So Rare (Boys of South Chapel #3)

26. Hunter

Chapter 26

Hunter

NOW

I peek my eyes open, only to close them again quickly. The room is blindingly bright, which confirms what I suspected. There’s too much light for it to still be morning. I’ve been asleep for a very long time.

With a yawn, I stretch my arms overhead and take my time coming back to the land of the living.

The next time I open my eyes, the last few days flood my mind.

Magnolia shushing me and keeping me loopy. Lying in the back seat of a car through the entirety of a long, bumpy ride, followed by being strapped into a golf cart for an even rougher ride.

The blood on my hands. The blood from my veins.

I shudder at the memories but force myself past those thoughts to brighter ones.

To Greedy. Levi. Spence.

They came for me. They saved me. And they got me out of there so quickly, I didn’t have time to question how they located me or pulled any of it off.

“Hey, sleepyhead.” Greedy’s sitting up beside me, scrolling on his phone.

“Hi,” I croak, scooting up the bed and climbing into his lap. “Where are the others?” I ask through another yawn.

His face pinches but quickly softens again. “They’re here,” he assures me. “They were just giving us space.”

Why? Space and distance are the last things I want from my guys after everything we’ve been through.

More memories rush back.

Greedy tucking me into bed. Greedy holding me in his arms as I drifted off to sleep. Greedy telling me to leave his jersey on before he slid home and made love to me so passionately my belly flip-flops from the recollection alone.

“Thank you for taking care of me last night.”

“Always, Tem. You don’t have to thank me. I want to spend the rest of my life caring for you.” He smooths his large, calloused hands over my legs and up my sides. “How are you feeling today?”

“Sore,” I admit, stretching out my arms and legs to get a bit more movement in my joints. “My head hurts, too. Probably because I haven’t taken my meds for a few days.”

Greedy hums. “You took your SSRI yesterday, as soon as we found you. Spence made sure of it.”

“I did?” I don’t remember that.

“How… how long was I gone?”

Greedy releases a pained sigh. “Two days. From what we can tell, you left the cabin around five a.m. Maybe we could have gotten to you sooner, but we had to be smart about it. We couldn’t just go in without a plan.”

My heart lodges itself in my throat as emotion bleeds into every one of his words. “I’m so sorry you guys had to go through all that.” With my arms around his bicep, I snuggle into his side. He doesn’t need to assure me they did everything in their power to find me. I know that down to the very core of who I am.

“What else do you remember from your time with Magnolia?” Greedy hedges.

I give myself a few breaths to collect my thoughts, ignoring the discomfort gnawing at my stomach. “A lot of it is blurry. Like I watched it happen to someone else instead of experiencing it firsthand. The time closer to when you found me is clearer. One minute, they were drawing my blood—”

His body goes rigid beneath me. “Are you serious? Why ?”

“My mother wanted a vampire facial, I think? It’s where they draw blood, separate the platelets, then take the platelet-rich plasma and inject it into the skin. Although my mom wasn’t having her own blood drawn for the procedure,” I add flippantly.

Greedy gapes. “Wait. She was taking your blood to inject into her face?”

Nose wrinkled, I shrug. “Are you actually surprised?”

With a sigh, he pulls me tighter, as if holding me close can erase the hell I’ve been through. He kisses the top of my head. Then kisses my temple, too.

“I guess not,” he finally admits, his tone full of defeat.

“One minute, the technician was drawing my blood and I was trying not to pass out, and the next, two staff members were coming into the tent and telling us we had to go immediately. That it couldn’t wait. I don’t know what you guys said or did to make them react like that, but it worked.”

Greedy’s jaw ticks, but for once, it’s not in agitation. He looks like he’s trying not to smile. “Spence bought the facility.”

All the air is stolen from my lungs as I stare at him.

“That’s why it took so long to get to you. He bought the whole place, and he had to make sure all the contracts and paperwork were in order before we barged in and started making demands.”

God dammit. I fucking love that man. “Classic Kabir.”

Greedy hums. “Sure is.” Then he stiffens again. “Wait, you remember them? Spence and Levi?”

“Of course I remember them.” What kind of question is that?

I peek up through my lashes and search Greedy’s face. The pity in his eyes has me instantly on edge.

“You didn’t remember them yesterday. Not really.”

Oh.

Shit.

My stomach rolls with worry as I try to recall any encounters I’ve had with the other two men in my life over the past few days.

I saw them, spoke to them. I knew I was safe in their presence. But when I really focus on the time between leaving the facility and now, all I really remember is Greedy.

“Were they upset because of me?” I ask, heart squeezing.

“Spence was fine. Or he acted like he was. Barked orders at me about what to do and how to take care of you. By the way, if he asks, please tell him I made you ‘wash your teeth’ for two full minutes before bed.”

I snicker and fight back a smile.

“Levi, on the other hand…”

My thoughts drift to my sweet, easy-going boyfriend. A memory nags at the back of my mind, but I can’t pull it to the forefront. I know it has to do with Levi. Maybe his mom was involved, too?

“ Shit . What day is it?”

“It’s Tuesday, but it’s still winter break. School doesn’t start up for another week.”

That’s not what has me reeling.

“I missed Levi’s meeting with his mom. It was supposed to be Sunday, after church. Oh god. He’s going to lose his health insurance because of me.”

“Hey, hey, hey.” Greedy pulls me back into his arms, wrapping me in an enormous hug and holding me steady as my mind riots with panic and worry. “Relax, baby. We’ll figure it out.”

“How?” I demand. I’ve blown it. I promised Levi I’d go with him, and I let him down.

With his hands on my upper arms, he eases me back and ducks his head, forcing me to make eye contact. “Levi doesn’t need to worry about insurance. My dad has been covering the cost of his rehab. Plus, I don’t think it would be a hard sell to get Spence to step in if needed.”

Of course it wouldn’t. Not with Spence. Levi, on the other hand?

“He’s not going to want to accept anything from anyone,” I hedge.

“I know. We can talk some sense into him. I don’t want him to have to depend on his mom for anything . The last thing we need is another mother meddling in our lives.”

“Agreed.”

We fall into silence, but the air in the room thickens with tension. Greedy is obviously stewing over something else. I can always tell when he’s working up the courage to share a confession or admit a secret. I’ve developed this deeply seated sense of knowing over time, I suppose. So I wait him out, give him space to put into words what’s on his mind.

“I need to tell you something,” he eventually says.

Eyes locked with his, I nod, encouraging him to entrust me with whatever he needs to say.

“While you were gone, Levi and I…” He trails off, letting the charged silence linger between us.

Greedy and Levi— together ? My heart trips over itself when the implication clicks.

“What did you two do?” I tease, grinning up at him.

“I, uh, well, we slept in bed together at a motel. Nothing really happened that night. But then, the next morning, after we worked out… I sucked him off in the shower,” Greedy confesses.

Greedy was the giver?

Surprise and delight wash over me. Never would I have guessed that’s what transpired. And damn, Levi is absolutely massive. What I wouldn’t give to bear witness to them exploring each other in that way.

My grin only widens as I envision it. “Did you like it?”

Greedy considers me, his expression stoic, then nods. “I liked that it was Levi. That I could help him work through some of the stress weighing on him. It made me feel closer and more connected to him.”

That’s a much more insightful answer than I expected.

“Would you do it again?”

“For sure,” he says without hesitation. Quickly, though, he backtracks. “Is that okay with you?”

Eager to reassure him, I reply just as quickly. “It’s more than okay.” I crawl into his lap, straddle his hips, and loop my arms around his neck in an effort to show him just how okay I am with his confessions. “I want us all to be together, whatever that looks like. Levi’s my boyfriend. You’re…”

Greedy cocks one brow, egging me on.

“What am I, Tem?”

“Well, you’re not my brother…”

“No,” he laughs. “I’m most certainly not.”

I rest my forehead against his and for a moment I just breathe. Then, cupping his face, I look him in the eye and share my truth. “You’re my sanctuary. My anchor. My first love. My first everything.”

He grips the back of my neck and brings me to him for the sweetest, most sincere kiss. Before it builds to anything more, I pull back. I’m inspired to make sure he knows the depth of my love for him and the sorrow I still carry.

“I’m sorry I didn’t trust in us before,” I whisper against his lips. I caused so much pain, my actions motivated entirely by fear.

Greedy shakes his head. “Don’t be sorry. I didn’t get it before. Now I do. Now that I see how she is, how she acts, what she’s capable of? Your mother fucking kidnapped you, Tem. She drugged you, kept you sedated. For what? So she could take your blood and inject your platelets into her skin?”

I shudder at the reminder. Sadly, I don’t think Magnolia’s scheme was that simple. “I assume her primary goal was to have my blood tested for the partial transplant.”

Greedy sits ramrod straight, jerking up so quickly he almost dislodges me from his lap. “Are you serious?”

I shrug, both defeated and embarrassed by my mother’s actions. “They took multiple vials of blood. Knowing Magnolia, I can’t help but suspect that the whole point of whisking me away to a med spa in the woods was to get my blood. The facials and whatever other services she had lined up were a front. Or maybe a secondary benefit.”

Greedy shifts us again, clearly prepared to rise. “We have to tell the guys.”

My stomach dips, but he’s right. I never intended to keep this information from them, anyway. “Okay.”

“Like, now,” he emphasizes.

I falter at that. Burrowing into his chest, I make my case. “How about today, but later?”

I gulp past the dread that sinks in my stomach.

“Once we leave this room, everything changes. We have big-picture decisions to make. Plans to discuss. It’ll be time to set it all in motion. Right now, though, none of that can touch us. In here, it’s just you and me. We waited so long for this.” I curl into him farther, looping my arms around him like I’m clinging to a life raft after being swept out to sea. “I want it to be just you and me for a little while longer.”

He cups the back of my head, kissing me softly. I return the kiss, trying to block out all the noise in my head. All thoughts of what’s happened and what may still be to come.

My best friend Joey has a saying she uses to center herself when her anxiety starts to kick into high gear: I am here. This is now.

The only place I want to be at this moment is right here, right now, with the first boy I ever loved.

I run my hands through his hair, toying with the dark strands along his neckline. He tips his head back to give me better access. He hugs my hips and holds me close, granting me the serenity of a few more private moments.

“Hey, Greedy?”

“Yeah, Tem?” he says softly.“I think I love you.”

His eyes widen in surprise, then well with tears.

My confession is only partially true. I don’t just think I love him; I know it with every fiber of my being. With every cell in my body. I need him to know that the love never left. It was dormant, and I tried to ignore it for years, but it was always there, waiting just below the surface.

My words today, though, mirror the way he first shared his heart with me all those years ago, and from his reaction, I’m confident he senses the underlying meaning.

Wrapping his arms around my shoulders, he curls forward and rests his head on my chest. Then he whispers against my skin, right above my heart, “I think I love you, too.”