Page 155 of Monstrous Serpent

He grunts and shoves the door open.

Fucking hell.

I follow him inside, then lock the door after it closes. “Hunter.”

“Cody’s ours.”

“Don’t just ignore what I said.” Of course, my phone rings. I pull it out and huff.

He tosses his keys onto the coffee table, then toes off his boots. “Who is it?”

“Mom.”

She's called like twenty times since VINE notified her about Wade’s escape. Can't blame her, but fuck. One time I get. Maybe two. But she kept calling the entire time we were at the hospital. I silenced my phone so it wouldn’t wake Cody, texting her I’d call later. But she kept going. Like the whole fucking day wasn’t overwhelming enough.

And now she's calling again.

I press the green button. “Mom, come on.”

“Atlas Trembley, watch how you speak to me. And I will call as many times as I want. Do you understand how serious this situation is? I am worried about my baby.” Her voice shakes.

I rake my hands through my hair. “I’ll call you in the morning. I'm running on nothing right now.”

“Atlas—”

“Mom, Cody got hurt. We’ve been at the hospital with him. He’s still there. There’s some . . . spinal stuff. He can move his legs now but . . . Mom, I’m tired.”

“Honey, I’m so sorry. Is Hunter there? Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. Mom, really, I’ll call you tomorrow.” I hang up before she can say anything else. Yeah, that was a dick move. Don't care. I've got nothing left.

I toss the phone on the couch and look at Hunter, who’s staring off at fuck-all. “Hunt?”

His head drops, shoulders slumping forward. “I have no family left.”

I walk over to him and wrap my arms around his waist, careful not to touch the wound Doc stitched up earlier. Thank fuck the knife didn’t hit anything major. “You have me. You have my family. We’re not going anywhere. To us, you’re a Trembley.”

Hunter sags back into me, and I nuzzle into his neck, holding him tighter. After a few seconds, he clears his throat and pulls out of my arms. “We should go to bed.”

“Uh, yeah, I guess.”

But when I start walking in the direction of my room, he grabs my arm. I flinch. Don’t mean to. It was just a stupid, involuntary jerk that I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to.

Hunter stills and searches my face. Then he exhales, and his hand drifts gently to mine. “Stay in my room tonight?”

My eyes widen, mouth hanging open as I nod and follow. Dreamt about this moment more times than I care to admit. And when he starts undressing like this is nothing, placing his clothes in the hamper in the corner, I forget how to speak. Until my eyes drift to his bed.

“Hunt?” I scratch the top of my head, trying real hard not to bust out laughing. “Care to explain how the fuck you expect both of us to fit in a twin bed?”

He grunts, pulls back the covers, and slides beneath them wearing just his boxer briefs. “Get in.”

Accepting defeat, I pull off my shirt and toss it on the floor. When I take off my pants, I notice he’s watching. No, not watching. His gaze travels over me and not in that protective, concerned way.

Fuck.

My dick starts to harden. After tossing my jeans into the corner, I climb into the bed, lying on my side. There is not enough room. Being this close is only making me harder. I shouldn’t be hard right now. Not after the night—or day—we had.

Hunter grunts and slaps my ass. “This is my room, not yours. Put your clothes in the hamper.”