He began thrusting into my grip. I kept up my firm movement until my hand was covered in his release and my name came out a whisper on his lips.
Before I’d even removed my hand, I felt him start to get hard again. I raised my eyes to his. Hunter’s gaze caught mine, and I knew what he wanted.
I certainly knew what I wanted.
God, I wanted him so much that night. I would have given him all of me if he’d asked.
But he didn’t.
After another hot as hell kiss and his hands cupping my breasts again, he broke away and mumbled, “Sorry,” before turning away from me.
I understood where he was coming from. It felt like a rejection, but I didn’t even need to ask to know why he did it. He would say he pushed me away because he didn’t ever want me to feel used.
I also knew the truth of why Hunter wouldn’t allow himself to make love to me that night—he was terrified to open his heart again to anyone because he feared he’d lose them, too. I felt his fear when his hands shook as he ran them down my body. I felt his angst when he kissed me like I was everything and then abruptly shut down our connection.
And I didn’t push him. How could I? I could only love him from the other side of the tiny twin bed we were sharing. I beamed as much love as I could over to him that night while he slept fitfully.
The funeral was quick and heartbreaking. My parents went, and they did their best to be caring. But when Hunter showed up at our house that same night, they didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet for him. Not that their behavior stopped us from sleeping together.
And when I say sleeping together, I mean that literally.
Hunter couldn’t sleep alone for a month. So, I slept with him. Sometimes we kissed. Sometimes we did a little more. Every time, he pulled back.
He threw himself even harder into hockey. All the Storm brothers did. And they started doing everything together. They were always tight, but now they were inseparable.
After a month of sharing the same bed, one night Hunter texted me that he was okay to sleep alone.
You sure?I texted back.
I’ve got my brothers here. That should be enough.
Okay. It was the right thing to do. I knew it was. I was preparing for my future, too. I had Broadway in my sights, and getting attached to sleeping with Hunter wasn’t a smart idea.
Long pause before—
Thanks, Princess. I’ll never forget what you did for me.
The text I sent back to him was one word that I hoped conveyed everything he meant to me.
Anytime.
* * *
Hunter
Liam goes into the room first, followed by Jared, then Max, and me.
The detective shuts the door and turns toward us before flicking the button to reveal the suspects.
“You men ready?”
The last time we did this, it was a different detective. He asked us the same thing with one distinction: “You boys ready?”
Because we were kids then. Innocent kids who didn’t know what the fuck we were going to do without parents.
But this time, we’re grown-ups. We’ve got houses and money and jobs. All those life things that terrified us back then are no longer concerns. And yet, as I stand in the same room I stood in with my three brothers all those years ago, the same emotions flood me.
Rage.
