My Favorite Mistake(46)

“Profound.”

“Come on. Don’t be like that. All the other girls I’ve known would have been thrilled and would have showed it to anyone whether they wanted to see it or not. Some would have thought it was a proposal. But you didn’t. You were pissed I’d spent money on you.”

“I’m still pissed about it, but what am I going to do about it?”

“Exactly.”

“What?”

“You’re just different. I like that.”

“Whatever.”

We kept walking silently.

“I like that you’re nice to people,” I said.

“What?”

I had sort of mumbled it. “You’re nice to people when you don’t have to be. Like those drunk girls and Susan. You act like you’re this big badass, but you’re really not.”

“Are you saying I’m not a badass? Then all these tattoos were for nothing. What shall I do?” He shook his fist to the sky.

“Aw, did I insult your badassery?”

“I’m wounded,” he said, clutching his heart. “You must soothe my wounds.”

“How?”

“Gimme some sugar,” he said, stopping and pointing to his puckered lips.

“No way, man.” I tried to walk, but he wouldn’t let me.

“Come on. Give your fiancé a kiss.”

“That was your stupid idea.”

“Nonetheless. Kiss me, please.” If only he hadn’t said please.

“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to. It was that I knew if our lips met, I wasn’t in control of what happened next. It was like I had an excess of sexual frustration built up after so many years of celibacy. Could that happen?

I pressed my lips together so there was no hope of tongue and gave him a little peck.

He shook his head.

“Nope. Still in pain. Gotta do better than that.” I tried again, giving him a little bit longer, but still pulling back as soon as I wanted more.

“Who are you, my grandmother?”

I was about to stomp my foot and say enough when my phone rang.

“Forget about it,” he said, leaning in.

“It’s my mom’s ringtone.” It was Hip To My Heart by The Band Perry. She loved that song. “I need to take this.” I hadn’t talked to my mom in a while and I felt horrible about it.

“Hey, Mom.”

“Hey, Kid! I feel like it’s been ages since we talked. I got out of work early, so I thought I’d give you a ring. You’re not in class are you?”

“Nope. I wouldn’t have answered if I was. Or I’d be whispering.”

“Right. So how are you?”

“I’m good. Busy. Classes are nuts.”

“That’s good. How’s the job?”

“That’s good to.”

“And the roommate situation?”

“Tell her it’s great,” Hunter whispered. The volume on the phone was loud enough for him to hear. I turned it down and walked away from him.

“It’s sort of been resolved.” So far. “I’m going to deal with it for the rest of the semester and then we’ll see.”

“Oh, good. You sound better. You sound really happy, actually.”

“Do I?”

“Yes, you do. What’s the cause?” The boy who was currently trying to wind his arms around my waist and distract me from talking to you.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s just the new year. My birthday is coming up.”

Mom wasn’t fooled. “It’s a boy, isn’t it?”

“Not really.”

“Oh. My. God. I thought it would never happen. I want details, Kid.” She sounded like Tawny.

“He’s just a guy.”

“You know that’s not true.”

“Not really,” I said. Hunter was trying to tickle me. “Will you stop that?”

“What?” Mom said. I glared at Hunter, and he gave me a wide-eyed innocent look.

“Nothing, I wasn’t talking to you.”

“That was him, wasn’t it? Is he there with you? If you’re on a date, we can talk later, as long as I get details. Oh, God, you’re not in the middle of something, are you?”

“Mom!” My face went scarlet as Hunter laughed quietly.

“I was just asking. You never know. Are you on a date?” The excitement in her voice was palpable, even over the phone.

“We’re not on a date.”

“Yes we are,” Hunter said, loud enough for her to hear.

I put my hand over the speaker.

“Will you shut up?”

“Kid, why don’t you call me back? Oh, before you go, I thought I could have you and Tawny over for family dinner on Saturday night. Why don’t you bring him? I’d love to meet him.”

“You don’t even know his name.”

“Doesn’t matter. If he’s gotten through your walls, I know he’s something special. Your standards are high.”

“Yes, they are,” Hunter said in my ear. His warm breath was making it very hard to think. “I’d love to meet your mother.”

“Was that him?”

“Yes.”

“Tell her I’d love to meet her,” he said so loud that I’m sure people from miles around could have heard him. I gave him a death glare.

“Tell him that’s great. I’ll be sure to make you something special.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Call me later, Kid.”

“I will.”

“You’d better. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

I hung up with Mom and jabbed my fist into Hunter’s stomach. He dodged at the last moment and wrapped his arms around me, giving me a bear hug.

“I can’t wait to meet your mom. I want to see what you’ll look like in twenty- five years.”

“Well, since you invited yourself to dinner, I guess there’s nothing I can do to stop you.”

“Exactly.” He dived in and got a good kiss in, smiling against my mouth. I totally let him. “There. Now was that so hard?”

I made a grumpy noise.

“Come on; let’s go have some music sex.”

We settled back in our spot, and Hunter serenaded me as the sun sunk lower in the sky. Renee and Darah texted me, asking when we were getting back. I messaged them back and said I didn’t know. I was at Hunter’s mercy. Renee was dying for details. She’d probably be disappointed with my lame details.

“One last song. What’ll it be?” he said.

“How about something older? Oooh, how about Love Me Tender?”

“Elvis?”

“What? He’s the King.”

“Yes, yes he is.”

I put my hands behind my head and stared up at the sky as Hunter’s voice lulled me into that safe bubble again. My stupid phone popped it.

I stared at the screen. Tawny. I ignored the call. I’d call her back later. Hunter kept singing, drawing the song out longer than it normally would be.

Immediately, she called back. That raised a red flag. She didn’t do that unless there was a reason.

“What’s up?” I said, trying to keep the panic out of my voice. Hunter stopped playing.

“Travis is up for parole.”





Twenty-Four





Every bit of oxygen I’d had in my lungs left in one puff of air.

“What?” Hunter looked at me with a question mark on his face. I turned away from him.

“He’s up for parole. There’s a hearing in a couple of weeks.”

“But he has two more years.”

“I know, but you know how it works. He got the date almost two months ago, but they forgot to let us know.”

“They can’t let him out,” I whispered.

“They could.”

“Can we go?”

“We should be able to, since we’re both victims. They should have called you, too.” I’d had a call earlier, but I’d let it go to voicemail since I didn’t know the number. What a moron.

“What’s wrong? You’re shaking.” Hunter put his hands on my shoulders.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” I shrieked.

“Taylor! Don’t freak out. It will be fine. They’re not going to let him out. Where are you?” Tawny said.

“Camden.”

“What are you doing there?”

“Not important.”

“Okay, well I want you to go back to your apartment and stay there. Is there someone to stay with you?”

“Uh huh.” Hunter didn’t touch me, but started packing up our stuff.

“It’s Hunter, isn’t it? Have you told him yet?” Tawny said.

“No.”

“Let me talk to him.”

“NO!”

“I’m not going to tell him. Just let me talk to him.”

“She wants to talk to you.” I handed him the phone. Nothing after she’d said the thing about Travis had seemed real.

“Hi, Tawny, what’s up?” His voice was clipped. He walked away from me and listened, then responded in a hushed tone. “Okay, we’re going.”

I didn’t move. I wasn’t sure if I could.

“We were supposed to have two more years. Then I was going to leave and go where he couldn’t find me,” I said to whoever would listen.

“Come on, we need to get you home,” Hunter said. My legs wouldn’t work. “All right, baby, I’m going to pick you up, okay?”