Lies and Tears
Characters: Hunter and Cassandra Setting: late, the pool
Cassandra had read about the poker game and knew exactly where Hayden would be tonight. Of course she’d done her due dilligence, checking in the bar to make sure he was there, but once she was sure she headed back towards her room, or more specifically, the one next to it. She hadn’t made it far off the elevator from downstairs though when she spotted Hunter’s door opening. Ducking into the shadows she waited, deciding following him might work better.
Hunter didn't know where he was heading. He just knew he needed to leave his room. He wasn't hungry, something that hadn't kicked in yet. His appetite was absolutely gone, which sucked. But he didn't put too much thought into it either. He was looking around the public rooms, and saw the pool. Heading inside, he looked at the water. The room looked like a hotel room to him. It was weird to say the least.
She let him get a good bit ahead of her, following after him until he went into the pool. She’d done a little exploring herself, so she knew what was behind the door, and silently hoped no one was going for a late night swim. Running into him around others was just going to scare him off worse than he already was. This was about getting Hunter back, or at least seeing how far gone he was. Her shoes made a soft noise in the large room, echoing footsteps despite how carefully she stepped. Hayden had gotten the sexiest dress they’d given her, but for Hunter it wasn’t about showing off skin or enticing him. It was about looking harmless, so the simple t-shirt that ever so slightly fell off one shoulder and jeans were the best she could do.
Hunter looked over the second he heard the door open, and he saw Cassandra there. He stared, for a long, angry moment, then looked away. "Find someplace else to be." he told her. This was why he didn't leave his room, even if he knew he had to. Of course he'd run into her. He glanced for his brother, but she appeared to be alone.
Cassandra slowed, her steps, not moving more than a step and a half more towards him. “There’s not many other places to be Hunter.” She kept her voice soft, just barely enough to carry to him. She could leave, but he had to know as well as she did that he couldn’t just hide from her completely. They were bound to see one another at some point.
"The fuck there isn't. There are a lot of places. An entire other block." Hunter snapped. "So, find one of them. Go entertain Hayden. Leave me alone." he told her, eyes fixed onto the water, so he didn't have to look at her. Looking at her wasn't good for him.
“Hunter.” Cassandra sounded hurt, like his words stung and all she could manage was his name. She didn’t want to leave him alone, but she might have to. Whatever he’d found out, he’d found out in the worst way possible. Her leaving them both at once would have gone over better than whatever he’d been told. “Please.”
"Please what?" he snapped, internally wincing slightly at his voice being so loud in a space like this. "What do you want from me? Why can't you just leave me alone? Or do you want me to say it's fine, so you can feel better about yourself or something? Stop caring, Cass. If you ever cared about me at all."
She jolted slightly at the volume of his voice, wrapping her arms around herself, new scars visible for a moment. “You know I cared. You know I still care. Don’t say that.” And she sounded hurt again, more than before. “Please just look at me. I know it’s not fine, I don’t want you to tell me it’s fine, but you can’t really think I didn’t care about you.”
"How exactly would I 'know' you cared?" Hunter asked incredulously. "Seems to me like you used me, fucked my brother and left me, and possibly got us all caught. Maybe you were both in on it, and it just went sideways. I don't know. I don't care. But any idea that you cared about me is gone. You've proved very well that you couldn't have. I very much doubt you'd be able to come up with a single point that proves you did."
He almost had her there, but tears were easy and Cassandra had them in her eyes and in her voice with minimal effort. “What about every time we were together? That you were first, and always first? Or how it was you I thought of when we were separated?” She bit her lip and sniffled a little, trying to keep it quiet, as if she was ashamed. “Why can’t you look at me?”
Hunter did a good job of pretending her tears weren't affecting him at all, even if they really kinda were. "Oh, you mean the part where we were together and you were banging my brother behind my back?" he said. "First doesn't mean shit when you skipped right past me on to Hayden." he said. "Just means you happen to have met me before him. And you thought of me? Prove it. I didn't get any letters. It's really easy for you to say that, with no shred of evidence to back it up." he added.
"I can't look at you because you fucking enrage and disgust me. So, I'm doing us both a favor." he lied.
She let the first tears fall with just a quiet little noise, enough to let him know what was going on, but without making a complete scene. “What was I going to write? About how I was sure I’d never see you again? I wasn’t even sure where you were Hunter.” She sounded ever so slightly desperate, a good bit of waver in her voice. His last statement had her letting out a gasp of surprise, then shaking her head. “No. I don’t believe you.” She didn’t. He hadn’t looked enraged and disgusted when they first arrived. She doubted he was now.
Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, went through his mind as he heard her crying. He didn't want that to soften his approach. he didn't want to fall back into the place where he cared. "Are you going to leave? Or are you going to chase me out of the one place I wanted to spend time?"
And even as she stepped back Cassandra let the first sob hitch in her throat, loud enough for him to hear. “Please say you didn’t mean it. I’ll go, I’m going, but Hunter...tell me it’s not true. That you aren’t really disgusted. Please.”
"Leave!" Hunter shouted, this time not covering the wince at his volume or the way it echoed in the room. Shit. He just couldn't do this. And she didn't get to stand there and cry, when she was the one who'd fucked him over. Had she ever even apologized? He didn't know. And he also wasn't going to sit there and tell her what she wanted to hear so she could feel better when his entire life felt like one slow drowning session in a bucket of piss due to her.
Cassandra winced as well, but she caught his. Maybe he wasn’t just angry. No, not just angry at all. She hadn’t apologized this time, but what was the point in saying it to his back? Where would that get things? Whimpering slightly, she took another step back then ran from the room, making sure he heard her on the way out.
Hunter winced when she was gone, shutting his eyes tight for a moment. Was prison better than this? He was seriously considering that question, especially now. Fuck me.