid for her to be here, and to have him caught for her.”

“Sucks for him.” I can’t tell exactly what killed him, though I would assume it has to do with the eye darts and the blood trickling down from his ears. If she shoved darts there, I can only imagine the agony he must have been in when he died.

Finally, I force my legs to walk away from him. There’s nothing I can do for him. I don’t know him, and we hadn’t met prior to his predicament. It’s only a few more minutes to the arcade, and I pause at the closed side entrance.

“Maybe wait or at least go in behind me?” I suggest. “You sort of look like a hunter. She might get the wrong idea.”

“I am a hunter,” Adrien is quick to say, and I turn to look at him, studying the mask that obscures his face.

“You know what I mean.”

He doesn’t answer, and I waste a few more seconds staring at the enigmatic mask. He’s so strange, I can’t help but think to myself. And yet…not any stranger than my boys.

Or me.

I don’t even dislike him, if I’m being honest. But I don’t think I’ll say that out loud. At least not right now.

The door takes a few attempts for me to jerk open, and when I step inside, I call for Lily as loudly as I dare. My voice is lost under the sound from the arcade machines, so I try again, louder this time, with more success.

She doesn’t answer.

I don’t hear her voice or her steps, and even as I make my way towards the staff lounge in the back, she doesn’t come out to greet me. “Lily?” I call again, with a bit more concern in my voice. “You okay?”

Part of me expects to find her passed out from shock and pain when I round the corner into the staff lounge.

A smaller, nervous part of me almost expects to find her dead.

But instead, the room is empty. No Lily. No signs of violence. I do a circuit of it, as if she could be hiding in one of the cabinets or somehow in a corner where I can’t see, before standing in the middle of the small room in confusion.

She’s gone.

With no sign of violence, I hope to myself that she wasn’t killed. Maybe she’d had to escape, if another hunter had come in here looking for something.

That’s what I’m going to tell myself, anyway. Until I’m proven wrong. Even as my chest tightens and my ribs seem to constrict my heart, I stand in the staff lounge breathing in the scent of mold and mildew while telling myself I don’t know anything for sure.

So there’s no point in assuming, right?

I turn back to leave the break room, only to run straight into Adrien, standing in the doorway silent as the shadows that hide him.

“Fuck!” I gasp. “Could you maybe–”

His hand finds my throat, fingers gentle as they twine around my neck. My eyes flick to the painted ones on his mask and he walks me backwards slowly. My hips hit the counter and his head tilts while Adrien studies me, the only sound between us our breathing.

“I didn’t get it at first,” he drawls softly, leaning forward. I don’t know how much that helps him. Here in the dark, I doubt he can see my features with much clarity. “They talked about you. They pined for you. They held space for you, no matter that you were thousands of miles away on the opposite coast. I thought they were just whipped.”

“What are you–”

“But now I get it.” Adrien reaches up and tugs off his mask, his bright blue eyes glinting in the light reflected from the arcade’s game room. “You are a precocious, fierce little thing. Just like they said. They love you. Did you know that? Do you–”

“Shut the fuck up.” I push him back a step, fisting my hands in his jacket. “You can talk shit about me all you want. You can taunt me. But don’t speak for them.” Suddenly his back hits the wall, and Adrien’s lips curve into a delighted grin.

“Well my bad, little monster,” he purrs. “Let me make it up to you.” I have just a moment to realize he looks entirely too pleased before his hand at my throat shifts to the nape of my neck. He uses his grip to drag me forward, until my arms are folded to his chest and his mouth is on mine.

Adrien’s kiss isn’t sweet. There’s nothing warm or romantic in the way he crushes me against him and tugs on my lower lip with his teeth. When I give a little sound of irritation, he swallows it greedily, and his tongue teases my lower lip before he pulls away to leave me panting.