Rescued(21)
“What? They’ve finally quieted down.”
“That’s the sound of two boys about to raise some trouble. I’m going to go check in on them, can you finish up for me?”
I nodded and started stacking the plates into the drying rack. Hopefully my cousins weren’t getting into too much trouble.
As I was drying my hands, Hunter walked into the kitchen. I smiled at him when he came in, noticing his messy hair. One of the kittens had probably been sitting on his head just seconds before.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey yourself. Thanks for playing with Joel and Billy. I think they really look up to you.”
He laughed. “I’m hardly somebody they should look up to.”
“I don’t know about that,” I said, frowning. “What’s going on in there, anyway? Aunt Caroline thought you boys were getting into trouble.”
“Ah, nothing. We finished the book. Or I did, anyway. Right now I think they’re trying to coax Frida out of her hiding spot.”
“Maybe we can help,” I said. I started to walk towards the living room, but stopped when Hunter didn’t follow me.
His eyes darted to me for a moment before he looked aside. “What? Oh, uh . . . yeah.”
I felt my muscles go tense. Something was up.
“What’s going on? Are the kittens okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. Nothing like that. Can we—” He stopped and tried again. “Can we talk?”
“Of course!” I answered, a little more cheerfully than I intended. He was acting weird and it was making me nervous.
“Let’s go to the guest room,” he said. He grabbed my hand and led me down the hall.
My pulse pounded in my ears. What did he want to tell me that he didn’t want anyone else overhearing?
After I stepped through, he locked the guest room door, his shoulders hunched over and tense. His face was grim and he didn’t say anything. I didn’t know why, but my eyes were starting to sting. The past few days with Hunter had been wonderful, but I knew it couldn’t last forever.
Did he need to go back to Studsen? He couldn’t just skip all of his classes, no matter how smart he was. Even so, I wasn’t quite ready for him to leave yet.
Hunter cleared his throat, breaking into my thoughts.
“Uh . . . so, I know we didn’t talk about this a lot, but . . . ”
“What is it? What’s wrong?” I asked, my chest tight with anxiety.
“My MS . . .”
My heart raced. “Oh my god. Is it getting worse? I thought—”
“No!” he yelled.
I flinched at his tone and took a step back. I hadn’t expected such a strong reaction from him.
He shook his head slowly. “No,” he said, more softly this time. “It’s not like that. I’m fine.”
“It’s not? You’re okay?”
“Yeah.”
First I felt relieved, but then I noticed the look on Hunter’s face. His eyes were downcast and he shook his head. “Listen, I can’t stand you thinking that I’m gonna die any second. That kills me.”
“I’m sorry. I just . . . ”
I knew Hunter was right. Even though it was too late, I wished I could take my words back. Why was he always able to be so strong for me but I kept messing it up? He was trying to tell me something important, and the only thing I could think about was my own irrational fear. I was treating him the same way everyone else did when they found about about his MS. I had hurt him.
“It’s okay,” he said, letting out a heavy sigh.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. I felt like I owed him an explanation.
“I know how important this is to you, but this is just all so new to me. I’m—I’m scared.”
His gray eyes searched my face with an intense focus. Then he nodded, his jaw working slowly. “I know you’re trying. Don’t be scared. Sometimes when you’re in a fight being afraid of getting hit is worse than the hit itself.”
I nodded, my lips trembling. He grabbed my shoulders and held me to him tightly. I rested my face on his shoulder, inhaling his scent. Just being close to him was making me calmer. Whatever Hunter wanted to tell me, I was ready for it. There was no reason to be afraid. After a few more moments of taking deep, shuddering breaths, I felt more composed again and pulled away.
“What did you want to tell me?” I asked, wiping the moisture from my eyes.
Hunter walked over to the small gym bag he had brought. He pulled out a small black pouch and sat down on the bed with a deep breath. His fists clenched and released. “Can we sit down?”
I followed him over to the bed, not taking my eyes off of the pouch. What was in it that would make him react this way? I put my arm around his shoulders and felt his muscles knotted and tight. His back rose and fell with his breathing. We sat there for a few moments. I waited for him to get ready for whatever he was about to tell me, my pulse pounding in my ears.