Page 100 of Hard to Handle

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

I find the exit just as I end the call and shove through the doors so they slam back with force.

I welcome the cool night air as it fills my lungs. As it burns my lungs and assaults my skin with its temperature and its indiscrimination. Taking huge gulps, I try to catch my breath from the thoughts that rob it.

Jonah’s time is running out.

I felt it tonight. I felt him tonight.

That’s why my game was off.

The other half to my whole was coding.

Struggling to breathe.

And I can’t fix him.

I can’t fix anyone.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

DEKKER

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

DEKKER

THE KNOCK ON MY FRONT door startles me. The papers on my lap from when I fell asleep on the couch flutter to the floor with the jolt of my body.

I’m in that just-woken-up, confused and freaked-out phase where I wonder who in the hell is knocking on my door at one in the morning.

Who the hell did the doorman let in on my list that would come at this time of night?

Chad? My sisters?

Oh my God. Something is wrong with my dad.

My pulse pounds wildly as I run to the door, every horrible scenario playing out in my mind in those thirty feet. It’s when I look in the peephole though that every part of me stops and freezes.

Hunter.

I almost want to laugh at the sight of him. I put him on my approved visitors list three years ago with the hope that one night he might make his way to my place. To fight for me.

I never took him off.

When I open the door and come face to face with him, my smile falls.

His shoulders are slumped, his face pale and hollow, and his eyes troubled.

“Hunter? Is everything okay? What are you—?”

He steps into me and holds on for dear life. His arms go around me, his face is buried into the crook of my neck, and his body shudders with an emotion I can physically feel.

“Hey. What happened?” I ask. His actions have taken me by surprise—especially from him, his need so palpable that I immediately slide my arms around him, hands running up and down his back, and my lips pressing a kiss to the side of his head.

We stay like this as he holds me, and I feel helpless.

“I just needed you.” Those four words said in his broken rasp as the heat of his breath hits my shoulder, are all I need to hear for my heart to constrict. There is much more between us than just sex. So much more shared than a physical act meant to bring two people together.