“Here!” I reply hastily as I lower myself onto the ground.
If he catches me just standing here waffling pathetically, I’ll be eaten up by humiliation. Quickly, I open the small shoe box I’d brought with me tonight and start pulling out the objects inside.
“Are you ready to have some—” he stops talking as he comes to a halt beside me. “What’s all this?”
I grab a small lighter from the box and begin to light the three white tea candles. My palms grow sweaty as Rhett strolls over just as I finish lighting the last one. I’ve set the candles on a white doily, and I’ve sprinkled dried yellow petals around the lights.
Shoving the lighter in my pocket, I look up at both guys from where I’m crouching and swallow.
“Um, well, before we begin, I thought we could, ah…” The words fade away as I realize that maybe this was a bad idea. Well, I’ve already committed, so… “Rhett, told me the other night that he didn’t get to say goodbye to Abby and I’ve been thinking about how to fix that and this—” I wave my hand at the small memorial “—was what I came up with. I wasn’t sure when to bring it up, but since we’re playing The Hunt, which was partially created because of Abby, I figured that before we begin, we can pay homage to her. Wes said he thinks her passing was about fifteen years ago, so there’s one candle for every five years since she’s been gone giving us a candle each to hold.”
Now that I say it out loud, it sounds dumb, and maybe out of line. I should’ve run this by Santi first. I can tell by the way he’s struggling to smile encouragingly at me but also shooting nervous glances at Rhett as I talk. Rhett doesn’t say anything. Hestares down at the lit candles with his mouth pressed into a tight line. His body is rigid, and I don’t think he’s breathing.
Yup, this is definitely a bad idea.
Reaching for a candle, I quickly attempt to fix the mistake. “Okay, yeah. No, this was stupid. I’m sorry. Let’s just forget?—”
Rhett crouches down with me, snatching my wrist before I can bring the candle to my lips to blow out.
“No, it’s not stupid,” he says on a shaky sigh. He lets go of me as if I’ve burned him, but he remains at my eye level and stares at the set up.
“It’s very thoughtful!” Santi agrees with a bright,relieved, smile. He crouches down with us and reaches out to grab my shoulder and squeeze it. “What should we say?”
I frown as I consider this. After a moment, I bring the tea light up and smile.
“To the girl whose laughter brought smiles to everyone’s faces, and whose love remains with us despite her physical absence.” I shoot Rhett a nervous half-smile. “Would you like to say something?”
His throat convulses as he swallows. I wait but Rhett says nothing. It kind of looks like he’s choking on a lemon. His face twists in pain and his jaw clenches hard. Santi looks between us before quickly picking up a candle himself.
“To the girl whose love inspired the eradication of monsters,” he declares with a grin.
Rhett bows his head, his dark hair becoming a curtain to hide his face from whatever he doesn’t want us to see. There’s a long pause. I’m pretty sure I catch sight of a tremor that rushes through him but I say nothing about it. When Rhett finally looks up, he reaches down and grabs the last candle.
“To the best little sister a brother could ask for. Iwillavenge you, Abby,” Rhett promises, his voice rough and deep. “I won’tstop until every fucking sicko in this world is gone. Or, at the very least, until my dying breath.”
Our eyes meet. His dark ones mirror the flickering light from the candle in his hand. That flame adds a warmth to them that makes him look almost human despite the terrifyingly grim expression on his face.
I nod and lift my candle a little higher. “To Abby.”
“Too Abby,” both guys repeat.
With that, I blow out the candle. The others copy me and then place the candles back on the doily. There’s a short pause as I gather up the items and put them back into the shoe box. Suddenly, Rhett stands.
“I forgot to grab the axes,” he announces, before turning and stomping off.
Before I can turn to watch him leave, Santi’s there, pouncing on me and tackling us both to the ground.
“Ooph!”
He climbs on top of me like he’s king of the mountain and then proceeds to pepper my face with kisses. I laugh at his antics while also trying to bat him away.
“We’re going to have to take you to puppy training. This jumping on people is just notit!” I tell him, trying—and failing—to sound pissed.
He laughs between kisses. In Spanish he whispers, “He loved that. You know that right? I’m pretty sure I thought he was going to burst with joy. God, you’re incredible. Thank you for doing that for him.”
I don’t know if “burst with joy” is the right sentiment, but I guess Santi knows him better than me. I capture his face before he can kiss my cheek and turn it so that his lips land on mine. The anxiety that had crept in, bringing with it self-doubt and insecurities, melts as his tongue dives between my lips and he kisses me with the fervor of a wild animal. Santi’s hips grindagainst mine as he lowers himself onto his forearms on either side of my face and I shiver at the anticipation of later.
This game is fun. But the last time we were out here, it’s what came after that really turned the night into something grand.
