A Little White Lie

Hunter

I felt my jaw drop. “What the fuck?”

Every head turned to me at once, but I couldn't give a rat's ass.

“That’s bullshit!” I snapped, suddenly forgetting all about my embarrassment. “I was in their locker room where they all fucking attacked me.”

The bald principal lifted a hand. “Settle down, Hunter, and mind the language.”

Fuck that. 

“No. Call the coach. He introduced us.” I spat, glaring at the dickhead. But he didn’t even say anything. He just sat there with that same unreadable expression, and honest to god, it just pissed me off now.

Principal Lawson finally and reluctantly picked up the phone.

A few minutes later, Coach Morrison walked in with several guys on the team.

My heart slammed hard against my ribcage as they trailed in, and I could feel my haunches going up in defense. 

But as the principal questioned them, they all denied it one after another. Nobody had touched me. Nobody had even seen me.

Their Coach was somehow the worst of them.

“I’ve been waiting for Hunter to show up since this morning,” he told the principal. “But when he never showed up, I assumed he’d changed his mind about joining the Winter Wolves. I understood it was difficult for him, seeing as his old team technically used to be our rival, so he may be conflicted.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. These people were lying—all of them. I looked toward my mother, searching for some sanity, but the expression on her face had…changed.

She didn’t seem angry anymore. She slowly withdrew her hands from mine, sitting up straighter in the chair. 

I felt the ground shift beneath me.

I could suddenly hear what both my mom and the principal were thinking.

Somehow in the space of a few minutes, I’d gone from the victim to the troublemaking rich kid who had apparently invented an entire assault because he didn’t like his new school.

Bitterness flooded my chest, and my knuckles bleached white where they wrapped around the arms of my chair.

“Fine,” I muttered, and the room went silent. “I lied.”

Mom’s eyes snapped to my face, and they filled with hurt. 

Ignoring the spasm in my chest, I rubbed the back of my neck and forced out a nervous laugh. “The guys didn’t do it. I just…I didn’t want Mom to know I skipped school.”

It was a terrible lie, but apparently, believable enough.

The principal accepted my confession, and the case was dismissed soon after.

As the guys filed out, they all gave me glances that ranged from murderous to mocking.

Tristan was the last to leave, and he didn’t even look at me once.

By the time Mom finished apologizing to the principal on my behalf, I was too tired to care.

We walked toward the parking lot in silence. Silence. My mom never did silence. She was either complaining about how ugly and embarrassing my new school was, or how she missed getting her weekly spa treatments and massages.

I clenched my fists, matching my pace with hers.

When we finally reached her car, her footsteps faltered, and she turned to face me. 

As we stood in silence, with the murmuring of the school behind us, she kept staring at me. For a brief moment, I thought about complimenting her. Compliments were the best distraction for Valentina Beaumont. 

Besides, she looked really beautiful, despite everything, and I could tell she put a lot into her appearance before coming over to my school. 

I mean, she was wearing the last expensive blazers and pants she refused to give up.

“Hunter.” She broke the silence before I could.

Fuck. Mom never called me Hunter. If she did, then she was really hurting because of me. My teeth ground together.

As she reached up and gently cupped my face, her thumb carefully brushed beneath my swollen eye. “Were you telling the truth in there?”

I knew exactly what she was asking, and while I desperately wished to tell her the truth, it was pointless.

Valentina would withdraw me from Raven Hill if she knew what was really happening. 

I couldn’t wait an extra year or fucking two, pending when my family got their shit together. I might not be in Fontein High anymore, but I created a reputation for myself.

I was Hunter fucking Beaumont. The best forward Ice Reapers ever had. My tapes were phenomenal, and Hockey colleges were looking at me.

No matter what shitty fucking team I was on, all I needed to do was shine, graduate, and viola, I get my full-ride scholarship, and Dad wouldn’t be able to stop me from playing pro hockey anymore.

I refused to let anyone ruin that for me. I’d worked so hard for this. I refused it.

“Yeah, Mom.” I forced out. “I wasn’t lying.”

Tears blanketed her usually bright eyes, now making them sparkle in the sun.

The sight caught me so off guard that I didn’t know what to say.

She’d cried plenty over these past weeks, but these tears were different. There was no anger in them, or dramatic outrage over losing her lavish lifestyle.

She just looked scared.

“Then where did you go?” she asked me, her voice breaking. “Where did you go that you got beaten up so badly?”

I didn’t have an answer for that, so I stayed silent, averting my gaze.

“So this is how it’s going to be now?” She cried out, tears spilling down her cheeks. “Because you had to give up your private school?”

Oh god. I shook my head. “Mom. no. I swear...”

“You’re angry, Hunter.” She cut me off, waving her hand between us. “You’re mad at your dad and me and I get it. But if this is your way of lashing out because your life changed, then I hear you loud and clear.”

I tried to speak, but she shook her head, holding a finger up. “Let me finish. You need to understand something too, Hunter.” Her voice softened for a moment, even as the tears kept falling. “You aren’t the only person affected by everything that’s happening.”

She sucked in a shaky breath. “It isn’t my fault you had to come to this…this shithole. I didn’t choose this for you, Hunter. You know I’d rather die. But it was you who insisted.”

“I know.”

“Then these cheap tantrums aren’t going to take you anywhere.” She stared at me for a long moment, disappointment flashing in her eyes. “Grow up.”

That said, she got into her car and drove away.

Feeling like the worst son in the world, I turned around and headed back towards the school.

I’d left my bag and the rest of my things on the locker room floor, so I’d just head there first.

I was almost back at the building when I spotted Reeves and his sheriff father standing further down the lot.

Maybe the man could tell his psycho son was lying and was grilling him. From the tension in his shoulders, that was probably the case.

Well, good for him. I hope the asshole gets struck on the head with that gun I'd seen in his father's holster.

As the thought crossed my mind, though, I snorted because there was no way that would happen.

No father would hit his own son with a gun...even if he's a cop.

Still, I really hoped he got beat up too or something.

I would’ve kept walking if the man hadn’t suddenly reached for him.

Reeves flinched away…hard.

One would think the man was about to punch him in the face with how Reeves nearly hit the wall. But he only pulled him into a hug.

The most awkward hug I’d ever seen because Reeves arms hung stiffly at his sides and the look on his face was…odd.

Suddenly Reeves’ eyes lifted and locked onto mine from across the lot.

Shit.