Hunter (The Bang Shift Book 2)

  Copyright © 2020 by Mandy Harbin

  HUNTER

  ISBN: 978-1-941467-13-8

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Edited by Brieanna Robertson

  Cover Art by Najla Qamber

  This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any existing means without written permission from Mandy Harbin, M.W. Muse, Penning Princess Publishing, or Mandolin Park, LLC.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. The characters are products of the author's imagination and used fictitiously.

  For more information, please join Mandy Harbin’s Newsletter!

  To Kelli Reep with Flywrite Communications. Thank you so much for all your hard work getting the word out about The Bang Shift Series and for all the time and effort you put in the Diamond State Romance Authors. Now that you’re an official part of the group, we’re never letting you go. And it has nothing to do with your dues buying our donuts. Not completely.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Epilogue

  Also by Mandy Harbin

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  “Can’t believe you dragged me out here,” Maya Carmichael muttered as she tugged on her too-short dress.

  Heather slapped her hand away from the lacy hem, almost spilling her precariously handled drink in the process. “Stop. You look hot.”

  “Watch it,” Maya said at the same time, dodging away from the amber liquid spilling from Heather’s glass.

  “Oops.” Heather giggled as she righted her beverage. She sipped her new cocktail and waved her other hand toward the crowd. “This is what college students do. They party. Get with the program, girl.”

  Maya glanced around the room, feeling too exposed in the crowd. No one was paying them any attention, but still, she felt eyes on her. She always did.

  For the last six months anyway.

  “Chill out. If you don’t quit glaring at everybody, no guy is going to come near us,” Heather said, narrowing her gaze. She almost sounded sober.

  Maya knew better. They’d been here three hours already and she’d lost count of how many drinks her roommate and best friend had devoured. Besides, men flocked to her, regardless of any expression Maya was sporting. Hell, her friend could be covered in garbage and dudes would just flick the maggots away to get closer.

  Okay, that was a gross image.

  “Easy for you to say. You don’t have a crazy ex stalking you.” And that was the crux of the matter. Maya wondered if she’d ever feel at ease again. She’d been so naive coming out here, thinking her parents cruel for being so overprotective. Now she missed the days of being excited about new experiences. Before she experienced Jake.

  “Jake isn’t stalking you.” Heather rolled her eyes. “And I told you he was creepy. Didn’t I tell you he was freakin’ weird?”

  “Yes,” she said dryly. “You told me.” Not that it had done any good. Maya had lived a sheltered life, and Jake was the quintessential bad boy she’d always wanted. He was tall, built, and inked. He rode a motorcycle, which ticked one of her extra-special bad-boy boxes, and lived by his own rules. She’d been drawn to him the second she’d laid eyes on his tight backside in leathers. But he’d been nothing like the bad boy of her fantasies. He’d been pushy at best and an outright jerk at worst. She’d been stupid enough to think the attitude came with the overall package, even felt protected when he was being possessive, cherished when he was demanding. Now, she understood him for what he was: a Grade-A asshole. He’d shown her that real bad boys were nothing like the fantasy.

  They were to be avoided.

  Now, if she could only find a way to get away from that particular one, she could move on with her life, forget about bad boys, even boys in general, and focus on school. Yeah, that was exactly what she needed to do.

  Unfortunately, she couldn’t get her roommate on the same page.

  Maya took a sip of the same drink she’d been nursing since they arrived, wondering how to make the chick standing next to her understand just what she was going through.

  “Sorry,” Heather said. “Bad topic. Let’s change it to something good. Like men who aren’t total douche bags.” She wagged her eyebrows, and Maya couldn’t help but laugh. Heather knew how to be a goofball when there was a need for a little comic relief, but it still wouldn’t sway Maya’s decision and new focus in life. School. Studies.

  “No men. I’m done with them,” she said with a swipe of her hand, emphasizing the finality of her decision.

  A horrified look crossed Heather’s face. Maya barked out a laugh at the expression, which she quickly stifled since she needed her friend to take her seriously. “I mean it,” she said, fighting a smile since Heather still stared at her like she’d grown four eyeballs in the middle of her face.

  “You’re barely twenty-one.”

  “I’m twenty-two.”

  “And you are too young to swear off men,” she said, without acknowledging the age correction.

  “Okay, not forever,” she admitted. Maya had no problem being a little more realistic. “But, for now, there’s nothing wrong with…you know…redirecting my focus.” She shrugged.

  Heather curled her lip before downing the rest of her drink. “You need to get laid.”

  “It’s like you’re not even listening to me,” she said, exasperated.

  “Oh, I’m listening. I’m just choosing to fix this instead.”

  “I don’t need fixing.”

  “I didn’t say you. I said this. Big diff.”

  There wasn’t any difference, but Maya was too exhausted to point that out. She’d already been there past any point that girl code required she be there for her friend. “I’m gonna go.”

  She would try having this conversation again when it wasn’t a Friday night and her friend wasn’t busy getting trashed. It was a talk better suited to Starbucks, not Starlight.

  “No,” Heather said, her face falling. “Stay. Just for one more hour.”

  “Why? I’m not having fun.”

  “Because you’re not letting yourself.”

  Maya sighed as she stared at the liquid sitting in her only drink of the night.

  “Heather—”

  “Two hours. That’s all I ask. We’ll dance and drink—”

  “You said one hour.”

  “One’s not enough.”

  “It’ll be one o’clock by then.” Just thinking about that made her fight a yawn. She downed the last of her drink and dropped the empty glass to the table. She knew a tiny part of the problem was she was the only one not getting wasted here. But only a super tiny part.

  Heather huffed, dropping her shoulders and looking around the bar before facing Maya again. “Two hours, and if you aren’t having fun by then, I won’t ask you to come out with me for a month.”

  Maya quirked her eyebrow. Maybe this was something she could work with? Heather loved the nightlife and constantly tried dragging Maya out with her. Since things had gone to crap with Jake, Heather’s attempts bordered on the obsessive. Maya could use a break from coming up with excuses to bail…or not go out in the first place. At least then her roommate couldn�
��t plead something like “girls-night” in the name of clubbing. Maya could get the distance she needed from men without having to answer a bunch of questions. “Seriously?”

  “Cross my heart.” Heather smiled.

  “Oh, no. I mean it. No dragging me out, no begging me to come with you, no whining when you go out without me, and no talking about possible dates. One month.”

  Heather frowned. “You’re taking the fun out of tonight.”

  “I am not. I’m hashing out the details. I’ll stay for two more hours. Drink. Dance. Whatever. But starting tomorrow, you will let me focus on what I want, which could be anything that does not involve the opposite sex.”

  With her hand now on her hip, Heather said, “Fine, but instead of two hours, we stay for three. We’ve wasted too much time talking to each other and not flirting with guys.”

  It was all past her bedtime anyway, and she figured this was the best deal she was going to get. “Fine.”

  “Yay!” Heather clapped and grabbed Maya’s arm. “Let’s get another drink.”

  And she did.

  They danced, drank, and even flirted with men. Maya didn’t want to be there, but she complied, making sure Heather wouldn’t find fault and renege on their agreement.

  By a couple of hours after midnight, Maya had even danced with two different guys—at Heather’s insistence, but it still counted. One had been a little too grabby for Maya’s liking, but the other one was sweet. Maybe if she weren’t temporarily damaged, she could’ve given out her number to the psych major with blond hair…or at least been a little flirtier. But she knew she wasn’t ready for that. What she was ready for was to go back to their dorm and call it a night.

  “My feet are killing me.” But she had to admit, once she let loose, she did have fun.

  “You need to build some calluses on them.”

  Maya rolled her eyes and dug out her wallet to pay her tab.

  “Fine. I know that look. Let me say goodbye to Brad and slip him my digits.” She winked.

  Maya chuckled as Heather bounded toward the guy she’d been dancing with. She tried not to laugh at his flirty pout as he got the news of Heather’s impending departure.

  “There you are,” a familiar voice said from beside her. At least this one was charming.

  “Psych major,” she said, turning toward the last man she’d danced with, and smiled.

  “It’s Mike.”

  “Psych Mike does have a nice ring to it.” She giggled.

  He playfully groaned. “No. Just, no.” She laughed harder. It was the alcohol helping her loosen up, but it wouldn’t change things. Tomorrow, when she was sober and aware of Jake again, she’d revert into her shell.

  Jake. She shivered. Just the thought of him had her skin crawling. She glanced around the room, feeling the hairs on her arm rise. A common reaction whenever she thought about him.

  “What’s wrong?” Mike asked.

  “Oh, nothing.” She swallowed as she looked at him again. “Heather and I were just leaving.” She quickly rummaged in her wallet, but he stilled her, slipping his hand over hers.

  “I took care of it already.”

  “Huh?” She looked up.

  “Your tab. Brad and I took care of it.”

  “Oh, um, thanks.” Yeah, she knew that was a rookie response, but she felt rusty on the whole bar-night-thing. Damn Jake and his obsessiveness. She didn’t even know how to act normal around men anymore.

  “You ready?” Heather asked as she walked up beside her, locking their arms together.

  Maya nodded.

  “Hope to see you here again next week,” Mike said as Maya was being turned from him. She was glad Heather didn’t give her a chance to reply.

  “He’s cute,” Heather whispered, as much as one could in a room filled with loud music, as they made their way to the door.

  “Yeah.” Didn’t matter. She still felt off. Hopefully, the break she was giving herself would help reset her man-clock and she could put all that Jake business behind her once and for all.

  Since the club wouldn’t be closing for another hour, the parking lot was still filled with cars. It had almost been filled to capacity when the two of them got there, so they’d had to park in the back. Thankfully, it was fully lit and they’d found a spot near a streetlight. Yes, she’d had a sheltered life growing up, but she wasn’t completely stupid.

  “Jeez, it’s gotten cold,” Heather said when they were halfway to Maya’s car. Hers was the newer of the two, so they’d always taken it when hitting the town. And by newer, Maya meant not a piece of shit. Heather’s car was beat up and usually got stuck in third gear. There was a trick to it, but Maya didn’t like the uncertainty. She kept telling her friend one day it’d finally crap out, but Heather insisted her brother would be able to get it running again if that ever happened.

  “It’s fifty degrees. Hardly freezing.”

  “I know. Just wasn’t this cold when we—oh my god.”

  They both froze, and not because of the chill. They stood still, gaping at Maya’s car.

  Her mangled, beat-the-hell-up car.

  Dents over every inch.

  All the windows busted out.

  Jesus, there was glass everywhere.

  Even the word “Whore” was spray-painted across the crunched hood.

  “My car,” she breathed, stumbling closer to it. What the hell happened to her car?

  “Is that…? Eww…” Heather leaned away from the hood, but Maya bent down to get a closer look.

  “A condom. Really?” And not just any condom. A used one. “What the hell?”

  Maya’s car was destroyed. Totaled.

  “Who would do—”

  Ice ran through Maya at the first name that popped into her head.

  “It could’ve been anybody,” Heather said quickly, shaking her head and obviously reading Maya’s thoughts.

  “He’s the only one with a grudge,” Maya said, backing away instinctively.

  “Even Jake isn’t this big of a dipshit.”

  Maya blinked, feeling her eyes getting wet, and stared at her friend. “That’s just it. I think he is,” she said, her voice getting smaller.

  She looked at her car again and wanted to bawl. What was she supposed to do now?

  Heather rubbed her head and looked around the car while Maya’s head swam. “What’s this?” Heather asked as she leaned into the broken window.

  “Don’t.” Maya leapt toward her and pulled her away. “Don’t get too close to it. In fact, we…we should go back inside. Call the police.”

  “That wasn’t in there before.” Heather said, pointing toward the spot Maya had pulled her from.

  Maya shook her head.

  “I’m serious,” Heather said, pulling free of Maya’s desperate grip.

  She looked closer without moving to see what her friend was talking about. There was a piece of paper on the seat. A sudden surge of adrenaline rushed through her.

  “It looks like a note.”

  Yes, it did.

  As if she was moving without conscious effort, Maya reached in to get it.

  And read it.

  “No,” she breathed, crumpling it in her hands.

  “What?” Heather asked, grabbing her arms and forcing her to focus.

  “Jake,” she breathed. “I think…I think he’s much worse than I thought.”

  “Um, no really?” Heather asked sarcastically. “Look at your car.”

  Oh, god, this was bad. This was very, very bad. She had to get out of here. What if he was still around, watching, waiting? “I gotta go.” She turned to leave.

  “Where?” Heather asked, grabbing Maya’s arm.

  “I don’t know, but I can’t stay at the dorm. Neither can you. He knows our room number. We have to…have to stay somewhere else until he’s arrested. You have any family around here?” Her thoughts were racing as she tried to come up with a plan.

  Heather shook her head frantically. “You know I don’t. I�
��m from Arkansas. All I have left is my brother, and he’s back home, six hours away.”

  “Mine is in North Carolina, but I can’t go back home with this. You know how big of a fight I had to put up to get my parents to agree to an out-of-state school.” She bit her lip and looked around. Her choices were extremely limited. “I’ll just have to report this and see if we can be assigned another dorm.” Yeah, that would work. Her parents wouldn’t have to know.

  Before she changed her mind, Maya called 9-1-1 and reported the damage to her car. It didn’t take long for the operator to take down the information and ensure her a police unit had been dispatched. When she ended the call, she saw Heather tapping on her own phone beside a nearby tree.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Calling my brother.”

  “What?” Maya screeched, grabbing the phone. “It’s after midnight.” Heather rarely talked about her brother, Hunter, but when she did, she never failed to mention how much of a hard ass he was.

  “It makes the most sense. We can’t afford to stay at a hotel until this blows over. I’m not asking my brother for the money, and we can’t use your parents’ emergency credit card. Too many questions and too easy to get caught up in lies.” Wow, Maya hadn’t even thought that far ahead yet.

  “We can’t be out of school more than a few days. We’ll get behind,” she warned.

  “I know. It’s a long drive, yes, but one we can make again the minute that asswipe gets locked up. We’d be back in class the next day.”

  Maya groaned, knowing she didn’t have much of a choice. It was either that or stick around here where she didn’t feel safe. At. All. “Fine. Just wait until tomorrow to call him, though. We still have to talk to the cops, and there’s no telling how long that’ll take. Neither of us is in for a drive like that tonight anyway.” Although they’d stopped drinking a while ago, they’d been dancing the night away. They’d be too exhausted making that trip right now. Besides, maybe by tomorrow, Maya could think of a better idea. She’d never met Hunter, but what she did know about him did not give her any feelings of reassurance.