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have feelings for him.” Josh leaned in closer and said in a conspiratorial whisper, “He’s not exactly the right kind of guy for a nice girl like you.”
    Oh Josh , I thought. He was trying hard and I should’ve been flattered by his compliment, but it rubbed me the wrong way. It was unfair of him to assume anything about Blake. He was a twenty-one-year-old football player who looked as though he belonged on a billboard for an underwear campaign. He wasn’t in a committed relationship as far as I could tell. If he wanted to sleep around, it was his business.
    “Blake’s a friend and that’s all,” I murmured.
    “Will you consider it then? Going to dinner with me?”
    My head bobbed up and down automatically. “Yes, dinner sounds great.” I had already checked out of the conversation, my mind continuously wandering to Blake. Would I have more enthusiasm if he was the one asking?
    The guilt was immediate once I saw Josh’s eagerness. Although he said it wasn’t a date, I could see the expectations there. His objective was clear: take me to dinner and win me over with his charms.
    I l iked Josh and he was attractive; Blake’s Clark Kent nickname wasn’t far off. The longer strands of his dark hair fell into his eyes from time to time. His dark glasses concealed his eyes, but when he removed them, I could see the crystal blue color. If I hadn’t slammed the mental walls down on the possibility of dating, I’d probably be thrilled to have a guy like him interested in me.
    Hastily, he finalized plans, arranging for us to have dinner Friday night. He was going to ask Finn to borrow his car to take me off campus. Despite my qualms over the non-date, a meal not coming from takeout containers or the cafeteria did sound appealing. He rushed off with promises to call me with the details, his hurried exit indicating his fear I’d change my mind.
    There were dozens of reasons I didn’t date, but one of the big ones was my last relationship was a disaster. What I believed was the start of an epic love story ended with me humiliated and picking up the pieces of my shattered heart. Out of everyone in my life, Hunter’s disloyalty cut the deepest. But it would’ve been a lie to say he blindsided me with his personality switch. Months before we broke up I started to see hints of what lay beneath his charming smiles.

Chapter Five
     
    “How can you tease me by wearing that fucking skirt, Autumn? Ever hear of blue balls?” Hunter mumbled into my neck as his fingers crept up my thighs.
    We were in his basement and I had found my way onto his lap twenty minutes ago when his mother left for coffee with a friend. Hunter confessed she was really going to get drunk with a high likelihood of stumbling back into the house after midnight. Her drinking was getting progressively worse and I saw the effect it was having on Hunter. Since his dad left them both two months earlier, Hunter had changed. An anger at the injustices of his life caused him to fall into dark moods during which I often ended up the target of his vileness.
    Because of how much I cared for Hunter, I managed to take his personality switch in stride. He was feeling abandoned and I wouldn’t walk away when he was going through something so devastating. But I wasn’t a doormat and warned him about the way he treated me. I would leave him if things didn’t change soon. It had seemed to work for a while, but a new Hunter emerged. One who clung to me desperately when we were alone, demanding I give him everything—including my virginity.
    Hunter hauled me closer, his large hands covering my ass completely. He was center for our high school’s basketball team and we had known each other since grade school. Before we became a couple, we were friendly. But besides saying hello in the hallways, we never had a conversation lasting more than five seconds. After one of his basketball games during our sophomore year, I’d been shocked when I found him outside of the