Chapter 71

KATHERINE.

“Hunter!” I called out, quickly heading to the door he went through and when I got there I found him glancing over his shoulder. A smile swept over his face and as I tried to walk into the room, the man standing next to the door stopped me by holding a hand out in front of me and Hunter came over.

“Ah, she’s with me,” he said and the man nodded as he dropped his hand before Hunter took my hand in his and pulled me into the room. I noticed that his hair was disheveled like he’d constantly run his fingers through it and when we stopped between several paintings on easels, I returned his smile. “Hey.”

“Hey,” I muttered before hugging him; when my mind finally processed what I just did, I stiffened.

‘Wait, why did I–’ That train of thought was immediately cut off when Hunter wrapped his arms around me like it was the most natural thing in the world and I couldn’t help but melt into the hug. He was warm and he smelled sweet and spicy at the same time, with a hint of musk that was both inviting and alluring. It was a scent that made me want to move even closer to him and as I did just that as I repeatedly filled my lungs with it.

“...Are you sniffing me?”

Heat immediately rushed to my face and I pulled away from him as though he’d stung me before clearing my throat. When my gaze slid to his, I found a smile playing on his lips while his eyes twinkled with amusement and I cleared my throat again before glancing around. “How’s it going?”

“The auction hasn’t started yet.”

“I know. How are you preparing?”

He heaved a sigh and threaded his fingers through his hair. ““I’m… Well, I’m preparing. I’ll be staying here though. It’s just the pieces that’ll be going on stage,” he replied before I once again glanced at the paintings around us.

“Are these yours?”

He shook his head and led me to a corner that had more paintings, one of which was the moon goddess painting he’d been working on when Blake and I were in the art studio with him. “These are mine,” he said, gesturing at two of the paintings and I took time to stare at each of them which were so incredibly detailed and beautiful before returning my attention to him and I noticed that he was fidgeting.

“Are you nervous?”

He raised his brows slightly and a moment later, the corner of his mouth turned up. “Just a bit.” He lifted his hand to run his fingers through his hair again and I caught his hand before he could, earning a questioning look from him. I then led him over to a stool close by and made him sit on it before proceeding to make his hair look less messy and dear God, his hair was so soft that I wouldn’t mind running my fingers through it for a long while but that would be weird.

After I was done, I reluctantly moved my hands away from his hair and when I dropped my gaze to his face, the way he was staring at me made my cheeks warm. “Why are you nervous?”

He blinked at me, tipping his head to the side before muttering an ‘oh’ and setting his mouth in a hard line as he glanced at his paintings. “What if no one buys them?”

“Your mom will definitely buy one.” He’d told me his mom was going to be at the art auction the last time I spoke to him in person.

“She’s only here to see if I’ll succeed at this. She doesn’t really like the fact that I’m studying Art.”

“Oh…” My shoulders sagged at that before I patted his shoulder and he gently held my wrist, giving me a small smile.

“It's been quite a while since we talked. How are you?” he asked and what happened in the pool room flashed through my mind before I pressed my lips together.

“Mortified.”

He raised a brow and before I could begin to explain, realization dawned on his face. “The Theo and Lenore thing?” he said, his eyes twinkling with withheld laughter, and I groaned.

“They told you about it?”

He shook his head sideways. “Josie sent it to the group chat.”

My brows shot up. “Group chat?”

“Me, Lenore, Theo, Blake, Pri and her.”

“Oh,” I muttered because I’d thought it was a group chat filled with a lot of people before I groaned again and he grinned at my reaction.

“Hey.” He gave my wrist a gentle squeeze. “On the bright side, you made the chat active again.”

“On the bright side,” I muttered before giving Hunter a blank stare because he still looked like he wanted to laugh. “Laugh if you want to,” I added and he snorted before shaking his head.

“I already did when Josie told us. A lot. Then I laughed some more when Theo came back to our room.”

“You guys are roommates?”

“Yeah. Why did you think that in the first place?”

I sighed. “I don’t know. They constantly hung out together so I just thought…” I trailed off while Hunter raised a brow.

“Does that mean we’re dating?”

I blinked at him. “Huh?”

“We constantly hang out together.”

“Oh…” I pressed my lips together, not knowing exactly how to respond to that since he was clearly teasing me and thankfully, I didn’t need to respond because the next moment, a woman walked into the room and called his name. He glanced over his shoulder before she waved him over and he got to his feet.

“Be right back,” he told me before following her. I sat on the stool, waiting for him to return. A couple of students walked into the room a minute later and began to inspect some of the art pieces so I assumed they were theirs before I glanced at the table next to me. Hunter’s sketchbook was on it and I smiled as I picked it up. The last time he’d given it to me for me to go through was the last time we spoke in person so I wanted to see if he had added any drawings to it.

I slowly flipped through the book, going over the drawings I’d already seen before and I couldn’t help but be a little jealous of how skillful he is. Finally, I got to the last drawing I’d seen before today and when I flipped to the next page, I smiled because a drawing of his little sister was there. He had taken his time to draw it because everything looked precise and I knew he’d drawn it yesterday because the dress in the drawing was the one she’d been wearing then.

‘Cute.’ I flipped to the next page and instantly drew my brows together because unlike the other drawings in the book, this one looked like it had been drawn in a rush. All the lines were wonky and the paper was ripped in some places where the pencil had dragged against it and I couldn't help but wonder if it was actually Hunter that drew this.