21 Secrets and Lies (1/2)

”I want to take you home,” Hunter said to Ash.

Their faces were flushed and the dark night left very little light to see with inside the room. They were two shadows on the floor and the sound of their breathing seemed to fill the otherwise empty room.

”What . . . what do you mean by that?” the girl shadow asked the boy shadow.

The boy shadow seemed to respond only in panted breathing.

Ash bit her lip. She wasn't sure what Hunter meant by ”taking her home” and the longer he didn't answer, the more conscious she became of their bodies touching. She could see Hunter's eyes in the half light and they were still blue. She wondered what she looked like, what he saw as he looked back at her.

She tried to move off of his lap, but he tightened his arms around her.

”I wanna take you home, Boots,” he said, resting his chin on her shoulder.

”I heard you the first time, Hunter,” Ash replied.

Hunter dug his chin into her shoulder and turned his face toward her neck. Feeling tender toward him, she stroked his hair.

”What do you mean by that?” she asked him again.

”I want you to meet my parents,” he said, nuzzling her neck.

”Why?” she asked, still stroking his hair.

”I think you should meet your people, Boots.”

”And you think your parents are my people?”

”Well, I am. And my dad is. And my mom is basically an honorary member of the pack with everything she knows---”

Ash squirmed as Hunter talked into her neck. His breath as he spoke tickled her and she started to giggle, despite Hunter's serious tone.

”What?” Hunter looked up at her, smiling.

”That tickles when you talk like that.”

”Oh,” he said, still smiling.

Ash marveled at how easy it was to be with Hunter. She was sitting on his lap and they were talking casually as though they have always been together. Just that morning she couldn't even string two words in a sentence to respond to him, and a week before that she would have dived headfirst into a bush just to avoid directly crossing paths with him.

The Ash from last week would have called her a liar outright if she traveled back in time and told her that she made out heavily with Hunter Guzman twice in one day. The Ash from last week also would have called her crazy and walked away from her for saying they were werewolves.

[What a difference a day makes,] Ash thought to herself.

”So, will you come home with me?” Hunter asked, tracing a line along Ash's jaw down to her chin.

”To meet your people?” Ash said, teasing.

Hunter smiled back. He was about to answer, when suddenly, they heard footsteps approaching.

They quickly scrambled toward a corner of the room away from the open door. They ducked behind some large boxes stacked off to the side and sat on the floor.