Page 37 of Theirs to Hunt

I lift my brow. “Do tell, want me to guess which one?”

“I don’t have a girlfriend, unless you’re applying.”

I finally reach for my phone. Damn it, the move stalls her reply. I tilt the screen so she can’t read it.

Three messages from Dad.

You've had long enough.

End it. Now.

Or I will.

I let the screen go dark.

“Everything okay?” she asks lightly, but there’s something sharper underneath. She senses the shift.

I smile. Slow. Controlled. “Just someone used to giving orders.”

“Ah,” she says, her voice velvet over steel. “And you’re not in the mood to take them?”

“I’m busy,” I murmur, brushing a stray lock of hair off her shoulder. “Besides… I’d rather see what happens when I stop obeying.”

She blinks. Her armor flickers. Then her eyes narrow in challenge.

“Careful. It’s starting to sound like mutiny.”

I grin, all teeth. “Only if the Lieutenant can catch me.”

From across the street, I know he’s watching. I also know he won’t wait much longer.

But tonight? Tonight is mine.

Chapter thirty-one

Reagan, Thursday 10:45 p.m.

The walk back from dinner hums with that slow, sticky heat New Orleans does too well. Thick air. Quiet streets. That sense that anything could happen if you let it.

He walks beside me. Reign? Brooks? Whatever his name is, the energy is too similar for them to be different people. One hand in his pocket, the other brushing mine now and then. He’s giving me the option to take it.

We talked about nothing, but it felt like everything. Music. Gumbo or etouffee. Weird gym rituals. Each answer like we were picking up where we left off in a life I don’t remember living.

Every time his shoulder bumped mine, I had to pretend it was accidental. Every time he laughed, I had to look away before I got addicted to the sound.

He hasn’t pushed. Hasn’t tried to kiss me. It’s maddening.

“So,” I say, glancing up at him as we round the corner near my street, “how often do you get your dates from gyms?”

He chuckles low, holding back the full laugh like he’s saving it. “Only the ones who earn it.”

We stop outside my building. The air buzzes with crickets and something else. Something electric.

I need to make a move. Let him know I’m not clueless. “If you want to come in, we could watch a movie. Have a drink?”

He laughs deeper this time. “What would we watch?Bambi? Something scary so I could hold you?”

I scoff. “Actually, I was thinkingThe Ghost and the Darkness.Would you cling to me instead, Simba?”