Chapter six

Hunter

By the time my alarm rang the next morning, my eyes felt raw from staring into the dark all night long. I hadn't gotten a wink of sleep, and it was all because of damn Travis.

I knew he would be a problem when mum first told me she was getting married to Mr. Moore. I had already known about Travis by then, but it was only after mention of the wedding I had done a deep dive into him.

Safe to say I had been less than impressed.

As I said, I knew he'd be trouble, but not even in my wildest dreams would I have imagined what kind of trouble he would be. I brushed my fingers lightly over my lip, still feeling the burn of his mouth against mine.

Groaning, I climbed out of bed.

Something drew me over to the window and I slowly pushed the curtains open...and nearly swallowed my tongue.

A shirtless Travis was headed out of the outbuilding that housed the mansions gym. Sweat slipped down his muscular chest and ran down his abs down to the gym shorts that sat too low on his hips and left almost nothing to the imagination.

Holy Christmas.

Snapping the curtains shut, I shook my head to dispel the image of my sweaty step brother.

I needed an icy cold shower and maybe a new hobby that didn't include aggravating Travis. In fact, staying far away from him might be the better option. I had no illusions that we would be best buddies and fit right in as the brother he always wanted.

Mind made up, I headed to the bathroom and turned the water as cold as it could go.

Of course, all my perfectly laid plans went flying into the wind two hours later as I sat across from Travis at breakfast.

"Since when did we start having breakfast together?" He gritted out.

"Since Helena said so." Mr. Moore picked up his cup of coffee without sparing his son a glance.

I had long since decided that I didn't like the man, and I had a feeling Travis shared my feelings. The question was why? Michael Moore had clearly given his son every benefit in life.

"Oh yes." Mum clasped her hands together, eyes shining with delight. "I always liked the idea of coming together to have meals together as a family. It helps to foster family bonds."

Travis scoffed, but didn't say anything else.

"You don't think it fosters family bonds?" I drawled, while stabbing pieces of bacon with my fork.

He shot me a look I couldn't interpret, but remained silent. A challenge then? I had always liked challenges.

"You look tired. Rough night?" I prodded.

"Excuse me?" His voice was icy.

I shrugged. "Well, you didn't come home last night. Must have been one hell of a party last night."

"I didn't know I had a curfew." He snorted. "And how do you know I didn't come home last night? Don't tell me you waited up for me."

He really didn't know me at all if he thought that would make me back down. "I did. You know me, I take family really serious."

"We're not family." He snarled, eyes hardening.

I pretended to look hurt for a second, before letting realisation brighten my face. "It makes sense now."

"What does?" This time it was my mother that spoke up, her gaze pinging between me and Travis. "What makes sense now?"

"Yesterday." I nodded sagely. "It would have been weird if you saw me as your brother after you_"

Travis suddenly shot to his feet, his cutlery clattering to the floor. "What the hell is your problem?"

"Travis, sit down." Mr. Moore growled. "Breakfast isn't over."

"I lost my appetite. You three should bond without me." Spinning on his heels, he marched out of the room without sparing me another glance.

Hiding my smirk, I went after him, catching his arm before he could go up the stairs. He spun around and tore out of my hold in a lightning quick move.

"Don't touch me." He growled.

I raised my hands in surrender. "I can't even touch you? That's mean considering the fact that I let you kiss me last night."

All the blood drained from his face, and his eyes went wide. "I di- I didn't kiss you."

"Really?" I chuckled. "Because I swear I remember the feel of your mouth against_"

"Shut the fuck up!" He slapped his hand over my mouth and pushed me up against the wall, eyes narrowed in loathing and a good amount of panic. "I don't know what happened yesterday. I can't remember any of it, okay? I was drunk. It was a mistake. I didn't fucking kiss you.

I pushed his hand off my mouth. "Which one is it, Travis?"

"What?"

"Make up your mind. If you were drunk and can't remember, then how do you know you didn't kiss me? So which one is it? Were you drunk or was it a mistake?"

His eyes searched mine for a moment before he stepped away from me. "You think this is a game?"

"I didn't say it was." I pointed out.

"No, your attitude tells me everything I need to know. You think all of this is so amusing, because you have no stakes here. Hockey, my life, it's all one big joke to you."

My fingers tightened into fists at my sides. "You don't know anything about me, so don't assume shit."

He scoffed. "You don't know anything about me either."

"I know that you kissed me. All I want to know, is why. No offence, bro, but you're not my type." I taunted. "So I need to know if I should be careful around you."

Rage flamed in his eyes and his jaw clenched. He took a threatening step forward, but he must have thought better about it, because a second later, he spun around to leave.

My hands moved before I could stop them, grabbing his wrist. "Wait a mi_"

And that's when I felt it. Several raised bumps on the inside of his wrist. Without thinking, I turned his hand over and glanced down at the faded bruises in shock.

"What the hell happened to you?"

Shame, rage and terror moved through his gaze, but then a wall of steel fell over his face, blocking out every emotion till his face looked carved from granite. He pulled away from my hold.

"Stay the fuck away from me."

For the first time since meeting Travis Moore, I wasn’t thinking about hockey. I wasn’t thinking about how much I wanted to get under his skin.

I wasn’t even thinking about that damn kiss.

All I could think about were those bruises, and the look of pure terror that flashed across his face before he buried it.

Because whatever Travis Moore was hiding…

It was a hell of a lot bigger than me.