Page 20 of Hunted

I bolted out into the deserted hallway, wondering what he’d been about to say, and why it somehow mattered so much to me now when he hadn’t meant a damn thing to me at all this morning.

None of them had. And yet now, all three had either saved my ass or complimented it—and I had no idea what to do about any of it.

Fleur would know. Actually, Fleur would probably just tell me to sleep with all three—preferably at once—then get on with my day.

I snorted at the thought as I made my way across the grounds to the dining hall for dinner.

While it was an incredibly unwise idea logistically and professionally, I couldn’t deny that it set my nerves aflame—all ten thousand of them in that one very precise spot between my legs.

Fucking hell, Adelaide. Pull yourself together. That’s what your fingers are for.

Although, the idea of getting myself off was increasingly less appealing. Maybe I’d take Eth up on his offer after all.

Just to get it out of my system.

Just to get them out of my system.

[ 6 ]

ADDIE

JAMIE DUFFY – RESONANCE

“And then she goes ‘unusual latency,’ like it was the most obvious answer in the world,” Fleur drawled, her accent sticking on the th sounds. She ducked, giggling, when I threw a chip at her face in retaliation.

Ethan rolled his eyes. “I was there, you know,” he grumbled, stabbing the chicken-something a little more forcefully than the poor, delicious beast deserved.

“Oh, I hadn’t noticed,” she teased around a mouthful of food. “Since you blinked out fifteen minutes in.”

“It was an unaccomplishable task,” Eth griped, looking to me for reinforcement.

I just shrugged and plopped another chip in my mouth. “I accomplished it.”

His expression darkened. “Yes, but you’re scary-smart at that stuff.” He absentmindedly moved food around the plate with his fork, then froze as something occurred to him. “Remind me never to let you near my phone.”

I scoffed at the same time as Fleur snorted.

“You don’t have a phone.”

“Well, when we graduate and are finally allowed to connect with the outside world again,” he replied, stabbing again. “I’ll have a phone. And you”—he punctuated the word by pointing at me with a forkful of chicken—“aren’t allowed near mine. God knows what you’d do to it.”

“Set your profile picture to a dick pic you inevitably send to some poor girl,” Fleur offered, giggling.

“Nah, set his ringtone to a sex moan probably,” I said with a casual shrug.

Fleur’s grin shifted from amused to lethal in half a second. “Add a secret location tracker so we can drop in on him when he least expects it.”

I grinned, shoved the last chip into my mouth, and brushed the salt off my fingertips. “You’re a fool if you think they’ll ever let you have social media again, though,” I said, watching as Fleur’s fork snuck ever-closer to Ethan’s plate.

He pouted in the most stereotypically cartoonish way, food completely forgotten. “I just miss fart compilation videos.” The wistfulness in his tone was almost funnier than Fleur’s sleight of hand.

“Of course you do.” I laughed—which escalated into a full-blown cackle when her fork retreated across the table, withdrawing with the goods secured.

Ethan, oblivious to the culinary larceny, rocked back on the bench seat. “What? They’re hilarious!”

I said nothing, just tried to rein in the snickers lest I blow Fleur’s cover as she made another snatch-and-grab.

“I saw that, blondie,” he said.