in. He reminded me to give him a call if the boys gave me a hard time and promised to check up on me. When I showed up at the house, the only person home was Vernon, and he didn’t seem shocked by my sudden arrival. In fact, he jumped right in with an offer to help me move my few meager belongings up the two flights of stairs into the room with the drastically sloped ceiling and small windows. “He wasn’t happier, I mean. But he was less intense than he seems now.”
Vernon informed me that he and Harlen shared the second floor, and that Huck had the master bedroom on the main level. He also said that since the house was old, every step made the floorboards creak and that the pipes rattled nonstop, so everyone could hear everyone else moving around in the morning or late at night. He suggested I invest in a good set of noise-canceling earplugs because when the weather got cold, they turned on the old-fashioned radiators, and they sounded like war machines when they started up and turned off. He’d rattled off other tips like not to touch any of Harlen’s weird protein powders or supplements unless I wanted an hour-long lecture on nutrition and muscle mass. He stated that none of them were great at grocery shopping, but they shared food when the fridge was stocked. Apparently, Huck had turned into somewhat of a health nut since I’d last seen him, which would explain the ripped body and loss of his adorable baby fat. I assured Vernon I wouldn’t intrude and told him I usually just grabbed something to eat between classes. I barely made enough money to pay my portion of the rent each month. No way was I in a place to feed three boys, two of whom were built like professional athletes.
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