Please see Chapter 1 for disclaimer

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Chapter 2 – Advice and Rumour

Hunter answered the door in a pair of workout pants and no shirt. Evie stood on the other side, her keys in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. She wore her usual jeans and t-shirt with a navy blue hooded zip-up. Her red-gold hair was pulled back in a pony tail with a few wisps framing her face. .

Her green eyes narrowed as she looked at him. "Don't tell me you're not ready yet."

"No I am. I just need to put my shirt on." He walked away from the door and reached into his bag that was sitting on the bed.

She sauntered in as he pulled on one of his black t-shirts. "You're sure you want to ride with me?"

"I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't."

"Not just to escape Stephanie is it?" she asked nonchalantly.

"What if I said yes?"

  "Can't say I blame you." She watched as he zipped up his bag and checked to make sure he had everything. "Does she know where you are?"

"No. Yours was the only phone call I answered last night." He picked up his bag and looked at her expectantly.

"Paid up?"

"Yeah, I paid last night. Let's go."

She tossed the bottle of water to him as they headed to the car.

They had been on the road for an hour and during that time, Hunter had been quiet. Not that it was unusual for him to be, but he was quieter than normal. Evie could understand that. He had a lot on his mind. She glanced at him and noticed he was staring out the passenger side window, watching the scenery slide by.

"You okay?" she asked quietly.

He didn't answer, just kept looking out the window.

She reached over and gently touched his hand. "Hunter?"

He started and then looked at her. "What?"

"You okay?" she repeated.

"I dunno. I gotta figure this all out," he said as he leaned his head against the headrest.

Evie took another quick glance at him.  "Figure what out?"

"Steph, the marriage…" he sighed.

"Do you still love her?"

He made a face.  "That's what I need to figure out.  All though I don't know if I'd call it love anymore."  He had loved her.  He wasn't so sure now.  Their relationship had started out as a "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours," type of thing.  It had been meant to benefit them both.

"What's to figure out Hunter? You either do or you don't," she said pragmatically.

"Right now I don't. Maybe I haven't for a long time." He sighed as he pushed his cap off his head. "I don't know."

"Have you thought about what would happen if you did leave her?"

"Yeah and even though I could handle it, it would still be a pain in the ass; she would still be a pain in the ass. She has a way of making life hell for people on her bad side." 

Evie smirked. "Well I don't need to worry because I'm already on her bad side."

"But you're not married to her," he said and then chuckled.

She heard the amusement in his voice and smiled.  "True. Being married to her and working for her husband are two completely different things."

As he glanced at her, he noticed the wry smile on her face. He knew she didn't care much for Stephanie. She had told him once that when someone makes their desires the number one thing in a relationship, that relationship would suffer and fail. When he asked her how she knew that, she said it was just common sense. Something in her words had hinted to him that she might have had a similar experience. He knew that she wasn't married and didn't have any children. Anything beyond that, she hadn't talked about.

He shifted in the seat so he could look at her.  "Yeah, two completely different things. Speaking of hell, I'm sorry about what she said to you the other day."

Evie shrugged her shoulders. "It's not your place to apologize. And besides, I can handle myself."

He laughed as he recalled Evie telling Stephanie to get bent.  "So I noticed. Steph was pretty pissed off at you."

"Tough," she replied. "It's like I told you when you started giving me trouble, I don't have time for petty bullshit."

Hunter grinned. "Yeah I noticed that too."

When he had come back to work, Evie had come with him. She had been told to stay on a little longer, which Hunter didn't mind. Stephanie had however. She tolerated Evie for a few weeks, but finally told him that he needed to get rid of her. Hunter had told her no. Of course, Stephanie threw a fit and said she didn't want some woman hanging around all the time. Hunter said that Evie would go when he was good and ready to let her go. End of story. Since then, Stephanie had made things difficult for Evie.

He turned his attention back to the conversation. "What would you do about this?'

"It's not a question of what I would do. It's a decision you have to make on your own."

"So no advice then?" he asked in a teasing tone.

She quickly glanced at him. "I could tell you what you want to hear, but it would be more for selfish reasons rather than for your benefit."

Selfish?  That was interesting.  "Whaddya mean by selfish?"

"You know what I think of Stephanie," she replied evasively.

He knew she was avoiding the question, but her comment had intrigued him. "No really Evie, whaddya mean by selfish?"

She sighed. "I consider you my friend Hunter, so I'm biased. I don't see why you put up with this crap."

He half smiled. "I see."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked indignantly.

"I thought maybe you were gonna tell me you're in love with me, or something," he joked.

Her lips pressed together in a slight grimace. He had come too close to the mark. Feelings for him had developed over the past months, but out of respect for him and his marriage, she had said nothing.

"I'm a bit more level-headed than that," she said lightly to keep the joke up.

A mock hurt look crossed his handsome features. "Level-headed? Are you saying that someone would have to be crazy to fall in love with a guy like me?"

Evie nodded.  "Precisely."

"Thanks Evie. That makes me feel oh-so-good."

"Like I said, it's your decision and you're my friend no matter what the outcome."

"I appreciate that," he said quietly.

"You'd better," she teased.

They finally arrived at the arena. Hunter climbed out of the car, retrieved his bag from the trunk and waited for Evie.

She gave him a surprised look. "You wanna walk in with me too? You are a brave man."

He rolled his eyes. "What's the big deal? You're supposed to be my personal assistant."

"No deal. It's just the thought of all those tongues that'll be wagging when we walk in." She grinned mischievously.

"Why would anyone be talking about us?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I got a call this morning on my way to pick you up. Apparently, Stephanie thinks that I was trying to 'play The Game' last night."

Hunter groaned. "She just doesn't quit." He paused, then; "Screw 'em. We're friends. Let 'em talk."

"Well talk is the only action I've had lately, so I'll take what I can get."

He grinned at her remark as they walked through the doors. "I can take care of that for you," he said as he wiggled his eyebrows at her

She laughed as they headed for his dressing room.

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A/N:  Thanks to those who took the time to read and leave a review.  I greatly appreciate it!