What are you thinking? Get your head together.
You know exactly what you are thinking of right now. And exactly as his name is, he is the Hunter. And you are the prey. At every party.
And tonight, the predator had brought his companion. Not a date. Not a friend.
A snake.
She was always with him—draped across his shoulders like a second skin, her body elegant and iridescent in the club lighting. Tonight she wore a delicate gold chain around her midsection like jewelry, as if Hunter had dressed her for the occasion. Her white scales glimmered with opal sheen, and her tongue flicked in the direction of anything that moved too quickly or stared too long.
And Hunter? He treated her like royalty. His hand was always stroking her spine, gentle, reverent.
His hand hovered there even now, sliding across her sleek back with an absent-minded devotion. He whispered to her when no one was looking. She listened.
The fact that you subject yourself to this kind of torture is ridiculous. But it hadn't always been that way. Just the past three company parties. Hunter had started to look at Stacey. In an almost chilling way.
His gaze was cold, consuming. Magnetic. Stacey had never felt so deeply seen.
What? Did he just snap, someday? Waking up one morning and deciding he would suddenly develop a disdain for my existence? Has he lost it? Stacey was suddenly happy they worked separately, since the parties were not often he didn't have to see him again until the next one. He hadn't really noticed a pattern before. But there was definitely something going on.
There was definitely a pattern.
Stacey shifted in his seat, adjusting himself uncomfortably.
Then the sensation again.
Eyes. Watching. Heavy.
He looked—and sure enough, Hunter was staring again. This time, the snake's head had lifted too. Her tongue flicked once in the air, and for a heartbeat, it looked like she was staring at him with Hunter.
He turned away, toward the bar where Kaylen had vanished. But the weight of those eyes was impossible to ignore.
He looked back.
Hunter had stopped pretending. His gaze locked with Stacey's, direct and deliberate. The smirk on his lips was slow, teasing. The kind of look that could melt you or ruin you. Maybe both. He pet the snake and she tightened around his arm almost as if she were happy?
What was that snake to him?
He couldn't look away. The intimacy of it—the shared gaze, the silent understanding—felt unnatural. Hunter looked at her the way other men looked at lovers or how Hunter was… looking at him.
Nah.
He turned away, toward the bar where Kaylen had vanished. But the weight of those eyes was impossible to ignore.
He looked back.
Hunter had stopped pretending. His gaze locked with Stacey's, direct and deliberate. The smirk on his lips was slow, teasing. The kind of look that could melt you or ruin you. Maybe both. He pet the snake and she tightened around his arm almost as if she were happy?
What was that snake to him?
He couldn't look away. The intimacy of it—the shared gaze, the silent understanding—felt unnatural. Hunter looked at her the way other men looked at lovers or how Hunter was… looking at him.
Nah.
But Hunter seemed no longer content to merely observe through the periphery of his vision, Hunter turned his gaze squarely on Stacey once more. There was an intensity in his stare, a magnetic pull that seemed to draw Stacey in despite his efforts to maintain composure.
Stacey found himself caught off guard by the sudden focus of Hunter's gaze. It was as if Hunter could see right through him, stripping away the layers of pretense Stacey liked to wear like a shroud. His smirk, that half-hooded, cocky gaze, held a hint of challenge, a silent invitation to meet his gaze head-on.
Unable to look away, Stacey felt a flush of heat rise to his cheeks as Hunter's gaze lingered, weighing him with an intensity that sent shivers down his spine. It was as if he had been undressed, exposed to the raw scrutiny of Hunter's penetrating stare. Every nerve in his body seemed to hum with awareness, electrified by the charged atmosphere between them.
Hunter's smirk deepened, a knowing glint in his eyes that seemed to say he was well aware of the effect he had on Stacey. It was a subtle power play, a silent assertion of dominance that sent a thrill of excitement coursing through Stacey's veins.
Stacey's eyes flicked down. He couldn't help it.
Hunter's long, thick arms were riddled with muscles that bulged and flexed when he reached out to the side, and Stacey watched every one of them with a growing passion he couldn't justify. It was almost like Hunter knew it, and without breaking eye contact, he reached out and pulled someone to him. The girl yelped.
Stacey didn't even get a chance to breathe, and neither did the poor person before Hunter's lips had fallen onto their own wet ones. Stacey watched as Hunter dug into them fiercely, as hungry and demanding as his name depicted.
'Why are you looking at me when you are kissing them?' Stacey wondered, staring in morbid fascination as Hunter's lips pressed against someone else's.
'They look plump, strong. Why do I feel like they would be relentless in their pursuit?' Stacey shivered.
Stacey turned away, breaking their game of chicken.
His stomach jumped forward, and his thighs tightened as the normal feeling of excitement buzzed through his entire body.
'What is wrong with me? Why did watching him make out with someone in front of me clearly just turn me on?' Stacey stopped and thought about that for a minute. Before ruffling his hair and shaking his head with a sigh.
'Seriously, what is wrong with me?' He thought. and he got up and walked to the bar to be with Kaylen. Kaylen was busy chatting up a girl and ignored his entire existence.The voice caught him off guard. That deep, sultry baritone—thicker than the music, warmer than the lights. Stacey's ears twitched in response, like a happy puppy waiting for the sound of its owner and losing its cool the moment they picked up even the tiniest trace of them.
It sounded close.
Too close.
Stacey turned and nearly jumped out of his skin.
Hunter was standing right in front of him. The snake was still coiled around his shoulders, but now her head peeked out from beneath the lapel of his jacket, curious. Watchful.
Stacey blinked. "Excuse me?"
"You stopped watching."
Stacey blinked up at Hunter, confused. Hunter leaned forward, his suit jacket dangling around Stacey like a big hug, the snakes face coming so close that when it flicked it's tongue out the wet little warmth landed on his cheek.
"Uhm, yeah, that's what all normal people would do when they observe something intimate. They look away."
"Don't"
"What?" Stacey asked, confused, but feeling uncomfortable at how much of a presence Hunter exuded just by being close to him.
"Don't look away."