Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 152045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 760(@200wpm)___ 608(@250wpm)___ 507(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 760(@200wpm)___ 608(@250wpm)___ 507(@300wpm)
I need to clean up before we eat.
But he glances over to the rack with white gym towels for the football players and falls back against the bench again, laughing. I don’t know why.
I turn around, taking in Winslet’s bedroom one last time. I don’t know if I’ll ever sleep here again, but I know I’ll be close. Hunter will still have his room next door, even though he’s moving home. I’m already daydreaming of Sunday afternoons when it’s raining and we want to disappear for a few hours some place that isn’t a cramped back seat. I’ll miss this house, though.
And I’ll certainly miss that cage. Last night was incredible.
“Dylan, you ready?” Hunter calls downstairs.
Music plays out in the street—someone’s car speakers—and people move in and out of the house, waiting to take me to the bridge and release me back to the Pirates.
“Almost!” I call out.
I swipe the notes off the desk, having saved those for last when I packed up all of my things. It feels wrong to remove them from the house. They’re not mine, but Hawke will want to see them, and someone left them here for me to find anyway. I’ll return them. Someday.
I stuff the notes into my backpack, making sure the window is closed, and scan the room once more as I turn off the light.
I close the door and leave, jogging down the stairs. Hunter catches me in his arms as I swing into the living room.
“I don’t want to give you back,” he whispers, hovering over my mouth.
I kiss him. “You’ll be over at your parents’,” I say, kissing him again, “not across the river anymore.”
“But he’ll be here with us all day,” Coral adds, walking past with the garbage bag to take out to the curb.
I sigh at Hunter as she heads out to the porch, and Mace and Codi drift in. “True.”
He’s not coming back to school. His team still has at least four more games, and he wants to be here. He’s just not living here anymore, though. He’s going home to his own room and will drive over here for school and practice.
“You sure you’re okay with that decision?” he asks.
“It’s the right one.”
The Rebels fit him.
“Hunter!” Farrow shouts from the street.
Hunter looks toward the door and then back to me, kissing my hair. “Meet you outside.”
I let him go, and Mace reaches out, handing me my phone. “Halloween party Friday after the game at the rink,” she tells me. “We all put our numbers in.”
“Great.” I tuck my phone away. It makes it easier to leave knowing I’ll be back for Hunter’s game in five days.
“Want me to bring anything?” I ask. I doubt I can get a hold of liquor, but I’m great with pizza.
Coral enters the house again sans garbage bag. “You can bring your dad.”
Mace and Codi laugh, and I wince. “Gross.”
“Bring the gang,” Coral says. “It’ll be cool.”
Codi removes my Pirate jacket and hands it to me. “I know we won, but…”
I shake my head. “Keep it,” I tell her. “I like the idea of it staying here, actually.” I look around to the three of them. “Pass it on to someone else when you’re ready.”
I slip my arms into my backpack and move into the kitchen, checking for anything else that’s mine.
I point to the refrigerator. “There’s some food left that I can’t really take home, so go for it.”
“Are you stealing a shirt?” Coral asks.
I stop, remembering the No Fear T-shirt I found in the closet. I open my jacket and look. “Is that okay? Did it belong to one of you?”
“It was here,” someone else says, and I see Arlet step into the house. “The clothes have always been here.”
She stops next to the others, and we didn’t talk much while I was here. Hunter made sure I knew that she was fully aware it was Kade she was sleeping with.
“Something of hers should be in the Falls, too, I guess,” Arlet tells me.
I smile, appreciating that. I still don’t think I believe these were her clothes, but as long as they’re no one else’s, then we’re good.
“Oh, I forgot my helmet.” I spin around, heading to the kitchen table.
“I’ll take this out,” Mace tells me, grabbing my other bag.
“Thanks!”
They all drift outside, and I grab the helmet Noah brought for me, already having given Farrow back the keys to his bike. I move to the stairwell door, running through the list in my head. “Phones, helmet, vibrator…”
I start to swing the door closed, but I look up just in time.
Not to the left side with Deacon and Conor’s measurements, though. I spot something on the door frame, but this time to the right. I open the door wide and take out my phone, bringing up my flashlight.
“Ready whenever you are,” Hunter says, coming up to my side.