Rescued(24)

Hunter and I just held each other, basking in the moment. I wanted this to last forever.

“How long can you stay?” I asked. “You can’t just skip all your classes.”

He paused a moment before answering. “Well, thing is . . . after I got knocked out at that fight, I applied for a leave of absence. Arrowhart was cool about it, since they know about my MS and all.”

My mind raced, processing the fact that Hunter had dropped the semester. He hadn’t dropped out entirely, but still, this was a big deal.

“But I thought you were so close to graduating,” I said.

“I couldn’t focus on school with you gone and I needed some time to recover anyway. Don’t worry about me graduating, I only have a few credits left. I can probably just take them online when I need to.”

I frowned but didn’t say anything. Hunter had been doing pretty well in school, or at least a lot better than me. If he thought he had it under control, then it was probably fine.

“What are you planning on doing in the meantime?”

“I just want to stay close to you right now. At some point, I was thinking of moving to a motel or something, I don’t want to impose on your aunt and uncle. I’ve got some money left over from my fights so it’s cool.”

My heart danced with joy. I gave Hunter a big wet kiss on the lips. We still had a lot of things to deal with but at least we’d have some time to figure them out.





Chapter Nine

FUN AND GAMES




Hunter had told me he was usually weak after his treatment, but the next day he seemed pretty normal. A little tired, maybe, but nowhere near as bad as I feared.

The whole family spent most of the day lounging around the house. The only exception was when I went with my uncle to get a new phone. Hunter stayed behind to rest.

When we got back, he seemed animated and generally much more like himself, so much so that he volunteered to help with dishes after dinner.

“How are you feeling?” I asked, once my aunt and uncle were out of earshot. The boys had already left to go play.

“Good,” he answered.

I waited for more, but he didn’t offer anything else. Shrugging, I turned to get another dish from the counter and found one of the kittens on the counter, pawing at the food on a plate.

I cried out in surprise and Hunter snapped his head around. “Bones!” he said sternly. “Get down!”

Bones froze for a second, then scurried away. Shaking my head, I went back to the dishes.

After a little while, I noticed Hunter watching me. “Is something wrong?” I asked, turning to him.

He stuck his lower lip out and shook his head. “Nope. Was just looking to see if I think you might wanna go out tonight. I’m starting to think you’re getting a little stir-crazy.”

I bit my lip and thought about it. He was kind of right. The trip with my uncle to the mall had been the only time I’d been out other than therapy since I’d come back from Studsen.

Still, though, how would my aunt and uncle feel about us going out? They said they wanted whatever was best for my happiness, but I didn’t want to disrespect them.

“We could go out,” I said tentatively. “But I don’t think we should go anywhere that involves drinking. Beyond the problems with driving drunk, I don’t think my aunt and uncle would like it.”

“No problem,” Hunter said. “I have something in mind I think you’ll like.”

I thought about asking him if he was sure he was up for it, but stopped myself. That would make him feel like I was treating him as a patient. He could be responsible for his own limits.

“Okay,” I said. “Where is it?”

He smiled. “It’s a surprise.”

I pursed my lips, but the look on his face brought a grin to my face. “Sounds good.”

We finished up the dishes, told my aunt and uncle we were going out—they asked us not to be out too late—and soon we were in Hunter’s car, on the way to his surprise destination.

A smile played on my lips as we got close. I knew my way around Eltingville well enough to know where we were headed.

Hunter noticed my expression. “Have you guessed where we’re going?”

“You’re taking me to the carnival!” I said happily.

He laughed. “I guess it was ambitious to try to surprise you in a town you know better than I do.”

“No, it’s perfect. Thank you for thinking of this.”

We pulled into the parking lot a minute later. “You’re gonna love this next bit. Close your eyes.”

I obeyed, still excited with the prospect of the carnival. Hunter reached noisily behind him to the back seat, retrieved what he had been looking for, and then sat forward again.