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He got one bracelet free and held it between his fingers as he untied another. He shook his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
The movement of his fingers had her spellbound. What was he doing?
“Monica talks too much,” he said. “I stopped listening.” He was on to a third bracelet, and he didn’t look at her. “Besides, I prefer to figure things out for myself.”
Shot Glass Kid showed up with a plastic cup. “Here. Drew will shit if she pukes in the hallway.”
That made her want to stick her finger down her throat right there.
Hunter took the cup and held it out to her. His eyes leveled with hers. “Drink.”
She took the cup and sipped. Water did nothing to tame the inferno in her stomach.
He reached out and started tying one of the bracelets around her wrist.
She was so startled that she let him. “What are you doing?”
The silvery black stone strung on the twine fell against her skin, smooth and cool. It cut through the fire better than the water had. “This is hematite. For anxiety.” His voice turned wry. “And clarity of thought.”
“It’s a rock.” But the tequila did seem to be having less effect.
The corner of his mouth quirked, and he started tying another one. His fingers were gentle and warm against her wrist. “Amethyst. It does a lot of things, but really, I’m just trying to take the edge off so you can walk.”
He was walking around with a hunk of amethyst on a piece of twine? “You’re giving me a bunch of rocks?”
“Not giving.” He glanced up. “Loaning.”
“What, are you afraid you’ll be off balance?”
“Something like that.” He tied the third bracelet. “Quartz. To help the other two.”
She looked down at the three stones on her wrist and wasn’t quite sure what to say. She sure didn’t feel drunk now. Just a buzz.
She touched her finger to the stones, and new awareness was bringing heat to her cheeks. She felt like a freak. It was probably a miracle he was still standing in front of her.
Then again, he was the one tying on rock bracelets. She glanced up at him from under her lashes. “Don’t tell me. You read Tarot cards, too?”
“Mock all you want. You feel better, right?”
She did. Standing in the hallway in this house full of people, with R&B music so loud it seemed part of her body, he somehow made her feel like they stood alone in the middle of a field. At night, under a silent moon.
Becca had to take a deep breath.
“I didn’t realize coming here would upset you,” he said.
She shrugged and looked down into the cup of water. “It’s all right.”
“My father used to tell me something, when people would screw with me,” he said. His voice got kind of quiet, and she had to lean in to hear him.
People used to screw with him? He seemed so ... untouchable. Above it.
She didn’t want to hear some sentimental pep talk, either. But his father had died, and whatever the words were, they were important to Hunter.
“What?” she said.
“Fuck ’em.”
Her head shot up. The edge of a smile played on his lips, but she could read the emotion in his eyes.
