He felt better to be out of that hospital. The longer he was in there the worse he felt, even after Chad had healed him. Chad…The name made hunter mad. The entire cab ride back to Arabella’s apartment was painful for Hunter. He was still bothered by how much he owed her. As they arrived at her building he looked over and saw a man he recognized. His name was Matthew and he was one of the first people Hunter had met when he became homeless. Matthew had given Hunter a drumstick from a KFC bucket of chicken. It was his first week of being homeless and Hunter had no idea what he was doing. Seeing Matthew again made him feel even worse. Hunter felt like he was stealing. Stealing something that he didn’t deserve.
‘I’ll just leave at the first chance I get. She’s not going to let me help her do something, so I’ll just leave before I rack up a bigger debt. Yeah, we’ll be even. All the times that he had saved her life or taught her how to fight or saved Brian’s life. Brian…What had happened to him? Were they still together? He didn’t want to get in the way of that. I need to just leave.’ He thought to himself during the elevator ride up to her apartment. He slowly walked into her apartment and watched as she disappeared into the hallways. ‘This is my chance.’ He said as he turned around and crept toward the door. Placing his hand on the knob, he hesitated before turning it quietly.
“Are you going to tell me what happened to you?” Hunter heard her say before turning to see her emerge from the hallways. Her brow furrowed. “Where do you think you’re going?” She said walking toward him.
“I was uh…I nee-“ He started before Arabella stepped between him and the door.
“You weren’t going to just leave, were you? Without saying goodbye?” She said looking up at him. Hunter studied the ground.
“Goodbye, Arabella.” Hunter said quietly as he turned the knob and started to pull it open. Arabella threw her back into it, closing it again. “I don’t want to get in Brian’s way.” He said a little bit more bluntly than he wanted to.
“Brian and I aren’t together anymore.” She said quietly with a pensive look on her face. She shook her head and looked at him. “Why don’t you come and sit? We’ll uh…talk.” She said looking up at him with her big blue eyes.
“Arabella, I need to go. I don’t want to stay here and rack up more of a debt with you, okay? Just step aside.” Hunter said quietly before pulling at the door again. She threw her back into it once again and it closed.
“You want to pay me back? Fine. Sit down. That’ll be paying me back. You do that, we’ll be even.” She said putting a hand on his chest. Hunter looked at her for a moment.
“Unless you have a real job for me, please. Move.” He said in barely a whisper as he pulled the door, hard enough to move her out of the way. He looked at Arabella only briefly before taking a step out.
“Come back, Hunter.” Arabella said calmly, her voice penetrating Hunter’s mind. Hunter turned around and walked back inside. “Shut the door and could you go and sit down on the couch for me? Thanks.” She said with her radiant smile. Hunter couldn’t help, but listen to her. He closed the door and sat on the couch. Arabella followed and sat down next to him. “Now, tell me what happened.” She said, her voice catching slightly.
“I don’t even know where to begin.” Hunter said looking for something to pick at to occupy his hands. He took a deep breath. “Well, okay. Philippa rejected me. I couldn’t cope. I left camp. The gods gave me no help. Artemis turned her back on me when I convinced Philippa to not rejoin the Hunters. I renounced my oath. It wasn’t doing me any good anyway. I moved to New York. I couldn’t find a job so I’ve been begging for the past 6 months. And here we are.” Hunter said quickly not giving Arabella a chance to comment on anything. He wished that he had just left.