AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I tap my finger against my bottom lip. “Well, that just gave me motivation to embarrass you.”
He smirks. “Game on, pretty Raven. But trust me; you’re going to lose.”
“We’ll see.” I sound more confident than I am, since Hunter really doesn’t seem like the sort of guy who gets embarrassed.
“You know what, I’ll help her,” Jax chimes in. “I’d love to see you squirm.”
Hunter makes a big show of rolling his eyes. “Good luck with that, you two.”
“Thanks,” I remark cheekily.
Jaxon sticks out his fist for a fist bump, and I tap my knuckles against his.
“Aw … aren’t you two adorable?” Hunter mocks as he rises to his feet. Then he offers me his hand. “Come on; I want to show you to your new room.”
“Shouldn’t I wait until I’m officially moving in before I call it my room?” I state, placing my hand in his and letting him pull me to my feet. “Because something could happen that could prevent that from happening … me moving in, I mean.”
Hunter promptly shakes his head, his gaze turning serious. “No matter what, we’re going to get you out of that house.” His fingers stray to my side, and he lightly grazes them against my shirt, the side that conceals all of my new wounds and scars.
I wince, not because it hurts, but over the worry that perhaps he told Jax about the scars. Although, Jax may have seen them when he shared his body heat with me after he pulled me from the river.
Speaking of Jax, Hunter is now looking at him with a frown on his face.
I twist around to see what’s up only to find Jax staring off into empty space while bouncing his knee up and down and scraping the ring against his teeth.
“Jaxon, stop,” I say softly as I reach over and steer his hand away from his mouth.
He startles, darting his gaze to me.
“You were doing that scraping thing again,” I explain. “It’s so bad for your teeth.” I offer him a smile then move to pull my hand back, but he latches onto it. Then he stands and threads his fingers through mine. I would totally be okay with this—I mean, friends hold hands sometimes, right?—but it does feel a bit weird with Hunter holding my other hand.
Hunter notices this, too, his gaze fleetingly straying to Jax’s hand in mine. Jax makes no move to withdraw his hand, but to be fair, he appears to be extremely distracted and may not even notice.
Exhaling softly, Hunter lets go of my hand and loops his arm through mine. Then he plasters on a huge smile. “Come on, princess; let’s go see your new room,” he announces, going back to his cheerful self. Then he steers me toward the doorway with Jax in tow, still holding onto my hand.
“Princess?” I give Hunter an unimpressed look. “Dude, seriously?”
“What?” he asks innocently. “I think it’s fitting.”
I stare at him, unimpressed. “It’s the least fitting nickname you could possible use with me.”
“So, you prefer pretty Raven, then?” He’s all sorts of delighted amusement.
I let out a dramatic sigh. “I prefer my name, but if you have to give me a nickname, I’d prefer pretty Raven over anything else.”
His amusement doubles as we reach the stairs. “Glad I have your permission to use it.”
“Was that your plan all along?” I ask as we start up the stairway. “To make me hate every other nickname so that I’ll be okay with you calling me pretty Raven?”
He presses his hand to his chest, but the corners of his lips twitch. “Now, why would I ever do something like that?”
I shake my head, biting back a smile. It’s a weird sensation for me to be smiling, but it seems to be a growing occurrence around him.
“I think I won that round,” Hunter remarks, grinning as he quickens his pace toward the top of the stairway.
I internally sigh then shiver as Jax leans up behind me, putting his lips close to my ear. “I think we should come up with a plan on how we’re going to embarrass him because, personally, I’d really like to make him eat his own words.”
I peer around at him. We’re so close that are lips nearly brush, but he makes no effort to slant back. Still, I can see a trace of a smile on his face.
