Page 45 of Tempt Me

Hunter wakes up a lot overnight. At one point, I find her crying in the bathroom. She shares how Atticus planned to retire to Belize.

I wish I could convince Hunter to shove her pain in the back of her mind and leave it to die in the darkness. That’s what I do.

Unlike me, Hunter owns her pain. I probably would have won her heart years ago if I could have been as brave.

My bad habits are on my mind as I convince Hunter to return to bed. She should have rested more yesterday, but she kept following people around.

“What did I do to make someone massacre people on the street like that?” Hunter whimpers as fatigue and guilt fight for dominance. “I try not to be bitchy, but I made someone mad.”

“That’s on them, not you. There are people in this world with something wrong inside them. Nothing can be done except to put them down like a rabid dog.”

Though my words aren’t particularly soothing, my fatigue insists I focus on revenge. Hunter doesn’t seem impressed by my words. Still, she presses her body against mine and whispers she loves me. I like how easily she says those words.

We crash back into sleep after four in the morning. I expect an early wake-up time since Sleepy usually wants to go outside after dawn to take a piss.

That’s why I’m startled to open my eyes and find my room filled with sunlight. Realizing Hunter and Sleepy are gone, I fly out of my bed and go searching for them.

The house is quiet with everyone having already started their day. On the porch, I stumble upon Indigo with Sleepy and Grumpy at his feet. My brother looks wiped out.

“Do you think they’ll miss each other when you move in with Hunter?” he asks without looking up from the game on his phone.

“Probably,” I yawn and scan the sunny day. “Where is Hunter?”

“At Carys’s house. When I got up, Hunter was sitting out here with Sleepy. I figured she might have more fun with her girlfriends, so I scooted her in that direction.”

“Any word on the assholes from yesterday?”

“If there is, no one’s shared it with me. Noble and Zoot are supposed to be around by lunchtime. Maybe they’ll tell you something then.”

I go inside and clean up before finding Indigo staring out at the trees. He’s wearing that look he gets when he’s pissed yet won’t fess up the reason. I consider why he might be angry. He could be thinking about yesterday. Or he might be mad about someone cutting him off in traffic a year ago. Indigo isn’t easy to read.

“Did Golden piss you off last night?” I ask when he stands up and frowns at the grassy lawn between this farmhouse and the dirt road leading around the farm.

Indigo seems disheveled. His brown hair hangs loose. He looks like he slept in his clothes.

“No,” Indigo mutters. “Did it piss you off when he kept asking how your dick felt after so long without sex?”

“Yes, it did.”

Rubbing his jaw, Indigo mutters, “Golden never knows when to shut up.”

“Yeah, but sometimes, it’s better to speak up.”

“Like when?”

“Hunter got all bent out of shape over how I never mentioned Sleepy.”

Indigo stops frowning at the woods and glares at me. “Why wouldn’t you tell her about your dog? She knew about mine.”

“I was never sure what might be a dealbreaker between us, so I kept stuff to myself.”

“Would she really care about your dog?”

“I wasn’t sure. I mean, yeah, now it seems dumb to keep him a secret. But what if she didn’t like him?”

“Why wouldn’t she like Sleepy? What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s a dumb mutt. Can’t even do tricks like Zoot’s dog.”

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