Love & Hate (Book One: Hate) (5 page)

“
What are you doing out here by yourself?” He asks in his dark brooding tone.

I turn and face him. His baseball hat is pulled too low so I can’t quite see his face. “Umm walking.”
Yeah that’s the best response I have.

“
Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“
Yes. I wasn’t bothering anyone I was just walking.”
Seriously, what is his problem?

“
I didn’t say you were bothering anyone. I just asked if that’s a good idea.” He clarifies.

“
Whatever. Cutter I’m not going to play games. What do you want?”
I am totally over his crap and him interrupting my peaceful walk.

He doesn’t respond he just stares at me with grin on his face. I start to walk away from him choosing to try to ignore him instead.

“
Where are you going?”

“
I’m going to keep walking.”
Geezzz what is with this guy? Why does he care what I’m doing?

He hurriedly begins walking next to me. I stop and just look at him.
What the heck does he think he is doing?

“
Can I help you?”
He is really starting to piss me off.

“
No… I just thought you might want me to walk with you.”
Okay totally weird.

“
Uh sure, if you want to.” I have no clue what he is doing but at least he is being somewhat nice. So we begin walking down the beach.

It feels like an eternity before he turns and asks me “Are you having fun at school?”

“
Yeah I am.”

“
Do you miss home?”
Now I guess we are going to chit chat.
Okay get a hold of yourself Paige you can do this just breathe.

“
Yeah I miss home. I miss my family and I really miss my horses.” I tell him honestly.

“
I can understand that.”

“
What about you? Do you miss home?” I ask him in return.
Why are you playing along with this insanity?

“
Some days I do, but I’ll be going home a lot.” He slows a bit and I slow down matching my pace with his.

“
Yeah same here, I’m actually leaving tomorrow morning to go home.”
I have no idea why I just told him this.

“
Me too, I have to go home for the weekend before school starts. Are you driving home?”

“
No I’m going to fly. My parents wouldn’t let me have a car here.”

“
That’s got to be expensive. Not that it matters to you.”
Oh great, here we go. Let the rudeness commence.

“
Yeah well it wasn’t my choice.” I snap back.

He doesn’t respond and we just keep walking side by side along the river bank. After a few minutes Cutter turns to me and says “why don’t you ride with me.”
Is he crazy? I try to scan my brain for a reason that isn’t totally rude. I come up with nothing.

“
Why?”
Okay that was only half way rude.

“
Well there is no reason for you to fly when you can just catch a ride with me. Plus the flights out of Pullman are really unreliable. Many times they just get cancelled.”
Double crap. Should I go with him? Would it really be that bad? I really do want to see this new horse my Dad bought and I know Cutter is right about the flights.

“
Okay if you don’t mind.”
I am so dumb. This is going to go down in history as one of the dumbest decisions I have ever made.

“
Great, we will leave here at seven in the morning.” He gives me the same grin as earlier. That grin gives me a shiver that runs down my whole body.

“
Are you cold?” Cutter asks after apparently noticing my reaction to his grin.

“
No I’m okay, but maybe we should head back.” I tell him trying to ignore the fact he is causing my body to involuntary spaz out.

As we walk back to the tents we chat more about what we like so far about college. It is surreal having this easy moment with him. It almost makes me forget how horrible he has been to me. Well almost.

When we get close to the bonfires, I sense a change in Cutter. He seems rigid all of a sudden when just moments ago he was totally relaxed and talkative.

When we get to the tents he looks at me and says “Don’t be late Paige. I will leave without you.” And with that he walks off toward the fire.
Shit, this is going to be a long ride home with Mr. Moody Pants.

CHAPTER 5

I wake up at six just to be sure I have all my stuff packed and ready to go. Heaven forbid I get left behind and have to fly home like I originally planned. I am sitting outside my tent with my bags when I notice the tent across from me start moving. A mousy brown haired girl pops her head out.

“
Cutter, stop it. I have to go!” She says laughing.
Excellent, I just witnessed Cutter Daniels’ bikini girl doing the walk of shame from his tent. Should I go back inside my tent? I don’t want him to see me. But I don’t want to disturb Millie any more than I already have.

As I’m sitting there freaking out in my head trying to decide if I should move or not, Cutter emerges from the tent. His eyes land right on me burning holes through me. “You ready?”

I nod my head yes. I’m sure my mouth is practically hanging open.
How freaking awkward!

“
Good. You can go throw your stuff in my truck it’s over there. It’s unlocked” He points behind all the tents to his big black Ford truck. I quickly gather my things and shuffle over to his truck.

“
Who the Hell is she Cutter?” Bikini girl demands.

“
Just a girl from home, she needs a ride home so I’m helping her out.”
Umm… that’s not totally true. He asked me to ride with him but whatever.

“
Well I don’t like it.” She whines.

“
I don’t give a shit what you like. It’s none of your business what I do. I explained that to you last night. This was a onetime deal.” He tells her flatly not even looking at her and gathers his things from the tent.

“
Maybe I can change your mind about that.” She purrs.
Oh gross I don’t want to see this.

“
I doubt that.” He says with a huff and starts walking straight towards me. I quickly spin around and continue loading my stuff in the truck, pretending I wasn’t totally watching their intimate exchange.

“
You’re a prick Cutter Daniels.” She yells at him.
Well bikini girl isn’t totally stupid after all.

“
Get in.” He growls at me.

I did as I am told and climb up into the passenger side of the truck.
This should be a really fun six hour ride home. Tess would skin me alive if she knew what I was doing right now.

We rode in silence for the first couple of hours of the drive. After what felt like an eternity Cutter finally turned on the radio in the truck. He put on his favorite station which seemed to be mostly country and some classic rock. I stared out the window of the truck watching the rolling wheat fields go by.

After a little bit Cutter began to quietly sing along with Toby Keith’s
Shut Up and Hold On
song. He has a deep raspy voice that has an edge to it. I enjoy listening to him sing along to song after song that comes on. After a while I find myself singing with him.

I just started really getting into Tom Petty’s
Free Falling
. It is right in the middle of the free falling part and I am really belting it out. That’s when I notice Cutter has stopped singing, so I glance over at him. He is staring at me like he is in utter shock. He probably is. I can barely make a joyful noise. How totally embarrassing! I immediately stop singing and start starring back out the window again. He reaches up and turns the radio off.

“
So why are you going home anyway?” He asks breaking the horribly awkward silence.

“
I’m going home to look at a new horse my Dad bought. Why are you going home?”

“
I figured I should go home to help my Mom and Cooper on the farm. This is the first week they have had to manage everything without me.” He says quietly.

“
I’m sorry.” I instantly feel horrible for bringing this topic up. I know better. Cutter’s Father had died many years ago when we were just children. Emerson Daniels had died on my family’s farm while delivering a load of hay. Two massive hay bales fell and crushed him to death. Since then life for their family has been difficult to say the least. Most of the work on the farm has since fallen to Cooper and Cutter. I guess I hadn’t thought about what a sacrifice it is for Cutter to actually be at school. They depended on him at home.

“
It’s okay. It was a long time ago.” He says solemnly. The vibe in the truck instantly is dark and uncomfortable.
You need to do something and quick.

“
So is that girl from this morning your girlfriend?”
Yup, total word vomit, great solution. Why did I ask this question?

He laughs. “No. I don’t have girlfriends Paige.”

“
Oh” is all I can muster after his flat response.

“
So tell me, why did you breakup with Jasper.” He gives me a sideways glance.

“
We both didn’t want to do the long distance thing. It was mutual.”
Well, that’s partly true.

“
I doubt that.”
Wait he doesn’t believe me? That is kind of annoying.

“
It’s true, you can ask him.”

“
I have.”
Oh crap, what was Jasper telling people?

“
What did he say?” I am totally curious now.

“
That you broke up with him.”
Oh man, now I feel bad. Is Jasper really hurt?

I choose not to say anything back and attempt to pretend this conversation isn’t happening.

Cutter must get it and changes the subject. “Are you coming to the field party tonight when we get home?”

“
No I don’t think so. I just want to relax and see my family.” I tell him. “Are you going to be there?”
Stupid question Paige, of course he was going. He always goes to those parties.

“
Yeah I’m going straight there after I drop you off.”

“
Well if it would be easier to drop me at the party I could probably catch a ride home with someone.”

“
No I’ll bring you home.” He answers and then turns up the radio signaling our little heart to heart is now over.

We make it to Ellensburg in pretty good time. We are officially half way home and Cutter pulls into a truck stop to gas up.

“
Oh hey, here let me get the gas. It’s the least I could do since you are driving me home.” I grab my wallet to get wad of cash my parents left me with.

He looks at me but doesn’t respond for a long moment. “I don’t want or need your family’s money Paige. Keep it.” With that he jumps out of the truck and slams the door shut.
What the hell? I was just trying to be nice. Well screw you too.