Page 86 of Every Bit As Perfect
Who would have thought Hawkley would come back and be a pain in my ass older brother?At my age!
“Does he treat you well?”
“He’s incredibly attentive.He understands women, which I’d like to think comes strictly from being raised by a single mother, but I know better,” I responded drily.
“He called Hawk on Hunter’s death-day.”
“I can’t imagine that went well.”Hawkley was a grumpy bear at the best of times.On that day?He was practically feral.
“I can’t begin to describe to you just how badly that phone call went.Hawkley was bent on protecting your privacy, and Daire was livid.”She leaned forward, her gaze intent.“Livid.I’ve never heard anyone so angry.”She laughed shortly.“The things he said…he did not hold back, Harley.It honestly freaked me out a bit.Freaked Hawkley out, too, until I asked him to consider how he would feel if he knew I was in pain, and someone was keeping him from me.”
“He understood then and called him back, but the call went through to Daire’s voicemail.”
“He called Max,” I murmured.
She shrugged.“His temper definitely got Hawk’s hackles up.Is he ever like that with you?”
“Me?”I pointed at my chest in shock.“Never.Though he did admit he sometimes has a temper, he said it would never be directed at me.He found me, you know.And somehow, he made everything easier.”
I met her eyes.“He makes everything easier.I think he is Hunter’s wish.”
Noelle’s eyebrows rose.“Yeah?”
I nodded.
A wishing stone, one circled with a single, unbroken, white line, allowed the finder one wish.It would only come true if it was given away or thrown back into the sea right afterward.
Hunter found it on the beach when I was seventeen.The same year Max brought Daire home on one of their school breaks.The summer I first laid eyes on him.
I could hear Hunter’s deep voice as if it happened yesterday.
I was digging my toes into the sand, admiring my new polish, when he spoke.
“For my wish,” he began, tossing the rock up and down in one hand.“I want a man who is worthy of my sister to sweep her clean off her tiny size fives and carry her away to her own happily ever after.”
I laughed and grabbed onto his biceps.“No, Hunter!Don’t waste your wish on me!It’s yours.”
He smiled down at me.“You’re never a waste.”His smile widened.“Besides, you’ll owe me forever.You’ll have to name all your kids after me.Hunter the Second.Hunter the Third.Huntress.”
“Huntress,” I snorted.“I’m not calling my daughter Huntress.”
He grabbed my arm, swept his foot behind my legs, and dropped me gently onto the sand as I half-laughed, half-screamed in outrage.
Eying the horizon, his face suddenly serious, he sprang backward and hauled back his arm in preparation to wing it out over the waves, then stopped and looked at me.
“When this happens, I want a commemorative plaque.”
I rolled my eyes, secretly overflowing with the joy afforded me by the blessing of being his sister.
Throwing his arm forward, he released the wish.
I lost sight of it in the reflected light off the waves.
Smiling smugly, he made a frame with his large hands.“Hunter.Best Brother Ever.”
Noelle’s voice brought me back.“Shrimpy,” she whispered.“Are you okay?”
Tears welled in her eyes.
