Don’t you SEE, Aaron. SEE… SEE… Aaron.”
“Yes, I can see, Boyd. Okay. Sheesh! I can see. My eyes work, but I don’t see… haha… how that is going to help? I can see. You can’t. You can walk. I can’t. We can’t…” Oh… oh no. No. I got it. I didn’t want to get it, but I got it. “That’s stupid.”
“It’s not.” He sounded offended. “It’s not stupid. You can’t walk. I can. I can’t see. You can. We can help each other.”
“You gonna carry me, Rhett Butler-style?” Because there was nothing to do besides laugh at the absurdity of it. Only Boyd wasn’t laughing.
“If it gets us off this mountain, I just might do it.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Sloan
Noon
“ I CAN WALK.” R AY HUFFED, AS I held his arm over mine and helped him walk into his house. Walk was an understatement for what we were doing because it wasn’t exactly walking. It was… well… it was awkward. I’m short. And while Ray isn’t exactly tall, he’s taller than me, and he had to lean down on my shoulders, which made it all kinds of weird. I tried to help and not hurt him, but I wasn’t doing a good job of it.
“Here. Move.” Mackenzie didn’t sound upset. She just gently moved me out of the way and put Ray’s arm around her. He instantly stood straighter. She was taller than me, which was a good thing, when it came to helping someone in the house. Poor, poor Ray.
She helped me plop down on the living room couch. Mackenzie stood up, let out a breath, and then stared around the room. It occurred to me that it was the first time she’d ever seen the Hunter “mansion.” It was… well, it was a bit rundown, a bit bachelor pad, and a bit… old.
Every room on the bottom level—the foyer, hallway, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and staircase—were all painted a deep green. Hunter green, funny enough. It wasn’t the warmest color and it wasn’t the prettiest, after years of neglect, but strangely, the house sort of suited Aaron and Ray.
The couch he laid on had seen better days, as did the TV stand in the corner. But it worked.
It was also a bit messy. Two bachelor guys living together, although it was only cluttered this time. I didn’t see any trash. Aaron must have cleaned up in anticipation of the Department of Children’s Services visits. Five months ago, it was Aaron who had been accused of attacking me—accused by me because he was the person I first saw when I woke up.
Every day I regret doing that to him.
So, even though he was his seventeen-year-old brother’s legal guardian, he took off to keep from having to go to jail. Apparently, I wasn’t the first girl who had accused him of doing such a thing. You had to hand it to Aaron. He had plenty of bad luck.
Because he left, the DCS was called in to take Ray into custody, and he had to go away, too. It was bad. Very bad. I wish I could undo every bad thing I had caused to happen to those boys. They had been nothing but good to me, and I didn’t deserve it.
Aaron came back. Ray got to come home under one stipulation—they would be monitored. I cringed. Thank God Ray would be eighteen in a few days, so the threat from DCS would be null and void because I don’t think they would appreciate any of this. In fact, I knew they didn’t.
Ray had a surrogate parent appointed for him to sign him out of the hospital. The guy, I don’t remember his name, offered to come home and stay with Ray. Ray got sort of this panicked look and reminded them that he had two women coming home with him and that would be enough for any man—of course, that made us sound a bit like a bunch of prostitutes—but it didn’t matter. The guy said he’d come and check on Ray tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
I knew where we’d be tomorrow.
Ray knew too.
Mackenzie had no idea. Ray wanted it that way. He said the less people knew the better, so here I was, lying to my best friend, who had been nothing but nice to me to help the guy she liked.
Nope. I didn’t feel bad about
“Yes, I can see, Boyd. Okay. Sheesh! I can see. My eyes work, but I don’t see… haha… how that is going to help? I can see. You can’t. You can walk. I can’t. We can’t…” Oh… oh no. No. I got it. I didn’t want to get it, but I got it. “That’s stupid.”
“It’s not.” He sounded offended. “It’s not stupid. You can’t walk. I can. I can’t see. You can. We can help each other.”
“You gonna carry me, Rhett Butler-style?” Because there was nothing to do besides laugh at the absurdity of it. Only Boyd wasn’t laughing.
“If it gets us off this mountain, I just might do it.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Sloan
Noon
“ I CAN WALK.” R AY HUFFED, AS I held his arm over mine and helped him walk into his house. Walk was an understatement for what we were doing because it wasn’t exactly walking. It was… well… it was awkward. I’m short. And while Ray isn’t exactly tall, he’s taller than me, and he had to lean down on my shoulders, which made it all kinds of weird. I tried to help and not hurt him, but I wasn’t doing a good job of it.
“Here. Move.” Mackenzie didn’t sound upset. She just gently moved me out of the way and put Ray’s arm around her. He instantly stood straighter. She was taller than me, which was a good thing, when it came to helping someone in the house. Poor, poor Ray.
She helped me plop down on the living room couch. Mackenzie stood up, let out a breath, and then stared around the room. It occurred to me that it was the first time she’d ever seen the Hunter “mansion.” It was… well, it was a bit rundown, a bit bachelor pad, and a bit… old.
Every room on the bottom level—the foyer, hallway, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and staircase—were all painted a deep green. Hunter green, funny enough. It wasn’t the warmest color and it wasn’t the prettiest, after years of neglect, but strangely, the house sort of suited Aaron and Ray.
The couch he laid on had seen better days, as did the TV stand in the corner. But it worked.
It was also a bit messy. Two bachelor guys living together, although it was only cluttered this time. I didn’t see any trash. Aaron must have cleaned up in anticipation of the Department of Children’s Services visits. Five months ago, it was Aaron who had been accused of attacking me—accused by me because he was the person I first saw when I woke up.
Every day I regret doing that to him.
So, even though he was his seventeen-year-old brother’s legal guardian, he took off to keep from having to go to jail. Apparently, I wasn’t the first girl who had accused him of doing such a thing. You had to hand it to Aaron. He had plenty of bad luck.
Because he left, the DCS was called in to take Ray into custody, and he had to go away, too. It was bad. Very bad. I wish I could undo every bad thing I had caused to happen to those boys. They had been nothing but good to me, and I didn’t deserve it.
Aaron came back. Ray got to come home under one stipulation—they would be monitored. I cringed. Thank God Ray would be eighteen in a few days, so the threat from DCS would be null and void because I don’t think they would appreciate any of this. In fact, I knew they didn’t.
Ray had a surrogate parent appointed for him to sign him out of the hospital. The guy, I don’t remember his name, offered to come home and stay with Ray. Ray got sort of this panicked look and reminded them that he had two women coming home with him and that would be enough for any man—of course, that made us sound a bit like a bunch of prostitutes—but it didn’t matter. The guy said he’d come and check on Ray tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
I knew where we’d be tomorrow.
Ray knew too.
Mackenzie had no idea. Ray wanted it that way. He said the less people knew the better, so here I was, lying to my best friend, who had been nothing but nice to me to help the guy she liked.
Nope. I didn’t feel bad about
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