“What happened?” She pushes, the wind kicking up her blonde hair around her face.
“Uh…” I chew on the inside of my mouth. “I went for a run. When I came back, Brighton was watching the sunrise and…”
“He was watching the sunrise,” both Kaia and Cosy sing at the same time, and Sunday shushes them.
“Do these details really matter?” I ask her, and she nods.Dead serious.“I got in the lake for a swim… then got out.”
“You gotinthe lake?” Cosy gasps. “You? You’re terrified of open bodies of water.”
“Did you skinny dip?” Kaia pipes up.
“No, I was in my…” I start and stop. “I got out, and he’s been learning how to braid hair so he can help Daisy, and he’s been practicing on me since I hurt my hand, so he was doing that…”
“Brighton Black braids hair?” Cosy looks at Kaia, who is just as surprised.
“He can braid my hair any day. Do you think we can hire him for pre-game gossip and hair?” Kaia teases. The two of them have the most contradictory expressions to Sunday’s scowl.
“How exactly did you end up kissing him?” Sunday pushes, completely ignoring them.
“He pulled my hair, and I looked up at him, and it just happened?” I shrug.
“He pulled your hair like a little kid?” Sunday scowls.
“Wow, you made that sound earth-shattering romantic, Reaper. Ten out of ten,” Kaia teases with a tiny laugh as she steals a sip of Cosy’s beer.
“Okay, well, it’s not the smoothest way to say it, but… it sort of was,” I admit to Sunday. “Can you say something?”
“Do you like him?” she asks, her tone heavier than usual.
Did I? Do I?
“I like that he always makes my lunch, and leaves the little light in the bathroom on…” I say. Sunday watches me closely, “or that he labels everything in the fridge with his messy handwriting, picks up his phone on the first ring, and listens exclusively to music produced before two thousand and three.”
Cosy snorts, and Kaia tries to settle her down. “This is like a fucking Nicholas Sparks movie,” she whispers. “Please keep going.”
“Yeah, don’t stop now, Reaper,” Kaia pushes.
“He takes the tomatoes off my burgers,” I tell her, and she swallows tightly. “He takes care of me, Sunday.” My voice drops because saying it out loud makes it real. Something about the sentence hits home. “I don’t even know what this is,” I admit. “It was just a kiss, but…”
“Rhea,” Sunday responds, and I brace for her to tell me that I need to stay away from him, but she doesn't. “He’s not exactly…stable.”
“None of us are,” I say, and both Cosy and Kaia agree quietly. “We’re proof that it’s better to be unstable together than apart.”
“What if he ruins this?” Sunday’s voice cracks, her finger pointing between the two of us.
“When hell freezes over, Sunny.” I step forward, still unsure of everything happening between Brighton and me, but I gather her up in my arms and hug her tight until she returns the squeeze.
“I can’t believe you weren’t gonna tell me you kissed him!” She slaps my arm when I finally let her go.
“She wasn’t going to tell any of us!” Kaia snitches.
“Can we kill monsters now?” I groan. “And I need more liquor.”
“Yes, ma’am, but we want details.” Cosy steps backward into the house, dragging a laughing Kaia with her.
"And you have to tell Addy!" Kaia yells over her shoulder ass I tip my head back in frustration and maybe a shred of relief.
The Hollow is dark except for a few lights when the Uber drops me off at the entrance. I’m not drunk, but I wasn’t going to chance driving the Bronco and ending up in more debt than I already was. The condo association just kept emailing me about damage costs as if any of it was my fault, and I was starting to think that selling it back to them at half price was my only option. The vodka makes all the noise go quiet, but it doesn’t do anything to fade the unfamiliar rhythm of Brighton’s thrum beneath my chest.
