When he gives in to something, it’s absolute.
When he finally lets himself have Willow? It won’t be just for one night. So I just close my eyes, letting him hold me, letting the silence settle between us.
Because that will be something to see. And I can wait for it.
“Walking just fine. How’s sitting?”Hunter snaps the second we round the corner, arms crossed over his chest. Dry, sharp, all edge. He’s had a long night playing babysitter to our little flight risk, and it shows.
He’s posted up by her apartment door, shoulders tense, refusing to step inside. Too much for him. Too close.
“Jealous?” I shoot back, brow arched, smirk locked in. I don’t need his answer—I can already see it.
He scoffs, shakes his head, but his jaw ticks. I know him too well. He’d rather be home with us, blowing off steam, than stuck here pretending to play saint.
Not that any of us are saints.
I roll my shoulders, phantom ache from last night still in my muscles. I slept like the dead. Graham? Not so much. Woke up wound tighter than before, storm still gnawing at him. Getting off didn’t cut it. Maybe I should remind him how good it felt. Maybe I should?—
A laugh slips out, amused at my own thought.
Hunter’s glare snaps to me, hard, like I aimed it straight at him.
Which, really, it works, so I just shrug and don’t explain myself.
Graham sighs. “How’s Willow?”
Hunter shifts his weight, rolling his neck. “As angry as a wet cat.”
I huff out a laugh. “And how’s the lock holding up?”
Hunter lifts a brow. “Intact. For now.”
For now.
She must’ve tested it.
A thrill shoots through me because that means she thought about sneaking out. And I’d bet everything that she thought about sneaking straight to Finn. That’s going to be a problem. I don’t like it.
And I really don’t like how much it turns me on that she’s stubborn enough to try.
Graham exhales slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Did she get any sleep?”
Hunter scoffs. “Tossed and turned most of the night. I heard her pacing more than once. Probably thinking of new ways to murder us.”
“Sexy.” I grin.
Hunter doesn’t even crack a smirk. “She called her dad.”
That wipes the smile from my face.
Graham stills. “When?”
“Right after I gave her back her phone.” Hunter’s expressiontightens. “It sounded like World War Three was happening in there.”
I blink. “That bad?”
Hunter nods. “Mr. Delong shut her down. Hard. I don’t think she expected that.”
A pang of something I don’t want to name hits my chest.
