like Hunter, who was just walking by when he saw a mugger and decided to take the bad guy out. And sometimes they’re like you, who….” Josh took a breath that sounded like a sob. “Who steals the watch that my Uncle Danny gave me about once a year so you can pretend you had an Uncle Danny too. You do have an Uncle Danny, Grace. You have all of us. My mom will give you her damned emerald earrings if you take a deep breath and remember you’re loved.”
“Not her emerald earrings,” Grace said, something weird and hiccuppy going on with his voice. “They’re the gold-and-pearl drops she wore when we graduated from high school.”
“You changed it up,” Josh accused, but he didn’t sound mad.
“The emerald ones were so pretty, but she stopped wearing them. I thought if I stole different earrings, she’d wear them again.”
Josh’s laugh came out a little hysterical. “Of course.”
Grace saw a car—the first one in the ten minutes since he’d answered Josh’s call—and stood up, staring into the night to see if it was Josh. “Is that you?”
“Black SUV?” Josh asked.
“Yeah—you’re slowing down. Never mind. Hunter’s car. Okay. Bye.”
He signed off before Josh could answer and stood up, stretching because his muscles had chilled, even though the rain was warm. Josh slowed down and pulled up to the curb, and Grace walked stiffly to open the passenger door when the driver’s side door slammed, and Grace caught his breath, squinting inside the car.
“What are you looking for?” Hunter demanded.
“Josh! I thought he was looking for me.”
“No, I was looking for you. Josh was tracking your phone.” Hunter’s voice was a rough growl, and he loomed over Grace, not so much with height but with anger and frustration.
And, maybe, worry?
“No,” Grace insisted. “I was sure it was Josh. Josh is the one who always comes looking for me.”
“Augh!” Hunter pushed his hand through his hair, which slicked back from his head and hung in lank dreadlocks past his ears. “Why can’t I come looking for you too?”
“Because I’m not worth it!” Grace argued back. “I’m stupid. Not even my parents cared about me. Why would you?”
“Because I’m smarter than your parents!” Hunter retorted furiously, taking a step toward him and then another. Grace crossed his arms in front of himself, feeling naked.
And cold.
But mostly naked.
“Baby,” Hunter murmured, venturing to put his hands on Grace’s biceps—not hard, but firm, like he was comforting, or keeping Grace from running away again. “Come on. Can we have this discussion in the car? Or I could take you home—”
Grace closed his eyes and winced. “Everybody’s there,” he groaned. “Why would I want everybody to see what a mess I am?”
“Come on, then,” Hunter murmured, wrapping his arms around Grace’s shoulders. “I still have my apartment in the city. I use it mostly to work out in now, so it might smell like dirty socks, but it’s got a couch and a place to sleep and a coffee maker.”
“Food?” Grace asked, burying his face into Hunter’s chest and staying there, surrounded by him. “I could eat.”
“We’ll get takeout on the way into the city,” Hunter promised him. “Anything you want. Just come on, baby. Let’s get out of the rain.”
“Yeah, okay,” Grace muttered, but he didn’t move for a moment. In spite of promises of an apartment and a little bit of quiet and a giant cheeseburger and fries and a shake, the fact was, here, with Hunter’s arms around him, his heart pounding in his ears, was as safe as he thought he’d ever been.
AN HOUR later, Grace was fed and showered, sitting in Hunter’s loft apartment right off the river, wrapped in a practical fleece blanket and watching the rain falling on the big windows. Hunter had made him coffee and then given him carte blanche to the cream and sugar, which was a mistake. Grace tended to like his coffee as slightly flavored sweet milk, but, well, a little warm.
Still, it hit that place inside him, the caffeine having its usual atypical effect on him and calming him down instead of ramping him up. Josh had assured him this was because he had untreated ADHD, but Grace had tuned him out after that, so he could never figure out why that meant coffee made him sleepy.
But it was working its magic on him now, and when Hunter emerged, dressed in navy blue sweats and a white T-shirt, Grace snuggled farther into the slightly battered upholstery of the