Chapter 10
Hunter
My alarm goes off entirely too early. I’ll be glad when Lila doesn’t need to be fed through the night anymore. It won’t be long at this point. Maybe another week or two, and I absolutely can’t wait. Given the way she was yelling at me last night, she’s not ready yet. But soon. Real soon.
Time to wean the bottle baby.
Slapping at my phone, I manage to shut off the alarm. There’s another set in five minutes from now. It’s fine. Just five more minutes. I flop over, rolling onto my other side, and hit something with my arm—something that grunts at the contact—and my eyes fly open.
Right. Theo. Fuck. I’m so exhausted. I don’t know how I forgot he was in my bed. Pulling my arm back to my body, I close my eyes, trying to catch the last few minutes of sleep I can get.
I’ve just barely dozed off when the alarm blares again. “Ugh.” I sit up, reaching over to grab my phone, and shut the alarms off entirely.
Theo is still asleep, seemingly unfazed by the ringing of the alarm, and I take a second to stare at him. I almost don’t want to even try to wake him up. Not when he looks so peaceful, his lips slightly parted, and a strand of his dark hair resting on his forehead.
Without even meaning to, I find myself reaching out, brushing the hair off. He shifts, his eyes slowly opening, and I pull my hand back like it’s been burned.
“Hey,” I whisper. “It’s time to feed Lila. Do you wanna join me?”
Cocking his head like he’s confused, Theo stares at me. He’s sort of adorable right now. “What?”
I can’t help but smile. “I’m going to feed Lila. Do you wanna come?”
He sits up abruptly, almost slamming his head into mine. I jerk back, and his eyes blow wide. “I’m sorry.”
I shake my head. “No, you’re fine.” I want him to join me, of course I do, but some part of me also wants him to stay right where he is. If I leave him in my bed, then he’ll still be here when I get back. Who knows if he’ll go to his own when we come inside.
“Do I have to?”
“What? Come with me? Of course not.”
He nods, eyes falling shut. I hate that he can’t seem to have a good day without depression stealing it from him.
It’s so not my fucking place to ask, but I wonder if he’s tried medication and if it has any effect on him.
He doesn’t deserve to live this way. Maybe one day, if our friendship continues to grow, I’ll ask him about it.
“Are you okay, though?” I ask softly.
Humming, Theo nods. “Just sleepy.”
I bite my lip while I decide if I should ask my next question. It seemed to go over well last time, though. “Percentage?”
Theo opens his eyes, and his lips curl into a small smile. “I’m okay. Just truly tired. Maybe forty.”
Considering he said his baseline is rarely fifty, that feels like a win. I nod. “Okay, lie down then, and I’ll be back shortly.”
I nearly hold my breath while waiting to see what he’s gonna do. He could always use this time to go back to his own room. He’s awake. There’s no reason he couldn’t. I don’t think he came in here last night with the purpose of falling asleep.
He surprises me by lying back on the pillow and pulling the blanket up around his face, nearly burying it. Letting out a quiet breath, he closes his eyes.
My heart thumps hard, butterflies taking over my stomach.
Ignoring that, I climb out of bed carefully so I don’t disturb Theo and slip a pair of sweats on over my shorts, then pull on a pair of socks and head downstairs.
I make Lila’s bottle in the dark, yawning my head off the entire time. I’ll be glad to go back to bed. This shit is for the birds. I love Lila, but this is wearing me down. I feel bad for my mom, but she won’t be getting any grandkids from me. Pass.
The walk to the barn is quick, and when I step inside and go into Lila’s enclosure, she greets me with a headbutt to the shin. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m late.”
She headbutts me again, and even though I’m tired, I can’t help but laugh. When I drop into the hay, she makes quick work of crawling into my lap, and I pop the bottle into her mouth just as quickly.
She devours it in almost record time. “Yes, you’re such a hungry girl, huh? So mistreated.”
She stares up at me, her little goat eyes taking me in, and I grin as I rub her ear between my finger and thumb. “Sweet girl. I love you, but I’ll be glad when you’re done with bottle feeds.”
Her ears twitch in what I’ve got to assume is agreement. When she’s curled up in the hay, her belly full, I go back inside. After rinsing the bottle, I trudge my way up the stairs, careful to avoid the creaky step halfway up.
Pushing the door to my room open, I’m relieved to see Theo asleep right where I left him, still curled into my blankets. He looks cozy and warm and safe.
I’m not stupid. I know there’s nothing I can do for his depression. And I know that he’s leaving soon. But I enjoy having him in my bed and at my home; at least I can make sure he’s eating and drinking.
Fuck. I’m so in over my head. I barely know him. It makes absolutely no sense. Not even a little bit. I’m not usually the type to believe in fate, but something in me feels like my soul already knows his.
Slipping my sweats back down my legs, I crawl into bed beside him, moving slowly so I don’t jostle him. It doesn’t matter. When the bed shifts, he whimpers in what sounds like fear, his eyebrows drawing together, creating the most adorable little worry line between them.
“Shhh,” I whisper. “Just me.”
His body relaxes at the sound of my voice, and my heart pounds against my rib cage. “Okay.”
I roll onto my side to face him, and when I’m settled, one of his eyes opens for just a second before closing again. His hand comes out from under the blanket, and he wraps it around my wrist where it’s resting on the bed between us.
I don’t move. Hell, I barely even breathe. Shifting just enough to get comfortable without pulling my arm from his grasp, I close my eyes and try to fall back asleep.
When I wake up, the sun is shining through my windows, and I sit up in a panic. Fuck, I guess I forgot to set an alarm. Lila must be starving.
I damn near jump out of bed, pausing only when Theo says my name. My breath catches when I look at him. He’s sleep-mussed and beautiful, his dark hair sticking up in seven different directions and his eyes sleepy and warm.
“I’ve gotta feed Lila,” I say, so I don’t fuck up and say something stupid instead.
“She’s okay. I took care of her already.” He shrugs, looking away from me. “I mean, she needs her morning feed, but I did the 3:00 a.m. one.”
“You…” I cock my head. “You did what?”
He goes pale. “Was I not supposed to?”
Fuck. “No, I mean… Yes. You’re fine. You can definitely feed her. I just—” I stop talking, at a loss for words.
He shrugs, lips turning up in a smile. “Your alarm was going off, and it woke me, so I got up and fed her.”
I smile at him. “I bet she was happy to see you.”
“She was happy to see her bottle, maybe,” he says, tugging the blankets around him like a little burrito. “You’ve just seemed tired.” He snorts, eyeing me. “And if I’m saying you look tired…”
The way his eyebrows are raised makes me laugh despite myself. “Well, Prince Theo, you just relax and I’ll go get her fed again. Thank you.”
“Wasn’t planning on leaving the bed, truly. I’m going to Luca’s tonight for a game night with Jasper and Arlo. Arlo’s the guy from the diner, right?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“Anyway. Game night. Can we go for a ride beforehand? And then maybe take a nap?”
“You can definitely take a nap, and we can for sure go riding. Are you feeling okay, though?”
His eyes are practically sparkling, and I’m not sure what to do with that. I’ve never seen him like this before. If I thought he was a beautiful man before? Fuck.
“I feel great. Like better than I have in weeks. God, I slept so well. Even with getting up to feed Lila. I just want to make sure I’m rested before game night. Peopling can take a lot out of me.”
“Ah. And here I am, draining your battery.”
Theo shakes his head. “No. You don’t count as peopling.”
There aren’t words to describe the way those softly spoken words make me feel.
Theo is radiant. There’s no other word for it.
When he got out of the shower earlier and styled his hair before coming down and eating breakfast with me, I’d thought so. But now? Fuck. Indescribable.
He’s all smiles and bright eyes as he climbs down from Molls. I can’t drag my eyes away.
“Wow,” he says, giggling. “My legs are like jello.”
“I can’t believe you loped her.” He was a quick study, and it only took about an hour for me to teach him what to do. I’m still impressed. I knew he was a natural, but this is impressive even for that.
He laughs. “No, me neither, but God, it’s so fun and so freeing. The sounds her hooves make on the ground…” He trails off, and I smile.
“It’s nice, huh? Soothing.”
“It really is.”
“We call them feet, though. Not hooves,” I say, winking at him.
His grin is blinding, and when he pulls his helmet off, his hair is sticking up all over the place.
“Wow,” I breathe because apparently, I’m an idiot.
Theo cocks his head, his lips curving up. “Are you making fun of my helmet hair?”
“Not at all.” After taking off my own helmet, I step closer to him, even though I shouldn’t. Then I lift my hand, even though it’s the worst idea in the world. He stands stock-still, his lips slightly parted, as I brush a strand of his dark hair off his forehead. “Sorry.”
I’m not sure what’s worse—that I touched his hair at all, or that right after my apology, I run the pad of my thumb along his temple when I shouldn’t have my hands on him to begin with.
He inhales sharply, and before I even have time to drop my hand, Theo is pressing his to my chest. In all fairness, I deserve to be shoved away. But he doesn’t shove me away. He fists his hand in the fabric of my t-shirt, slides the other into my hair, and slams his mouth onto mine.
He swallows my surprised gasp as his fingers tighten, pulling on my scalp. Holy fuck. Theo is kissing me.