Hunter was a man of his words, after all.
“Good.” I nestled my face into the crook of his neck. “I need you here, Hunt.”
“Anything my girl wants.” His arms tightened when he reached the second floor. “Just so you know, I’ll be handcuffing you to me moving forward so you’re never out of my sight again.”
“Kinky. Guess we’ll finally be able to break into those cuffs we bought from the lingerie store.”
“Sounds like a date.”
“Make me a grilled cheese sandwich and it’ll be aperfectdate.”
Hunter smiled. “Your wish is my command.”
He padded down the hallway towards my bedroom. It wasn’t hard to know which door was mine, considering I still had a heart-shaped plastic doorbell stuck on it from my early tween years. I went through a phase where I was big on personal space and demanded both my parents ring me up before I determined whether or not I was in the mood to answer them.
Hunter shouldered open my already unlocked door. Bags with my stuff were piled onto my bed, courtesy of the guards who shuffled them over from Hunter’s home to here.
But that was not what snagged my attention.
It was Luna.
Awake and perked up on her bed.
I got choked up seeing her.
Hunter put me down on my feet. She was just about to leap in my direction, cast on her hind leg and all, before I grabbed her.
Luna’s paws went on either side of my neck and she snuggled up to me, meowing continuously to express herself. I felt it all. Her pain and her relief at finally seeing me. I shed more tears and she licked at my chin. I kissed her wherever I could reach. “Luna, I’ve missed you so much.”Meow. “I’m so happy you’re okay.”Meow. “Thank you for helping to save me.”Meow. “Yes, yes, I love you too.”
My sweet girl, so affectionate in her nature, would not unlatch even as I attempted to pull back. She dug her claws intome, telling me in her own way that she wouldn’t be letting me out of her sight either.
I sighed blissfully. “Luna won’t let me go.”
Hunter wrapped his arms around us from behind. “That makes two of us.”
I turned my face to his, awaiting my kiss.
He delivered it. Soft and gentle as a feather, breathing life into me all over again.
The scars on our bodies and the wounds underneath our flesh would heal with time, but as long as we had each other, we would be fine.
Hunter helped me shower and changed my bandages. My once flawless skin bore enough marks for his expression to transform into a blend of helplessness and anger that said he wished Tom were alive so he could kill him this time.
“I’m okay,amore mio,” I reassured, grazing my fingers over his clenched jaw.
It did little to assuage him. He dressed me in a pair of loose shorts and his clean football jersey. I tried to hide my wince as my sore muscles moved. Hunter didn’t miss it.
He dressed quickly in a pair of grey sweats and a white shirt, escaping my help when I tried to put a fresh gauze on his bicep. He did it himself. The unblinking stare and the grim pinch of his mouth said he was here to take care of me and in his presence? I really wasn’t to lift a single finger.
“Go rest in your bed, sweetheart,” Hunter murmured. “I’m going to make you a grilled cheese sandwich, then you can take your medications. All right?”
I kissed his cheek. “All right.”
As instructed, I got into bed with Luna curled by my side. The warmth of my skin and the coldness of my pillows and comforter were a divine contrast, igniting a new surge of lethargy. I wanted to slip underneath and go to sleep. But instead, I plucked myretrieved cell phone from my nightstand and unlocked it to a multitude of messages. I answered the ones from Anna and Layla. Apparently, Mamma already told them what happened to me.
I texted them an update: I was fine, would be thriving soon again, and loved them dearly. It helped ease their worry a smidge. I promised to tell them everything tomorrow when they dropped by for a visit.
Later on, after my family came to my room to bid me good night and ask me for the hundredth time if I was all right, I ended it tucked into Hunter’s side, my belly full of the grilled cheese sandwich he whipped up for me, drowsy from the meds, Luna settled into his lap, purring as he petted her, and an old rom-com movie playing on my TV.
