Tawny had to pinch me to tell me it was time to go.
“If you have any questions, please call me and just remember, even if he’s released early, he will still be on the Sex Offender Registry for the rest of his life. That means he’ll be under extreme scrutiny, so there is nothing for you to worry about, okay?” Easy for him to say.
“If that’s all, I’ll see you next Thursday. Have a good afternoon, ladies.”
We both shook his hand and exited, Tawny keeping her hand on my back.
“Stairs,” she said, as if I needed reminding.
“I’ve got it.”
“I know.”
We walked out of the office, and I finally felt like I could breathe.
“You okay? I thought I lost you again.”
“I zoned.”
“I noticed.”
“Did you get everything?”
“More or less. I’ll call you when you’re not in zombie mode and we’ll discuss. Okay?”
“Works for me.” She handed me my half of the packet, which included a breakdown of court proceedings and victim’s rights.
We walked back to our separate cars, and I found that someone was leaning against mine.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Hunter was perched on the hood of my car, my e-reader in his hand.
“Took a cab. I knew you wouldn’t let me come, so I decided to do it without telling you. How are you doing?”
Well, I was vertical and I hadn’t thrown up or passed out. That was something. I shrugged one shoulder.
“Thanks for coming,” Tawny said, giving him a one-armed hug. He didn’t go for me right away, as if sensing I didn’t want to be touched at the moment.
“Anytime. Gotta do right by my girl. Hey, do you have my number? You know, just in case Taylor forgets to tell me about things like this?”
“Hello? Standing right here,” I said.
“Sure.”
They exchanged numbers, and Tawny gave me a hug before hopping in her car and saying she’d see me next week. Joy.
“Are you happy to see me?” he said.
“Yes and no. I’m mad at you for missing class, but not mad because it was a very sweet thing to do.”
“I can settle for that. Can I touch you?”
I nodded and he gave me a gentle hug, but refrained from kissing me.
“How was it?”
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I checked out for most of it. Tawny took notes.”
“I’m sure she did. You ready to go home?”
“Yeah.” I let him drive because my brain was too tired to drive and think at the same time.
“You hungry?”
“Not really.”
“You haven’t eaten much today. Why don’t we stop somewhere?”
“There’s a diner one exit up that has PB and J on the adult menu,” I said.
“This is a place we need to visit.”
So we did.
I ordered a PB and J with strawberries, and he got banana in his. Hunter turned out to be a master of talking about things that weren’t important, but interesting enough to keep my mind occupied. He probably learned it from Hope, or his mother, or both.
We shared a dark chocolate shake, with two straws and everything.
“I feel like I should be saying you look swell,” he said.
I batted my eyelashes. “Golly gee, Hunter. That sure is sweet of you.”
“Swell is a cool word. We need to bring it back.”
“We should. Let’s do it.”
“I shall put it in a song.”
“And I will applaud that song.”
“You are very good at applauding.”
I nodded seriously. “It’s one of my talents.”
I put the meeting with Mr. Woodward to the back of my mind, along with all the other scary things. No doubt they were going to get me in the middle of the night anyway. I didn’t want that infringing on my Hunter time.
We drove back to campus, and I fell asleep in the car. When I woke, I was in my bed with Hunter, pjs on, with him lying next to me, lamp on, e-reader in hand.
“What are you so enthralled with?” I said.
“I have to see who she’s going to end up with.”
“There are still more books.”
“There are? Damn. I was hoping we could put this baby to bed.”
“You are so weird.”
“Swell. I’m swell.”
“Oh, right.”
He put down my e-reader, making sure it was safe back in the case.
“May I kiss you now? My swell lips have been very lonely.” He pouted, making me laugh.
“I think so.” I puckered, and we shared a fish-faced kiss.
We switched to regular kissing, and Hunter ran his hands under my shirt. I wasn’t wearing a bra.
“Bad boy.”
“Why would I let something get in my way of these?” He gave one a little squeeze. I gasped and smacked his hand.
“Two more days.” He buried his face into my chest.
“Okay, okay.”
I rubbed his head, massaging my fingers in circles. His eyes closed and he hummed. It sounded like Home by Phillip Philips, only a slow and sexy version. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was only nine- thirty.
“The girls gave us another night alone.”
“They’re so sweet.”
“I know. I’m going to miss them when we move out,” he said.
“We’re not moving out.”
“Not this second. But soon.”
“I’m not doing this with you now.” I took my hands away from his head. He made a grumpy noise in protest.
“That wasn’t very swell of me to do, considering the day you had. I’m sorry.”
“No, I am too. I just freak out whenever money is mentioned. It’s some sort of weird reflex.”
“Why don’t you want me to rent us an apartment?”
“Because I think things should be as fair as we can make them. You renting us an apartment makes me feel like a mooch. Like I need you to take care of me.”
He seemed to think about that for a moment.
“You don’t need me to take care of you, but I like spending money on you. The apartment would be a gift. Something for us to share. You give me more than money could ever buy. You love me. Fucked-up, tattooed, badass, swell me.”
“I wish it were that easy.”
“Let’s shelve that discussion for another time, shall we?”
“Sure.”
We shelved talking too and resorted to lots of kissing. I could never get tired of kissing Hunter. He was very good with his mouth.
We stayed up late talking about the pros and cons of dating a vampire, and other words that had lost their popularity since 1952.
I somehow slept through the night sans nightmares.
“Thanks,” I said as I got out of bed.
“You’re welcome?”
“I didn’t have any nightmares.”
“No, you didn’t. Neither did I.”
“You haven’t had one for a while.”
“It’s because I have my good luck charm with me all the time.” I looked down at the necklace he’d given me the day before. It was all twisted up in my hair. Then I noticed the shirt I was wearing. It was one of his, which I knew last night, but it had a caption on it.
“Does this shirt seriously say, ‘Everything’s Bigger in Texas’?”
“Why yes it does.” I shook my head as I headed for the coffeepot.
I somehow got through a round of early semester tests, even with Hunter distracting me and the whole parole hearing drama.
Tawny and I had nightly chats, reading what we were preparing to say to each other and changing and modifying. I had to take a lot of cursing out of mine. Hunter was all for me leaving it in. Or replacing every curse word with swell.
Hunter was there for me every step of the way, but he’d been acting strange. I kept catching him on the phone, and he’d quickly hang up when I came in the room. I also caught him having several powwows with the roommates and their men. I even caught him having a little chat with Megan when I had her over for a girl’s spa night where we’d spent more time online looking at wedding stuff and cheap apartment furniture than doing our nails or deep conditioning our hair.
Then there were the times when he said he was getting extra hours at the library, but I knew for a fact that he wasn’t there. I’d become friends with one of the other workers, Ashley, and when he said he was there, I’d text her and she’d confirm or deny since she worked so many hours. He was never there when he said he was.
Something was up with him, and I was determined to find out what it was. Naturally, I pretended that I didn’t notice anything and tried to eavesdrop as much as I could. He seemed to be on to me, because I got next to nothing.
I wasn’t in top eavesdropping form anyway. I figured after the hearing I’d have plenty of chances. I didn’t think about what was going to happen if he got parole. That wasn’t an option.
“Doesn’t everyone in Texas own a gun?” I asked Hunter the night before the hearing. I’d turned into Twitchy Taylor. I couldn’t sit still, so I’d grabbed his rolling desk chair and started spinning it in circles.
“Pretty much. Why?”
“I was going to ask Tawny to get me shooting lessons for Christmas this year.”
“I would have gotten them for you if I’d known,” he said, glancing up from his economics textbook.
“It’s okay. I just thought it would be a good idea. You know, just in case.”