Page 104 of Coerced

He popped the trunk and gathered bags that he carried to the girls’ room. I followed and sank down on a bed to watch them sort the provisions from Mira’s new gear. My eyes barely slitted open, I assessed Mira and was satisfied to see she looked refreshed.

I’m jealous.I feel like I could sleep for a week.

“Boylegs?” She held up a package.

“Rome picked them.” Kerry dug into his precious crackers.

When she looked at me curiously, I shrugged.

“They looked comfortable,” I said.

“They’re my favs. I was surprised that you guessed.” She smiled. “Thanks.”

“You better appreciate the bras, too, because they almost cost Rome his life,” Kerry said through a mouthful of peanut butter.

“Do I want to know?” Gigi pursed her lips with amusement and quirked an eyebrow.

I wasnotsharing that conversation. It would only make me sound like a perv.

“No, you do not.” I gave her a warning frown.

“But if they’re wrong,” he went on, “don’t blame us. We got a girl employee to pick them out, because we didn’t have a clue.”

The girls giggled, and I rolled my eyes.

“I thought about getting you some different shoes, but you seem pretty attached to those rockstar boots.” He pointed at them. “And I didn’t know your size.”

“I love my boots!” She grinned.

“Like I said.”

Then they found the bag stuffed with chocolate. Kerry hadn’t stinted. He’d picked out a variety of bars and tossed them in the cart.

“Kerry, do you want these in your snack bag, or with the group supplies?” Gigi looked at Mira and, in a mock whisper, said, “He’s always hungry. And if he doesn’t get fed, he gets cranky. And, trust me, nobody wants a cranky Kerry.”

“Sorry.” To my surprise, he hung his head. “I know it’s an issue. I’m working on it. Honest.”

Talk about an uphill battle. And he never complains. He just keeps on trudging. One baby step at a time.

“Oh, Kerry.” Gigi laid her fingertips on the back of one of his fists. “I was only joking. You go ahead and eat as much as you need to. And we all get cranky from time to time.”

He unclenched the fist she’d touched and flipped his hand to catch her fingers, which surprised me even more. Kerry Harker was not a toucher, and now I knew why. I wondered if some of the kid’s issues might also stem from knowing his own strength and fearing he’d accidentally hurt someone.

Nah. That’s me projecting my own fears onto him.

I’d been two inches shy of seven feet tall since I was eighteen, and every year I packed on a little more muscle without even trying. Horsing around with my buddies or playing with the dogs back home, I’d always had to be careful not to use even half my strength.

Then there were girls. Kissing one a foot and a half shorter presented enough of a challenge, but it was the fragility that frightened me off most of the time. They were just so …small.

I glanced at Mira. She was the tallest, sturdiest girl I’d ever met. Not that I would ever dream of calling her sturdy to her face. She’d drop-kick my heinie into the next room and be justified in doing it.

Still, I’d only have to bend my head to kiss her. And her lips certainly look kissably soft.

“Yeah,” Kerry’s gloomy voice brought me out of my thoughts, “but you don’t set dorm rooms on fire when you run out of popcorn in the middle of a movie.”

I had to hold back a chuckle at the look on his face. I wished I could have been around to see more of his acclimation to high school life. Those early days must have provided endless entertainment, and I could only imagine the conversations he and Gemma had.

“True,” Gigi said. “But I also wasn’t starved to a skeleton over the course of ten years.”

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