When Ash got out of the bathroom, Hunter was laying a duvet down on the floor beside the bed. Ash watched as he took a pillow from the closet and laid it down on the duvet. She watched as he laid himself out on the bed cover and closed his eyes, never once glancing in her direction.Her shadow fell over him and the empty bed where he refused to lie with her. Ash felt a coldness in her gut.
When she arrived at the Guzmans" grand estate, the b.u.t.terflies inside her stomach had been dancing with excitement. She had been so happy to be given the guest house to stay in--like a scaled up play house but for adults--and she had seen herself having a grand vacation in the little pretend house with the golden boy from school.
But that had been several hours and many disastrous situations ago: counted at one failed dinner, a loss of consciousness, and a derailed romantic encounter.
A mere few hours into her dream coming true and Ash"s own instincts had turned on her. The happy b.u.t.terflies were dead inside her now, smothered by the sudden cold. The golden boy who had carried her to bed in his arms no longer wanted to sleep with her in it. And to top it all off, she hadn"t eaten anything for dinner and was hungry.
Hunter lay on his back on the spread-out duvet on the floor and closed his eyes. He didn"t even look in Ash"s direction. Ash felt like he did it on purpose.
[Whatever, Wolf Boy. I don"t even care anymore. Sleep on the floor while I sleep on the nice soft bed.]
Ash turned the bedroom lights off. The room turned dark with only a faint light coming from behind the closed bathroom door. Ash"s eyes didn"t have time to adjust to the darkness but she walked quickly anyway, stepping over Hunter to get to the bed.
She had made sure to give him a wide berth as she stepped over his body on the floor, but at the last second, her foot dropped just a little too low and her toes lightly grazed his ribs as she got up on the bed.
"Sorry," she said.
She had barely touched him, and yet her heart was beating so fast, it felt like she had done something wrong.
Hunter let out a sigh.
"It"s okay, baby," he said in a tired voice. He was not mad at her.
The truth was, he didn"t really know what to do after everything that had happened. He didn"t want to leave her in the guest house all by herself: he had promised his mother that he would take care of Ash. And even if he hadn"t, he would have done so of his own accord anyway.
He just wanted her to feel safe with him, so he chose to sleep on the floor so she wouldn"t feel pressured to do anything.
"You"re not mad at me?" Ash asked, peering over at Hunter from the edge of the bed.
He had called her "baby" again. That was a good sign. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she could see that his eyes were closed.
"You barely touched me, why would I be mad at you?" His eyebrows knotted together. Ash wondered if he was annoyed with her or just confused.
Hunter, of course, knew that the issue wasn"t really about her foot grazing him, but he wanted to play dumb to draw her out.
Ash reached down and poked her finger into his cheek.
"Are you mad now?" she asked, touching him deliberately.
"No," he answered smiling. He still had his eyes closed.
"That"s good," Ash answered, smiling even though he couldn"t see it.
The ice in her gut was starting to thaw. A lone b.u.t.terfly fluttered about, its tiny wings beating against the chill.
Ash slipped out of the queen size bed and lay down next to Hunter on the floor. She pressed her face against his chest and closed her eyes.
Hunter opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. The lights were off and he couldn"t see, but he could feel Ash"s body curled against him on the floor. He could feel his right arm losing circulation under her weight, but he didn"t mind. He didn"t want to move, he didn"t want to risk her getting up and leaving him alone on the floor.
He thought of Ash as a small animal that was easily spooked. He would wait until she settled next to him before even attempting to extricate his trapped arm from beneath her body. He would rather have pins and needles in his arm than risk having her scurry away from him. It seemed that she was constantly pulling away from him just when he thought she would stay. He just wanted her to stay.
And just as he thought that, Ash laid a hand on his chest. Hunter swiftly laid his hand over hers and shifted his trapped arm out from under her body and held her close to him. He exhaled; he hadn"t even realized it but he had been holding his breath.
Hunter scoffed at himself. He had it bad for this girl.
Ash felt Hunter"s hand over hers. With her hand laid over his heart, she felt another b.u.t.terfly fluttering in her stomach: a sweet blue b.u.t.terfly, beating its wings to the rhythm of the young man"s heart.
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