Page 47 of Hunt Me

“Late for something?” he asks aloud, his hands now occupied with collecting my cup and his plate. “Or are you trying to sneak out on my brother?”

I flush. “No. I wouldn’t. I…please don’t kill me for saying this, but I like him.” I have no idea how protective Percy is over Archie, but I do know Milo meant his threat in some way.

Even if the toe thing wasn’t literal.

Percy regards me for a long moment, then cocks his hip against the counter and lifts his hands to sign again. ‘He’s autistic. You know that?’

I feel better now that my assumptions are confirmed. ‘Yes.’

‘He doesn’t like most people, but he seems to like you. He’s never brought anyone home before.’

That makes me feel…some type of way. Important, maybe? Elated? Definitely a little horny again, which just tells me how desperate and starved for affection and attention I’ve been.

‘He saved my life,’ I confess. I don’t know why I’m telling him all of this. ‘I have a…a stalker. Some asshole who likes to scare me. Archie fought him off the other night.’

And that created something in me—an almost addiction. An obsession with Archie that I can’t shake. But I have no plans to tell Percy all that.

He seems to read something off my face, and his smile softens. ‘I know what it’s like to live…outside.’ He signs the word literallyoutside, but I know what he’s trying to say. Outside of what most people consider normal. ‘I came out as transgender when I was thirteen. My dad struggled with it. It was the year after our mom died.’

I’m used to info dumping and trauma dumping. That’s kind of the Deaf community’s whole thing. But the fact that he trusted me with his identity like that seems important. I have a strong feeling the men in this house don’t go telling those things to just anyone.

‘Thank you,’ I sign.

He scoffs and rolls his eyes. ‘It’s not that deep.’ I can see the lies on his hands, but I don’t call him out. ‘I’m just saying I get it. I didn’t have a community for a long time. We grew up…’ His hands hesitate, and he drops them and finishes with his voice. “We were isolated from most people. We have a big family, but we’re not like them either. I want someone for Archie who loves him for who he is. And someone who gets him.”

“I think I do,” I confess. My body feels a little twitchy. “He hasn’t been very open with me, but what I have gotten to know, I like.”

He smirks. “Considering you didn’t run out of the house screaming when you saw one of his coffins…”

“Oneof his coffins?” I blurt.

Percy bursts into laughter. “You’ll see.” He pauses, then adds, “You’re welcome back here whenever. But I need you to know that we’re private.Veryprivate.”

“I understand.” I add it in sign, too, so he gets it. I don’t know that he believes me, but he appreciates it enough to offer me a fist bump.

“You heading to your club?”

I almost choke. It’s still weird when I get recognized for Glimmer Dear instead of for my job as a professor. “No. I teach at the college. ASL,” I add. “Classes all day, and I have a meeting with a student in my office tonight.”

His brows fly up. “Oh.”

“I have two jobs. One for the bills and one for fun.” He laughs as I stand. “I do have a class soon though. So, I have to go.”

Percy nods, and I hesitate for just a moment.

“You’re good to go. I won’t follow you or anything.”

The way his lips quirk up at the corners makes me not believe him. But I’m going to be late if I don’t hustle, so as impolite as it is—and as much as it goes against my nature to leave without a longer goodbye—I shoot him one last wave before making my way to the front door.

The moment I’m outside in the cool morning air, I breathe in deeply. My car is where I left it, and the place looks a lot less foreboding in the light of day. But something tells me I shouldn’t drop my guard here.

Not yet.

And maybe not ever.

13

DENVER