Page 132 of Dark, Forbidden, & Taboo

“With Hunter.”

“Got your own place, Princess?” he teases with a smirk.

My face flushed red with embarrassment as I looked down at my plate again. I knew what he was thinking; Dad opened up his endless wallet to me and bought me my condo, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

“Yup!” I reply as cheerfully as I can. I did my best not to force it because I’m sure the last thing he needed was for someone else to feign happiness at him being back. “And it’s got two rooms, so you’ll have your own space until you get on your feet.”

“Cool.”

That was the end of The Winstead Family Reunion Dinner conversation.

___

“I’m beat,” Rogan said as soon as he closed the passenger side door to my car. I love her, my girl—I even named her Betty because to me, she’s a bad ass. A 1965 Ford Mustang, fully restored, brand-new leather seats, and an engine louder than Dad when he blows a gasket.

“Where’d you get this?” he inquires tiredly as he leaned his seat back and closed his eyes.

“Dad,” I reply quietly.

It was the one hand-me-down I got from him, and it belonged to his older brother. When he died a few years back, Dad told me the estate had left it to me, and I was pumped.

Still am.

Rogan snickered before he took a deep breath and let out a long-winded sigh.

“Take me home, little sister.”

Chapter

Four

After I parked Betty in her assigned space, I led Rogan up the walkway. It struck me as odd that Mom was so damn worked up about someone seeing her with her wildly tattooed, ex-con son, while I kinda felt proud to have such a tough guy for a brother.

Once inside, I grabbed his bag from him and motioned for him to follow me upstairs. There was a spare room across frommine that I felt would be the best place to put him for the time being. Besides, being cooped up for so damn long with no privacy, I’m sure he’d appreciate a spot to call his very own.

“Hope this works for ya,” I tell him with a nervous smile as I push the door open and let him step inside.

Rogan rubbed the back of his neck as he glanced around the room, then turned to give me a grin. “This will do just fine, Hunter. Thanks.”

I nodded and retreated from the room.

It was nighttime now, so there was no reason for me to ask him if he was hungry.

At this point, I’m sure he just wanted a good night’s rest, anyway.

I walked into my bedroom and closed the door quietly behind me. I assumed by now Rogan would have been either asleep or getting ready for it, so I didn’t want to wake him up by slamming my door like I normally do.

It was my own way of keeping the monsters out from under my bed, and a warning to anyone that might be prowling the area that I would be ready for a fight. Not that I’d know the first thing of tussling with anyone who wasn’t Rogan, and we were kids then, so God knows I’d probably go down faster than I thought I might.

I quickly changed into my pajamas and climbed into bed.

I didn’t realize how exhausted the day had left me until that moment and I let out a wide yawn as I closed my eyes and pulled the blanket up to my chin.

Knock, knock.

My eyes opened and I stared at the ceiling for a moment. Maybe I had heard things and it wasn’t what I thought it might be.

After a few seconds of cicadas singing outside my window and nothing else, I closed my eyes again.

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