"I should walk away from you. But I never fucking will."
Empty Classroom – Fifth Period
The classroom was quiet.
Too quiet.
The kind of silence that begs to be broken by sin.
Hunter closed the door behind them and locked it — not with the soft click of caution, but with the bold snap of defiance.
Eden stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by empty desks and the scent of dry-erase markers and floor cleaner. Everything about it should've felt cold, distant, sterile.
But it didn't.
Not with the way Hunter was looking at her.
Like she was already stripped down. Laid bare.
Unwritten on.
He walked slowly, each step deliberate.
When he reached her, he didn't touch her immediately.
He just stared.
"Why did you bring me here?" she whispered.
His voice was low. Tight.
"Because I couldn't make it through another period pretending I'm not going insane every time I see you flinch at their whispers."
"I'm okay."
"You're lying."
She opened her mouth to deny it, but his hands reached out — gently — brushing her hair away from her face.
"You don't have to be okay, Eden. Not here. Not with me."
Her breath caught.
"I hate the way they look at you," he continued. "Like you're a headline. A punchline."
She lowered her gaze. "Maybe I deserve it."
His hands grabbed her jaw and forced her to meet his eyes. "Don't you ever say that."
"I—"
"You gave me something I didn't deserve," he rasped. "You let me into your body. Into your pain. And now they think they can reduce you to a rumor?"
His hands moved down — over her shoulders, her arms, until they were gripping her waist.
"No. F*ck that."
Her heart was pounding. Loud. Fast.
He leaned in, his mouth brushing her cheek, his voice like a secret sin.
"I'm going to kiss you," he whispered. "Here. In the classroom. Where anyone could walk in."
Her breath hitched.
"Not because it's reckless," he continued. "But because I want your mouth to know who it belongs to."
And then he kissed her.
---
The Kiss
It wasn't gentle.
It wasn't sweet.
It was dark and deep and full of every unspoken word he hadn't dared to say in public.
She melted into him.
Their bodies pressed between rows of desks. Her back hit the edge of the teacher's desk, and Hunter's hands grabbed her hips, lifting her just enough to make her gasp.
His tongue slid against hers, possessive and slow. Her fingers tangled in his hoodie, pulling him closer — always closer — like it would never be close enough.
He pulled back just enough to whisper:
"They don't get this version of you. The breathless one. The one who moans when I suck your tongue."
Her body trembled.
"You're shaking."
"Because you make me forget who I am."
"Good," he growled. "Because you're not hers anymore. Not the school's. Not Liam's. You're mine. Every ruined piece of you."
He kissed her again — harder.
She moaned into his mouth.
And when his hand slid under her skirt, cupping her thigh, lifting it against his hip — she didn't stop him.
She kissed him like it was oxygen.
Like it was punishment.
Like she didn't care who saw.
---
Hallway – Right After
They slipped out of the classroom five minutes later, hair messy, faces flushed.
Eden's lips were swollen.
Hunter's jaw was tight.
But they didn't care.
Until they turned the corner and saw him.
Liam.
Standing by her locker.
Holding her necklace.
The one she lost the night she first slept over at Hunter's place.
He didn't look angry.
He looked empty.
That scared her more.
Hunter stepped forward first. "You've got five seconds to put that down and walk away."
Liam smirked.
Held the necklace up by the chain.
"Is this what's left of your self-respect?" he asked Eden quietly.
She froze.
Hunter didn't.
He charged.
Hallway – Seconds Later
Hunter's fists slammed into Liam's chest before he even had time to react.
The necklace fell from Liam's hand, clinking softly as it hit the linoleum floor and slid between two lockers.
Eden screamed.
"Hunter—!"
But he wasn't listening.
He shoved Liam back, fists raised, fury radiating off him like heat from an inferno.
"You think you can humiliate her?" Hunter barked. "You think playing with what's mine makes you a man?"
Liam stumbled but caught himself.
His smirk was gone now.
But the arrogance wasn't.
"She was mine first," Liam snapped. "You're just the replacement. The rebound. The mistake."
Hunter swung.
One clean punch to Liam's jaw.
Blood spattered.
Chaos erupted.
"HEY! HEY!" A teacher's voice tore through the air.
Students spilled from nearby classrooms, phones already out.
Two boys grabbing each other like predators.
A crowd circling like vultures.
And Eden—frozen.
Paralyzed.
Hunter's Fury
Hunter didn't stop after the first hit.
Or the second.
Even as Liam struggled to defend himself, even as blood ran from his nose, Hunter kept pushing him back, his voice breaking with something more than rage — it was betrayal, and love, and obsession all tangled together.
"You think you know her?!" Hunter roared. "You never touched her soul. You never earned her body. You used her—"
"And you think you're saving her?" Liam yelled, wiping blood from his mouth. "You're ruining her. Look at her!"
Hunter turned.
So did everyone else.
And Eden—standing there in the middle of the hallway, trembling, her eyes wide and wet and shattered—looked like she might crumble from the weight of it all.
Phones flashed.
People whispered.
One word repeated in cruel tones behind cupped hands and fake sympathy:
"Slut."
Hunter's chest heaved.
Eden didn't move.
The Silence After the Storm
A teacher finally pushed between them, separating the two boys with outstretched arms.
Liam was bleeding.
Hunter's knuckles were raw.
Eden?
She looked like she'd stopped breathing.
Principal Carter appeared minutes later, demanding both boys to her office "now," while glancing sharply at Eden like she was the reason boys destroyed themselves in the hallways.
As Hunter was led away, he looked at Eden one last time.
And in that look — everything broke.
Later That Day – Girl's Bathroom
Eden locked herself in the farthest stall and sank to the floor.
She didn't cry.
Not right away.
She just… sat.
Frozen.
Then finally—
The tears came.
Slow at first. Then harder.
Until she couldn't breathe.
Her phone buzzed on the floor beside her.
HUNTER: Baby, please. Answer me.
HUNTER: Don't shut me out.
HUNTER: I fcked up. But I'd do it again if it meant protecting you.*
Another message.
HUNTER: You didn't deserve that. And I should've told them all to burn before they touched your name.
She didn't respond.
But her heart cracked a little more with each word.
Because deep down… she didn't want to run.
She wanted to run to him.
Hunter's POV – That Evening
He stared at his split knuckles in the locker room.
Blood. Skin. Bone.
It didn't matter.
All he could see was her face — the way it collapsed when the crowd turned on her.
"I'm making it worse," he muttered to himself. "I'm giving them reasons to hate her."
He punched the locker once — hard enough to make it ring.
Then he grabbed his phone and typed something different this time.
Not rage. Not apology.
Just this:
HUNTER: I love you.
Send.