After I set down a box, I puffed out a breath and looked around the room. Fisher left behind a full-size bed, a battered wooden desk, and a set of bookshelves that looked like they had seen better days. It was minimal, but exactly what I needed. I would have to hit up Mercer for some bedding and maybe some curtains, but it was the perfect little alcove for me to hide away in. I didn’t even mind that I was going to have to crouch down or scoot around on my knees to navigate the portion of the room that was designated as the closet. The slanted ceiling left no doubt this used to be an attic.
“Huck was a jokester when he was a kid. He liked to play pranks and cause trouble. He was fearless and tried to make things fun.” I absently touched the scar on my cheek. It was a habit I had when I thought about the past. When I remembered what my life was like before the constant reminder of the night everything had gone wrong was etched onto my face. “I followed him everywhere because my mom worked for his family and we lived on their property. It had been like that for generations before my mother was born. Neither of us ever fit in, so we stuck together to make life easier. When Huck and I got older and into our teens, I thought he would get sick of me shadowing him all the time. When he started to notice other girls and they started to notice him back, I expected him to tell me to get lost. But he never did.” He was always there when I needed him. Always protecting me from the rest of the world. I smiled slightly and noticed Vernon was watching me intently. “He was also chubby and clumsy back then. Nothing like he is now.”
Vernon’s lips lifted in a slight grin. “No. None of that sounds like the Huck I know.”
I tucked a handful of curls behind my ear and asked, knowing very well I might not get an answer, “How did you meet Huck?”
He cocked his head, his unusual eyes glinting as he considered me silently for a long moment. When he finally spoke, I wasn’t prepared for the impact his words were going to have.
“He saved me. He saved all of us in our little group one way or another.” He watched as I inhaled a sharp breath and shifted my gaze away. He’d been nice… well, nicer than the other two, but Vernon was making it clear that Huck came first, no matter what, so I better not let myself be lured into a false sense of security around him. “I ran away from home when I was twelve.”
I couldn’t hold back a shocked gasp at his flat admission. Huck was sent away when he was only sixteen, which was bad, but it seemed ancient compared to Vernon’s age when he ventured out on his own.
“I was on the streets for about a year when I bumped into Huck. Literally.” He snorted and got a faraway look in his eyes as he recalled the past. “I was trying to pickpocket him. I wanted his phone and his wallet. Only, Huck knew what it was like to be on the streets and saw me coming from a mile away. He was never a mark or a sucker for anyone. He told me he would feed me and find me a place to sleep that night instead of calling the cops or kicking my ass.”
Vernon shook his head slightly, making his white hair fall into his eyes. “He found a shelter that would take an unaccompanied minor for a little while, and when he figured out how smart I was, he found me an education program and a scholarship for gifted kids that got me off the streets for good until I graduated high school. I was in every accelerated program he could find. He got my family to sign the paperwork to get me into the programs when I told him they wouldn’t. He also got them to sign my emancipation papers. I have no idea how he did it, but he makes miracles happen regularly. Kind of like you, I came to this school because Huck was here. Starting college so young wasn’t easy, but the guys made it easier. Harlen helped me find my footing; he was my first real friend I ever had. Huck always kept an eye on me, and Fisher was like the father figure I never knew I needed.” He pointed a finger at the shocked expression on my face. “Do you know why I’m telling you about my history with Huck?”
I shifted uneasily under his intense scrutiny before responding. “Because you want to make it clear how important he is to you.” It wasn’t a question. I knew exactly why.
Vernon nodded slowly, and I realized under his ethereal appearance, he could be just as scary, if not more so, than the other two young men I now lived with.
“I owe Huck everything. So do Harlen and Fisher. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, we wouldn’t do to protect him. If you’re going to fuck up his life, if you’re going to make him miserable or hurt him in any way, none of us will let you live in peace. We will make it so you spend every single second regretting the moment you walked back into his life. You seem determined to be in this house and in Huck’s way. I just hope you understand the full ramifications of whatever it is you’re doing.”
It was on the tip of my tongue that I had no goddamn clue what I was doing, that I’d been operating on instinct and fear lately, so I’d forgotten what it was like to have any direction other than running away from the monster who was constantly chasing me. Had I considered Huck’s consequences of crash landing back in his life? Not enough. Honestly, I was glad these guys had Huck’s back. He’d always thought he could take on the entire world by himself. Now he had a very capable group of like-minded misfits to help him bear the weight of the endless battles he was bound to wade into.
Before I could get a word in edgewise, a deep voice rumbled from the doorway. “Don’t try and scare her, Vernon.”
Both our heads whipped around at the sound of Huck’s voice. He had an arm lifted, resting on the door jamb. He was dressed in nylon shorts and a faded shirt that had big gaps where the sleeves should be, showing off the fact the ink on his arms wasn’t the only place he’d modified his body since he’d been gone. He had on sneakers and his hair was damp, looking close to black with what I assumed was sweat. My guess was he’d come from the gym, and Vernon and I had been so engrossed in our conversation, we hadn’t heard him come up the stairs.
Huck glared at me with his golden eyes, his expression hard and completely unwelcoming. “Trying to scare her won’t do any good. She grew up nipping at the heels of a madman, so your threats are just child’s play to her. She knows what she’s doing and that she’s not wanted here. It doesn’t matter. She pushed and pushed until she got her way. I wonder who you learned that from, Ollie.”
I wanted to apologize. I wanted to tell him if there was any other way to break free, I would’ve done it. I wanted to promise to stay out of his way and out of his life as long as he let me make amends, but the words wouldn’t come. Those weren’t promises I could keep at this point in my life.
Vernon clearly wanted to ask about the madman comment, but paused when Huck suddenly moved.
All thought flew out the window, and words that were already difficult became impossible when he pushed away from the door, muscle and ink shifting enticingly as he grabbed his shirt by the collar and pulled it off over his head.
He had tattoos on each side of his ribcage: one was low on his cut, corded abdomen that disappeared into the waistband of his shorts. He had twin silver hoops decorating his nipples. He didn’t look like any lawyer I’d ever seen, prospective or not.
Nope.
This definitely was not the cute, chubby kid who played in the dirt and snuck forbidden sweets with me.
Huck was a man.