I’m shocked he’d even offer, but he’s been surprising me a lot lately. “I don’t want to lie in the same bed a hundred other women have slept in,” I say, trying to break the tension in the room while cracking a smile.
Hunter removes his hand and sticks up his pinky. “What if I swear to put clean sheets on for you?”
I twist the corner of my lips, pretending to actually think about it. “And flip the mattress?” I ask, with raised eyebrows.
“Damn girl,” he says with amusement, dropping his arm. “You’re a tough negotiator.”
I give him big puppy dog eyes, and he rolls his at me.
“Fine, if that’s what you want, Lennon. I’ll even spray Lysol and light one of your girly candles if that’s what it’ll take for you to finally get a good night’s sleep.”
When I don’t answer right away, Hunter stands and crosses his arms over his broad chest. “Well?” He looks even larger when he towers over me, making me feel small and fragile. Though I’m sure that’s how most women feel around him. His muscles alone could crush me if he really wanted to.
I study his hard expression, realizing he won’t take no for an answer. I bite my lower lip as I try to imagine myself in Hunter’s room. In his bed. As weird as it is, I know he’s right. The couch fucking sucks. “Okay.”
“Thank God.” He releases a relieved breath, which makes me smile. He really does care. “Never had to persuade a woman into my bed before. Thought you were gonna make me go on my knees and beg for a minute there,” he teases, which immediately eases the tension.
“And for a minute, I thought you were being a gentleman,” I fire right back, though I’m chuckling at his exaggerated relief.
“I very much am.” Hunter winks before he takes off down the hallway. I gather my pillow and blanket from the couch, then hear him really flipping the mattress, which makes me laugh.
A few more moments pass before he returns. “It’s all yours,” he says, waving his hand out to gesture for me to walk ahead of him.
Once we reach his room, I open the door and glance around. I realize I’ve never really been in here longer than it took to throw in the random bras and panties I found lying around the apartment. I turn and look at him and relief floods over me that I might actually get some rest. I’m exhausted from trying to get through everything while sleeping on the most uncomfortable couch of my life. Not that I’m surprised. They probably bought it cheap while they were in college since it’s been here the whole time I’ve known Brandon.
“Let me know if you need anything else.” Hunter turns with his pillow and blanket to walk away, but I reach for his arm and stop him.
“Thank you, Hunter,” I genuinely say, hoping he sees in my eyes how much I appreciate him.
With a nod, he gives me a little grin. “Anything for you, Lennon. Good night.”
He shuts the door behind him. I fan my blanket out on top of the freshly made bed, then slip under the cool sheets with my pillow. For the first time since Brandon’s death, I relax enough to almost instantly fall asleep, which is a miracle in and of itself, and the only person I have to thank is Hunter.
Chapter Fourteen
Hunter
I don’t even know how to describe these past two months without Brandon. Our normal routines of hanging out on the weekends, hitting up the clubs, or just fucking around at home feel like a distant memory now, but at the same time, it seems like only yesterday.
Now the reality of him never coming back or seeing him again hits me over and over every morning I wake up in his room. It’s a fucked-up situation, to say the least, but when Lennon refused to sleep in her bed even after two weeks, I refused to allow her to go on like that. I offered my room in exchange for the couch, but when she saw my feet hanging off the edge, she demanded I take her bed. I’m twice the size of Lennon, but I wanted to be respectful of her space. She’s barely walked into the room she and Brandon shared and has kept everything the same inside. If me staying on the couch was what it took for her to finally get some rest, I’d sleep on it every damn night.
However, Lennon handed me a clean set of sheets and refused any excuse I gave her. I wasn’t really sure I wanted to, considering the endless amount of sex they’ve had in there, but I was kinda out of options. Sleep halfway off the couch and wake up sore as fuck every morning or sleep in their bed with clean sheets. After the first week, it wasn’t so awkward, and it quickly became our new routine.