Page 68 of Chosen Boy

And, yeah…I’ll probably be thinking about that kiss the entire dance.

Hunter

I hold her in my arms like my life depends on it. Like, if I let her go, I’ll never hold her this way again. And the thought of that really fucking bothers me.

Every ounce of her being drives me to the point of madness. But to be honest, being totally sane sounds pretty fucking boring without her next to me.

Our song ends, and our faces are so close by the time I bring her down from the air that her nose almost touches mine.

I miss her. Ireallyfucking miss her.

As we head offstage, I follow her out back, and she walks into one of the small changing rooms, pulling the curtain across.

“Are we going to talk? Like, really talk?” I ask, trying to keep my voice as soft as I possibly can even though a part of me wants to throw her over my shoulder and force her to go home with me.

“What do we need to talk about, Hunter?” she tosses back.

“I miss you,” I tell her, meaning it so much that it fucking hurts. “And I have every fucking second since the last time I kissed you before today. All I do is fucking miss you.” Pulling back the curtain, I step inside with her. “And I’ve been worried about you. Before Ginger fired you, I was worried about you getting assaulted at work. I’ve been worried about the information I gave you. I’m worried about your shitty fucking lungs.” I shake my head, looking down. “I’m worried all. The. Fucking. Time. And I don’t want to be this way, Sutton. I never have been before, not really anyway.” I sigh. “With you, I’m so fucking scared. Nonstop.”

Her expression softens as she pulls her sweatshirt onto herself. “I’m fine, Hunter. I promise.” She steps toward me, looking up. “I want you to go be happy. You deserve that.”

“You know what would make me happy? If you are up for it, let me take you to see Brody tonight. He’s in town, and I told him I’d have a drink with him after I leave here.” I move my hand to her cheek. “This is your chance, Sutton. Your chance to know your brother.” I laugh lightly. “He’s a crazy motherfucker, but he’s got a heart made of gold. I promise you that.”

She looks nervous, her eyes dancing between mine. “What if he doesn’t want to know me?” she whispers. “What if he gets mad?”

“He won’t,” I assure her. “He might be shocked, and it might take him a few minutes to understand, but he won’t be mad. I know that much.”

She looks up at me, eyebrows pulled together. “I never thought I’d say this, Thompson, but…I missed you.” She wraps her arms around me. “Like, really, really missed you.”

“I missed you too. So fucking much.” I tuck a loose piece of hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry I acted like a dick. I just…I don’t know. I guess that even though I have no right, I was worried about you working in a place like that.” I shrug. “But I’m also really fucking jealous. I hate that your job meant men got to rake their nasty eyes over your perfect body, Sutton. It made me sick because I know what kinds of thoughts they were thinking. But I am truly sorry that I’m the reason you got fired.” I shake my head. “That wasn’t my intention.”

“I understand,” she whispers. “I didn’t love the job either, Hunter. Not because I felt embarrassed—because, honestly, that wasn’t really it. There are women working there to provide better lives for themselves and some for their children. There is nothing shameful about that. But I didn’t like being looked at like that either. Not by random people. But it was good money.Reallygood money. So good that, luckily, I banked enough to pay for my meds for a few months.”

“I wish you’d let me help you,” I murmur against her hair. “I know you won’t. But I would—in a heartbeat.”

“I know you would,” she says softly. “I’ll go see Brody. What do I have to lose, right?”

“I guess that’s one way to look at it,” I say, pulling her against me. “He’s going to love you. You’ll see. Just be warned…he’s a crude dude.”

She laughs. “Great. My birth brother is a perv.”

“Yeah, but lucky for you, since he fell in love and is going to be a dad soon, he’s a completely different man than the one I knew before Bria. Bless that girl for sticking around.”

“They are having a baby?” she whispers, her eyes widening.

I nod. “Yep. Looks like you get a two-for-one deal. Brother and niece or nephew, all in one.” I pull her into my side, throwing my arm around her. “Now, let’s go, Little Bird. Time to meet your brother.”

She has enough going on right now, and I don’t need to add on to that and tell her that I’ve fallen in love with her. So, I hold it in.

For now anyway.

She’ll find out soon enough.

Sutton

My stomach churns at the same rate as a soft-serve ice cream machine. I know my armpits are probably sweating. Heck, even my forehead feels like it’s gathering drops of sweat on it.

I feel like I’m going to throw up.

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