Hunt Me Down {boyxboy} ✓

Chapter 6

A/N: Would you be interested in Hunter’s POV?

Oh, and a quick note about your notifications: If they say I updated twice today – yes, I did. Once The Help Book and once Hunt me Down.

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Nathaniel’s POV

A little crowd had gathered around him. Or was it just my imagination?

I paid more attention to him than to them so maybe that altered my point of view; maybe they weren’t gathered around him, maybe they just stood next to him.

I wondered how many of them – if any – knew about him being gay. I couldn’t imagine all of them being cool with that. They seemed like a rowdy, violent bunch, even the girls. I’d seen two of them slapping one another and pulling each other’s hair at the parking lot this morning. Yet the very same girls were now casually leaning on each other and laughing at something one of the boys had said. Whatever they’d argued about earlier, it seemed they were over it now at lunchtime. One of them – that with the Mohawk haircut who stood next to Hunter – turned her head to the side and saw me staring. She grinned before blowing me a kiss and I looked away, planting my eyes on food, my pizza not even nibbled on.

“Got caught staring?” Irene teased, lightly jabbing me with her elbow. “I didn’t think she’d be your type.”

“I wasn’t…” I started to protest but changed my mind mid-sentence. I didn’t want to admit it was Hunter Harris I’d been looking at ever since we’d entered the cafeteria.

“You were,” she insisted, biting into her homemade lunch.

I strained my mind, thinking of a way to change the subject without it appearing I was trying too hard. Vallery seemed to realize I was in a jam, because she said loudly:

“This pizza sucks. I want to try that ninety-nine cheeses one they mentioned in TMNT.”

“And you’ll probably die from all that cheese and grease after the first few bites,” I went on with the distraction she’d so gracefully provided.

“But I’ll die happy,” she noted with a wishful grin, swiftly washed away by Matthew’s input:

“Gluttony is a sin, Vallery.”

“So is ripping out your arm and slapping you across the face with it but if I go to court for that and the judge knows you, I’ll no doubt get acquitted.”

To the boy’s credit, he only startled for a moment. He then adopted a determined expression, his features hardening and his back straightening.

“One often makes such sneering comments when they feel insecure,” he started a speech that looked well-rehearsed. “If that is your reason for acting this way, I can help you get over your insecurities.” Vallery’s eyes closed and her hands darted up so she could rub her temples. I saw her lips move in a pattern as she chanted “don’t hit him, don’t hit him”.

“If you’d only come with me to church this Sunday, Vallery…”

“Church?” Her hands froze before she stood up. “I’m outta here.”

I got up as well but she shook her head so I sat back down. I watched as my sister walked towards the cafeteria door, nodding to Hunter on her way out who replied with the same gesture of acknowledgement, garnished with a little smile.

Why was he so friendly to my twin?

And more importantly – why was she to him?

Four days ago, she’d offered we switched rooms and I had to convince her not to fight or threaten that boy and today she’d greeted him twice – once when we were leaving for school and now. What was I missing?