Devastated (Anger Management, #1)(34)

She still wasn’t happy with what happened, but right now she had bigger problems to worry about.

Maybe it rolled under the couch? she wondered as she leaned back over and-

“What the hell are you doing?” the man that she’d gone to five different stores for this morning asked.

“Can I help you with something, Mr. O’Mallery?” Kylie absently asked, wondering if Amazon would be able to deliver a new Nerf gun today.

“I’d love another beer,” Hunter drawled, making her lips twitch as she glanced up and-

“It doesn’t work,” she said, licking her lips nervously as she looked from the large Nerf gun loaded with a hundred, correction, ninety-nine small foam balls aimed at her to find Hunter leaning back against the couch, looking completely relaxed.

Not taking his eyes off her, he raised the gun and-

“Son of a bitch!” came the shouted reply from somewhere behind her as the large toy gun that she hadn’t been able to figure out fired a round.

“Really?” he asked, aiming the gun back in her direction.

Swallowing hard, Kylie licked her lips nervously as she glanced over her shoulder and-

“You bastard!” Ryan snapped when Hunter fired off another round, hitting his best friend in the knee.

“What’s with the gun, Miss Jameson?” Hunter asked, drawing her attention back to find the large Nerf gun aimed at her chest.

“Distraction,” she managed somewhat weakly even as she had to admit that she hadn’t thought this one through.

“Distraction,” he murmured, looking thoughtful as he asked, “From what?”

“To help keep your mind off your house arrest?” Kylie said, following the gun as it was raised and aimed towards her right to find Ryan reaching for the second Nerf gun and-

“Oh, come on!”

“I see,” Hunter murmured as he reached over and picked up the other Nerf gun off the couch. “And this has nothing to do with you wanting to shoot me?”

“Well, I mean, it has a little bit to do with that,” she admitted with a shrug, because she wasn’t going to lie.

“Fair enough,” Hunter said, nodding as he handed her the second Nerf gun and walked away, only to throw over his shoulder, “You might want to run,” and after one look at the panicked expression on Ryan’s face, she did just that.

---

“I surrender! I surrender! Oh, my God! I surrender!” Kylie yelled somewhat hysterically as she kicked the large Nerf gun out the door before slamming it shut and quickly pushing herself back away from the door, uncaring that she was in a pitch-black closet. She curled up in a ball as she prayed that the crazed man that had spent the last three hours hunting her would just take her gun and leave.

There was a satisfied sigh and then the closet door that she really wished she’d thought to barricade was opening.

“That was fun,” Hunter said, as she found herself picked up and thrown over his shoulder. “Let’s play again.”

---

June

“Oh, that’s unfortunate,” Kylie murmured with a pitying sigh and a sad shake of her head, as she reached over and picked up the Boardwalk deed card from the meticulously organized array of cards that she’d arranged in front of her as though she didn’t already know how much he owed her.

Oh, did she fucking know…

“That will be two thousand dollars,” she said, as she glanced down at the mortgaged property cards and the small stack of ones in front of him before looking up at him with an, “Oh, did I win again?” and an innocent expression that had his eyes narrowing on her.

“Rematch,” he bit out through clenched teeth.

“I guess we could play again,” Kylie said with a shrug as she reached for the dice and he decided that the Monopoly board was going to meet the same fate as the Clue game.

---

July

“Oh, God,” Hunter moaned, unable to help himself as Kylie worked her magic. “Just like…that.”

There was a heavy sigh and then, “Why must you make this creepy?” Kylie asked, but thankfully never stopped scratching.

“Just keep doing that,” Hunter said, closing his eyes on a groan as she continued scratching the skin surrounding the band secured around his ankle that had been driving him fucking crazy lately.

“Still creepy,” she mumbled, careful of the small plastic GPS device attached to the band that was irritating the shit out of his skin.

“Harder,” he said on a groan, as she worked her neatly trimmed nails over his skin.

“What have you been scratching with?” Kylie asked, as she stopped scratching so that she could run her fingertips gently over the scratches that a fork, pencil, and a paperclip had left behind.

“Woman,” he growled in warning, as he cracked one eye open to glare at her.

“God, you’re spoiled,” Kylie muttered, shaking her head in disgust even she as she reached for the soothing ointment that she’d picked up for him earlier and-

“Mmmm, that feels so damn good,” Hunter groaned only to feel his lips twitch when she asked, “Are you going to keep doing that?”

“Are you going to keep scratching?” he returned.

There was a pause and then, “Yes,” she said, sighing heavily.