Page 17 of Moon's Promise

He rose from the bed and gave a long stretch, extending his arms upward while twisting his back to the left then right as he pondered last night. He was pretty sure he owed Echo an apology. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he might have confused her with Ember when she had come into his room.

He pulled a pair of shorts out of his drawer, then left his room to go the bathroom down the hall. In the shower, he rinsed off before he washed his hair. Done, he stepped out of the tub and wrapped a towel around his hips while heading to the sink to brush his teeth.

When he casually glanced into the mirror, he stopped brushing. Narrowing his eyes on his neck, he spotted something that better not be what he thought it was.

He spit out the toothpaste and cupped his hands to fill them with water so he could rinse out his mouth before letting his fingertips investigate the red spot of color on his neck.

Echo had given him a hickey. A fucking hickey. He hated them. The sight of one on his neck infuriated him. That showed just how fucking drunk he had been last night.

After he apologized to Echo, he was going to make fucking sure she knew he wasn’t happy about it. All the women in the club knew hickeys were his pet peeves. Echo was the first one to have been given him one, and she was going to be the last.

Irritable, Moon opened the medicine cabinet in the search for the Tylenol. However, he came up short when it wasn’t in its usual spot.

Snapping the door closed, he gritted his teeth. The day was off to a wonderful fucking start.

As he left the bathroom with the towel wrapped around his hips, the smell of bacon put him in a better mood. He dressed in fresh jeans and a T-shirt before combing his hair, then put the jeans from the floor in his hamper and picked up the cream panties, laying them on top of the closed hamper. He would tell Echo at breakfast where she could find them.

A flash of a memory of Echo getting dressed in the dark and not turning the light on came to him as he was heading down the steps. Had Echo been acting weird, or was he just thinking that because he had been so out of it?

Fuck if he knew.

When he pushed the door to the kitchen open, he only found Puck and Jesus inside. Both were sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee with a big plate in front of them.

“You fuckers have better saved me some food,” he warned, moving to the counter, where he found enough to make himself a couple of plates.

Shoving a slice of bacon into his mouth, Puck commented to Jesus, “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”

After piling his plate high, Moon set his plate on the table before going to the refrigerator to pour himself a glass of orange juice. Back at the table, he sat down and started eating.

Taking a sip of his coffee, he glanced across the table to see Puck and Jesus staring at him. “What?”

“You could’ve asked if everyone has eaten yet,” Puck replied drily.

Moon shrugged. “You can make more if they haven’t.”

“I don’t want to spend all day in this kitchen,” Jesus complained.

Chewing on a piece of bacon, he shrugged again. “It doesn’t bother you when I’m the one doing kitchen duty.”

Jesus stared at him in consideration. Then, chagrined at being called out, the brother resumed eating while throwing him dirty looks.

Spreading jelly on his toast, Puck changed the subject, seeing how well Jesus had fared at trying to make him feel bad about taking so much food. “You get up to anything good last night?”

“No.” Moon gave a huff of irritation while pouring an excessive amount of sugar into his coffee. “This town is lame as fuck during Christmas.”

“It’s lame as fuck whatever the time of year,” Puck replied, getting up to refill his coffee mug.

“I like it,” Jesus gave his two cents. “At least I have a room here, and Viper doesn’t hound me to divvy up to pay for what I drink. Wizard is a stingy bastard.”

Moon had to agree with Jesus but didn’t say it out loud. Puck or Jesus would forget that they had been the ones originally complaining about Wizard and tattle for bad-mouthing him.

Puck sat back down and stared at him curiously. “Heard the women went at it last night at Mick’s.”

“Wasn’t much to it. It was over before it started. The best part was Crazy Bitch smashing into the door.”

“I’m glad I didn’t bother to get my ass out of bed, then, when Echo told me the women were going to make sure they had Jewell’s back.”

Moon sat back in his chair, finally full. “Echo didn’t want to tag along?”

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