“I’m not sure where to start,” I say as I take out plates from the cabinet. “Hunter and I have always been undefined. You both know that. Nothing’s changed there.”
“Nothing?” Charly asks in disbelief. “You certainly look different from when I left.”
“What do you mean?” I glance down at my track pants and the red and gold Fire sweatshirt of Hunter’s that I’ve fallen in love with. “I’m messy. See?”
“You’re wearing your housemate’s clothes.” Charly tugs at the hem of the sweatshirt. “Last I checked, people don’t normally do that unless…”
“Unless they’re fucking,” Ashley sums up with a wide grin. “Oh, come on, Winter, just kill the suspense already, would you? I’ve been ridiculously patient this past week while I waited for our bestie to return home.”
I take a moment to arrange the nachos that Charly brought over onto a plate, which I then place on a serving tray I find buried in Hunter’s pantry.
Finger food is very important to have on hand during a hockey game. It helps keep me occupied while I’m stressing over who has the puck and praying the other team doesn’t score.
“Hunter and I…” I look up from the tray to find my two oldest friends watching me intently. “We kissed. More than that one time after the game.”
Charly’s eyes brighten with interest. “So he’s not ‘just a housemate’ anymore.”
“Technically, he’s your employer,” Ashley says. “Right?”
“Yeah, that doesn’t sound very good,” I say. “I doubt the pet sitting agency had kissing in mind when they hired me to work here.”
“Don’t worry about all of that,” Ashley says as if I’m talking about a little rainstorm.
I carry the tray over to the couch, and the three of us sit down with our food.
“I feel like I’m missing something,” Charly says to me as her wise, whiskey-colored eyes study me. “Am I?”
I let out a slow breath. “Yes. There’s something I haven’t told you. I wasn’t ready to share before, but I am now.”
Charly hugs me when I’ve finished telling them about the assault, and Ashley wipes tears from her eyes.
Charly’s eyes are now blazing with anger. “I knew you were hurting over something,” she says. “I should have come right out and asked you what was going on.”
“You practically did do that,” I say. “But I wasn’t ready to talk about it.”
“You’re so strong to have gone to the police,” Ashley says. “Especially after he threatened you.”
“I’ll need even more strength if I’m called to testify,” I say. “They’re trying to bring him to trial.”
“I hope that bastard gets convicted,” Charly says with feeling.
“So, are you and Hunt…” Ashley trails off questioningly.
“We’re…us,” I say. “You know Hunt and me. We don’t make anything official. It starts out as blurry and deteriorates from there.”
“This sounds different than high school,” Charly says. “First of all, you had sex this time.”
“How do you know?”
“I didn’t. But you just confirmed my hunch.” She laughs.
“Yay!” Ashley says. “That’s a big step, Win.”
“It is. Hunt’s just…he can be so sweet, but then it’s like he disappears inside his own brick walls, and I can’t reach him.”
“All the Storm brothers learned to protect themselves when their daddy died.”
The game starts, and we stop talking about Hunter and watch him play instead.
