18 ✓

SIXTEEN

HUNTER

"Thank you, gentlemen. I'll see you tomorrow," I said, exiting the office.

Closing the door behind me, I let out a deep breath. This was big. Very big. If everything went according to plan, which I had a good feeling it would, everything would change. Forming a partnership with VEX Productions, one of the biggest nightclub entertainment companies in the country, would expand my business further than I could ever imagine. And could possibly be the one thing to force me to leave Los Angeles and everything behind with it.

Relocating my life was a lot to think about. But what else was left here to convince me to stay?

I walked towards the front exit, stopping when I noticed a familiar face sitting at the end of the bar. The bright flow of happiness that I used to see around her was significantly dimmed. Her elbow was propped up on the wood, letting her head rest in her hand. Her eyes sadly looked at the glass in front of her. If it wasn't so easy for me to spot her, she would've looked like any other sad person, drinking alone on a Sunday night.

The last time the two of us were alone, things didn't end the way I had intended. It was stupid to ask her to kiss me. I just needed to see if that look was still there because I had a feeling it was. She was just too scared to let me see it.

Everything went downhill from there. She thought I loved the game more than her. I didn't. There was nothing in this world that I loved more than her. But, I knew her and I wouldn't work. Dylan was supposed to be with someone like Charlie. I hated how I described her to him. A clingy one-time fuck. If anything, I was the one clinging to us. I thought convincing Charlie of that would push them together and force her out of my reach.

However, Dylan was not someone who was easy for me to let go of. Because I never wanted to let go of her in the first place.

I hesitated over what to do. I could either do the right thing by leaving her alone and walking out of the bar. Or the wrong thing by approaching her and ignoring her clear desire for me to stay away. Something about the way she currently was, drowning her apparent sorrows, made me think that she shouldn't be alone.

She was dressed differently than I had ever seen her before. Normally, without even trying, she was put together. But now she looked dishevelled, compared to her usual standards. She dressed in a pair of jeans, with a large oversized sweater. Her hair was in a low, messy bun, with strands of hair falling in front of her face. And her eyes appeared swollen, almost as if she had just been... crying.

"Dylan?" I asked, leaning against the bar, "Are you okay?"

Her eyes peered up from her glass with an evident look of distaste as she caught sight of me. "Do you have a tracker on me or something?"

I did my best to hold back a grin hearing her snarky comment. "No, I don't. Pure coincidence, I promise." This was the first time in a while that I meant that promise.

Dylan scoffed under her breath, tapping her fingers against the glass.

"Can I sit?" I asked, motioning to the empty chair.

"If I say no, you'll just sit there anyway," she mumbled against the brim of her glass before taking a sip of her drink.

I sat down, making sure my chair was at least an arm's length away from hers. "Are you okay?" I repeated.

"Why do you keep asking that?"

"Because this drinking-alone-at-a-bar thing doesn't seem like your way of spending your night."