5 Bone-In Mea (2/2)

”Well, it seems that you and Hunter have similar tastes. He's not Asian, darling, but perhaps you can include him in your bone-in meat research?” Isabelle teased.

”I have a survey question you could ask him, Ashy,” Celia said, her eyes sparkling with devilry. ”Mr. Guzman, would you like to have your bone IN Ashy's meat?”

Celia and Isabelle shrieked with laughter at the nasty joke and high-fived each other across the table.

”You guys are disgusting!” Ash pouted.

”Girl, you're drooling right now. You're the one who's disgusting!” Celia snapped back. Isabelle and Celia started laughing again.

Ash made a face at her friends and then looked away, pretending to ignore them.

She turned her gaze toward Hunter, and suddenly she felt something powerful move inside her chest. As she watched him use his teeth to rip the meat off the chicken bones, she felt goosebumps rise all over her skin. True, she had a crush on him. She'd felt butterflies in her stomach the first time she'd seen him. But this new feeling wasn't just giddiness anymore, it felt hot and urgent.

For a second, she saw a vision of herself walking toward his table and kissing him full on the mouth in front of everyone.

Hunter must have felt her staring at him, because he met her gaze. As they locked eyes, she felt a jolt of blue lightning go through her body. She didn't know what Hunter was thinking or feeling, but he held her gaze and didn't even blink. Ash's heart was beating so hard she could almost hear the rhythm in her ears. And then she saw the tip of his tongue flick out of the corner of his mouth to lick at his sauce-stained lips. Ash took a sharp intake of breath.

”Hey!”

Ash started as Celia clapped her on the back. The blue lightning that had coursed through her body fizzed out and died.

”Girl, get your hormones in check. You looked like you were ready to jump his bones.” Celia looked at Ash incredulously. She had never seen her friend so intense before.

”I think we better take her to splash some water on her face. I think our Meat-Eater here was just about to be a Man-Eater.”

Ash hung her head, embarrassed. She'd never had an urge like that overtake her before.

”Sorry, guys. That was weird. I was having a moment.”

As the group got up to leave the cafeteria, Ash stole another glance at Hunter. He wasn't looking at her. He was talking to his friends and laughing. He didn't even look in her direction.

Ash shook her head, bewildered at her own strong emotions. Hunter wasn't even her friend, he was too popular for that. Maybe it was just her, and the electric moment between them never happened at all.